Page 67 of Keeping Kara

“I get that, I do, but we need to warn our women. We don’t want Trinity to ambush them somewhere. They need to know what’s going on. We’ll take things one step at a time. One day at a time. That’s all we can do. As far as Jen goes…things between her and that guy might not work out,” Casper told Edge.

He nodded, but it was more than obvious the carefree evening had been left far behind for their friend. His next words proved it.

“I’m gonna head out. Tell Bowie I said bye, and I’ll see her this weekend.”

Chaos wanted to bring Trinity back and kick her ass, but it wasn’t in him to hit a woman. It was hardly his or his teammates’ style. But how he wished he could’ve done more than just order her off his property.

“So you’re still coming on Saturday?” Casper asked.

“Yes. I wouldn’t miss your receptions for anything.”

“Good. Because it wouldn’t be the same without you there. This is gonna end, Edge.”

“Yeah. I just hope it doesn’t end with someone getting hurt because of choices I made in the past. Later.”

Chaos and Casper watched as their friend walked toward his pickup. Thankfully Trinity wasn’t lurking nearby, waiting to ambush him, and he drove off without incident.

“We’ve got to do something,” Chaos said after a moment.

“We will. Document. Everything. We’ll bring it to the cops and get her arrested for stalking.”

Chaos snorted. “Oh yeah, I’m sure that’ll happen…not. First, stalking isn’t exactly easy to prosecute, and second, a guy being stalked? That’s even less likely to be taken seriously.”

Casper sighed. “I realize that. But it’s what we have to do. It sucks even more that for the first time in years, he was interested in a woman, and now she’s found someone else.”

“Yeah.” Chaos hated that for Edge. Jen was a decade younger than his teammate, but she was nice, and funny, and cute. It was obvious she was self-conscious about her alopecia…and the one time someone had brought it up in their group, Edge had leapt to her defense, saying that hair didn’t make someone attractive, it was about who they were inside.

He’d never heard his friend sound so passionate before, and he’d certainly never come to a woman’s defense so quickly and openly. He was more the kind of guy who stayed in the background, didn’t like being in the spotlight.

“Come on, we still have a couple of hours before we’re supposed to pick up the girls. And I know Bowie’s been dying to listen to The Little Mermaid for the thousandth time.”

Chaos chuckled. “Love that little girl, but she can’t sing worth a darn.”

“Which is what makes it so adorable.”

He wasn’t wrong.

They made their way back into the house, and Chaos made a mental note to download the footage from his security camera after everyone left. He’d do anything for his friend if it helped get his ex off his back for good.

But he had a bad feeling things would only get worse before they get better.

Doing his best to shake off the ominous thought, he smiled at Bowie as she circled her hips and swung her arms wildly in the air, “dancing” in the living room.

For a split second, he had a vision of his own daughter doing the same thing—his and Kara’s little girl—and a warm feeling spread through his body. He hadn’t thought much about kids, but spending time around Bowie made it hard not to think about them. About how being a father was something he actually might want…as long as Kara was at his side.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Kara couldn’t stop smiling.

She’d never been this content in her life.

Growing up, she hadn’t been invited to sleepovers. Or parties in general. She hung out at home by herself, trying to stay out of her mom’s way, watching life basically from the outside looking in. And here she was, laughing and joking with five other women as if she’d known them all her life. And they accepted her without question. It was amazing.

They were all very different. All had their quirks. But somehow when they were together, none of that mattered. They were friends, and that was that.

Seeing how happy Laryn and Penny were, and how excited they were to get married that weekend, was the reason Kara couldn’t keep the smile off her face. She was so thrilled for her new friends.

Laryn was really starting to show, and she’d spent the first part of their night complaining about how the day was coming when she wouldn’t be able to crawl under and into the helicopters she so lovingly serviced.