Page 166 of Alive At Night

“Oh no, I’m not going to tell you so you can go make it worse.”

“Gemma,” I ground out through clenched teeth. “Tell me where the fuck she is. Now.”

She snickered, and the fact that she thought this was funny made my blood boil. “Tell me what you did first.”

“This isn’t a game. Something’s wrong, and if anything fucking happens to her, I swear to God—” Visions of Juniper hurt danced before my eyes, and I snapped. “Goddamnit, Gemma, please. I love her, okay? I fucking love her more than I even know how to comprehend, and I need you to tell mewhere the hell she—”

“She’s at the Bellflower,” Gemma cut in, sounding breathless. Shock ran through her words.

I sighed raggedly, relieved I was close and that my suspicion had been correct. I was already halfway there. Only a few more steps and I’d be striding into the bar. And then afterward, I could deal with what I’d just shouted at my sister.

“Gemma, I…”

“I know, Jules.” Her voice was small, but I couldn’t quite tell the other emotion swimming in it. “I’ve always known.”

She’d always known.

Because I’d been in love with Juniper St. James since I was seventeen years old, standing in the hospital waiting room, waiting to see her with bated breath.

Before that, even.

Swallowing past the thickness in my throat, I shook my head. “I’m almost there,” I said. “I have to go.”

“I’ll be there soon,” Gemma replied, and we hung up.

Pushing all other thoughts aside, I entered the bar and immediately began searching for Juniper.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-EIGHT

juniper

JULIAN BENT ME OVER his desk like nothing could stop him from having me, like he was a manobsessed, and then just like that, he forgot about me. He spent the morning reassuring me that he didn’t want space and the afternoon proving that wasallhe wanted.

I could tell something was bothering him, and it took a lot of self-talk to convince myself that he wasn’t trying to push me away again. The stress in his eyes had been apparent, so I tried to give him the distance he needed to work through whatever was going on. But when he went so far as to leave our office and shut me out for the entire afternoon, I cracked.

I wanted to help him, but he needed to trust me enough for that. He needed to care about me enough to communicate. And clearly, he didn’t.

Refusing to stick around just to be ignored, I closed my laptop, called Gemma for an emergency drink, and made my way to the Bellflower. I didn’t really want to mention how I was dating her brother when I was irritated with him and hurt by his actions, but it might come to that. Because today, I needed my best friend.

But the person sitting next to me now wasn’t my best friend.

Not even close.

Greg scooted his chair closer to me at the bar, and I had to wring my hands together to keep from smacking him. I didn’t like how his hot breath stuck to my skin. I didn’t like how his eyes felt greedy while looking me up and down. I didn’t like how he justhappenedto be here.

“I’m happy we ran into each other,” he said as if he could read my mind, and the smile he flashed made me want to choke.

Ran into each otherwas one way of putting it.

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you,” he continued, “but my texts won’t deliver for some reason.”

“I blocked you, Greg,” I said bluntly.

It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to admit. Greg’s eyes hardened in a way that tripped warning bells in my brain. He’d already snatched my phone away from me when I’d tried to tell Julian where I was, and now I felt oddly trapped even though I was in the middle of a crowded bar.

“Is it becauseJuliantold you to?” He spat Julian’s name like he was the devil himself.

“Of course not.”

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