Page 56 of Unforgettable

I looked at Josh for confirmation, and he nodded, crossing his arms in front of him.

“Fine, but if it happens again, all bets are off.”

Adam agreed and was prepared to make a speedy exit when Josh added, “I guess it goes without saying that the same goes for the bar.”

“Yup, goes without saying,” Adam mumbled back before he all but ran out of the office.

I sagged back against the door and tried to take a deep, calming breath. There wasn’t a chance I was going to calm down, though. My two-hour-long workout to calm my anxiety and nerves had been completely undone in a matter of minutes by Adam Allan.

“When’s the kid going to fucking learn?” Josh asked.

“Maybe never. Not sure what the fuck he’s going to do, though, if he can’t even do this simple-ass job correctly.”

Josh plopped himself in my desk chair and spun a time or two before leveling me with a look. “Not sure it’s our problem, man.”

“Well, if it’s Amanda’s problem, then I think it’s our problem, too.”

I didn’t think it was possible, but I sagged farther against the door.

It had been nearly four days. Four miserable and uneventful days without hearing from Amanda. Neither of us had received a single text or phone call or email or fucking carrier pigeon from her in the days following our dates.

Actually, that was a lie. She’d texted us both to say she was busy preparing for classes starting back up for the spring semester and would have to take a rain check on the other two dates we’d had planned.

Both Josh and I had been understanding, but I don’t think either of us realized that preparing for the new semester meant she wouldn’t respond to usat all.

“Maybe we can give her a heads-up if she ever talks to us again,” Josh grunted, saying out loud the words we’d both been thinking for the past several days. We’d tiptoed around the topic, not wanting to confirm what we thought could be happening—that she was ghosting us both.

“She’ll talk to us again. She’s just busy,” I said unconvincingly, looking away from the dejection forming in Josh’s eyes.

“You don’t sound so sure,” he murmured.

“Does that surprise you? It’s usually me who’s the pessimistic, realistic person between the two of us. Where’s all your usual optimistic sunshine bullshit?”

Josh’s response was a sigh that was laced with frustration and confusion that I’d also felt bone deep.

“Don’t feel like being optimistic about the fact that she won’t speak to either one of us. She hasn’t made her decision already, right? It would be one thing if she had already decided that it was you or whatever, but she hasn’t, right?”

The hurt in his voice reminded me of how much it meant to each of us that we were the one left standing. That if she picked one of us over the other—or neither of us—we would be irrevocably changed. And I registered the fact that if she picked me, it meant she wouldn’t pick Josh. And my heart broke for my best friend.

“No, she hasn’t said anything to me. We’re in the same boat. I don’t know where her head’s at either.”

“What are we going to do, then? I can’t just sit around and wait for her to decide to talk to us. If she doesn’t know yet, then fine, but I need to know.” The volume of his voice slowly climbed. His frustration with our situation—with his situation—mounted with each word.

“It’s Amanda,” I said by way of explanation, like it all made sense because she was who she was.

“Yeah, but Reed, we’ve only ever known her as a friend. She’s our dependable, funny, fucking beautifulfriend, Amanda. And now, we’ve changed everything.”

“You’re right,” I muttered, caught off guard by the glaringly obvious truth.

I took up pacing the length of my small office, chastising myself for the piles of papers and old equipment lining the walls. At least it was fairly organized chaos, but it made pacing difficult, having to step around them and be careful not to knock them over.

“I know I’m right.” I glared at him and caught sight of his abs flexing as he chuckled softly. Guy still hadn’t put on a shirt.

“Thanks for that, Sunshine,” I said, fishing a new RG Fitness shirt from a pile in the corner and tossing it in his direction.

“God, you really want me to cover up, don’t you, babe?” I gritted my teeth, trying to contain my annoyance and ignore his provocation.

“No, you’re just sweating all over my chair.” Josh winked in response and all it did was further irritate me.

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