Chapter 35

Ash

S unday marked one year since I returned home.

One year since the man I thought I'd spend the rest of my life with broke up with me. And although it still hurt, I was doing better. Or so I thought, until the name "Soren Dane" popped up in the newspaper I was reading over breakfast.

"So, have you talked with Aiden about your idea?"

"W-What?" Quickly folding the paper in two, I put it down and looked up at Mom.

"You know, about turning the old shed into a shop?"

"Oh," I mumbled quietly, my heart beating fast with the need to know what that article was about. "I did talk to him, and he was on board." A few weeks ago, I'd decided to open a surf shop. The idea had come to me after I noticed the number of surfers we had around and how there wasn't a single shop in a ten-mile radius.

"Do you know how he responded?" I grabbed my phone and opened the email Aiden's lawyer had sent me last night.

Mom took the phone from me, her eyes going wide as she read.

"He gave you the house?"

"He did." I smiled. When it came to my uncle, his generosity didn't cease to amaze me. Apparently, a living inheritance was a thing; some called it a gift, but in the end—the old beach house, his beach house , was now mine to do whatever I wanted with. He also gave me access to a trust fund he'd opened the day I was born and had put money into ever since. Basically, Aiden made me rich overnight.

"That's amazing. We should call him," Mom said, already looking for her phone when I got up.

"It's the middle of the night in Australia." That's where Aiden was currently traveling. "But we'll call him tonight." Even though he rarely picked up. Something told me that in the past four months since leaving, Aiden wanted to isolate himself from his old life. Why? I didn't know, although sometimes I had my suspicions. But knowing not to go look for a man who didn't want to be found, I had no intention of bothering Aiden. After being here for us for so many years, he had every right to want time for himself.

"Want to go surfing? I don't have work until the afternoon," Mom offered.

Too impatient to know what the article said about Soren, I didn't plan on staying. "Sorry, I have plans with Kai." That was half a lie. "But we'll catch up later, okay?"

Kissing her cheek, I quickly grabbed the newspaper from the table and returned to my car. Assuming it would be better to read it closer to my home, I put the paper on the back seat and forced myself to drive home. Only once parked in front of the house did I reach for the paper and flip to the right page.

" Young Lawyer Turns Out to be a Guardian Angel " was what the headline said. My pulse increased, and my eyes quickly moved to read more. Soren Dane, a name prosecutors should write down, does the unthinkable and saves an underage male, Camilo Gómez, from life behind bars. Skimming through the part that went into details about that kid's crimes, I stopped to reread the last sentence. For the last few months, Dane, currently working for Williams & Dufort Attorneys At Law in their LA offices, worked on this pro bono case that no one believed had a chance.

Soren had been in LA for the last few months?

My heart sank, and unable to believe what I'd just read, I looked straight ahead. Cold sweat covered my skin, and I gripped the paper harder, feeling like I was going through a heart attack. Soren had been here the whole time, yet he didn't try to contact me once. For months, I came to accept he was gone, living his best life in NYC, only to learn through a stupid article that he was practicing law downtown. Why didn't he contact me? Rejection I thought I'd become used to pierced my chest, and I squeezed my eyes closed. If only overcoming this feeling was easy. I'd started seeing a therapist lately, so I did what he taught me whenever I felt like the world was closing in on me.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly exhaled before repeating the action until my lungs ceased to burn and my limbs stopped shivering. And by the time I was done practicing my breaths, I had come up with an idea.

Kai

"Ashy, look what I got," I announced, walking into the house with a paint can in each hand. "I wasn't sure which color you'd like better, but we can check both. Right?" Ever since Ash told me he wanted to turn the old shed into a shop, I'd taken it upon myself to renovate the place.

I'd half expected him to get excited, like he did yesterday when I showed him the wood I'd use for the counter, only he didn't say a word and remained fixated on whatever he was reading on his laptop.

Putting the cans aside, I walked toward him and grabbed his shoulders.

"Earth to Ash."

"Oh, hey," he said half-heartedly, his concentration still fully set on the computer.

Pissed off for not getting his attention, I peeked over his shoulder at the screen.

"Juvenile Detention Center Counseling Volunteering," I read the site's title out loud, my brows pulling into a deep frown. "The hell is that?"

Ignoring me, Ash scrolled down the form he was currently filling out with his details. Irritated for not knowing what was going on, I shut the laptop.

"What the hell, Kai?"

"Finally, a reaction," I rasped, crossing my arms over my chest. "Mind explaining to me why you're looking into some jail's website?"

He pouted, reopening his laptop. "It's not jail. It's a juvenile detention center."

I moved around and sat on the table, forcing his head in my direction by grabbing his chin. "Ashy, talk to me. What's going on?"

He held my stare for a moment before letting out a deep sigh. "Fine. But you're going to think I'm crazy."

"Crazy ideas are good. Now, tell me what's up," I encouraged him. Unfortunately, ten minutes later, I realized not all crazy ideas were good. Like his, for example. His idea was extremely bad.

"Have you lost your mind?" I grimaced at him, and he frowned.

"You said crazy is good!"

"Yeah. Crazy, as in, let's-go-to-Las-Vegas-for-the-weekend, and not let's-volunteer-with-a-bunch-of-criminals-to-get-info-about-your-ex sort of crazy."

Even if Ash had a degree in business psychology, he had no actual practice in it. So what the fuck was he planning on doing with at-risk youth, who—with no offense to Ash—could rip his cute ass apart. He was literally a golden retriever pup colored in rainbows and covered with sugar while those kids were… trash. They'd demolish him in seconds.

Ash placed his hand on my knee and leaned closer. "Ever since I read in that article that Soren has been here for a few months, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I have so many questions, Kai, questions for answers that keep me up at night." He sounded so desperate while looking at me with those pretty eyes of his, and I couldn't help but ache for him.

"Still, how will meeting up with some fucked-up kids help you?"

He bit his bottom lip before speaking again. "I need to meet him. The boy Soren worked with. I can't help but feel like it's what I'm supposed to do, Kai."

I huffed, then stood up and walked around the kitchen, rethinking everything he'd just told me. Apparently, the reason Soren had returned to LA was to work on this kid's case. While I knew he'd come back months ago, Ash didn't, and finding out about it through an article flipped a screw in his head. Could I really blame him? After all, I was the one keeping that secret away from him. Sure, back then, Soren did mention he'd stick around for a while, but I didn't bother to ask what for. When it came to Soren Dane, I believed in the saying "out of sight, out of mind." Sadly, Ash didn't seem to think the same.

"It just sounds like an extreme plan, Ashy, and I'm worried it will put you back in a dark place." Especially when he was finally doing better. With me .

Getting up from his chair, he stopped before me and placed his hands on my hips. "I know you're worried, but it will be okay. I mean, worst-case scenario, I've just wasted my time. But what if meeting this kid will give me the closure I need?"

I cupped his face and held him close. "I still don't understand how meeting a stranger in prison could help."

He pulled his shoulders. "It just feels right."

God help me, I didn't understand the way his brain worked. But when he leaned in close and hugged me, I couldn't care less about his logic. Giving in to his touch, I hugged him back, taking in every bit of affection he was giving me.

"Fine. Do what you gotta do."

"Thank you." He kissed my cheek before letting go of me and going back to his chair. "Besides, it's only going to be one meeting, and that's it. Not like I plan on taking him home with me." He chuckled.

If only we knew.