Page 39 of Unbroken

“Yeah, I was a bartender. We hadn’t seen each other in years, and everything just happened from there. We fought it for a while, but nothing that happened before was enough to keep us apart.”

She glanced to her left and searched around the pool table until her eyes landed on James. The soft smile that graced her lips, and then his, was one of the sweetest things I’d ever seen.

“And Hazel and Luke got married almost a year after…” Her words trailed off, but I knew what she meant. That’s how I referenced time as well. It was an easy way to gauge it. There was the before and the after.

Thank God there was an after.

“And she’s pregnant and due in what?” Amanda turned to look at Ivy. “A month?”

“Yeah, around then, but the baby is measuring big. She’s probably going to deliver early.”

Since I’d seen her rounded belly the first time, I’d been trying to identify the feelings that overwhelmed me each time I thought about it. Therapy had been good for that—identifying and differentiating my feelings.

But seeing Hazel pregnant brought on a whole new set of emotions I couldn’t begin to pinpoint. Because there was a possibility, in some alternative reality, that it never would have happened. That the injuries she sustained during her kidnapping would have been too severe, and maybe she wouldn’t have had a future at all.

And it was hard not to think that it would have been my fault. It would have been?—

“B?” Amanda asked, and I blinked. The dark thoughts retreated momentarily, and I faked a smile for my friend. Myfriends.

“Yeah, sorry. Lost in thought.”

“You want another drink?” Ivy asked, sliding off her barstool.

I looked down at my empty glass and considered ordering another mocktail. Whatever magic Josh did to it, it was amazing. But I shook my head. “Water would be nice, though.”

“I’ll take another,” Amanda said, pushing her empty glass to the edge of the table.

Ivy gave Amanda an unimpressed look with one eyebrow raised. I laughed at the no-nonsense expression. “Umm…how about some water first?”

Amanda huffed but didn’t argue.

Ivy walked past the rest of the group playing pool and easily drew the attention of her boyfriend. He shoved his cue stick at Devon and followed his girlfriend into the crowd of people toward the bar.

Reed had an arm wrapped around Josh’s back as they taunted Luke, who was leaning over the table and lining up his shot. Only he got distracted by his wife at the last minute and nearly missed the cue ball.

They all doubled over into fits of laughter.

“I’ll be right back,” Amanda said, hopping down from her stool and landing on unsteady legs. She quickly gained her balance and hurried toward her boyfriends. They both welcomed her with open arms as she slid between them. She rested her head on Josh’s chest, and Reed kissed the back of her neck.

It was so good to see them all so happy. Like everything that had happened to them didn’t break their spirits, and honestly, made them stronger.

My eyes landed on Devon again. I’d tried not to look at him all night, but it was harder than I thought it would be. My eyes were like magnets; no matter where he was, my attention found him.

Piper arrived a few minutes after we’d started our first game of pool, and Amanda filled me in on their new relationship.

They’d met at Ivy’s birthday party a few months earlier and had been casually dating ever since. They’d only made it official recently. Apparently, she was fitting in well with the group.

She looked sweet and seemed nice, but I didn’t know firsthand. She’d waved a polite hello when she’d arrived, but otherwise, she’d done her best to stay away from me. Well, I couldn’t be sure it was intentional, but it felt that way.

And Piper keeping her distance also meant Devon had been distant.

They were sitting on the opposite side of the pool room. Piper was idly sipping her drink and watching the game of poolin front of them. Devon sat across from her, brown boots propped on the bar of the stool as he leaned back against the wall. He’d rested the pool cue James had frantically given him against the wall next to him, freeing his hands. One large hand gripped the glass of whiskey that was sitting on the table. He’d been nursing it all night, rarely sipping it, while the other tapped to the beat of the music against his leg.

A leg—orlegs—that were hugged by dark jeans that complimented his green shirt.

Not thinking, my perusal continued. I began considering how much I liked his longer facial hair when I noticed his eyes. They were locked on me.

My eyes widened, but I tried not to react otherwise. Internally, though, I was freaking out a little. There was no telling how long he’d noticed that I was staring. And of course, his face gave nothing away.

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