Chapter 2
TAYLOR
Sitting in my car, I stare up at the building before me, willing myself to walk into the library for my first book club in LA.
When I moved here, I made a promise to myself that I’d do more than just sit at home and read after work.
I vowed I’d get out and start to live life, so when I saw the poster for book club, I thought “why not?” It’s technically still reading, BUT it’s getting OUT to read.
The reading point is moot because I’ll be meeting new people and mingling, while reading.
Knowing I need a pep talk, I call my best friend and sister from another mister, Asher King—no relation, even though we share the same last name.
“Hey, stranger,” she says in greeting.
“Hey-hey, how’s things?” I ask in reply.
“Don’t ask,” she huffs, and I shake my head.
“What did Bonnie and Clyde do this time?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?” I question.
“Yep, nothing, meaning they haven’t done anything and that in itself is scary.
I thought they would have been on the first plane here so they could be at the front of the line to pull the plug.
” Asher’s grandfather is a real estate and sports mogul.
He owns the Colorado Dragons, most of the high-rise buildings in downtown Denver and a cattle station in Australia because Australian beef is far superior to American beef.
Papa King is currently in hospice. His cancer finally caught up with him and he only has a few days left.
Asher is going to be devastated when he passes.
Her parents are less than stellar people.
Luckily for her, she had Papa King. Even while running his empire, he also raised my best friend, with a little help from my parents.
“Maybe your mom is upset her dad is dying.”
“Please, that woman doesn’t have a heart inside her chest.”
I snort but she’s right, her parents are deplorable people but, luckily for her, we moved to town, and Mrs. Dawn seated us next to each other in second grade. We became besties right away, and I got the sister I always wanted.
Asher and I became inseparable from that first moment.
Me relocating to LA is the first time we’ve ever been apart.
And I mean ever. After school, we got an apartment together that was close to the arena for her and college for me.
She’s the equipment manager for the Colorado Dragons, and she’s bloody good at her job.
She knows what the players need, sometimes even before they do.
She knows what each of them likes, and no one can sharpen a blade like Asher, no one.
You wouldn’t think her job is all that important, but she’s just as important as anyone else on the team.
When I told her about my new job with Blackstone Publishing and having to move, she didn’t talk to me for three days, and that was hard, since we lived together.
But like always when we have a tiff, she came around and told me, in no uncertain terms, if I turned into a stuck-up Californian, she’d whack me around the head with a hockey stick.
“I still maintain you were adopted.”
“I sometimes wonder that myself, but then I look at Papa and know I’m not.”
“This is true. How’s he doing?”
“Holding on.”
Papa King is a stubborn man, but he has a heart of gold. He won’t want to leave Asher alone, and I have a feeling me being here is playing into that. I feel guilty that I’m not there but I also know, if I went back, he’d be angry since I just started. He loves me, just as much as he loves Asher.
“And back to my original question, how are YOU doing?” I emphasize the “you” part because Asher always focuses on everyone else. Apart from me and Papa King, she has no one. And right now, being so far away sucks donkey dick.
“I’m getting there. Storm…” She drifts off.
“Is there a storm coming in?”
“Ummm…”
“Asher,” I probe, “what aren’t you telling me?”
“I, umm, well, shit, fuck.”
Suddenly my brain kicks into gear and I sit up in my seat. “No freakin’ way, you and Storm Cromwell?”
“Keep your voice down,” she hisses.
“I’m in my car, alone, and even if I wasn’t, who cares? Now, spill the deets.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“Bullshit! Don’t lie to me. Did you go all cougar on that sexy-as-sin center?”
“Yes,” she barely whispers.
“Asher King, I’m sooo proud of you for putting yourself out there. Can he wield his stick just as good off the ice?”
“Oh My God, I’m not answering that.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Speaking of putting out.” She’s totally ignoring me right now, and that means it’s something. If anyone deserves to be happy, it’s her. So I’ll wait until she’s ready to spill the beans on her and Storm. “Are you getting out there?”
“For your information, I’m in my car, about to go into book club.”
“I’m so proud of you… even if it’s book related.”
“I’m getting out to read, it’s totally different.”
“Mmmhmpf, but for the record, I’m proud you’re putting yourself out there. There’s more to life than work.”
She has a point there. I focused so hard on my studies and trying to get a job that I lost my spark, but when the Blackstone offer came, I leaped without thinking. Something I never do, just like her and Storm. Never did I think she’d go for a player.
A lull falls between us, and I wrap the call up before reminding her, “If it’s not on, it’s not on,” because I’m too young to be an aunty … even if she and Storm would make the cutest babies.
Climbing out of my car, I walk up the stairs and into the library, ready to put myself out there.
Pushing open the door, I step inside the old building, and a calm instantly washes over me. I don’t know what it is about books, but they just make me happy. Glancing around the place, I find myself grinning. Inside these walls there are many stories of love and happiness and gore.
“Come on,” a sultry voice purrs. “You know you want to.”
Turning my head to where the voice came from, I see a woman and a man chatting.
A ridiculously attractive man. She’s flirting, hard, and he looks like he’d rather be anywhere else.
He looks up and our gaze catches across the room.
Everything around me fades into the background.
It’s just him and me. He’s pleading with his eyes for help, and before I know what’s happening, I’m putting one foot in front of the other and heading over to them.
Reaching them, I slide my arm around his waist, look up into his gorgeous hazel eyes, and murmur, “Hey, baby.”