Page 21 of Unbroken

“I’m an old friend…I just wanted to stop by.”

I think I blacked out after that, having expended all my energy on those few sentences, because the next thing I knew, she was waving me inside.

There was no going back if I stepped inside. Crossing that threshold would change everything. And I felt myself wanting to flee. But hope flared alive in my chest at the thought of seeing my friends again. I stepped forward instead.

It would be okay; it would be worth it, I repeated again.

Before I knew it, I was just inside the door, and the curvyredhead was closing it behind me. She smiled, and I tried to return it.

“I’ll just be right back if you want to wait—” she said, but her words quickly cut off when she turned.

I followed her line of sight, and my breath caught in my throat.

James was not the first person I was expecting to see, but there he was, standing toward the edge of the entryway. I was prepared for his shocked, confused expression, but what I wasn’t prepared for was for him to reach out to the woman who’d opened the door and quickly tug her back into him.

She turned like the gesture frustrated her, but the moment she saw his face, which was growing more and more serious by the second, her smile dropped. He tucked a protective arm around her waist and held her closely to his side.

She was confused when she looked back at me.

In considering the group’s reactions to my homecoming, I’d also contemplated everyone’s individual reactions, too. James’s reaction was one I was more nervous for. Yes, he’d been one of my best friends—hewasone of my best friends—but it was him and Luke that I always seemed to find myself at odds with.

Everyone said it was because we were all too alike. We cared way too much and didn’t have a great way of expressing it.

James’s accusing stare was so intense, I worried it would break me and I’d flee before I saw anyone else.

So, I breathed out a nervous “Hi,” trying to cut the tension and fill the silence.

James’s expression didn’t falter.

His blond hair was only a little darker than last I remembered, but the intensity of his blue eyes was still startling. He looked good. And whether he thought it was good to see me or not, it was so good to see him.

Footsteps echoed from around a corner, and I braced myself for who would appear next.

Devon stepped into the hallway, and my entire body relaxedat the sight of him. Tears stung behind my eyes, and I released the breath I’d been holding.

The same constricting and excruciating breath I’d been holding for two years.

He looked the same. Kind of. My eyes appraised him from top to bottom, noting all of the changes that had taken place over the years.

His dark red hair was a little bit longer on top of his head, which I thought suited him. His beard was slightly longer and, again, darker, but his shoulders were just as broad.

Devon was a big man, and he filled the room everywhere he went. That hadn’t changed. The entryway we were standing in was spacious, yet he walked in and somehow it shrank, unable to accommodate him.

My eyes skated down his chest and over his arms. Devon had always had tattoos, but even more ink covered the exposed skin of his arms. The ink peeked out from the collar of his shirt, and I wanted to know what he’d added.

That was one of the many things we had in common and enjoyed doing together—getting new ink.

Quickly, my eyes snapped back up to meet his, and what I saw didn’t surprise me. Behind those tormented hazel eyes was something very few people would recognize. Devon was not very expressive, and even now, when he was likely shocked beyond belief, his face was on lockdown.

But those eyes told a different story. Emotions warred behind them. I wanted to step closer and identify each one, but there were more footsteps and raised voices.

Devon glanced to his right as more people entered, and some of that relief I’d felt at seeing him dissipated with our broken connection.

Reed walked in, immediately followed by Amanda, and my heart started pumping overtime.

They stopped, jaws dropped, and stared at me like they couldn’t tell if I was real.

Josh trailed behind them by a second or two and nearly ran over Amanda when he noticed me.

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