Page 19 of Bring You Back

I sigh down at my biscuits and gravy that are now getting cold. I take another bite and say, “Ask Julian.”Since it’shimyou can’t stop staring at.

Reyna steps in front of him so he’ll look at her, not me. When he does, she doesn’t ask twice, just waits for an answer. I exchange a look with Tommy.

“She just showed up,” Julian says, his words accusing. From the jerk of Reyna’s head, that’s not the answer she wants. He sighs and gives it to her. “She came back yesterday morning.”

“Two nights ago,” chimes a familiar grating voice and I groan as all eyes lock onto Banks. He tramps through the door like the tramp he is, lugging a duffel at his side that he drops to his feet, much like he used to do whenever he stayed here. “The nightbeforeyesterday morning. She showed up at my place first.” He makes a face at me now.Found you.“I knew you’d be here.” They all just stare, having no words for the second abrupt arrival of someone else they haven’t talked to in a while. Banks scans their faces. “What? I thought we were getting the gang back together!”

Julian spits out a “Fuck” and Reyna spins on Tommy, still stuck onmyarrival. “Did you know, too?”

He doesn’t even try to deny, but he pulls for an excuse. “I was just here when she showed.”

“Please,” Reyna scoffs. “You had all day to say something.” She spins back on Julian. “Is this what you were really apologizing for earlier?”

“You apologized forme?” I catch Julian’s eyes with a cocked brow right before I subtly shift them to Reyna, a pointed motion that he seems to understand, because he’s now shooting a hard, accusing stare at Tommy.

“You told her?”

“Told her what?” Reyna questions before the answer dawns on her face.

“What else, Tommy?”

Julian eyes me again and I nod.Yes, that, too.

“Tommy didn’t tell me,” I inform him, a softness in my voice that in turn softens his features. It happens fast, a blink that wouldn’t be noticeable to someone who doesn’t know him. “Your mom did.”

These are the first words he’s heard from my mouth in a long time. I wanted to make them count, but I guess you can’t win ‘em all. Julian isn’t going to let me win anything. But I have to let him hear that I care. I care about what he’s going through, and I’m here.Be here with me.

“Told her what?” Banks pipes in, reminding Julian that he is still here. He faces him and eyes the duffel.

“You’re not staying here.”

“Yeah, I am,” Banks insists.

“No, you’re not.”

Banks hurls his arm in my direction. “Ifshecan, so can I.”

“I haven’t talked to you in months—”

“Yeah, and whose fault is that?”

“Yours.”

“Hey, you left me for a surfboard.”

“I left askateboardfor a surfboard.”

“And Banks was a big baby about it,” Tommy says to me. I like how he’s talking as if Banks isn’t here.

“It was our thing,” Banks defends himself, pointing a finger at Julian. “You abandoned our thing. So you abandoned me.”

I hum through a pointed look at Julian. “Imagine that.”

He faces me with a sharp word. “Don’t.” He gestures between him and Banks. “We had issues. I had a reason.” The unspokenYou didn’tpierces through his stare.

Banks throws up his arms. “Exactly! So if anyone should be staying here, it should be me.” His look of accomplishment fades to confusion. “That made more sense in my head.”

Reyna’s laugh gets his attention and he waggles his brows at her, the nickname he’s called her since day one on the tip of his perverted tongue. “Hey, Blondie.”

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