Page 70 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

Ashton, only somewhat sullen over his banishment to the office, came down and joined me and Avery in the truck. His surly attitude perked up when I stopped on the way and bought them a sack full of tacos for a late lunch. I didn’t want Avery to cook, nor did I want to get out of the car. Not until we were safe at Avery’s house.

Once we were there, Ashton started tearing into the tacos and I took the opportunity to pull Avery aside.

“I don’t want you guys here tonight without someone watching. I’m going to camp out in the woods and watch over the place.”

She gave me an incredulous look. “Cole, seriously? In the woods?”

Grinning, I said, “Wouldn’t be the first time. I used to do it all the time back in the day. Waiting for you to come out and join me.”

She blushed, turning her head to the side. “Yeah, that was different. I didn’t want my grandmother to know I was sneaking out with you.”

“I remember another time.” I leaned in close and lowered my voice. “When you knew I was out there, and you made sure to walk by your window naked.Multipletimes.”

She swatted my chest and looked down the hall. “Shhh!”

“He’s more worried about the tacos than anything we have to say,” I said. “Anyway, it’ll be fine. I’ve got some camping gear stashed in my truck. A sleeping bag, stuff like that. It’s no problem.”

“I think it’s ridiculous for you to sleep out on the dirt. I mean, you had Trent install that security system the other day. What’s that for, if not to keep us safe?”

“The idea of leaving you guys alone doesn’t sit well with me. Who gives a shit if I’m awake all night in the woods? I’ll be awake all night at home, anyway, worrying about you. At least out there, I can keep an eye on the place and know you’re safe. Please, Avery. Let me do this for you.”

She studied me and must have seen the fear in my eyes. I wasn’t trying to hide it, and I wantedher to see it. To know how much I cared about them.

She huffed and pointed toward the nearest window. “Fine, but you aren’t staying out there. You can stay inside.”

A tremor of fear hit me, worry that she might think I was trying to con my way into the house. That was the last thing I wanted her to think.

“No, it’s fine, Avery. I’ll stay outside. I don’t want to intrude on your evening.”

“Cole,” she groaned in exasperation. “I’m not letting you sleep outside. I have a guest room. It doesn’t have a bed because Grandma used it as a sewing room, but you can set up your sleeping bag. I’m a big girl. I know what I’m asking of you, okay?”

“Fair enough,” I said. “I’ll go grab my stuff.”

“I’ll even be nice and get you a pillow,” she said as I headed for the front door.

I chuckled and winked at her. “A real five-star hotel you’re running here.”

“We try.”

After dropping my stuff off in the guest room, I joined Ashton in the dining room.

“Hey, pal,” I said. “Since we canceled your training session today, do you want to go out in the backyard and work on some stuff before dinner?”

Ashton, mouth full of taco, jerked his head up in eagerness. “Hell, yeah.”

“Aves, is that okay with you?” I asked as she grabbed a taco.

“I’m okay with it. I’ll cook you guys a nice dinner for when you’re done.” She looked down at the soggy taco. “Something better than this, I mean.”

“Hey, this was delicious,” Ashton said as he crumpled the wrapper from what looked to be his tenth taco.

“Go on,” Avery said, waving at the back door. “Shoo-shoo. Go do big, bad boy stuff.”

I spent the next three hours working with Ashton. I’d been in my fair share of scrapes, and Trent had taught me even more, though I was still far from the expert he was. Most of what I showed Ashton was from a boxing class I’d taken not long after leaving Harbor Mills. He took to it pretty easily. After that, I showed him some simple wrist locks and how to get out of them—simple stuff I’d learned from Trent.

When we were done, the sun was dipping low on the horizon, and we were tired and sweaty. Not only that, but my stomach was roaring for food. Even Ashton, who’d damn near eaten his weight in tacos earlier, was hungry.

“Really hope she made something good,” Ashton said as we trudged toward the back door. “She went to the grocery store yesterday. There’s tons of food, and I’m starving.”

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