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He placed his hand up in the air “I barely talk to Autumn these days If she’s had a crush on me, I haven’t noticed”

“Great, let’s keep it that way”

“Christian, are you threatening me?”

“No” I s”

“A warning for what? To stay away from Autumn?”

“You said it I didn’t”

“You didn’t have to Subtle, you’re not”

“Why are you getting so defensive?”

“I’m not You’re the one who came over to me to bust my balls about your little sister”

“She’s off-limits, Julian”

“I didn’t know she was suddenly an option”

“She’s not, and let’s keep it that way”

“Duly noted”

“Christian!” Kinley hollered from the slider door “Can you help me open this jar of salsa? It’s stuck!”

“Be right there!” Looking back at Julian, I questioned, “We good?”

“Yeah Just fucking dandy”

We clinked our beers together, and I went inside to help Kinley, keeping an eye on Autu I wanted to worry about was h onfor the other shoe to drop when it came to Kinley’s mother

Don’t get ain, but it didn’t stop that little voice in the back of my head that continuously had ain

I hated that after three years I still felt this way—trying every day to tellto happen, that I needed to start trusting her

My instincts about her wouldn’t go away One thing was for sure though…

When it happened, I’d be there to catch Kinley when she fell

Chapter 21

Kinley

Now

“Christian, where are we going?” I asked with a blindfold over my eyes

“I told you It’s a surprise”

It was official, our first tri inside of my belly I couldn’t find the words to express how relieved I was that we’d got to this point and everything was still alright I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t terrified I’d nant