Free Love Collides (Fate's Love #3) by L.A. Cotton Page A

voice traveled up the stairs, and Ashton finished packing away all of the tools.
    "Sure you're okay?"
    I lifted my chin at him, too worked up to answer. It had taken a long time to push him into the recess of my mind, and one phone call was all it took to unravel it.
    For everyone's sake, I just hoped he would stay away.
    ~
    The day didn't get any better. After eating with Ashton and Hayley, I left to visit Mom again. I'd been checking in on her daily since she got the call. She was a mess, and it killed me to watch her break down as she kept reliving the phone call from Aunt Sally. I thought about hitting the gym, but with so much anger simmering under my skin, I figured I was better off not being around people. I needed to get a handle on myself, but not knowing when he was going to be released was eating me up inside. Aunt Sally promised to give Mom a heads-up as soon as she heard anything, but we were still waiting.
    Grabbing my stuff off the seat, I climbed out of the truck and padded my way around the front of the apartment building. It was late, past nine, but I wanted to wait until Mom was sleeping before I left. The second I made it around the corner, my whole body paused.
    Staci was standing outside the main door, pacing back and forth. The navy sweats and matching hoodie molded to her body and blurred into the night, illuminating her blond curls. Everything about her shone—her hair, her eyes, and even her soft, full lips.
    The sight of her standing outside my apartment building looking like a deer caught in the headlights—a very cute deer—cut right through the hollow pit in my stomach. My dick twitched, and although I was still pissed that I hadn't heard a word from her in days, maybe she was the calm before the storm raging inside of me.
     
                                ~ Staci ~
    This is a bad idea; this is a bad idea.
    I paced back and forth outside of the doorway deciding what to do. Press the buzzer or turn and walk away. I wasn't even sure how I'd ended up at Kade's in the first place. I hadn't spoken to him in days, since we spent the morning together. But the second I hung up with my brother, Joel, I had to get out of the house. And when the cab asked me where to, the first place I could think of was Kade's.
    Joel had just been calling to check in. His usual monthly call to keep tabs on me. It was always the same—a brief update about Bessie and the girls, and Tanner, who was currently stationed at Camp Atterbury in Indiana. Only this time he'd thrown in something about our old friend. Just brought him into the conversation as if it meant nothing. Of course, he didn't know that hearing Mikey's name would send my world spiraling. That it meant everything.
    Mikey . Until Joel mentioned him, I hadn't allowed myself to think about Mikey Turner for the better part of nine years. After he had ruined my life, it was the least he deserved. And I'd kept true to my promise never to let him back in. Not even in my thoughts. Ever. But unaware, Joel had just undone years of hard work in a second.
    It was as if the air had been sucked from the room when Joel said his name. I couldn't breathe. My stomach flipped and I almost puked right there on Lou and Russ's tiles. But the fighter in me refused to be that weak sixteen-year-old who had believed the empty promises of her first love…first everything.
    And now, here I was, standing on Kade's doorstep. It was a mistake; every fiber of my being knew that. But I was having some kind of emotional episode, craving comfort and wanting to forget. Kade could make me forget. He could make me forget my own name when his lips connected with my skin. I didn't like to admit it, but there was something magnetic between us. Our bodies responded to one another. Just like, right now, my body knew we needed Kade. To help us forget.
    I just need to forget .
    "And to what do I owe this pleasure?" That deep silky voice my body longed to hear called out and I