Page 5 of Unforgettable You

“Yup. It’s, uh, been a long time?” That sounded like a question.

“Yeah, it has.” The last time I’d seen her, she’d been what, Thirteen? Fourteen? Something like that. She’d had braces and acne and had been kind of annoying.

She let out a long breath. “Soooo, how have you been?” Oh, were we really doing this? Pretending to do the small talk thing as if the last time I’d seen her, her older sister hadn’t been absolutely ripping my still-beating heart out of my chest and stomping on it in the front yard of their house while she watched from the window?

Fuck. That.

“I have to get to work,” I said (which wasn’t true, but right now I couldn’t remember where the hell I was supposed to be going), clenching my teeth and shoving past her, making her stumble a little. I should probably feel bad about that, but I didn’t.

Seeing her had ignited the rage that had been mostly dormant inside me for the past few years. Oh, it was back now. With a vengeance. People said that you never forgot your first heartbreak, but that was an understatement. Sophie’s sister, Kaylee, had literally ruined my life. I could barely even think of her name without wanting to black out with rage. Still. Time had dulled the pain, but not by much.

Fuck her. FUCK HER FOREVER.

Her sister could fuck all the way off too. She was guilty by association. Was that rational? No. But I didn’t care about being fair or rational.

My phone went off as I shook with anger outside and I remembered that Stace had agreed to give me a ride to Cade and Eloise’s house. Right.

Stace waved at me and I headed for her car that was parked near the entrance to my apartment.

“Whoa, are you okay?” Stace asked as I got in and slammed the door. Hunter had turned around in her seat with a smile on her face that fell when she saw my expression.

“You will never believe who moved into the apartment next to mine.”

An hour later my mood wasn’t any better, but I had a drink in my hand that I hadn’t had to mix, and a plate of excellent food.

“If you keep scowling like that, your face is going to get stuck that way,” Cade said, sitting down next to me on the couch. Everyone else was in the kitchen talking and laughing and I’d retreated to the sitting area near the kitchen. It wasn’t a full formal living room. No, that was in another area of the house. Because this place was massive. Eloise was a famous and wealthy author so it made sense. It always hit me a little when I walked in that my friend Cade now lived a completely different lifestyle from mine.

“Bite me,” I said, chomping on a carrot that I’d dipped in some lemon pepper hummus.

“Are you really going to be a grump for the rest of the night?” Cade asked, resting her head on my shoulder.

“Yes,” I said, and she laughed.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No,” I growled.

Cade sighed as she sat up and faced me.

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said for what felt like the thirtieth time.

Cade searched my face and then nodded. She knew how I got when I dug my heels in. Once I got to that point, there was no use in pushing. I’d shut down or I’d leave.

“Hey, I have a new ARC for you. Do you want to borrow it? I think it’s right up your alley.” One of the benefits of being friends with a woman whose girlfriend was a famous author was the access to books I hadn’t had before. Cade got all kinds of advanced copies of books through Eloise and her work as an author assistant that she vetted and passed on to me and Hunter and Jo. Cade had impeccable taste and had never steered me wrong with a book recommendation.

“Yeah, give it to me.” I doubted a book was going to turn my frown upside down, but it might give my mind a little break. Ever since I’d seen Sophie, I’d been thrown mentally back in time to that night when I’d found out that not only had Kaylee applied and decided to go to a different college than I had, she’d also been cheating on me nearly our entire relationship with the same girl who’d made my life in middle school hell. It wasn’t possible to articulate the layers of betrayal. I didn’t even remember most of it. At least not after I’d thrown up on the lawn when she’d tried to touch me.

Somehow I’d driven home somehow and had gone right to bed. I’d stayed there for almost a week.

Cade brought me back to the present when she handed me the book.

“Thanks,” I said, wanting to take the book upstairs to the library and dive into it right now so I didn’t have to talk to anyone.

I downed the rest of my drink.

“Want a refill?” Cade asked, taking the glass from me.