Page 62 of Afterglow
“The less I know about the Rover, the less Landon knows about it.”
“Fuck,” Gabe breathes out. “You know you’re welcome to stay at our place anytime.”
“Same goes for us.” Indi squeezes my shoulder and kisses my temple.
“I didn’t want to be a burden.”
Indi’s eyes go watery, refreshing the tears streaming down my cheeks. “You’re no one’s burden, Bea.”
“We’re not blood,” Gabe confirms. “But you’re still family.”
“Where the hell have you been staying?” Indi pauses, then shakes her head. “Never mind, I don’t wanna know.”
I promise you, you definitely want to know.
“You’re coming home with me right after this. I have the minivan. We can grab your things from your brother’s store.”
“That would be a good plan,” I say through a sniffle. “If my stuff was there.”
Gabe’s brows rise. So do Indi’s.
“There’s more…”
Indi sucks in a breath and swivels back to her chair across from me.
“I was coming back from my ADHD therapist one day, and I was riding my bike too fast and not paying attention…”
“Oh, God, are you okay?” Indi searches my body.
“I’m fine, I’m good.” I hold up both hands to keep her calm. “I’m great, actually.”
“You’re great?”
“You’ll never guess who I nearly took out.”
Gabe’s palm smacks the width of her forehead. “We’re brunching with a bike assaulter.”
Even the thought of his name stretches my face into a smile. “Fletcher Donovan.”
“That’s a shit-eating grin if I ever saw one” —Indi hums out a series of disapproving noises— “What have you done?”
“How big?” Gabe positions her hands in the air in front of her, widening the space between them to show length. “Tell me when to stop.”
I don’t. At least not until she passes the diameter of her lunch plate.
“Jesus. He’s bigger than Wade.”
“For sure,” Indi confirms.
Gabe and I whip our heads to her.
Gabe glowers at her. “How would you know?”
Indi shrugs through a bite of salad, then swallows. “The first time I met Landon and Wade was in the locker room. They were both naked as the day they were born, bakery and deli on full display.”
“Ohhh, yeah,” Gabe intones with a long, slow nod. “Wade mentioned that sometime ago. I kept forgetting to bring it up.”
“Don’t tell Landon, but Wade is definitely bigger.” Indi’s eyebrows jump once as she takes a long sip of her drink. They both move their focus to me. “That means Fletcher is…”
