Page 163 of Unforgettable

“Fucking leave and leave her out of this then. You said you didn’t want to involve her in the first place.”

CJ stopped as Reed’s voice cut through the nonsense he was spewing. My mind was trying to catch up to everything CJ had said when Reed stepped closer to him. The threat of a physical fight was on the horizon, and I couldn’t let it get to that. I hadn’t seen a gun or any other weapon on CJ, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one there. I didn’t have time to think it all through, but I did know that I didn’t have another option. Quickly I wrapped my hand around Reed’s forearm, stopping him midstep.

Without outright saying it, CJ threatened the safety of my brother if I didn’t help him. He wanted me to bail Adam out and, in turn, bail him out, too.

But there was only one problem.

“I don’t have the kind of money you’re looking for. I’m a fuckingteacher,” I implored him.

Again, CJ laughed. And I promised to wipe the smug fucking look off his face after all was said and done. Unless Reed beat me to it.

“I know you don’t. I’ve already gone over that option with Adam and even the option of your parents. But that was a lot of work—going to California, convincing them to help me, or better yet, help their son out. It was all too difficult, especially when I need a very quick turnaround.”

I shook my head, still not understanding what he was expecting of me if he knew I didn’t have the money.

“If you know I don’t have the money, then—”

“You don’t have the money,” CJ said. But then his eyes shifted to my left, and he pointed at Reed like he was issuing a warning and a promise. “But he does.”

FIFTY-THREE

Josh

“He could have just stayed here,”I told Sam for the twentieth time as I carried Zach to her car.

He’d finally stopped puking an hour before. I’d sat with him and rubbed his back while he dry heaved into the trash can. I’d made him drink small sips of water and placed a cold washcloth on the back of his neck.

When the sickness finally began to subside, he fell asleep cuddled in my arms—something he hadn’t done in several years. I’d genuinely missed it. That’s how Sam found us—cuddled on the couch, Zach asleep and me with my eyes only partially open yet still awake enough to grab for the trash can if he started heaving once again.

As carefully as I could manage, I placed Zach in his booster seat and buckled him in. He groaned softly but cradled the blanket he’d stolen from our couch closer to his chest.

I kissed his forehead and gently closed the door.

“I know he could have stayed, and… you would have taken good care of him,” she said. “Both you and Reed would have taken care of him.”

“We would have, yes.”

She nodded thoughtfully and stared off into the distance. “I’m trying to be more open-minded. I’m… I’m sorry that I wasn’t to begin with.”

Shocked by her apology and unsure how to really take it, I stayed silent.

“I think I always knew you were too much for one person to handle. You always needed two.”

And with nothing else to say, Sam patted my arm and climbed into her SUV.

I watched her drive off, thoroughly confused by her complete change of attitude and too exhausted to question it.

Trekking back up the stairs, I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed Reed. He and Amanda had been at the school for a while, and I hadn’t heard a peep from either of them. Although Amanda promised it wouldn’t take too long to reorganize and reassemble her classroom, it was easy to imagine them getting distracted by each other.

As my phone rang and I stepped back into our apartment, my mind wandered to the two of them. Reed bending Amanda over a classroom table or laying her on top of it while he kneeled down on the tiled floor between her legs were all inspiring mental images.

But I pushed them all away—at least for a moment—and glanced down at my phone. My first thought when I saw Adam’s name across the screen was that he was calling to get his job back. Not that he lost it necessarily—he’d just stopped showing up since the break-in.

Begrudgingly, I answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Are you at the—” Adam quickly whispered. The last part of the question was too rushed for me to make out.

“Am I where? Why are you whispering?”

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