Chapter 45
FORTY-FIVE
Waking up in Ty’s arms was everything. It was peaceful and made me feel complete in a way that soothed my soul.
Tyler Kane loved me.
He loved me, and saying it made me feel like I was sixteen all over again. It was such a giddy feeling that reminded me of my youth.
The feeling was there when we were children, but now it had become more—it had become everything.
“Morning, beautiful.” Ty’s arm around my waist became tighter, pulling me deeper into him. His sleepy voice next to my ear caused a shiver to go down my spine. I could feel his smile pressed against my nape. “Breakfast, or do you want to go wait for Rach?”
The anxiety I felt yesterday wasn’t there anymore. I no longer felt that hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach either. Tyler was there, an unwavering force giving me strength.
When I arrived back home, the feelings he evoked scared me, and they made me angry because it wasn’t fair how easy it was to have my heart wanting to trust him again.
“Can we go wait? I bet she’s going to be exhausted after all of that. Might as well see her now so she can rest later.”
We moved in tandem as we both got ready for the day that awaited us. Again, I marveled at how easy it was for us to work together—to coexist. We had established a pattern that didn’t go away with time.
When we made it out of Ty’s room, I thought we would go back outside through the back door, and I began to panic when he led us upstairs and toward the kitchen.
I could hear someone moving around—correction, I could hear Mr. Kane moving around in the kitchen.
I don’t even know why I was panicking. The man was aware that I had spent the night here already, but now that there was more between me and his son it just made the whole thing a bit different.
Was I being dumb?
Most definitely, but a girl had to have some delusion it was charming.
“We’re heading out, Dad,” Ty said as we came into view.
Mr. Kane was leaning against the kitchen counter with a coffee mug to his lips, but that did nothing to hide the shit-eating grin on his face.
My cheeks instantly flamed.
“Hey, Mr.…Mark.”
Shit, I really had to rewire my brain to start calling him by his first name.
“Where you guys headed to so early?”
Ty got busy making himself a cup of coffee, and when he asked me if I wanted one I couldn’t help but look horrified.
No offense to their insta coffee.
“Um…” I stopped, staring at Ty, and instead looked at Mr. Kane, who looked amused. “We are heading over to my house to wait for Rachel.”
“Nasty business, that was,” Mr. Kane said. “Callahan has always been a piece of shit.”
This intrigued me.
“What makes you say that?”
Ty was now mirroring his father as he drank his coffee, leaning against the other side of the kitchen counter.
“It’s not the number of times his card has gotten rang at the shop, but the number of women. None of them close to his age. Now, I’m not here to shame anyone, but when a man with power like him has a string of young impressionable women, that doesn’t tell me anything good about him.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Once Ty finished his coffee, he rinsed the cup and then came and put one arm around my shoulders.
Mr. Kane smiled softly at this.
“See you later, Dad.”
I waved.
“Bye, Mark.”
He gave us a two-finger salute.
“I’m glad you two finally got your heads out of your asses.”
I gasped, and Ty laughed.
He looked down at me, and his eyes were soft, his lips turned up, and in front of his dad he kissed me.
By the time we actually pulled up to my house, there was already a brigade there. Ezekiel and Adam were standing by Zeke’s bike, talking to him.
The three of them catcalled once I got out of Ty’s truck.
As we walked toward them, I noticed both EZ and Adam pulled out their wallets and handed Zeke a twenty each.
What the fuck?
“Did you guys lose a bet?”
Adam glared at me.
“I had more faith in you, Astrid. I was sure you would have held on for another month.”
“You bet on our relationship?” I screeched.
All three of them were amused, meanwhile I did not find it amusing one bit.
“You couldn’t have made it a relationship a week ago?” EZ teased.
I turned to look at Ty, who didn’t look like this was any news to him.
“You let them bet on us?”
At this Zeke laughed.
“He was the one who started it, and he lost spectacularly. The poor sap gave himself two weeks.”
The snort that left me was very unladylike.
“You seriously thought I would have forgiven you in two weeks?”
Ty had the decency to look ashamed of his actions.
As he should.
“He clearly doesn’t know women like I do,” Zeke boasted. “Bartenders, we’re like psychologists.”
Before I could give them a witty remark, I noticed Prescott’s car heading our way.
“Rachel’s here,” I told them.
Callahan had to pay for what he had done. I wasn’t one for violence, but scumbags like him deserved to eat shit.
“Oh my God, Rach, are you okay?” I asked as I ran to her and wrapped her up in a hug.
My heart broke for her. She looked pale, her eyes swollen from crying, and heavy bags under her eyes.
“It was scary, but I’m better now,” she told me softly so the others wouldn’t hear. Her eyes quickly went to Prescott, who was glaring at all of us. I narrowed my eyes at him, and the asshole scowled.
“We appreciate your concern, but Rachel needs some rest now,” Prescott let us know after everyone had hugged Rach.
She gave me a sad smile and followed him toward her house.
“That’s two couples in a weekend. If you’re not careful, Adam, you’re going to find yourself tied up,” Zeke said in a way to break the tension.
“Fuck no,” Adam barked.
“Adam,” I hissed. “You don’t say things like that aloud, or else the universe will go all ‘hold my beer’ on you.”
He scoffed.
“I got all I need. Reaper doesn’t need a mommy.”
We all shook our heads at him.
“Catch y’all later, got to get ready for the bar later,” Zeke said, and then sped away on his bike.
“We have to head out too,” EZ added, motioning between him and Adam. “We have to open up shop.
Once they left, Ty turned to look at me.
“What now, beautiful?”
Before I could answer, my stomach growled.
“Your off today?” he asked, and I nodded.
Ronnie was not happy at all with me. I kind of dreaded tomorrow, but that was a problem for future Astrid. Not only was he not happy with me, but Ori wouldn’t be there as a buffer.
“How about I take you to Emma’s for breakfast.”
That instantly made my mood better.
Too bad my good mood did not last. I could tell Ronnie was in a foul mood when I walked into work on Tuesday morning.
“Nice of you to join us today, Astrid,” Ronnie stated as I put my bag on top of my desk.
He was standing on the threshold to his office.
“Sorry, but I wanted to make sure my friend was okay.”
This didn’t seem to matter to him since he snapped at me.
“We have the biggest story to hit the county, Orianna is on her honeymoon, and you can’t be bothered to be here? You didn’t even send in your piece for the week.”
At this my stomach dropped.
He was right. I had finished my “Around Town with Hart.” I had written a beautiful piece for Kanes’ Auto, but with everything that happened, I just forgot.
Fuck.
“I’m so sorry, Ronnie,” I pleaded. “The reason I couldn’t come is because my friend was the one who got arrested because of Callahan’s dirty deeds.”
Normally I wouldn’t have thrown my friendship with Rachel under the bus like that, but I knew Prescott was all over this, and I had a feeling Ori would cover it, and since their beaus were besties she would do justice to any interview she did with Rachel—if she did one.
This did seem to ease Ronnie’s mood.
“Okay, give any and all information you have to Orianna.”
All I could do was nod.
“Get both of your pieces ready to go by Thursday. We leave on Friday for the conference.”
My stomach dropped at that. For a second, I had forgotten I was supposed to go.
“Both pieces?” I asked.
Ronnie rolled his eyes.
“The anonymous crap, and your other fluff piece.
The way he said both things didn’t sit right with me, especially when a few weeks ago he was praising them.
“Sure thing,” I told him.
It sucked but at the same time, it made my short week shorter. My piece highlighting the Kanes’ auto shop was written, and for my anonymous piece I figured there was no harm done in posting about what Mr. Kane had told me.
I made a mental note to pack up for this short trip and find a way to deal with it all. I could tell Tyler, but what if I was overexaggerating?
Fuck.
Maybe it was all in my head.
Instead, I would focus on the positives, like my new relationship. Just the thought of it had me smiling.