Chapter 15
fifteen
Lachlan
“ Y ou guys were truly amazing!” Ainsley says as she runs over to us. “I actually could follow that last match.”
“Amazing might be a stretch, but we definitely were better than usual,” Everett says as we reach her.
“Well, I was impressed. I think I understand a little more about the game too.”
“You do?” I ask.
She nods. “Yes, you guys run a lot, chucking the Frisbee and yelling at each other.”
“You’ve got the basics,” I reply with a chuckle.
“Hey, your phone rang a few times.”
Ainsley hands me the phone.
It’s Becky’s mom. I dial her back, and she answers on the second ring.
“Hey, Lachlan, sorry to bother you.”
“Is everything okay with Rose?”
“Yes, she’s great. I wanted to see if it was okay with you if she stays with me for the night. I need to go help my mom on the farm, and I’ll probably be there late. It would be a huge help if Becky had Rose so she wasn’t driving me up the wall.”
I glance over at Ainsley, who is laughing with the guys. All night alone in the house. No distractions. No one to walk in and stop us.
I should do the smart thing and tell her I need Rose home to keep me from being an idiot. Although it’s a little late for that.
I clear my throat. “Yeah, that’s fine. Let me know when to come pick her up tomorrow.”
“Thank you. I appreciate this so much.”
“Of course, I’m sure Rose will love it. She adores your mom’s farm.”
She loves animals, and getting to spend the night with Becky will be an added bonus.
“Hope the tournament went well. Do you want me to grab Rose so you can talk to her?”
“No, it’s okay. I’m sure she’s playing with Becky. Tell her I love her and she can call me later if she wants.”
“Will do.”
“Thanks, Mary. Talk to you tomorrow.”
I hang up and walk over to where the guys are talking to Ainsley, and she’s got the biggest smile on her face. She looks so happy and free, so fucking beautiful it makes my chest ache.
Tonight, we’re going to figure this out.
Tonight, before I do something really fucking stupid.
She looks over to me. Her eyes are soft, and she gives me a sweet smile. Yeah, tonight I’m absolutely going to do something stupid.
“And when is the next tournament?” Ainsley asks as we are about fifteen minutes from the house.
“In two weeks.”
Since we got in the car, she’s been nonstop talking. I swear she’s going to lose her voice at this rate. She’s asked every question about the rules, why we kept dropping passes, and what the point of the referee is .
I’ve been able to supply her with at least a few two and three-word answers instead of my normal one-word ones.
“Oh! Good! By then I should have a ton of information on the four of you, so the last tournament will be a good ending part to the piece that I can add during edits.”
“You mean three.”
She huffs. “Yes, I forgot. You’re a pain in the ass and won’t comply.”
“Comply with what?”
“Helping me. You know how much this all means to me, Lach. I’ve wanted this since I was a kid.”
“To write about the sportsball, as you call it?”
She wants more than this. She’s better than this too. She is meant to take the world by storm, to win prizes, to show people just how damn smart she is. I’ve read and saved every article that she’s ever written, and even when talking about hats, she makes the words come alive and jump off the page. Ainsley MacKinley is one of the most talented writers I’ve ever read.
“You know I want more than that.”
“And yet you’re writing about Frisbee.”
“The world doesn’t work like that. We have to prove ourselves, and that’s what I’m doing. Without the help of someone I know.”
“As you just said, you have to work. What makes you think every person you want to interview or expose is going to be helpful? Consider this training.”
Ainsley snorts. “Do you remember who my father is? I’ve been training for this my whole life. The Admiral is the most evasive human ever known. He never answers a question without making you think you asked something else.”
That’s accurate. He’s also not a man you want to piss off. Ainsley, though, was able to say anything and never get in trouble for it. She somehow cracked the code to be able to always be on his good side.
“He also always indulged you. ”
“I can be persuasive when I need to be. Most people have a weakness. You just have to find it.”
I smirk. “And what’s mine?”
She shakes her head and looks out the window. “I don’t know.”
I laugh at that. “You do. Go on, tell me.”
“You don’t have one.”
She’s lying. I know because that’s her weakness. She sucks at it. Her pure heart doesn’t allow for the deceit easily.
“Ainsley,” I say her name carefully. “Don’t lie to me, please.”
The long sigh that falls from her lips is filled with frustration. “You’re not going to like it.”
“To be fair, I don’t know that anyone likes their weaknesses.”
“True, but one of your many weaknesses is that you don’t think you have any.”
I huff. “I know I have them.”
“Name one.”
You.
You are my biggest weakness, and it’s why I tried so hard to shut you out of my fucking world.
“I’m stubborn,” I say instead of that thought.
“That’s an understatement.”
“I’m always right.”
Her eyes narrow. “That’s not a weakness, that’s bullshit.”
I laugh. “Fine. I don’t trust easily.”
Years and years of people proving that they aren’t trustworthy have made that my reality. I’ve tried to see past the broken promises, but after a while, you can’t. People show you who they are—I just choose to believe them instead of deluding myself they’ll change.
My mother suffered with depression throughout her life. She fought as hard as she could, until she decided she didn’t want to anymore. No matter how many times she promised me she’d try again, she would go back. I didn’t have friends, other than Caspian and Ainsley, who came to the house growing up, mostly because I never knew if she would be dressed, awake, or functioning.
“No, you don’t, but you have your reasons.”
Ainsley and Caspian know. They were there, and it wasn’t always bad. She had good times. Where she baked cakes and threw elaborate garden parties. Those were the times I had my mom, the woman who loved me and did anything to make me smile.
I’d miss her when she’d fall into the abyss.
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” I tell her.
“Lachlan, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I know why you don’t trust people. Your whole life has been a series of letdowns. I get it. Your mom, Rose’s mother, your college girlfriend who tried to take money from you ... I was there. I know all about it. However, you trust some people.”
“Your brother, that’s about it.” She flinches a little. “And you, you know that.”
“Do I? I’m not trying to make myself a martyr here, but I’m not sure you do. Four years ago you didn’t trust me. You pushed away and told me I was a mistake.”
I put the truck in park in the driveway and turn to face her. “I didn’t trust myself.”
“Why?”
“It never should’ve happened that night.”
It never should’ve happened, period.
She turns, pulling her leg up onto the seat. “It happened again, though.”
“Yes.”
“And today, you ... we ... if we weren’t in front of your team, I think it would’ve happened then.”
I nod slowly. “Yes.”
“So you said we were going to find a way to deal with it?”
I inch closer. “We need to establish some kind of ...”
“An agreement.”
“Rules.”
“Boundaries,” Ainsley says as she moves closer. “So no one gets hurt. ”
“You’re going to leave here,” I remind her.
“And you’re going to stay.”
Her brown eyes are trained on mine, the tiny flecks of yellow almost glowing. “Yes.”
“What’s your plan?” she asks softly.
“I have several of them.” One is that I strip her down and kiss every inch of this woman until she begs me to stop. I’m going to bring her so much pleasure that she’ll never want another man to even look at her. I plan to take her over and over again, fuck her out of my brain because she’s embedded herself there.
I plan to do a lot to her, but that’s not the plan I think she’s asking for.
“You matter to me, Ainsley. You aren’t just some hookup that I’ll never see again. You’re my best friend’s sister and you matter, understand?” I need that to be fully transparent. “If any of this idea doesn’t sit right, we figure something else out.”
Like I bribe Hazel to let her live there, because we can’t keep doing this dance. One way or another, I’m going to end this madness.
“And the same for you.”
I almost laugh, but I hold it in. “I want you. I have for a long time, but because you’re who you are, I’ve done my best to stay away.”
“I’m pretty sure you know where I stand.”
Again she moves an inch closer. Any more of this and she’s going to be plastered against me.
Which wouldn’t be unwelcome.
I need her to say the words, to tell me exactly what she wants. “I don’t know anything that goes on in your head, Ainsley, but here’s what I want ... you. I want you while you’re here. After you leave, we go our separate ways and remain friends.”
“So it’s just for while I’m here?” She licks her lips and I feel my cock harden.
“That’s it.”
“And after we pretend it didn’t happen? ”
I’m pretty sure she’s going to fuck my entire world up when she goes, but that’s not her problem.
“We will always be in each other’s lives, and I don’t want to complicate that.”
She laughs softly, her lips a breath away from mine. “I’m pretty sure we’re about to complicate everything.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“Sex? With you? Until I leave ... yeah, I’m okay with it.”
“Good.”
And then I lean the rest of the way in and kiss her.