Page 100 of Dream (Fighting Fate)

The door opened a crack, and Sam’s face appeared in the gap. “Uh, sorry to interrupt,” she said. “But there are a bunch of guys out here who need to know that you’re okay. Apparently, my word isn’t good enough.”

I smirked at that. I knew how much the guys liked Liv. I hadn’t noticed before because I was too worried about how Liv was, but they would’ve been almost as anxious as I was to see that she was all right.

Before either Liv or I had a chance to say a word, the door flew open wider and Corey pushed his way inside, moving past Sam and shoving me to the side to give Liv a hug. “Good to see you’re doing all right, Liv. You had us all stressed as fuck.”

Cain moved in next, then Lance and Daniel. Gardner smirked from the door.

I shook my head at them all as I sat there. She had every single one of them wrapped around her fucking finger. Me included. God help me if I ever fucked this up. I wouldn’t stand a chance.

Rubbing my hands together, I smiled. “It’s a good thing you’re all here, actually,” I said, grinning. “Liv’s finally agreed to move. And that includes you, Sam,” I said, looking over at the wide-eyed girl at the door.

The response was just as I expected it. Loud and cheerful with varying forms of, “Finally!”

I looked back at Liv and winked. “Now you can’t back out.”

Chapter 61

Olivia

Everything was happening so fast. Two months ago, I was a nobody. Six weeks ago, I was a mystery girl. A month ago, I was the girl who broke a million hearts around the world. A week ago, one of the broken hearts retaliated with a coat hanger. Today, I was moving into Josh’s apartment. Well, one of his apartments—as a tenant. It had been a crazy roller coaster of a ride, but it had been an exciting one.

Grabbing a box from the middle of the living room, I took a handful of books off Sam’s bookshelf and stacked them neatly inside. Sam grunted as she picked up the box she’d just finished packing and carted it to the door, plonking it down on top of another.

Collapsing on the floor, she rolled onto her back dramatically, arms flying out to the side. “I hate you so much right now, Liv,” she said.

I laughed. “Why?”

“Firstly, because you have fucking nothing to pack, and secondly, because you’re making me move.”

“You don’t want to move downtown? I can go on my own if you want,” I said, smirking.

Sam threw me a dirty look from her prone position on the floor. “Over my dead body. You need me. Don’t even pretend you don’t. I’m like you’re freaking publicist now.”

Now that made me laugh, because in a weird way, it was kind of true. “Then stop complaining. If you have too much stuff to move, you only have yourself to blame, you hoarder.”

“I’m a collector, not a hoarder, I’ll thank you,” she said, rolling onto her side.

It was then that the front door opened and six bodyguards started filing in. Sam let out a tiny squeal as she scrambled to her feet.

Gardner grinned at her with amusement as she hurried back to the bookshelf. “How are you still not finished packing that?” he asked, shaking his head.

“Get off my case, Hulk. I’ll be done in, like, thirty seconds,” she said, grabbing a pile of books. “You need to remember that some people aren’t as ginormous as you and need to rest for a while between boxes.”

Shaking his head, he grabbed his own pile of books and shoved them in the box she was packing.

“Be careful!” she said, her eyes wide with fear as she watched him. “If you damage my Jane Austen I will punch you, despite the fact that I’ll probably end up breaking my hand.”

The rest of the guys chuckled at their banter, before spreading out through the living room and sweeping the couches out the door in the blink of an eye. I shook my head as they disappeared. They made it look so freaking easy.

“Olivia?”

I turned at the sound of Mom’s voice from the kitchen. She appeared in the doorway, a spatula in one hand and a whisk in the other. She and Dad had come under the guise of helping with the move, but I had my suspicions it was more of an excuse to meet Josh. They were super freaking happy he was making me move, so, according to them, he’d already passed one of their biggest tests. Unfortunately for them, Josh was working today.

“What’s up?” I asked, shoving the last book in my box and closing the flaps.

“These are broken,” she said, waving the offending utensils in the air. “Do you guys still want them, or should I throw them in the trash?”

I turned to Sam, seeing as they were her utensils. She frowned, and I knew it was because she hated parting with anything she owned. It was a little bit funny.

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