Page 72 of Be Your Forever
“Hey. Trust me when I say this, she doesn’t hate you. I think you both need to talk to each other and when you do, things will make sense. Do you…” I pause, unsure if I want to ask this type of question. Not everyone is pro-therapy. As much as Max has been supportive of me and my therapy journey, I’m not sure where his thoughts lie on the matter. “Listen, man, please don’t take this the wrong way, but are you planning to go to therapy to deal with your trauma?”
“Yeah. I think I need to. I have it on my list of things to do, but I’m not ready yet.”
“I get it. It took me a while to work my way up to therapy. Shit like this isn’t easy to work through. You have to be ready to tackle your shit,” Cas adds.
If anyone knows about healing from grief, it’s Cas. He’s a recovering addict who is still processing and healing from his childhood trauma. I give him a shit ton of credit. It’s not easy to turn your life around, and yet, he did it.
“Yeah, I guess so. And I’m not even close to being prepared to have the difficult conversations. Anyway, enough about me. How's dad to be?”
“Good. Avery and the baby are doing well. We found out what we’re having.” Cas looks down at his feet, but his smile is as wide as can be.
“So, are you going to stop there? Or are you planning to tell us the news?”
“We’re having a little girl.” Cas’ eyes begin to water, and his smile widens even more.
“Watch out future partners, this little girl has three men in her life who will kick their ass if they hurt her,” Max jokes around.
“Don’t even get me started on that. She’s not allowed to date until she’s forty.”
“You aren’t gonna be able to stop her. With a woman like Avery, that girl is destined to be beautiful. Men, and or women, will flock to her like bees to honey.”
“Fuck,” Cas curses while throwing his head back.
Max and I can’t help but laugh. Poor Cas, he has his work cut out for him.
“So, Bri and I are planning on going into business together,” I blurt out. Cas and Max look at me with matching surprised expressions.
“What?” Max asks
“Yeah, she told me she’s always wanted to open her own bookstore, and I’ve been wanting to do something more with my life. So, the two of us are going to pair certain cocktails with books and call it ‘Booked ‘N’ Boozed.’”
“I like that. I think the two of you will work well together, especially with the things Avery tells me.” Cas winks at me.
Max covers his ears and shouts, “I don’t wanna know! That’s my sister.”
We spend the rest of the time laughing, and they share their opinions on cocktail names. We talk until I have to leave for the bar.
Brianna
Are you gonna feed me that cherry?
IpullintoAces,and I thank my lucky stars no one’s here yet. They don’t open for another hour, but not even Gage’s motorcycle is in the employee’s only lot. I glance around and when I spot Asher’s car, I walk up to the back door and knock. My original plan was to wear my black wrap dress, but then I had a ballsy idea. So, underneath my long, brown trench is the red lingerie set that Asher bought me during our shopping trip. Inside my bag is the dress so that I can hang out with him while he works. He’s sexy as hell behind the bar.
“Hi, bear, what are you doing here?” He leans in and presses a quick kiss to my lips before pulling me inside.
“I love watching you work.” I trail a finger up and down his arm, and I watch as the pulse in his neck quickens. “It also helps that watching you shake up a cocktail is total forearm porn for me. So, I figured I could hang out before it gets crazy.”
“I’m glad you’re here. I told Max about us, and he wasn’t even surprised. Can you believe that?” Asher is prepping behind the bar, so his back is to me. I strip my coat off and toss it on the floor and climb on top of the bar top. Asher has yet to pay attention to me, his attention focused on preparing the garnishes.
“I’m not surprised. Max has always given me shit for liking you—even when I didn’t like you at the time. Well, if I’m being honest, I think I was in denial.”
“Really? Max can be a real dick sometimes, huh?” I frown at his back because hestillhasn’t turned around. I have to get creative with my methods here.
“Hey, Ash? Can I have a cherry?”
“Yeah, here.” He hands me the bowl without looking at me.Gah…men.
“I want you to feed it to me.” There, he’ll have to look at me now.
