Page 49 of You Don’t Kiss Your Brother's Best Friends

“I’m working her,” I shot back.

“Looks like it.”

She looked strikingly beautiful, so fearsome and angry. Maybe even more beautiful that way.

“Jocelyn, listen to me,” I pleaded. “We’ve learned more in the last few hours than in the past couple of months. Thanks to Evelyn’s big mouth, I know when the Founders are getting here. One’s already here, in fact.”

“Yes. Victor.”

I blinked back at her in bewilderment. “How do you know that?”

“Because I ran into him. Literally.”

A sick feeling stole over me, making my stomach instantly queasy. This wasJocelyn!Somehow she was here, in the midst of danger, despite everything we’d done. And now she’d made contact with Victor Knox.

And it was all because we’d brought her here.

I thought of Jason, and what he would do to us if anything happened to her. But it went well beyond that. I knewIcouldn’tlive with myself if anything happened to her. And I knew in my heart, neither could the others.

“What happened?” I asked quickly. “What did he say?”

“Not much, really.”

I put my hands on either side of my head and squeezed. “Did he suspect anything?”

“No, I don’t think so,” she replied. “He was nice enough, I guess.”

“Nice enough?”

She shrugged. “I think he likes me. Maybe.”

A muffled cacophony of noises made their way through the door. In the chaos of the kitchen, I thought I heard someone shouting my name.

“I have to get back,” I urged. “I’m sure Bishop’s already burned the sauce by now.”

“No,wehave to get back,” Jocelyn corrected me. “We’re both in the same boat, remember?”

Jocelyn was staring up at me now, surprisingly calm and cool. I was all full of nervous energy, shifting from one foot to the other. I couldn’t believe we’d gotten her into this! My blood pressure was so high I could feel my whole body throbbing. My shoulders felt like high tension lines, being pulled past their breaking point.

“Please, just stay away from Victor Knox,” I told her. “Whatever you do, you need to avoid him.”

Jocelyn bit her lip and nodded. “Okay.”

My hands reached out to grasp her by the shoulders. Her arms felt warm, strong, steady.

“I love you too much to let anything happen to you,” I told her. “And I won’t. Ever.”

Her expression softened. That beautiful, laughing face I’d seen a thousand times before was now deep with sincerity.

“I know you won’t,” she choked, hugging me.

She pressed her face against my chest, just as there was a series of rapid knocks at the pantry door.

“And I love you too.”

~ 29 ~

JOCELYN

---