Page 28 of Undeniably

“Stop it, Reed. Leave the girl alone.” Sage hands Reed his coffee cup before pouring some for herself in a to-go cup. “Do you drink coffee?”

I blink twice before I realize she’s talking to me. “No, thank you. I need to go. I was just calling a cab. I’ll get out of your way.”

“Nonsense. I’ll make you a coffee to go and drop you on my way to work.” Not waiting for my agreement, Sage sets to making another cup.

“You look good, Morgan. Time away has done you well, huh?” Reed’s words seem pleasant, but his eyes say different.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover. I may look well, but I have more internal scars than you know,” I bite back. I don’t know what possessed me to speak back to him, but I surprised both of us.

“Who hurt you?” he growls.

I freeze.

“Chill, Reed. You’re scaring the poor girl.”

I clear my throat. “Why do you care who hurt me anyways?”

His look becomes even more lethal. “It doesn’t matter. Who?”

Grimacing, I look away. “Not like you would do anything about it if I told you.”

He goes to speak again, but Sage stops him.

“Let’s get you home. I’ll meet you by the car.” She hands me coffee before turning to Reed.

I hurry out of the kitchen, not needing to hear what’s coming next. After a few minutes, Sage meets me outside.

“I didn’t know which car was yours.”

She laughs and points at the Lexus. “The most inexpensive car here.”

Once in the car, she turns the radio down. “I’m sorry about Reed. He gets all growly sometimes when someone he cares about is hurt.”

I look towards her in surprise. “Why would he care if I was hurt?”

She risks a quick glance at me. “You’re not that dumb. You’re still family, even if you left for a little while. They all care about you.”

I bite my lip, contemplating my next words. Sage makes me feel comfortable for some reason, like she’s an ally. “I can’t tell him who hurt me,” I finally whisper.

“Why is that?” She matches my tone.

“Because he would never hurt him.”

She gives me a confused look. “Who hurt you?”

Barely able to breathe, I finally admit is out loud, “Keaton.”

Sage gasps. “There’s way more to this than either of you are telling us, huh?”

I shrug. “It’s in the past now. We agreed to be friends and forget about the past.”

“Honorable, but have you actually talked about it?”

My face heats. “I don’t want to relive it.”

She nods in understanding. “One day you will have to though. You can’t get over something if you never address the core issue.”

I sigh before letting out a small laugh. “My mom always says stuff like that.”

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