Page 19 of Undeniable

I shrugged. “Ended up getting done early. Boss pretty much told me to get the hell out. Glad I haven’t missed dinner.”

Josh snickered but passed me a beer as I walked farther into their place. There were moving boxes stacked around the perimeter, and the shelves and furniture were mostly bare. Amanda had added her own touches since she moved in only a few months before and it was weird to see the place so empty.

Reed waved to the spread of appetizers they’d laid out on the island while Devon stood in the corner of the kitchen, lifting his beer to his lips and eyeing me with an incredulous look. He shook his head, and I winked at him.

He knew the moment I heard about Ivy’s presence here that I couldn’t stay away. I was going to show up no matter what.

It didn’t help that the situation reminded me of when she’d tried to bar me from attending family gatherings. At least that’s what her brother and my onetime best friend, Forrest, told me.

It didn’t work, but she’d tried nonetheless. And for some reason, I felt like she was trying to push me out again. I knew I was reading more into it than I should’ve been, but those old wounds were hard to ignore when they inevitably flared up.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Amanda angrily whispered at me from the other side of the island.

“I heard you were trying to replace me, Manda.”

She made an aggravated sound in the back of her throat and crossed her arms over her chest. “Who told you?”

I shook my head, not giving anyone up since, technically, almost all of them had some sort of hand in it. But Amanda scanned their faces and stopped right on one of her boyfriends.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” She stared at Josh, who feigned hurt and confusion.

“What are you—”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t lie. You can’t keep a secret worth shit, and I know you like to stir the pot. I won’t forget this.”

As she spoke, Josh rounded the counter with a mischievous smile on his face, and as soon as she finished, he easily kissed away her anger.

Turning away from the pair, I reached for another chip but was sidetracked by the voices filtering down the hallway. Hazel stepped into view first, and I knew who would be right behind her—the only person I hadn’t seen and the one real reason I’d come.

I hadn’t heard Ivy’s laugh in so long that I almost forgot what it sounded like.

Almost. And it stopped me in my tracks.

As they came down the hallway, I could feel the tension in the room amplify. And when they noticed me standing in the kitchen, it felt like the apartment had shrunk to half its size.

“Umm… we thought you had to work,” Hazel said, quickly glancing behind her to where Ivy was frozen.

My attention bypassed Hazel completely and fixed on Ivy. She was wearing a deep-blue sundress that flared out at her hips and danced around her knees. The silhouette only accentuated each and every one of her curves. And the V-shaped neckline did little to hide her cleavage, but I willed my eyes not to linger for too long. Her cheeks were flushed and her chest was rising and falling rapidly. I liked to think I still had some effect over her—that her quick breaths and flushed skin were for my benefit. And hopefully, it wasn’t all due to her underlying rage.

Her hair was more orange in the soft light of the apartment, and she brushed a few strands over her shoulder, drawing my eyes back to hers. She was staring back at me with an unreadable expression. She was straight-faced and her plump lips—the bottom slightly larger than the top—were set into a similarly straight line.

Irritation danced over my skin—the same sensation I felt every time she was around.

“I did. I’ve been working all weekend but thought I needed a break,” I said, finally responding to Hazel’s comment.

Someone scoffed. “Don’t think I’ve ever heard those words come out of your mouth before,” Devon said. He stepped up beside me and grabbed another chip while we all waited for Ivy’s response.

Amanda, not one to let the tension linger, crossed the living room. “I didn’t know he was coming,” she told Ivy. “I’m sorry. I—apparently my boyfriends don’t mind not getting laid.”

“Whoa, now.” Reed threw his hands up in innocence. “I did nothing wrong. I should not be punished for someone else’s mistake.”

“Ha!” she chanted. “I knew it was you.” She pointed to Josh, who turned his scathing stare onto his boyfriend. But Reed smiled at him and kissed him quickly. As Amanda had earlier, Josh melted at Reed’s small display of affection.

While the two of them continued stirring something on the stove that smelled delicious and Devon and Luke fell into easy conversation, I noted Amanda speaking softly to Ivy on the other side of the living room. I couldn’t hear what they were saying but felt some relief when Ivy shook her head, smiled at Amanda, and squared her shoulders.

“Let’s eat!” Amanda proclaimed.

We all grabbed our drinks and piled the food onto the table, which barely fit the eight of us. I ended up squeezed between the two biggest guys in our group, Devon and Luke, with little to no elbow room and no way to get out. I considered it a punishment for showing up unannounced.

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