Page 126 of Starcrossed Colorado

I couldn’t see Grace yet from this angle. But I knew the exact moment she stepped outside. The waiting crowd gasped.

And thenlunged.

Shoving each other, waving cameras and phones set to record. Their shouts rose in a cacophony. Callum barred his arm in front of the frenzy of reporters, yelling for them to get back.

An officer opened the back door of the SUV, and Callum pushed Grace inside, leaping in after her. The SUV’s tires peeled as it accelerated, reporters chasing it down the street with their cameras held high. Then a dozen media vans took off after the SUV’s taillights.

Afterward, less than half a dozen people were left milling on the sidewalk, talking excitedly into phones.

I smiled at Ashford. “They bought it.”

“Callum did get the lead in the third-grade spring pageant. Kid wouldn’t shut up about it for months.”

“He and Grace both deserve Oscars for that performance.”

They were headed to Judson’s ranch. Out of anyone in the Lonely Harts club, he lived the farthest out of town, so that goose chase would lead the reporters nearly a half hour away from Silver Ridge. His property was also surrounded by acres and acres of land with a gate and fencing, so they wouldn’t be able to get too close.

Ayla was sitting on the couch in the living room, hands clasped around her knees. “Well?” she asked. I assumed she’d been too nerve-wracked to watch.

“It’s working,” Ashford said. “Next it’ll be Emma and Judson’s turn.”

I planned to wear a similar disguise to Grace’s. The remaining reporters would definitely get suspicious when I appeared, and they might call back some of the vans that had followed Grace and Callum. So we were going to wait until it was fully dark and use a different exit, so it seemed like the real Ayla was trying to sneak away.

By the time Ayla and Ashford would leave, another hour after that, they’d hopefully be able to slip away without a single eye on them.

“Talk to me a minute?” Ashford murmured.

We left Judson and Ayla making polite conversation in the living room and went to Ashford’s bedroom, closing his door partway.

“You sure you’re okay going with Judson instead of me?” he asked.

“It was my idea.”

“I know. Still not happy about it, though. I’ll get to Elias’s as soon as I can.”

Judson was going to drop me off there before heading to his ranch to meet Grace and Callum. I’d never been to Elias’s place, but apparently Ashford would be able to head there without passing through Silver Ridge on his way back from the rendezvous with Aiden.

I had no doubt that a bunch of scarywhat-ifswere going through Ashford’s mind. Now that I knew him so well, I understood that he focused on the negative because he was determined to protect those he loved. As if he could outrun anything bad if he saw it coming in time.

But everything was going to be fine.

I rubbed my nose against his. “I love you.”

“Love you more.” He dropped his mouth to mine. I put my hand on Ashford’s chest over his beating heart.

There was a noise in the hallway. “Oh, gosh. Sorry.” Ayla started to turn away.

“It’s all right,” I said, putting a few inches between Ashford and me, though he didn’t move his hands from my hips. “What’s up?”

She turned back, smiling sheepishly. “Wanted to thank you both again for your help. And apologize that you got mixed up in this mess, Emma.”

“Oh. It’s really okay.” I shrugged. “I should’ve told my family about the drama at my school last semester. That tabloid article saved me the trouble. Or rather, forced me to deal with it.”

“And your family? Are they supportive?”

“They’ve been great about it.”

I was lucky. Plenty of people, like Ayla and Lori, didn’t have that support system. Which was so unfair.

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