Page 46 of One Bet

Before I made it a step, he slid an arm around my waist. “Am I going to need bail money?”

I chuckled and kissed his cheek. “We’ll see.” But I doubted it. When I slid into the spot beside Ryder, I ordered a beer. “And get one for him, too.”

Ryder looked down at me and sighed. “Thanks.”

“What you did to me sucked.”

He nodded. “I know.” He took a long drink of his beer, finishing it then picked up the one I’d just bought. “Trust me. I’m well aware and I wish…”

“Back then, I thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen to me. But, after graduation, I saw you sweeping the street for the city. Not a bad job, but not what you hoped for.”

He half-smiled.

“No. Nothing turned out the way I hoped.” He shrugged. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for what I did to you, so sorry.”

After all these years, that was really all I wanted to hear. I’d gotten over the embarrassment because the bruhaha over the video lasted about one minute in the grand scheme of my life. The scandal faded, people moved on, graduated, found jobs that took them away. I also figured out how to be okay with who I was, how not to want to change myself every time someone didn’t like something about me. I found that happiness in spite of, or maybe because of the video, it showed me I was strong enough to survive.

“I know, you should come over and have a drink.” He cocked an eyebrow. “What you did is only part of who you are. You were all friends once and if he cared about you, that must mean there’s something redeemable about you. I trust his judgment.”

He’d been punished, served his sentence, lost the life he’d dreamed of, and to move on completely, I could forgive him.

And I could watch him laugh with my husband, joke with his friends, and not be hurt. Our lives moved on and I was happy…happier when Keaton pulled me close and held me, kissed me, and promised me forever. Again. And this time, I was holding him to it.

* * *

This is it for Avery and Keaton for now. If you liked this story, I think you’ll enjoy the story of Finn and Felicity in One Vow. Here’s an exclusive sneak peek for your eyes only.

ONE VOW

CHAPTER 1

Finn

The emergency room at Aspen Memorial Hospital was packed. The smell of blood was as potent as the antiseptic cleansers we used to clean the floor.

Doctors shouted orders.

Machines whirred and beeped.

Lives hung in the balance.

One patient after another rolled through the glass doors on gurneys or staggered through to collapse when they should’ve been on a gurney as rain pounded the windows. The rain was probably more than 40 percent responsible for such a busy night. The problem was, I couldn’t concentrate on of any the patients because I had one angry fiancée threatening all that I hold dear. Which was hardly surprising since that was how she’d managed to become my fiancée in the first place.

A nurse passed. “Dr. Makenzie, can you help with bed two?”

I held up one finger. Dr. Finn Makenzie, me, needed to see patients, not be embroiled in what had the potential to be the drama of the century. Yet I stayed in the cubicle with my fiancée because there was no telling how she would punish me for whatever I’d done to piss her off now.

I yanked the blue curtain closed as if it might muffle the sounds about to erupt from the mouth of the ever-so-steely Beth Cooper, not the sounds that raged around us. Beth stood in front of me with her cheeks flushed red under her makeup and her eyes narrowed so that all I could see were lashes and anger.

“What the hell are you talking about, Beth?” Beth and I had gone to the prestigious Glouster University together once upon a time, and somehow, ten years after graduation, she managed to track me down and blackmail me into marriage.

There were at least ten people who needed me more than she did out there, but Beth didn’t care about that, all she cared about was herself. Lacerations. Broken bones. A case of dehydration and a migraine. And whatever the hell was going on in bed two needed me to be the doctor that I was, but Beth came first.

In the grand scheme of things, a wedding I didn’t want to happen that now wouldn’t happen didn’t measure up to what the patients were going through. Truth be told, I didn’t care about said wedding. Not that it mattered to Beth. She was fierce and angry, panicked to the point of mania. In other words, a normal day for her.

“I said the reason they wouldn’t give us the license this morning is because you’re still married.” She wasn’t quite shrieking yet, but history, along with the vein throbbing in her forehead said it wouldn’t be long.

Beth Cooper was the definition of high-maintenance: weekly manicure, monthly hair appointments with Renaldo to maintain her Marilyn Monroe Platinum hair, an annual clothing budget that could purchase a nice three-bedroom in Glouster, and Botox injections from Dr. Capaldi, plastic surgeon to the stars.