Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 20812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 104(@200wpm)___ 83(@250wpm)___ 69(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 104(@200wpm)___ 83(@250wpm)___ 69(@300wpm)
She pats me on the chest. “Oh, you know what I mean.”
I stare into her eyes, and I swear I’m looking at my future. “Cassie said you graduated. What’s your degree in?”
She seems taken aback by my question. “Business with a minor in photography.”
I can’t hide my surprise. “Photography?”
She nods. “Yep, that’s my passion. That’s what I want to do, but I knew I needed to be more responsible, so that’s why I focused on business.”
I rest my chin on the top of her head. There are so many things going through my head right now. For most of my life, my only concern has been Cassie. Until I joined the Diamond Kings and found my brothers. Then I made my circle bigger and included them. Mostly because I knew if anything ever happened to me, they would take care of Cassie too, no questions asked. Now it seems that my future is getting bigger than I’ve ever let myself dream. And it’s all because of Ava. She’s making it seem that anything and everything I’ve ever wanted is possible.
“Is all your stuff in your dorm?”
She nods against my chest. “Yep, everything. Even all my camera equipment. I hated leaving it, but at the time, I didn’t think I had a choice.”
I stroke her hair soothingly before giving it a gentle tug so she’ll look up at me. “You trust me?”
She rolls her eyes. “It would be stupid of me not to at this point.”
I bark a laugh. “You’re right about that. Okay, I’m going to take care of it.”
I release her and start walking down the hall with her following on my heels. “What are you doing?”
I go to the room she’s been staying in and start grabbing her clothes out of the closet. “Well, first, I’m moving you into my bedroom.”
My next thought is I’m going to have Mav and Glock take a trip to Nashville, but I’m not going to mention that. Not yet.
She follows me out of the room and watches as I lay her clothes on my now made bed. I walk over to the closet and start moving clothes around to make space for hers. She’s standing next to me. “Tank, this is fast... are you sure you wanna...”
I stop and look at her. “What? Keep you forever? Yeah, honey. I’m sure.”
And when her face blooms with a breathtaking smile, I know I’m making the right decision. She jumps up and down, kisses me, and then goes back down the hall to grab more things. I try to focus on the task at hand, but my mind starts to wander to what I know is coming up. Her ex, Beau, and his family are not going to give up, but there’s no way I can let them win. Not now.
Chapter 13
Ava
It’s been a week since I moved into Tank’s room. It’s been absolutely perfect, but I know I can’t just keep going the way I’m going. I am loving all the time I’ve spent with him, but he’s now spending more time over at the ranch doing whatever they do over there, and let’s face it, there’s only so much cleaning and cooking I can do. I have to get a job, but I also know that in order to freely move on and not worry about looking over my shoulder, I need to take care of this thing with my ex.
When Tank comes home for lunch, I have it ready, and as soon as he sits down, I start. “I have something I need to talk to you about.”
He takes a bite of his sandwich. I could tell he had something on his mind as soon as he walked in the door, but I can’t put this off any longer. He looks at me hesitantly. “What is it?”
I push my uneaten sandwich away from me and hold my hands up. “Okay, hear me out.”
He swallows the food in his mouth and pushes his plate away. He wipes his mouth with the napkin and looks at me. “How come I don’t think I’m going to like this?”
I give him a weak smile. “Just listen.” I take a deep breath and, on my exhale, I blurt it out. “I’m going to go back to Nashville.”
His eyes get big, and he pushes back from the table. “Why? What did I do?”
I reach for him and cover his hand with mine. “I can’t keep running, Tank.”
He shakes his head. “So what, you’re going to go back to Beau?”
I look at him startled. “You think I would go back to him?”
He jumps up and starts pacing the floor. “I don’t know what I think, Ava. I thought what we have is going good, and now you’re talking about leaving me.”
I step in front of him and force him to look at me. “I’m not leaving you. I’m going to Nashville to get my things... and I need to face Beau. The things he did to me, I’ll never forgive myself if I just let it go.”