Wild Tendy (IceCats 2)

When my door opens, I look up as Callie comes in.

And then Jaylin.

“Great, the cavalry.”

Jaylin laughs as she crawls into the bed and under the covers. Callie climbs onto the covers beside me, moving my hair out of my face. “Are you okay?”

“Fine, just pissed.”

“I know,” she says, and she smiles. “He won last night.”

I nod. “Good to know I don’t affect his hockey playing.”

“I still think you do,” Callie says, and I roll my eyes. “He looked sad through the whole game.”

“He’s an adult. He’s fine.”

She gives me a hard look. “Aviva, are you truly surprised?”

I scrunch up my face. “What?”

“Come on. It’s Nico. Surely you had to have thought he was the one doing this. I did.”

“I did too,” Jaylin says from the other side of me.

I go up onto my elbows to look at them both. “And no one thought to say anything?”

Jaylin shrugs, cuddling in my blankets. “I figured, who cared as long as you were happy?”

I glare. “But it bothered me that someone was doing it.”

“But you were happy,” Callie says, and I look back over at her. “You were finally doing things for yourself. Smiling more and living. I mean, you dropped everything to go to Barcelona. Aviva, you’d never have done that before.”

“And I know you want to be a strong woman, hear me roar, but the thing is, you are,” Jaylin stresses. “You fought to stay afloat for so long. And yes, it sucks he lied, but he did it for a good reason.”

“Because he loves you,” Callie adds, and our eyes meet. “He loves you so much, Aviva. I know he shouldn’t have lied, but I don’t think you can really break up with him for it.”

Jaylin nods. “It’s a little silly to do that when you feel what you feel for him.”

I shake my head. “How can I be with someone who lies to me?”

Jaylin lets her head drop back, and Callie lets out a long breath. “Here we go.”

“What?”

“Self-Sabotage Sally in full force.”

I make a face. “He sabotaged us by lying and paying for something that wasn’t his place to pay for. He bought me this shop—”

“Because he knew how much Dustin upset you,” Callie stresses. “And if, for some reason, Dad comes back, the place is ours.”

“He made sure you and Callie were taken care of, no matter what. When he dropped the deed off yesterday, he told me that, no matter what happens, he wants you to know that everything is yours. He doesn’t want a penny back. And if this is it, keep his heart—it belongs only to you.”

I groan loudly. “Man, what a line.”

Callie grins, and Jaylin says, “Nico knew how upset it made Callie that you were worried about her gym fees and knew how much she wanted it all to go away. They’re best buds, and the thing is, Aviva, he always thinks of Callie too. With your mom’s bills, you were suffocating, and his reaction was to take it away because he didn’t want that for you. I don’t know… I wouldn’t be mad at him. I’d be grateful that someone loves me enough to want to take care of me.”

“I don’t want anyone to take care of me—”

“Why? Would you expect Callie to say that?”

I make a face, turning to look at her. “You better not.”

“I don’t, because I know you do it out of love,” she says slowly. “The same with Nico. He loves us, Aviva.”

I close my eyes before dropping my head to the pillow.

Jaylin moves her hand over my back. “I know you want to hold on to that pride like a cat trying to keep from falling into water. But maybe this time, you should think of what you’re pushing away. Do you really want to leave a guy because he made sure you and Callie were taken care of? You stayed with Mike, who treated you like dog shit, and now you have a guy who worships the ground you walk on, and you want to leave that?”

“He lied,” I stress, and Callie nods.

“Yeah. And he’s sorry. He really is.”

I make a face. “He’s sorry he got caught.”

Jaylin shakes her head. “No, he’s sorry he upset you.”

“But not sorry for paying off all those things.”

They both shake their heads. “Yeah, no. He’s not sorry for that.”

“At all,” Callie adds. “He wants the best for us, and he said that if that means we go on without him, he’ll figure it out.”

I furrow my brow. “How do you know that?”

“He’s downstairs,” Callie says slowly. “Waiting for you.”

I roll my eyes, dropping my face once more onto my pillow. I haven’t seen him in three days, and I do miss him greatly. I want to stay mad, but Jaylin’s right. Do I want to throw away a man who would do anything for me just because he did what he always does? Lives life with no holds barred and no remorse? I love that about him; I encourage that because it inspires me to live the same. He says what he feels, and he loves so damn hard. I just wish he hadn’t done this behind my back. I push off the bed, and Callie and Jaylin jump up quickly.