Page 44 of Unforgettable

2. Be ready by 5:30 and I’ll pick you up

3. No, I’m not going to tell you where we’re going. But I promise you’ll love it

My heart thumped wildly in my chest, and I breathed out a steadying breath.

Whether I liked it or not, I had made my decision to go along with their dates. And I wasn’t going to back out. Yet.

FOURTEEN

Josh

“Didn’tshe say that she didn’t want us to take her to a museum after hours? That was seriously her one request, man.” I scoffed, trying to gather my belongings and get out of our apartment on time.

Reed had finished giving me the rundown of their date, which was as over the top as I assumed it would be. He was over the top in most aspects of his life, and dates or pursuing women were no different. He was all about grand gestures.

Before I’d learned what he had planned and pulled off, I was wholly confident in my plan. But afterward, I had to admit that I was a little rattled. The only thing that was keeping me from completely freaking out was the fact that I knew Amanda didn’t care as much about being wooed. She’d care more about the thoughtfulness of the date rather than the spectacle of it.

“She didn’t seem to mind,” he said with a sly smile and a wink. I rolled my eyes at his ever-present cocky attitude and tugged on my beanie. I’d found my thick jacket at the back of my closet and dug it out for the night as well. Thankfully, even after being tucked away for most of last year, it still smelled like fresh, clean laundry when I threw it on over my long-sleeve T-shirt.

I slipped into the kitchen and fished the small cooler out of the pantry as Reed closed the refrigerator door with a fresh beer in his hand. He was in the middle of proclaiming that my date would never top his when I righted myself and set the cooler on the counter. Reed’s words cut off midsentence as he glanced over at me. I watched as his brow furrowed momentarily, only to straighten out as he shook his head and twisted the cap off of his drink.

“Either way,” he continued. “You’ve got some catching up to do.” His words didn’t hold the same sharp challenge they had only moments earlier, but I still gave him my middle finger in response.

“I’m confident that Amanda is going to love my date, asshole. And hey, aren’t those my sweatpants?”

Reed shrugged and turned on his heels, striding into the living room. “Probably,” he muttered around the opening of the beer pressed to his mouth. “Found them in the laundry room with your clean clothes, so…”

It’s not like I cared—we shared clothes occasionally, which was a perk of being nearly the same size. But those were my favorite gray sweatpants.

“You have so many of your own expensive clothes. Why are you wearing a pair of my old sweatpants?” I filled the cooler with a few beers and ciders I remembered Amanda wanted to try as well as some wine and a couple bottles of water. I was going to cover all of my bases.

“Laundry day,” Reed hollered from the opposite side of the island, where he was reclined back on the couch, his feet propped on our wooden coffee table. I took a second to peer around the apartment and sighed. The apartment itself was damn nice—upgraded everything, exposed brick on the outer wall, and stained concrete floors in all the main spaces—but we had furnished it with only the bare necessities. We had a coffee table, a couch and a chair in the living room, along with a TV stand that easily fit our eighty-inch TV.

Besides that, there weren’t any decorations or knickknacks. When we were moving Adam into Amanda’s apartment, I’d notice that it was full of knickknacks and photographs and a few plants. It made it feel homey, unlike our place.

“We should put up some pictures or something,” I commented once the cooler was full of ice.

“Why?”

“So this place feels homier, I don’t fucking know. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

“And you think pictures are going to do that?” Reed fired back.

“It would help, yeah.”

He chuckled and finally settled on something to watch after clicking through options for the past several minutes. “When I buy a house, then I’ll make it homey.”

Reed had been saying he wanted to buy a house for years but still hadn’t. He claimed it was that he wanted to get the gym up and running first before he took on another project. But I wasn’t positive that was entirely it.

He’d lived in that apartment for several years—I couldn’t even remember when he’d actually moved in, that’s how long it’d been. And I’d been living there for a while without adding anything of my own to the place. Something about that didn’t sit right with me, like I’d just placed myself into Reed’s premade living space.

“Okay, well, I’m heading out. I’ll see you tonight, maybe,” I shot him a suggestive smile and by his middle-finger response, he knew what I was talking about.

“Not very likely, man. She said she had to keep a clear mind, which means no sex and no orgasms.” He raised his eyebrows like he was waiting for me to react, but I had sort of expected that from Amanda.

“Honestly, that may make things worse for you then,” I chided, grabbing the cooler and my keys. “That’s the only thing you had going for you, honestly. And now that she’s taken that away…” I didn’t finish the thought and took pride in the irate expression Reed’s face morphed into.

“Yeah, we’ll fucking see about that, Sunshine,” he muttered, and I shook my head at the old nickname. You have shaggy blond hair in high school and play football, so that means the only viable nickname is Sunshine.

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