Chapter 40. Reunification

Ainsley

My heart jumps when she squeezes me. I hug her back just as tight, breathing in the smoky incense baked into her skin. A scent I’ve come to associate with her each time I catch a whiff of it.

“I missed you.” The words come out as a whisper, tentative. I brace myself for her to rip away from our hug, to shove me away and tell me she’d changed her mind and how she never wanted to see me again.

“I missed you too, Ainsley.” She gives me one last tight squeeze before leaning back a bit. “I’m sorry for being an ass.”

I shake my head quickly. “Don’t apologize. Seriously. I never meant for you to have to deal with any of this. You seeing all of that in the woods and having to deal with my cousin. You never signed up for any of that.”

“To be fair, neither did you.” She jabs a finger into my chest, right over my heart. “I doubt you expected your dad to be an asshole and send literal assassins after you. Who does that?”

If only she knew.