Page 145 of Unforgettable

Reluctantly I raised my head higher and saw the photo of Amanda and Hazel on her wedding day fill the screen. “It’s yours.”

“I’m so sorry. If it’s not important, then I won’t—”

I cupped her cheek and kissed her softly. “Don’t worry about it, Cielo. Check it.”

Her smile was sweet. She immediately reached for her phone and it began ringing for a third time the moment she had it in her hand. Her eyebrows furrowed, and her mouth opened like she was going to say something, but she decided to answer the phone instead.

“I thought I made myself pretty clear about you being between—”

“Shh!” Josh, in all of his naked glory, strode into the room as Amanda answered the phone with a tentative “Hello?”

He crossed to the bed, wearing a similar expression of concern that deepened over Amanda’s features.

“Who is it?” he whispered.

I shrugged. “Not sure, but they’ve called three times. Adam, maybe?”

Josh gave me a look that I knew too well—if it were Adam in trouble, we both knew we’d be cutting our trip short. Amanda’s ability to tell him no, or let him figure his own shit out, was nonexistent.

“No, no, it’s okay. What’s going on?” Amanda murmured, throwing an even more worried glance in our direction. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she intently listened to the person on the other line. Suddenly, her jaw dropped, and she let out a string of curses.

“Is he there?” she asked as she began frantically looking across the floor, retrieving the summer dress we’d discarded last night. Josh and I both jumped into action the moment she did, searching for our own clothes and quickly dressing.

“Yeah, we’re on our way now. No, I’ll handle it. We should be there within an hour. Thanks for, umm… letting me know.”

Before she even had a chance to explain, both Josh and I were asking who it was, what had happened, and where we were going.

Amanda’s mouth opened and closed a few times, like she couldn’t find the right words. She stared down at her phone, and I glanced at it, too, hoping it held some sort of answer.

“That was CJ, the maintenance guy at my apartment. He said that he heard some crashing sounds coming from the apartment and then saw the glass on the patio. He said he tried to get in to see what was going on, but the dead bolt was locked. I don’t know, but I need to call Adam and see if he’s there. He should be there right now. I just… I need… I need to go.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” I agreed, and began straightening the room and covering the evidence of what had happened in there only hours and minutes before. It smelled like sex, but there was little I could do about that—my parents’ cleaning service would be stopping by in a few days to do a more thorough cleaning anyway.

Josh was doing the same thing, tugging on the shoes he’d discarded last night and righting a lamp that had somehow fallen over in the midst of everything.

“Y’all don’t have to come with me. I would just need to take your car, Reed. Or I guess I can Uber.”

Josh laughed, and I shook my head. Did she know us at all? “Baby girl, if you think you’re going anywhere without us, especially in a situation like this, then you are sorely mistaken.”

He crossed the short distance between them and cupped her face in his massive hands. Tenderly he kissed her forehead, her nose, and then her lips. “We’ll figure it out, okay? No freaking out until it’s time to freak out.”

She nodded, and we gathered our things. “What are we going to tell the others?”

“Devon’s probably awake. We can tell him that you have an emergency and we’re going to help. If not, then I’ll send someone a text. Don’t worry about it.” Thankfully, Amanda agreed quickly, and we were in my car in less than five minutes.

Ten times. Amanda tried to call Adam ten times on our drive to her apartment. He didn’t answer once. Each time it would ring out, eventually going to voice mail and eliciting a murderous groan that would have been sexy had she not been thoroughly frustrated and terrified.

The car ride passed in silence. Amanda called Adam every few minutes, her legs bouncing nervously as she chewed her nails. I drove fifteen over the speed limit while Josh sat silently in the back.

It was killing me not to be able to comfort her or help more than I could. I was doing my best to get us there quickly, but I still felt helpless against the unknown. Slowly, I placed my hand on her thigh, which was relentlessly bouncing up and down. She settled and gave me a sheepish smile.

I went a little faster.

The hour-long drive only took forty-five minutes. And by the time I put the car in park, Amanda was already pushing her door open and making a beeline for the stairs. Josh’s eyes connected with mine for a split second through the rearview mirror before we both took off after her.

She’d lost her damn mind, running directly into a possibly dangerous situation. We took the stairs two at a time and made it to the top to find her pounding on her apartment door and fumbling with her keys.

“Adam Allan, I swear to God, if you are in there right now, open the damn door!” she yelled.

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