Page 36 of The Moment They Can't Forget

“Stop annoying him,” Sawyer said. “I’ve got another question.”

He’d ordered nachos. The cheese was an unnatural yellow and really stretchy. JD shouldn’t be enjoying them as much as he was.

“I thought your body was a temple?” Dan said, watching as he ate another corn chip covered in cheese. “Nothing but healthy shit goes in there.”

“I feel like some unhealthy shit. What’s your other question, Sawyer?”

“Did you see Zoe leave the engagement party with anyone? She didn’t come home until the following morning but won’t tell me where she was or, more importantly, who she was with.”

The cheese suddenly blocked the back of his throat, making it hard to breathe or swallow.

“I didn’t know this,” Dan said, which gave JD time to drink a mouthful of beer to dislodge the cheese.

“Isn’t your sister an adult and has lived away from you all for years? Shouldn’t she be able to do whatever she wants with whoever she wants?” JD said, proud that his voice sounded calm.

“Something is off with her, and I don’t want some asshole taking advantage of her because of that, and there are a few of them in this town.”

“Wait, wait,” Dan said. “She didn’t come home after the engagement party until the next day, and something is off with her? How come I don’t know this?”

“You know something’s off with her, and it has to do with why she left Chicago. We talked about this,” Sawyer said impatiently. “How the fuck do you do your job and uphold the law if you can’t remember conversations that are important?”

JD turned to look at Dan, happy that the Dukes were getting into it and not asking him questions. Of course someone had realized Zoe came home late. There were four brothers, plus a mother and uncle, who was the sheriff in town. They had eyes everywhere.

What the hell had he been thinking sleeping with his best friend’s sister? He hadn’t been thinking, and that’s the point. He’d wanted Zoe Duke since the first time he saw her, and that had never changed.

And now you want her more.

“I retain important stuff,” Dan protested.

“Well, your sister is important stuff, and you need to get her to tell you what happened in Chicago,” Sawyer snapped.

“Why me?”

“Because the rest of us have tried, and she didn’t crack.”

“So you want me to cuff her and throw her in a cell until she talks?”

JD wasn’t entirely sure Dan was joking, and when he looked at Sawyer, he was clearly considering it.

“And I repeat, she’s an adult. Let her make her own life choices,” JD said.

“You don’t have a sister, so butt out,” Sawyer said.

“I have friends who are girls who I think of as sisters,” JD protested. “Humor me here,” he added when what he should do was change the subject. “If you find out she slept with someone, what then?”

“Depends,” Dan snapped.

“On what?” JD asked.

“Who, and if it’s serious, or just a…” He clenched his eyes shut. “I can’t say it in connection with Zoe.”

JD raised his hand as Sawyer opened his mouth. “Just so I’m clear. It’s okay for you two to sleep around?—”

“I don’t?—”

“You did before Birdie,” JD said when Sawyer cut him off. “It’s okay for you and your brothers to have a night between the sheets but not your sister?”

He looked from one Duke to another. Neither looked comfortable.

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