Page 54 of Delayed Penalty

I’m not used to her spicy side, but it’s fun to see it come out every now and then. It does seem to happen quite a bit around Miles, but I doubt he’s even aware of it.

“What are you saying, trouble?” he says back.

“That we thought it’d be easy for you to come up with words for sex since you fuck a new woman almost every night.”

“Nah, it’s not a new woman every night. I quite often have repeat customers,” Miles says back, his tone more clipped than usual but with his typical grin in place I’m sure no one else has noticed.

“I’m surprised, women are usually too smart to return back for a mediocre fuck,” Stella deadpans.

“Oh, babe, mediocre has never been used to describe the way I fuck. I’m more than happy to provide evidence… or first-hand experience if that’s what it’d take.”

“Anywayyy, what do you two call each other?” Sawyer asks, changing the subject thankfully.

But of course, it’s directed at us.

She is always the one so curious to know about people's relationships… but not in a weird way. She’s genuinely happy to learn about how people fell in love, and having it directed toward Avery and me, especially with everything they’ve learned today, it sort of makes sense. I mean, we’re sort of married with a baby on the way.

“What do you mean? I call her Avery or Ave if I’m shortening it?” I ask stupidly.

“No, you buffoon, like your nicknames for each other. Your pet names,” Gwen interjects.

“I’ve never had one for her,” I say, not missing the way Avery looks down, a flash of disappointment in her eyes.

Leaning back, I rest my hand on her thigh, squeezing just enough to make sure I have her attention specifically before I look back at Sawyer.

“The only thing I’ve ever wanted to call her is my wife, everything else seemed too pedestrian for what she means to me.” I shrug, feeling everyone’s eyes on me, but I’m not paying attention.

My eyes are now locked with Avery who’s looking at me like she’s seeing me for the first time. For the first time in years, she’s looking at me like I’m something special, not like she’s counting down the moments until she can run far away from me.

“So, how long have you guys known each other?” Stella asks, breaking the moment.

“I met Harris when I was touring the campus for college in like, June or July. He was a junior and had a cute little puppy he was walking that was basically walking him. I had to stop and say hi. After that he gave me his number and said if I ever neededanything to give him a call. We started texting the next day and pretty much didn’t stop.”

“Avery and I dated right before I joined the Cyclones.”

“Hold up… right before?” Miles asks, and I see the wheels turning.

“Yes.”

“Does this mean what I think it means?” He smirks, his eyes wild with amusement, and I know exactly what story he’s thinking about.

Motherfucker.

“I hope you choke on a dick and die, Danielson. You’re as good as dead to me.”

“It does,” I say, looking over at Avery who’s now confused.

“So, you’re the girl who left the voicemail telling Harris to choke on a dick and die?” Miles says through laughter, tears now streaming down his cheeks and the rest of the guys now must catch on because they start laughing.

The only one who’s known it was her the entire time is Cade, but that’s just because we were living with each other.

“I thought he was lying when he told us that,” Miles adds.

“Nope, I definitely remember him getting that phone call. I was there,” Cade jokes.

“Yup, I remember the phone call as well,” Avery adds, and I’m shocked. “That phone call happened right after I was given the letter of you breaking up with me. It was just minutes after getting that fucking letter, printed and fucking signed, breaking up with me.”

“What fucking letter are you referring to?” I ask, anger flowing through me at her words.

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