Page 88 of Unforgettable

I smacked Reed in the stomach and gave him a look that said he was taking it too far. The smile he threw my way was far too cocky, and I knew he wasn’t planning on heeding my silent warning.

“Anything to flaunt your money, right? Especially to us little people.”

The sun was near the horizon, so it wasn’t easy to see from the back seat, but I still watched the hurt flash across Josh’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You know exactly what it means. You’ve done the same shit the entire time I’ve known you.”

“And what might thatshitbe, Josh? If you’re going to accuse me of something, you better have some evidence to back it up.”

Their voices were growing louder and the tension in the truck was nearing an unbearable level. Josh pressed harder on the gas as Reed’s hand tightened around my thigh.

They both began speaking at the same time, each of them on the brink of saying things they couldn’t take back, so I took that as my cue to step in.

“Okay! That’s enough.”

Thankfully, they both shut up.

“Thank you,” I sighed. “I don’t know what the hell has gotten into the two of you, but I’m not going to listen to this bickering anymore. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say a damn word.”

I had a flashback to saying the same thing to the twelve-year-olds I taught, but never did I think I’d be having the same conversation with two grown men twenty years their senior.

They were both silent, and I took it as a win.

“You used your teacher voice,” Reed said and was smart enough to look a little scared.

“I don’t want to use it again, so don’t make me.”

“I kind of liked it,” Josh said from the front seat, peering at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes through the rearview mirror.

“Me too,” Reed agreed. And we were back to normal—mostly. Hopefully.

TWENTY-SIX

Josh

She was across the room,sitting with Hazel and James, laughing so hard there were tears spilling from her eyes.

We’d been at Hazel and Luke’s house for nearly two hours. The food was gone and the drinks were flowing, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. And I wasn’t the only one.

Quite a few times throughout the night, I’d caught Reed also watching her. We ate around Hazel and Luke’s long oak table and both found ourselves opposite her. It was amazing that no one noticed that neither of us could keep our eyes off of her. Without interrupting or drawing attention, we watched her interact with our friends. Her laugh was contagious, she was engaged in every conversation, and she gave us all the same amount of attention and enthusiasm.

James announced he received another promotion at work—the workaholic asshole—and Amanda cheered like she was the one that got the raise along with it.

And when Devon mentioned his sister had been accepted into the college of her dreams, she’d wrapped him in a hug. One we all knew he needed—mixed with his excitement was also plenty of doubt and nerves.

With his mom still fighting the cancer ravaging her body, Devon felt like it was his job to put his sister through school and make sure she didn’t miss out on anything. The guy had more on his plate than any of us really knew, even being his best friends.

“Josh, have you heard a word I said?”

Shaking off my Amanda-filled thoughts, I turned back to my brother.

“No, sorry. What’d you say?”

He laughed and gave me an incredulous look. “That has to be the tenth time you’ve done that tonight. So, what the hell is going on? Where’s your head?”

I glanced between him and Devon. They were both looking at me expectantly, and I knew there was no getting out of it. And I had to admit that the idea of talking to someone about the situation was tempting.

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