Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 36999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 185(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 123(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 185(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 123(@300wpm)
"This isn't a mistake. It's a freaking disaster, Gemma!"
"I thought the same thing when it was me last week," she reminds me. "But it worked out in the end. This will work out, too. Your brother loves you just as fiercely as my sisters love me. He may be upset that you lied to him. He may even be mad at Coby for a while, but you guys will get through this. I know you will because I know your brother would do anything for you. And I've seen how much Coby loves you. Those two would walk through hell to make you happy. And we both know you aren't going to be happy until they're okay."
"I feel like such a jerk, Gemma. Coby never wanted to lie to him in the first place. He's been trying to get us caught so that Keegan would know the truth."
"Seriously?"
"Mmhmm."
"Then tell Keegan that," she says. "It may not help anything, but what will it hurt?"
She's right. What will it hurt? Right now, things are basically as bad as they can possibly be. My brother hates his best friend, and it's my fault. If there's any hope at all of fixing it, I have to try. Whatever it takes, I'll do it.
"Can I borrow your car?" I ask Gemma.
"Absolutely not," she says. You aren't driving right now, but I'll take you wherever you need to go."
"I need to go find Keegan and Coby. Preferably before Keegan tries to kill Coby."
"Let's go!" Gemma says, hopping up and holding out a hand for me.
I take it, allowing her to pull me up from the couch. Once I'm on my feet, I fling my arms around her in a fierce hug. "You know I love you, right?"
"I know," she says.
Chapter Eleven
Coby
As soon as I drop Elodie off, I head to Keegan's place, but he isn't there. I drive by the gym next, but he isn't there either. I run back by the shop to make sure he hasn't gone back, but Slade hasn't seen him since he walked out earlier.
Where the fuck did he go?
Silver Spoon Falls isn't that fucking big, and there aren't that many places for him to hide. I drive through downtown to see if he's at one of the bars, but his truck isn't outside.
I'm on the verge of giving up and heading back to Elodie's when something tells me to check my place. Call it intuition or instinct. I don't know. But something tells me that's where I'll find him.
I flip a U-Turn outside the coffee shop and haul ass toward my place.
Sure enough, his truck is in the driveway, and he's sitting on the front porch with his head in his hands.
"Fuck," I mutter, killing the engine before I shoot Elodie a text, letting her know that I found him. I know she's worried as hell about him. Frankly, I am too. I knew he'd be pissed when he found out about us, but I'm seriously fucking worried about the fact that he just walked out.
I climb from the truck to meet him.
"I don't know what's fucking me up more," he says when I stop on the sidewalk in front of him. "The fact that I asked you to keep an eye on her or the fact that she tried to convince me that you were a good guy." A harsh bark of laughter erupts from his lips. "Here I was, coming to you because I was worried about what was going on with her, and the whole fucking time, you were the problem."
"It wasn't like that, Keegan."
"It was exactly like that, motherfucker." He snaps his head up, hitting me with a hard gaze. "You lied straight to my fucking face. Both of you did. And the really fucked up part about it is that I actually thought you were trying to give me advice that night. You weren't. You were just trying to get me out of your goddamn way."
"That's not true."
"Isn't it?"
"You know it isn't. I may be a lot of things, but I'm not a complete fucking asshole. I never wanted you out of the way. I suggested she was hiding something that night because I wanted you to pay attention. I wanted you to figure out what the fuck was going on with us so it was out in the open."
"If you wanted me to know, you would have told me."
"I couldn't," I growl. "I promised her I wouldn't until she was ready."
"Don't blame her."
"I'm not blaming her. And I'm not asking you to blame her, either. She didn't do anything wrong. She was fucking terrified of you finding out for this very reason. She didn't want this to happen."
"What?"
"This!" I point between the two of us. "You and me, motherfucker. You're so busy worrying about her that you fail to see how much she worries about you, too. The fact that being with me might destroy our friendship has been eating her alive."