Page 9 of Crushing On My Brothers BFF

“He will,” Kaleb replies fiercely. “He’s going to recover. He’s going to be even stronger than before. Then he’ll wipe the floor with me for making you go home alone.”

But if you give me a ride, I’m going to want more and more and more. I’m going to want you to come inside with me. I’ll do more than ride in the car with you. I’ll ride…

What? A gondola straight to hell for having these thoughts now.

“Okay, fair enough,” I reply.

“See?” There’s that near smirk again. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“Don’t be so cocky about it,” I tell him.

His eyes gleam. It’s as though he likes the sassiness in my voice, but then he gets that dark, annoyed look. I don’t understand the change, but it’s better this way.

Kaleb picks up my bag. We’re walking down the hallway when a lady approaches us. She’s probably in her mid-twenties, and she is, as Gwen would say,smokin’. She’s got her body on display in yoga pants and a tight shirt, and she’s definitely not wearing a bra. I’m generally not one for shaming people for their outfits, but for some reason, I don’t want her anywhere near Kaleb.

“Oh my God, you’re Kaleb Kennison,” she says, almost pushing me out of the way when she marches right up to him.

Kaleb takes a step back, raising his hands slightly. He looksseriouslypissed, scowling, making me reevaluate my interactions with him so far. If this is pissed, how does he feel about me? It’s more like mildly inconvenienced, perhaps.

“Last time I checked,” Kaleb says tightly. “I apologize. I’m here for personal business.”

“But you can take a quick photo,” she says as if it’s a given.

“I’d rather not,” Kaleb says. “With all due respect.”

The woman narrows her eyes as if this is the most confusing thing she’s ever heard. Then she does something so unbelievable I almost think I’ve fallen asleep in the waiting room. She takes out her phone and starts recording Kaleb. She points the camera at him like he’s some circus side show.

“Can you believe this, ladies? It’sthehottest CEO I was talking about last Friday! What are the chances? Kaleb, would you be able to say hi to my yoga group? I’m sending this to the chat.”

Kaleb clenches his fists at his sides. He’d clearly rather swipe the phone out of her hand, but his expression changes, taking on a carefully crafted CEO’s smile. He’s aware that any public outrage would harm Free Everywhere.

I step off to the side, knowing this could be a mistake. Everything about this woman sickens me. The fact she’d approach him like this in a hospital. The fact she doesn’t care if Kaleb says no. The fact she’ssmokin’and would probably throw herself at Kaleb if he snapped his fingers.

“Well…” Kaleb pauses. “Hello…”

“Hey!” the woman yells when I snatch the phone out of her hand.

I walk briskly down the hallway, using the surprise to my advantage. Then I delete the video, turn off her phone, and slide it across the floor into the middle of the waiting room. She rushes over to me, waving her hand.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong withyou?” I hiss. “He’s here for his best friend. He was in an accident. For all you know, he could’ve just gotten news that somebody he cares about…” I lower my voice, notwanting to saydiedwhen other people can hear me. “Have some goddamn respect.”

I walk past her, leaving her to find her phone. Kaleb is watching me with not an almost smirk on his face this time, but arealsmirk. His eyes are playful and bright.

“We should get going,” I tell him, “before she turns her phone back on.”

He reaches out and touches my hand. Oh, jeez. There’s that electricity again, but it’s much more potent after all these years. “Then let’s get moving.”

I think he might hold my hand the rest of the way, but he doesn’t. That’s agoodthing, I remind myself, even if it feels like a downright lie.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kaleb

“I can’t believe you did that,” I say, struggling not to laugh. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to holdbacklaughter.

Sophie doesn’t hold hers back. It has an edge of sadness, but she lets it go, laughing beside me. “Neither can I, but who the hell does she think she is? You’re in ahospital. She doesn’t know what the reason is. It could be anything, and the way she started recording you was so creepy.”

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