“Don’t be. I won’t hurt you.” I know I can make that promise. If one thing is for sure, I will never hurt this girl. I can’t.

“You just don’t get it.”

“Then explain it to me.”

“I can’t.” She shakes her head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me,” I suggest and she shrugs. “I mean, I may look dumb, but I’m pretty quick.”

But before she can say anything else, my phone rings.

It’s Lucy.

“Oh my God, can you stop making out with your girlfriend and come in and get your niece? My client is gonna be here in five.”

“Cockblock,” I say and hang up, looking over at Avery. “My sister is beckoning me, and if I don’t come, she’ll cut me.”

She smiles. “Okay. But, Jace, I don’t think you’re dumb. That’s not it. I’m just scared.”

She goes to get out, but I stop her, my fingers wrapping around her arm and pulling her to me. “Trust and believe, baby. Anything you say to me, I will listen. I may not understand it or get it, but I’ll listen and we can figure it out. Just give me the chance, you know? Let me in.” She doesn’t say anything for a second, her eyes searching mine, and soon, my breath catches. She bites into her bottom lip, and I watch as her eyes darken and then start watering up. Panic fills me quickly and I take my hands off her. “Oh fuck, why are you crying?”

Laughing, she shakes her head, reaching out to take my hand. “No! I’m not. You’re just… You’re just really great, Jace.”

Letting out a breath of relief, I still watch her, just in case. She’s blinking hard, and I can tell she’s trying to fight back the tears. I have no clue what her fucked-up family and asshole ex did, but shit, a certain kind of rage is bubbling inside me. I don’t want this girl to hurt; I want her to be happy. With me, preferably. “Tears freak me out.”

She closes her eyes with a laugh before looking back at me. “I’m fine. Okay, well, kinda…but not really.”

“If you want to talk about it, I’ll risk getting shanked to listen.”

Giving me a watery smile, she shakes her head. “Maybe soon. But no, let’s go.”

I smile, leaning into her, kissing her nose. “Look at that, you’re communicating.”

She smacks my chest before kissing my lips and pulling back with a grin. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s go get your niece.”

Getting out of my car, I only make it around before I’m attacked by a little body. “Jace!”

Squeezing Angie hard, I give her a loud smacking kiss on the cheek as she hugs me tightly. “Hey, peanut butt!”

“I’m so excited I get to hang with you today. I got my hockey stuff!”

I grin. “Cool, I got mine too,” I say just as her gaze looks over to where Avery is standing awkwardly by the car. “Hey, Angie, this is my friend, Avery.”

“Ooh, both our names start with A’s!”

“They do!” Avery says animatedly before holding her hand out. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Angie says sweetly as Lucy comes out with Angie’s bag in her hand.

Dropping it at my feet, she says, “I’ll be done in an hour.”

I shrug. “I might bring her back.” Leaning over, I kiss Lucy’s cheek. “Don’t wait up for us, though.”

“Okay, I’ll be here till five. But cool, thanks again.”

“No, thank you. Hey, this is Avery,” I say, cocking my head to Avery, who is rocking back and forth on her heels.

“Ah, yes, the girlfriend,” my sister says, holding out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Avery says, and it gives me a certain pleasure she doesn’t correct my sister. “This is a cool place. Design? Like house interiors?”

Lucy nods as she looks up at the building she has spent the last five years trying to get. It’s only an office with all her design shit inside, but it’s hers and she’s happy, which is all that matters. It was her dream to have this place, and if you ask my mom, Lucy basically designs houses for Carrie Underwood.

Lucy only opened it a couple months ago. Before then, she was doing business out of my mom’s bonus room, but now she has her own space. She was even looking into getting a place to live close to it. But my mom helps so much with Angie, it would be hard. Either way, we are all crazy proud of her and what she has accomplished. Coming through a nasty divorce and sharing Angie with her dickwad ex, it’s easy to say it hasn’t been roses for Lucy. But she’s prevailed, and I couldn’t be prouder of my big sister, even if she is kind of a bitch. We love her anyway.

“Yup, when you get a house, keep me in mind,” she says with a wink and Avery smiles.

“Will do.”

“Well, I wish I could chat more—”

“No, she doesn’t. She hates people,” I tease and Lucy holds up one hand to block Angie from seeing she’s flipping me off.

“Don’t listen to him. He thinks everyone our family loves him when, really, we don’t. We just felt bad the wolves didn’t want him anymore and took him in.”

Avery giggles as I roll my eyes. “Says the person I look the most like.”

She shrugs, brushing her long brown hair off her shoulders. “I mean, it isn’t my fault you decided to be a boy instead of a girl. It was a big decision for him, he’s sorta quiet about it, but we love—”

“Shut up, Luce. Don’t listen to her,” I say to Avery, grabbing Angie’s bag. “She’s jealous I’m prettier than her and that my mom loves me the most.”

Avery giggles as Lucy scoffs. “Please. She has to love you, being adopted and transgender. Ah, that’s rough.”

“I hate you,” I say, but then I look at Angie when she smacks me. “I really don’t. She’s being mean.”

Angie rolls her eyes, looking every bit her momma. “You love her the most.”

“No, I love you the most,” I say, kissing her cheek. “Bye, Lucy.”

“Bye, Mommy!”

“Bye, y’all,” she calls before going back in the building as I put Angie down. Grabbing her booster seat out of Lucy’s car, I strap it in before buckling her in. Meanwhile, Avery and Angie are in a long conversation about Angie’s sparkly pink shoes.