Page 176 of Now and Forever

When ten minutes has passed, I pulled out my phone and was about to call Jackson when I heard my name being called.

“Chloe?”

“Hello—” I stopped and my eyes grew wide at the sight of him parting the throng of people as he purposely strode toward my frozen state. “Drew?” I croaked out, confused as to why my brother would pull such a horrible prank on me. “What are you doing here?”

“I was on my way to my father’s place when Jackson called, wondering if I could come and get you.”

This placed me in a very awkward position. I couldn’t tell if he was displeased by this development or not. I was left to figure that out by myself.

Had I known it was Drew coming to get me, I would have taken my chances with a cab.

“Thank you for coming to my rescue, but you didn’t need to. I thought Jacks booked me a hired car. Had I known it was you, I would’ve said no.”

“It’s fine. I don’t mind.” He gazed at me for a few moments before gesturing to take my things. “Come on, we have to get going, or we’ll get stuck in the snow on our way to the Hamptons.”

“Hamptons?” No one had mentioned anything about me going there.

“Yes,” he stated in a casual manner, beginning to walk in long strides, heading toward the exit door. “Did you honestly think I’d leave you to spend Thanksgiving alone?”

Yes. After all, it wasn’t his business to care. He had made that quite known before. As important as those thoughts were, however, my mind veered to a more prevalent matter, such as the pretty Poppy.

His girlfriend would definitely mind if he brought an uninvited third-party along to their cozy family celebration.

Trailing behind him, I cleared my throat as I tried to get within his hearing range. “Drew, please, I don’t mind spending it in my place. You can drop me off, or I can get a cab, but I’m not going to crash on your family’s Thanksgiving. It’ll be crazy awkward, and it’s a family thing. I’m in no position to—”

“To what?” He spun around to face me, frowning as he stared deeply into my eyes. “You’re my family, too. Nothing will change that. So spare me the list of reasons you can’t join me, because I’m taking you along, even if I have to use force to get you there. So what’s it going to be, Chloe? Take your pick.”

He deemed me family … still … after what had happened? That sentiment touched and moved me, and I no longer wanted to argue with him. Besides, what harm could a day or two with his family in the Hamptons be, anyway? And even if Poppy would be there, I could stay out of their way and maybe, just maybe, Drew and I could begin rebuilding our friendship.

“All right, Drew. I’ll come with you as long as you promise there’ll be no more fights between us.”

A sudden ray of sunshine burst through his widening, handsome smile, blinding me for a second. “You’ve got yourself a deal, woman.”

The blacked out SUV and his driver, Everson, drove us to his father’s estate. During our ride, while Drew busied himself with his laptop, I inevitably dozed off, too exhausted to care about anything other than sleep.

---