Page 94 of Best Kept Secret
“Hey, I only got you in the door.” She shakes her head. “Don’t let his Adam Brody persona fool you. He’s actually a real hard ass. I just didn’t want to tell you that last night and freak you out. You must’ve done something right.”
I grin, suddenly proud of myself.
“Have you got lunch plans?” Hannah asks, checking the time on her phone.
“No. I’m unemployed, remember?”
“Not anymore.” Hannah beams, nudging me with her shoulder. “Give me a sec, and I’ll just go grab my purse.”
Hannah and I grab a sandwich and find a table out in the plaza. The sun is out today, and it’s surprisingly warm. I remove my coat and drape it over the back of my chair, taking a seat, just in time for Hannah’s interrogation.
“So, how’s it going?” Her eyebrows waggle over the top of her sunglasses.
My cheeks heat, but it has nothing to do with the sunshine. Pressing my lips together, I shake my cold pressed juice, considering my response. But then, it all gets the better of me and I practically gush. “Oh, my God, Hannah, it’s perfect. I’m—” I release a wistful sigh, looking out over the greenery dotting the plaza. “It’s… everything and more.”
Chin resting on her hands, Hannah’s smile beams across at me. “So, you guys are, like,togethertogether?”
“We haven’t defined anything, but he told me he loves me.”I’m suddenly bashful as I think back to the night Logan told me that he was in love with me, and how I gave him my virginity.
“Oh, my God!” Hannah squeals, and I giggle. But then she drops the bomb I’m not ready for. “Does Dallas know?”
A brick of guilt settles in my stomach, and I avert my gaze down at my sandwich, suddenly no longer hungry. “No.”
Hannah makes a face. “Is he going to lose his shit?”
“Probably.” I heave another sigh.
Silence ensues, but then Hannah shrugs a shoulder. “Let him lose it,” she says. “He’ll get over it.”
I smile because she’s right. He will get over it. And if he doesn’t, then he can get the fuck under it and stay there. For the first time in my life, I’m in love, and as much as I love my brother, if he can’t be happy for me, if he wants to take some stupid promise I made to him when I was sixteen years old and use it against me, then screw him.
“How’s everything going with you?” I ask pointedly.
A shadow clouds Hannah’s face and she swallows roughly, looking down at her soda and playing with the paper straw. “Can I be honest with you?”
My brow furrows from her question and I reach across, touching her hand. “Of course.”
“No judgement?” She quirks a brow.
I shake my head. “No judgement.”
Rolling her lips, Hannah looks away a moment. “I hate that I can’t stop thinking about him,” she says quickly, turning back to me. “Like… I know I can’t—” She stops her words, shaking her head vehemently. “But I was falling in love with him, and then suddenly—” She sighs, shoulders sagging with dejection. “It’s just really hard to force yourself to hate someone, to pretend like he never even existed in your life, when you thought that he was going to be your happy ever after…”
I lick my lips, considering my words because the last thing I want to do is accuse her of anything. “You haven’t been in contact with him, have you?”
She shakes her head again, vehemently. “I blocked his number.”
“Good,” I assure her with a squeeze of her hand.
“He’s been emailing me at work, but I’m not responding. I can ask IT to block his contact, but then I’d have to explain why…” She swallows hard again, continuing, “He… he came to my apartment the other night.”
My eyes bug. “Hannah.”
“I pretended I wasn’t home,” she adds quickly. “I mean, his poor unsuspecting wife is pregnant for fuck’s sake. And he’s coming tomyapartment in the middle of the goddamn night?”
My eyes narrow as I process everything that she’s telling me. “Hannah, this sounds borderline dangerous.”
She huffs a sigh, throwing her hands up. “I don’t know what to do.”
