“Oh, we’ll stop giving you crap when you kick Karl to the curb,” Salem told her.
“Jerks.” Still, Tessa smiled.
“You know you love us.” Eden gave Tessa a goofy smile.
“Mad love. Mad, mad love.” Tessa looked at me. “And we all have mad love for you, Aster. We knew it the second we saw you. The second we saw the way Logan looked at you and the way you looked at him.”
“We’re here for you, whatever you need,” Eden promised. “Because life is so much better when you have friends on your side.”
I choked over a small laugh, not sure how to handle their support.
“I just hate the idea of dragging Logan back into that world,” I admitted.
Salem almost grinned as she sat back. “Those boys are no strangers to trouble. If you don’t bring it, they’re just going to find it somewhere else.”
“Now that is the truth.” Eden nodded.
“Sohowdid you end up back here?” Tessa asked, voice full of the scandal.
I figured I might as well give it to her.
“Logan won me in a bet.”
Eden choked on a shocked laugh, and Tessa’s eyes widened with glee. “Shut your fucking face.”
“It’s the truth.”
Incredulous laughter rolled from Salem, and she lifted her cup. “To destiny. However it brings us to where we belong.”
“Is that what you think it is? Destiny?” My heart beat erratically.
My direction.
My destination.
My North Star.
“I think sometimes life cuts us a break and lands us exactly where we’re supposed to be.”
Her blue eyes gleamed with the promise.
That maybe…maybe that promise was mine.
And right then, I felt it sink in and take hold.
I used a napkin to dry the tracks of tears from my face. They all watched me as if they understood.
As if I weren’t a burden or a threat.
In staunch, unflinching support.
“Now about Logan…” Tessa waggled her brows.
A giggle got free. “You know I haven’t even slept with him since I got back here.”
“Holy shit. That boy either is losing his touch or he is lost for you,” Tessa said.
My phone rang from my purse before I got the chance to answer, and a grin split my face when I pulled it out to see Logan’s name on the screen.