Page 15 of The Chase
Until she ended up at Ayla’s house. Ayla and Aubrey had bought a little ranch house in town Value and had made it so cute for the two of them.
Aubrey was a doctor. She could explain what Greer needed to do next. First, Greer needed to make sure she and the baby were as healthy as possible. She was having a baby, and that meant taking care of herself from this moment on.
Then, she’d come up with a plan about how to deal with Kurtland Chase. She wasn’t going to go through this alone. She had to remember that. She had her family. And they loved her. No matter what.
Aubrey answered the door. “Greer…If you’re looking for Ayla, Gunn convinced her to go with him to the movies tonight.”
That had her pausing. Gunn and Ayla had been spending a lot of time together lately. Alone. Doing things…dates did. “Are they actually…dating? Like for real?”
Her brother the minister, and one of her best friends? Crazy. She hoped so, though. She really hoped so. Gunn would so perfect for Ayla—and Ayla would see Gunn for the man he really was.
Aubrey shook her head. “I’m not entirely sure that they are. But I’m not sure they’re not, either. Come in…and tell me what’s going on. I can see you’re upset about something.”
Right there, on Aubrey’s front steps, Greer just broke into a thousand pieces.
And the entire story just came right out.
She endedup spending the night at Aubrey and Ayla’s. It was fun to be there and grill Gunn about his intentions toward Ayla when he finally brought her home. Her big brother’s cheeks actually turned red when she teased him.
Gunn was one of the sweetest men she had ever known. Ayla was…the sweetest, kindest woman she had ever met.
Greer couldn’t think of two people more perfect for one another. Ayla was just made to be a minister’s wife, as much as she thrived on helping people. And the way her brotherlookedat Ayla…well, she thought it was beautiful.
Theywere the way love was supposed to be. But if they got married, who would do the ceremony, considering Gunn was the minister? Probably his friend from Nebraska who he was always talking about.
Greer told Ayla everything, as Aubrey made them all hot cocoa with extra marshmallows. Aubrey liked to fuss over people, she had noticed before.
Greer helped herself to a fresh pile of little white pillows of goodness—apparently, her baby liked marshmallows more than anything in the world. And she talked. Spilled it all. Even one little detail she hadn’tmeantto share.
“Ok, so…this was the first time you’ve ever slept with a guy and you didn’t even get to have the big…you know…” Ayla asked, all wide-eyed. “That is so unfair. I mean, if I ever get to the point of taking my clothes off with a man, I want to at leastenjoyit. Not that I have even came close. The closest I have ever gottenwas tonight…when your brother kissed me. Like right here. Between the eyes, between the eyes. Guys are so weird.”
Gunn had kissed her between the eyes. That was so…funny and sweet and goofy and something Gunn would do when he was feeling awkward. Those two…so romantic.
“No kidding. Let’s just say I’m not too up on the idea of jumping into another guy’s bed anytime soon. Say…at least nineteen…maybe…twenty years? And only then if he’s young and model-hot. Maybe.”
“It’s not always like that,” Aubrey said, abruptly. “My first time was very sweet. And with someone I really trusted. He was a good man.”
Was. That was telling. “What happened?”
She didn’t know much about Aubrey at all. Ayla’s big sister was a bit on the cool, mysterious side.
“He died when I was twenty-one. We were living in Houston together. Close to Ayla. He was a nursing supervisor. And there was an attack in the emergency department one night. He wrapped himself around a little girl when her abusive father went after her, to protect her. He was shot three times. I was in the building at the time. I was able to get to him, to hold him as…he died.” Aubrey stood, and put her cup in the sink. Then she turned back to Ayla and Greer. The look on her face was fierce, almost frightening. “Listen to me, you two. Don’t you dare justsettlefor pieces of anything. Just scraps. Go for everything. There are good men out there. I’m starting to learn that again lately. Don’t let one bad experience keep you from seeing that, Greer. Kurt Chase isn’t worth a moment more of your time. And you aren’t doing this alone. I can think of fivegoodmen who are going to be standing shoulder-to-shoulder between you and him, if that’s what you want. And probably Chad Fields and his brother Charlie on either side of them, like gorgeous redheaded bookends. There have to be more men like them out there. Sopromise me, don’t ever just settle. You deserve more than that. So much more. Both of you do.”
Greer wrapped her hands around the older woman’s. Aubrey had been hurt more than any woman Greer had ever met before. That hurt would always be ghosts in her eyes. “And so do you. We all do. Let’s make a pact, right now. None of us settle for less than the real deal. Okay?”
11
The air was far sweeterin Barratt County than anywhere Dwayne Yunderhall had ever lived before. He’d always thought that. Even when he’d been stupid teenager twenty years ago, stuck in fucking Value with no hope of getting out. He had—but not in a way he ever wanted to think about again.
Fifteen years. He’d been in the state prison for fifteen fucking years of his life. He’d been twenty-three when he’d been convicted—twenty-three when those fucking Hillers had robbed him of everything.
He forced a breath, trying to calm himself down like the therapists he’d been stuck with had told him to do. He’d had trouble adjusting to prison life at first, they’d said—no shit—but he’d eventually learned to play the game. Did what they wanted him to do so he could have what limited freedoms he could in general pop. But hell, he’d gotten so used to someone telling him when to eat and when to shower and when to shit—he almost didn’t know what to do with himself on the outside.
He had no damned family to stay with. He had almost no money—just what he’d had in a bank account before he’d been sent away. He’d managed to put back a few thousand since he’dwalked free, after he’d bought his fucking truck. Dwayne spent most of his time lately putting some part or another on that piece of shit. If he wasn’t able to stay in a four-plex that made a point of taking in ex-cons on the outskirts of town, he’d be living in that truck. Place was a run-down hellhole, but it was a solid roof over his head. That he could actually afford on what he made picking up other people’s trash.
This was what he’d become—the local trash collector. Garbageman Dwayne. He’d come so far.
Well, his own daddy had told him he wouldn’t amount to much. Guess he’d lived up to those expectations, hadn’t he? This hadn’t exactly been what he’d planned for his life when he’d been young and stupid.
