Savannah’s wide and curious stare caught on me before she focused on Avalee with a bright smile. “Hey there, Avalee. You know, your momma just said you were five years old.” She exaggerated her age, lifting her eyebrows as if she was shocked.
“Uh-huh!” Avalee said excitedly. “I just had my birthday party. You can come to my birthday party next time.”
“Few months ago,” I murmured low enough that Avalee couldn’t hear.
Savannah gave a little laugh as if she understood completely. “That sounds fun! You know, my son is your age. I bet he’d love to play when he gets home from school.”
Avalee gasped and looked at me in question. So excited, she was practically climbing out of her booster.
“Oh look,” Savannah murmured, capturing my attention. She pressed her nose to Levi’s head, breathing him in and hiding her smirk. “I guess y’all have to come over now. As in right now.”
I forced out a breathless laugh to hide the fingers gripping at my throat. Choking me. Flooding my chest with ice-cold fear and coating my stomach with unease.
“You haven’t changed at all,” I teased gently. “Clearly.”
Everything about Savannah had been my favorite.
Her giving nature and how she lived to serve others. Her gentle and kind spirit that stood in stark contrast to the badass side of her that could wrangle the Dixon boys. And how she always manipulated situations, like then, in a way where you couldn’t even be mad at her. Because it almost always ended up being exactly what you needed.
“You saying you got something better to do today than catch up with the girl who used to be your best friend?” she asked, feigning offense.
A smile shaped my trembling lips. That unease and worry building and building into a frenzy. “I really don’t.”
I pressed my body to Hunter’s and passed my lips across his as I slid out the door he held open.
Teasing.
Tempting.
Making that ache between us flare.
His blue eyes were dark with want as he followed me out of the theater. Stalked toward me. The look on his gorgeous face making my belly clench with need.
A wicked grin slipped free as I grabbed Savannah’s hand and pulled her from Beau, the two of us dancing away from our Dixon boys as laughter tumbled free.
“Where to next?” she asked, hooking her arm through mine.
“Anywhere,” I said with a content sigh before twisting to face her. An exaggerated pout tugged at my mouth as dozens of other people wove around us, heading toward the parking lot. “I can’t believe you’re leaving me, friend.”
It was our last weekend before mine and Hunter’s senior year began. In a couple weeks, Beau and Savannah started college.
She snorted, her eyes rolling at my dramatics. “Hardly. We’ll still be living in Amber.”
We, because anything she did, Beau Dixon did too. And vice versa.
“But we won’t be at the same school anymore. Y’all will be too busy with college and having better things to do than hanging out with us.”
“Never,” she said confidently. “If anything, it’ll be the opposite. You’ll be too busy being Captain—”
“Trying to live up to you,” I said with an affectionate scoff.
“Being better than me. The girls on the squad know it too.”
“That is so not true, and you know it.” I brought us to a stop, looking at her like she might’ve lost her mind.
Following after her as Cheer Captain was going to be hard as hell, but I’d give it my everything. Not just for the squad, but to not let Savannah down for choosing me as her replacement.
She tugged on my long ponytail and gave me a little wink. “We’ll all be busy, but I’ll never be too busy for my best friend. Besides,”—she gave a nod in the direction where the boys were having a low, heated talk not far from us—“anywhere mine is, yours is.”
I looked that way, my chest expanding with a breath just at the sight of Hunter. Even now, twelve years after falling in playground-love with him when he offered me his swing.
That air rushed out when I noticed just how tense and angry the brothers were. Everything had been fine just a minute before . . . everything had been fine all day.
We’d had a late lunch at our favorite hole-in-the-wall in the next city over before heading to the movies. The night flowing smoothly between the four of us—as it always did—since the oldest Dixon boys were only sixteen months apart, and Savannah and I were inseparable.
Never a lull or awkward moment. Easily transitioning from group conversations to gossiping with Savannah to curled up in Hunter’s lap as he whispered all the things he planned to do when he got me alone. His words sending shivers down my spine and chills across my skin as he teased that spot just beneath my ear.
But right then, Hunter’s baseball cap sat low—the way he pulled it down to cover his eyes when he was anxious in any way. The ticking of his jaw revealed his agitation as he held a hand in front of Beau’s chest, as if preparing to keep him in place.
Beau’s arms were tense at his sides and his fingers were curled into loose fists. His chest pitching in quick jerks that I might not have noticed if I hadn’t been looking for it.
“Well, shit,” Savannah drawled softly, clearly having turned and seen the boys.
A defeated sound rose in her throat and was overwhelmed by a sigh of calm and determination and understanding.
And it pulled my attention to her for a brief moment.
How someone as small and fragile-looking as Savannah could transform into a resilient fortress and undisturbed safe haven for the likes of Beau, I would never understand. He was terrifying. Truly terrifying when the chains he kept on his rage snapped.
Everyone in his path became the enemy . . . except her.
But at that moment, Beau was just standing there, silently seething. Chains still in place . . . for now.
He shoved Hunter away and started toward us, but Hunter grabbed his arm, pulling him closer.
“Not here,” Hunter ground out as Beau slammed a hand into his chest and lurched toward us again.
When Hunter grabbed for him the next time, Beau turned and swung.
A stunned breath ripped from me as I stumbled forward. Like I could’ve ever stopped his fist from connecting with Hunter’s jaw.
But Hunter didn’t let it slow him down, he moved too fast for Beau’s next strike, grabbing his hand and twisting it behind his back. Not that he could keep him there for long.
Hunter was fast. So fast. But Beau’s strength was unmatched, especially when he saw red.
His chest was heaving as he started breaking from Hunter’s hold, but that’s when Savannah stepped up to him. Moving with purpose until she came to a stop just inches from her trembling grenade of a boyfriend.
I envied her fearlessness and compassion. But I didn’t envy this.
The delicate and hostile situations she constantly found herself in with Beau. The way she put it on herself to deescalate them. The emotional pain she shared with him when she couldn’t.
If I hadn’t had a front-row seat to their relationship most of my life, I wouldn’t understand it. Even still, there were times I wanted something different for Savannah. Something better.
But I guess when you love someone the way they loved each other, you’d do anything for them.