Winning my Best Friend's Girl - Piper Rayne Page 0,85
about an avalanche?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not going to come here. It was the other side of the mountain.” He turns and continues to walk to catch up to his friend.
Allie drops her gummy worms in my lap, stalking toward them. “Hey, kid!”
Both of them turn around and look her up and down. “Yeah?”
“We have friends who are speed riding. What kind of avalanche and are they okay?” Allie asks.
I hold my breath, waiting for the answer, tears pricking my eyes.
“Not sure. All I heard was the helicopter had to get off the mountain and they were hitching a ride in a van. That’s if they’re not buried six feet under. Maybe they’re ice pops by now.”
My mouth opens.
Allie huffs.
“Little boy, let me tell you something.” Ethel follows them.
Dori sits down next to me. “Sometimes I just don’t have the energy but watch this. Ethel learned everything from me.”
Ethel pokes the kid in the chest. “One of those men up there is her grandson, the other one’s boyfriend. And that one.” She points at Samantha. “Well, from what I understand, they only have nookie. Not sure what you call that.” She scowls at Samantha.
Samantha tucks over by us, snatching one of Allie’s gummy worms. “Actually we’re official now,” she says.
“Well thank God for small favors,” Dori says.
“Don’t speak so lightly of people’s lives,” Ethel says to the boys. “It’s disrespectful. You two been smoking that whacky weed?”
One kid raises his eyebrows like, ‘what the hell is wrong with this woman.’
“And before you open your mouth, I’ll remind you, I’m someone’s grandmother. So speak to me with the respect you do your own grandparents.”
“Sorry, ma’am,” the one who hasn’t spoken yet says, weaving around Ethel. “I’m very sorry. If we knew more, we’d tell you.”
“Whatever,” the other one says to the quieter kid. “You’re such a pussy.”
“Grandmas are badass. Mine hit me with her cane once when I back talked her. You don’t want to fuck with them.”
The boys walk away and Ethel shuffles back to us.
Allie claps for her. “Now I’m not sure whose sidekick I want to be,” Allie says.
Lou disappears inside the shop. I watch him talk to the guy at the counter, trying to decipher body language.
“What if?” I ask.
“Kingston’s a smart boy. He won’t let anything happen to himself,” Dori says. But she doesn’t know. And she doesn’t sound that confident in her words either. “By the way, does Kingston know that I’m the reason you two are together?”
“You and me,” Allie adds.
A van pulls up in front of the building, and my eyes scour the tinted windows. First the driver gets out, not bothering to acknowledge us. He rounds the back and opens the doors in the rear. Tank walks up and grabs Samantha, walking her away from everyone. I roll my eyes.
Standing, I nibble my lip. Allie’s chomping on her gummy worms and it’s all I can hear. Finally, Kingston comes into view, shaking Tim’s hand near the back of the van. Relief washes through me. I run over and jump into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist.
“Are you the avalanche people?” I hug him tightly.
“Yeah, but I’m okay. Not even a scratch.”
I’m not sure how much my heart can take of these stunts, but maybe if I would’ve waited at home and not heard the rumors, it would have been better. He would’ve just returned to me safely and I never would’ve been the wiser. I cast kisses all over his face. His forehead, his nose, his cheeks, his lips, his jaw.
“Hey,” he says, drawing back. “I was wrong.”
“What?”
“Being up there and watching that avalanche chasing me down, all I thought about was not returning to you. Not being with you. I don’t need to chase some high that risks my future with you. I want the risks of marrying you, having a family. The adrenaline of getting you to the hospital when you’re nine months pregnant and the sweet reward of our baby being born. Or trying to choose the perfect anniversary gift and waiting while you open it to see if I did good. I want the challenges of raising our kids and the wild ride of parenthood we’ll face together. Because all I could think up there was that what I was really risking was you. And I don’t want to be the guy in a story you tell one day to your kids that you had with some other asshole.”