Page 51 of Wright Together

“I know. I want to.” He brushed my tears aside with his thumb. “Let me take care of you. You’re safe.”

I was safe.

I was safe here with him.

That was why I had come in the first place. Despite the distance I’d put between us, there was something more here. A new fear arose at that thought, but I smothered it. I needed this tonight. I needed it more than I’d even known. I could feel that fear another time.

For now, I leaned back against his broad chest and let him hold me. We could figure the rest out some other time.

16

Whitton

“Remind me again why I missed you.”

Harley cackled as we strode into Thai Pepper for lunch. “Because I’m awesome, obviously.”

“Obviously,” I grumbled.

Harley waved frantically at West, seated at the back corner table. West saluted her with a bemused smirk on his lips. A few girls were not-so-surreptitiously snapping pictures of him from nearby tables. Consequences of celebrity.

“God, you’re obnoxious now,” Harley said as she plunked into the seat next to West. She crossed her long legs, dangling a Doc Marten boot.

West laughed. “Uh, thanks? Missed you, too.”

“Of course you did. Both of you did.”

“We did,” I agreed with a shake of my head.

We were quite a trio. West in his unshakable rockstar garb—ripped jeans, band black T-shirt, and Vans. Harley dressed like she was on her way to Coachella in cutoff jean shorts, some kind of bra top, and a sleeveless crocheted jacket that I had no name for, but I’d guess she’d made herself. And then there was me, in a suit. No one would fit us together, and yet we’d always been inseparable. So much so that I hadn’t even moved to Lubbock when West did because I wanted to wait until Harley graduated and could come with me.

Harley ordered for all three of us when the waiter appeared, insisting we try this dish she’d eaten daily while interning at a law office in Seattle.

“So, still law school–bound?” I asked.

“Can you leave the five-year plan for a whole minute?” West asked with a smirk.

“He really can’t,” Harley said. She pursed her lips and shrugged. “I think so. I sort of hate lawyers. They’re scum. But I could change the world.”

“You don’t have to go into law to change the world,” West said.

“Don’t discourage her.”

West rolled his eyes. “Then, don’t encourage her to do something she doesn’t love.”

Ah, the tried-and-true argument.

“Y’all both shut up,” Harley said with a laugh.

West and I both put our hands up in surrender. We could bicker as good as any siblings, but somehow, our little sister was the mediator.

“Did everyone in Seattle make fun of you for usingy’all?” I asked.

Harley grinned. “More or less. But I like it.”

Our food came, and we all reached for chopsticks at the center of the table.

Harley rolled hers together before digging in. “Tell me what I missed while I was gone. How was the promotion party?”