Page 139 of Edge of Unbroken

“I guess so,” she says, and kisses me softly. “But before you hypothetically ask me anything this life-changing, let’s try to make it through these next few weeks and maybe graduate high school, okay?”

“If you insist,” I say, and kiss her back before interlacing our fingers and leading her back to the deck.

Sure enough, all eyes are immediately on us, knowing expressions on everyone’s faces.

“All better now?” Vada teases, wiggling her eyebrows.

I take my seat on the outdoor sofa and pull Cat back into my lap like this is exactly where she was always meant to be. “For now. May need a booster in an hour or so,” I say, and Cat wiggles in my lap, blushing. “Or sooner,” I groan, gritting my teeth. I move my hands to her hips to hold her in place and stop her butt from rubbing against my groin in a way that threatens to make me go hard again.

“Sorry,” she mouths and blushes.

I can’t help but smile at her. Life is so much easier when I’m with her.

Soon, our group eases back into a familiar dynamic, and I feel content sitting here, Cat near me. Occasionally she gets up to go into the house, but quickly returns and sits as close to me as possible, always maintaining physical contact like we’re trying to recharge each other’s batteries after the prolonged absence.

Shane broaches the subject of my return to Murphy’s, which leads to a discussion about school and graduation. Vada tries to contain her obvious excitement about her ascension to the number one rank in our graduating class and her valedictorian title. I assure her that she has every right to be happy.

“So, I’ve been meaning to ask you, why am I not seeing hundreds of people here to celebrate Summer’s birthday?” I ask Shane. I one hundred percent expected to find this place packed when I turned onto the private road leading to the house.

Shane shrugs.

“He hasn’t really been throwing parties, to be honest,” Tori says.

I narrow my eyes. “Why not?”

“It just wasn’t the same without you,” Shane says with a shrug. “I tried a couple times, but…”

“But what?” I ask.

“I don’t know. There were a lot of rumors going around about what happened to you, and… fuck, I just missed you. I wasn’t in the mood, and I don’t really think anyone else was either. We didn’t really feel like celebrating, you know?”

“Yeah, especially after what happened in February,” Vada says.

“Why? What happened in February?” I ask her.

I notice the stern looks both Steve and Cat are throwing at Vada, though Vada is oblivious.

“Well, Drew made a move on Cat. Just like followed her into the bathroom and—”

Vada doesn’t even finish her sentence before I’m up and off my seat, my entire body tense.

“What?” I growl and turn to Shane. “When were you going to fucking tell me about this?”

“God damn it, Vada,” Steve snarls, and both he and Shane stand.

“No, Ran, I—” Shane starts, moving toward me.

“Ran, it’s okay,” Cat says, standing up next to me, her hand on my forearm.

“Did he put his fucking hands on you?” I ask her with a frown.

“He kissed me, but—”

Deep, dark red.

“I’m going to fucking kill him,” I say against gritted teeth. I don’t know why, but nothing makes me see red more than the idea of some fucking asshole putting his hands on Cat without her permission.

Shane works to defuse my anger. “No, Ran, listen! Cat handled it. We weren’t going to tell you because Cat handled it,” he says, his arm stretched out, hand raised to calm me down.

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