I circled toward him. “What?”
“Life. It’s like we’re always given exactly what we need to make it through each little part.” He stared past me into the woods and into thoughts that sounded like they were forming as he spoke.
Earnest transparency met my eyes again. “I don’t know what this next season will look like, Em. I don’t know where we’ll end up or how long it’ll take to get there. But I know we’ve been given each other. And honestly, that’s enough.”
A hundred thoughts surged, but only one mattered. “I love you.”
Riley’s fingers smoothed over my temple and dove into my hair. His smile slid to the left. “Just so you know, fear of Jaycee’s wrath is the only thing keeping me from running down to that altar with you right now.”
My laughter deepened his expression. He eased even closer, gaze drifting to my lips. I clung to his sleeve. It didn’t make a difference how many times I’d told myself a look wasn’t an actual kiss. His eyes always said otherwise.
The wood railing creased into my lower back. I wove my fingers through his hair and ran my other hand down his lapel.
He rested his forehead against mine. “We better get away from this church.”
I didn’t argue. Not that he gave me the chance. I barely had time to snatch my shoes up from the ground before he had me flying around the building toward his Civic.
A few miles down the road, he glanced across the seats. “That was close.”
I laughed with him. But truthfully, I wasn’t sure how much longer we could hold off.
His car slowed to a stop beside the forest as his focus honed in on the tree line. “C’mon.”
I looked down at my dress. He couldn’t be serious.
He jogged around the front bumper and opened my door. He was serious. Perfect. I shoved my shoes back on, took his hand, and followed him down a narrow trail cluttered with overgrown ferns. “A little farther,” he called behind him.
“Wait, you’ve been here before?”
He smiled over his shoulder. “Just warming you up to surprises.”
Why did his grin have to be so ridiculously charming?
He turned and jogged backward a few strides ahead of each of mine.
“Riley, I swear, you’re—”
A bright light stopped me short the minute we stumbled out of the woods. The moon’s reflection shimmered over the lake. Riley kept jogging down to the shoreline and beamed at me the way he had when he’d first shown me the clearing in the woods near Reed.
I waded through the sand to his side. “How’d you find this place?”
“You have no idea how long you guys were taking pictures earlier, do you?”
“When did you get here? I didn’t see you.”
He shrugged. “Surprises aren’t fun if you know about them.”
I pinched his side. “You’re lucky I’m in heels right now.”
His laughter petered into a look of sobriety. He reached for my hand, eyes never leaving mine. “I think it’s only fair that I get a dance too.”
“Here?”
His smile answered for him. Of course he meant here. I freed my ankles from my heels.
Between the wind rustling through the trees and the crickets playing their usual symphony, our secluded stretch of moonlit beach couldn’t have been a more perfect dance floor.
Barefoot in the sand, wearing a bridesmaid dress topped with Riley’s suit jacket, I clung to his arms and the beginning of a new chapter in my life. “You know, you’re right. About what you said earlier.” I set my chin on my hand over his shoulder. “We’re always given exactly what we need along the way.”
“My brave fiancée.” He leaned back. Moonlight draped over an unreadable expression. He looked down like he was wrestling over how to say something.
My stomach dropped. He hadn’t said what happened in Nashville. Did I want to know?
His lashes swept toward mine. “I’m glad you’re feeling brave, because there’s something I need to tell you.”
I pulled back from his arms. “Your contract? Is everything okay?”
“For now.”
“Oh, that’s comforting.”
He waved it off. “The album’s done. Brett’s got some things in the works that have Nick eating out of his hand. That’s not what we need to worry about.”
“There’s something else to worry about?” Would it ever stop?
He drew a line in the wet sand with his shoe. “I got a call from my mom last night.” He swallowed as he faced me again. “They’re coming to your graduation.”
What?
He picked up a flat rock from the shore and turned it around in his hands. “Aside from having Jazz as your new shadow for a couple of days, it shouldn’t be too bad.”
I didn’t buy it. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He skipped the rock across the water. “Mom said my dad wants to talk to us . . .” He turned slowly. The lake didn’t come anywhere close to the depth in his eyes right then. “About the wedding.”
chapter twenty-five
Exposed
Between getting used to living in the apartment alone, poring over my final research paper, and dividing my roles at the center, two weeks of nonstop activity should’ve at least overshadowed the fear of what Mr. Preston had to say to us. If he was planning on withholding his blessing, did he really have to wait until graduation to tell us? That day would be emotional enough.
I twisted my necklace in a spiral and let it go. One day at a time.
Darius and Brandon came in from the basketball court with white paint flakes splattered on their arms and faces.
Trey sat up at his desk. “All done?”
Brandon spun his paintbrush in the air. “You should see it, yo. That court is sweet now.” He and Darius clasped hands. “Alls I gots to say is, those girls better be ready for a rematch.” He strutted toward the classroom where a group of girls was working on a science project. “Once that paint dries, it’s on.”
They trailed into the room, and Trey rocked back in his chair. “How long you think they’ll last in there?”
“Thirty seconds tops.”
My cell’s ring cut into our laughter. I swiped the screen. “Jae?” She rarely ever called me at work.
“Are you near a computer?”
I shook my mouse. “Ye-ah. Why?”
“Go to KATU.com.”
The local news station? My heart rate picked up. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. I held the phone with my shoulder and typed in the URL.
“Middle of the page,” she said. “See it? The ex-executive part?”
A picture of an officer leading a man into a patrol car came up in the headlines: Ex-Executive Caught Defrauding Company. The link pulled up a video feed. My pulse skipped again. “Jae, let me call you back.” I motioned Trey over and clicked on the video.
The same reporter who’d waved her microphone around our faces that day someone had plastered the picture of Dee on the building stood in front of this guy’s house now, looking extra makeup-y for the camera. “Earlier today, a local grant foundation exposed suspected fraudulent activity from one of their former executives, James Brake. These internal allegations are reported to have cost Brake his job and may lead to a jail sentence.”
The shot zoomed in on two officers escorting Mr. Brake across the lawn. He bucked against them and strained for a view in front of the camera. “I was protecting this city’s future. Keeping our streets clean.” A haunted look in his eyes cut to my core. “For the next generation. We must pave the way for the next generation.”
The taller cop got a tighter hold on him and led him into the police car. Behind them, a silver BMW sat in the driveway. I dropped my cell in my lap. Mr. Brake had been the one following me? The one who’d been blackmailing Mr. Glyndon? But I’d thought—
My phone rang again. I patted for it but couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. “Hello?”
“Miss Matthews, it’s Neal Chandler.”
The name set off another jolt down my body. “Yes?”
Trey sat on the edge of my desk.
“I’m assuming you saw the news?” Mr. Chandler asked.
I paused the video. “Just now, actually. I can’t believe . . .”
“I didn’t want to either. Jim was with us since the beginning. A little overzealous at times but committed. After his daughter was attacked, he—”
“Attacked? I thought someone only broke into her car.”
“A few weeks after that, someone cornered her in a public parking lot downtown.”
He didn’t need to go into the details. It had to have been heinous to have driven Mr. Brake this crazy. Despite my feelings toward him, my heart ached for his daughter. Especially after having been so close to a similar situation myself. I clutched my necklace.
Trey slanted me a what’s-going-on look. I switched over to speakerphone and set my cell beside my keyboard.
Mr. Chandler coughed away from the line. “Jim’s been a little off ever since then. Getting sloppy with his work. I came across some errors, but I figured he was just sleep-deprived. Making mistakes from not being on top of his game. I never suspected it was intentional.”
He had every right to feel blindsided. No one’s ever prepared for betrayal.
“After I got your message, I did some digging. Turns out, he falsified reports to sway the board’s decision on your proposal.”
I grabbed Trey’s hand and deflected a wave of anger. It wasn’t Mr. Chandler’s fault.
“We originally signed on because we saw potential in the center. And we’d like to make good on that decision.” He cleared his throat, and I squeezed Trey’s fingers even tighter.
“I have the check in my hands and will deliver it first thing tomorrow.”
And I’d still be sitting here, trying to find my voice.
chapter twenty-six
Pause
Life’s chaos never seemed to hinder the calendar’s progression. Winter fully surrendered to spring. Classes went on. But every now and then, in between waves of end-of-the-semester stress, my world paused long enough for me to remember how to breathe. Especially now that the center had enough funding to cover at least two years of expenses.
Riley and I were the only ones outside my apartment aside from two sparrows and a rambunctious squirrel rustling in a tree across the street. Greeting the warmth of the late-April day like an old friend, the weathered oak swayed in the wind until every last bud gleamed in the sunlight.
Seasons would always come and go, but maybe not all memories had to fade with time.
Riley studied me as though reading a perfectly legible rendition of my thoughts. His boyish smile moseyed closer. “You’re spending the night with your best friend. You’re supposed to look excited.”
“I am, but you sure you don’t mind?”
We spent virtually every evening together. It felt sort of strange to be going somewhere without him. Not that Jaycee would’ve let me bring him. She’d been begging me the last few weeks to come to her new place for a girls’ night. No guys allowed.
“Of course I don’t mind. It’ll be good for you. Besides,” he said, “Jake and I are going to have a guys’ night.”
“Doing what? Sharing milk bones?”
He laughed. “Hey, don’t knock ‘em till you try ‘em.”
“Sick.”
He drew me close and gave me one of those looks that cut through my attempt at hiding anything from him. “We have—”
“The rest of our lives. I know.” A breeze whisked past us but lacked its usual comfort.
He lifted a hand to the back of my neck. No one should be allowed to have such unfairly disarming eyes.
“Em—” His cell rang from his pocket. He answered. “Riley Preston.” His gaze flicked away from mine toward the trees across the street. He let go of my fingers and strode in the opposite direction.
“Not gonna happen.” He stopped on the curb with his back facing me. “Nick already knows my position on this. I’m not going without her.”
He dug his fingers through his hair. “Look, I’ll call him in the morning, but . . .” He raised a fist in the air. “I’m sorry, Jess, but this conversation’s over.”
Did he just hang up on her?
It took him a minute to turn around. But when he did, a visible look of apology filled in for words.
Not that I needed an explanation. It made sense—at least to everyone but Riley—that he should start touring as soon as possible. It was also clear to everyone—apparently, even to Jess—that I was the one holding him back.
I started for him and the conversation we needed to have. Again.
He flung his hand up. “Don’t,” he said. “I’m not leaving you.”
“But, Riley—”
“But nothing. Touring can wait. You can’t.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Please tell me he didn’t still question that.
He made his way to me. “Neither am I.” His tone left little room for negotiation. “You come first, Em. Always.” He drew me back into the position we’d been in before Jess’s interruption. “Everything’s gonna work out.”
“Will it?” I wanted so much to believe him.
He backed up. “Why do you keep doubting?”
His question caught me in the gut. I didn’t have an answer. At least, not one I wanted to admit. I dragged the tip of my sneaker along the sidewalk divider.
He moved close again. “There’s nothing seen or unseen that’s going to keep us apart. You know how I know?” Tilting my chin, he waited until he had my complete focus. “When I was eighteen, I—”
Honk!
We both spun toward Jaycee’s Fiat soaring up to the curb. She rolled down the passenger window. “Girl, you ready?”
Are you kidding me?
Chuckling, Riley brought my hands to his lips. “Go on. We’ll talk later. Have a good time tonight.”
I lifted on my toes to kiss him goodbye and turned toward the car. In my seat, I mindlessly fastened my seatbelt.
Jaycee lowered her sunglasses down her nose. “What’s wrong?”
I swear, it was like the girl had some invisible barometer that could assess the emotional climate of any situation in one point two seconds. “You sure you didn’t sneak a counseling minor into your degree without telling me?”
She flaunted a grin bordering way too closely to Trevor’s. “I tried, but they didn’t believe me when I told them living with you for four years could pass as my hard-earned practicum.”
I swiped a napkin from the door’s side pocket, crumbled it into a ball, and flicked it at her.
She dodged it with her palm while making a U-turn in the middle of the street. “Clearly, you’re way overdue on some girl time,” she said between laughs.
Clearly. At least tonight would be entertaining. Nothing like a little distraction from life.
We’d made it through half of Michael Jackson’s Greatest Hits by the time we reached her townhome in the heart of Portland. She unlocked the front door. “Wait till you see what I bought last weekend. You’re gonna love—”
Her words, along with her entire body, skidded to a stop two feet inside. I smacked into her back.
“Trev!”
In the living room, he and A. J. each sat in a Lazy Boy. Trevor waved in our general direction without unlocking his attention from the television screen. “We were just keeping the seats warm for you.”
She toed her shoes off in entryway. “Sorry. We’re supposed to have the house to ourselves,” she said loud enough for the guys to hear.
Trevor, I could handle. But after seeing A. J. only a handful of times in passing since the wedding, his being there caused a weird sense of tension.
At least, for me. He looked completely undaunted. As usual.
Trev hopped up the second a commercial came on and whisked her in his arms from behind. “Don’t worry. We’re going to the pub on Fifth Street to watch the fight. Yo
u won’t see us until the morning. Promise.”
She caved as soon as his lips met her neckline, giggling in spite of herself.
A. J. and I stayed on the outskirts of the kitchen, both looking around the apartment as though performing some kind of building code inspection.
Jaycee finally maneuvered out of seduction territory. “And what about your paper?”
Trevor grabbed a jacket off the coat rack mounted on the wall and slung his arms through the sleeves. “Tomorrow,” he mumbled around the wallet pinched between his lips.
He stared at her scowl. “Oh, c’mon. You didn’t seriously expect me to do school work on a Friday night?”
Jaycee crossed her arms.
He turned to A. J., hands out. “Dude, help a friend out, here.”
A. J. held his palms in the air, claiming immunity. “Sorry, bro. I know better than to get in the middle of this one.”
Trevor shoved him out the door. “How you gonna leave me flying solo like that?”
The unease left with them. Jaycee headed for the kitchen, huffing something that sounded like “boys.” At the counter, she spun in her socks and bobbed her brows with enough excitement to eclipse Trevor’s shenanigans. “Ready for a girls’ night?”
No telling what she had planned. Without leaving me time to guess, she dragged out a dozen items from her cabinets until she’d covered half the countertop in a spread of goodies intended for a night of sweet oblivion. “I just got this old popcorn maker at a tag sale last weekend. Isn’t it great? Very retro.”
I fought back a laugh. She could’ve been a schoolgirl having her first slumber party.
“And what would a girls’ night be without Starbucks hot chocolate?” She twirled around again with an array of flavored coffee liquors lined across her arms.
“Who’d you swipe those from?”
“I have my connections.”
I broke open a container of sugar cookies. “You mean a husband who knows everyone on the planet?”
She turned on the teakettle. “Marriage does have its perks.”
Just like friendship.
This—this night, the spread, the laughs—was the perfect reflection of why I loved her so much. She couldn’t have known how much I needed a night with my best friend. Or maybe she did. Although much had changed, some things never would.
Hope Unbroken (Unveiled Series Book 3) Page 17