Page 4 of Meet Me in the Valley
“Good. Go on, get out of here.”
Tia walks backwards a few steps, her gaze never leaving mine. She waves goodbye with that killer smile, then drives away into the summer night.
I watch her car grow smaller and smaller until she turns a corner, and I’m alone again.
But after meeting Tia, I don’t think I’ll ever really be alone. Even if I have to go back to an empty house with a broken family, I ride back to that reality with a stupid smile on my face.
Because ofher.
The mystery girl on the other side of my trust fall.
Chapter One
TIA
NOW
A sudden noise halts my fist before it can make contact with the door, dull and muted.
Thud.
Pushing my ear to the wood, I strain to hear the noises coming from the other side.
God,I wish I hadn’t.
I roll my eyes and scoff. Steady thumps and some high-pitched moans filter through the wall that’s separating me from Logan and his newest conquest.
This isn’t my first rodeo. I’m well aware that I’m best friends with Austin’s most eligible bachelor—Logan Harper, resident playboy with the looks to match.
I see the appeal. He’s got this boyish crooked grin with masculine lines that sculpt his face. His hair is the type of blonde you try to achieve in the hair salon, but can’t ever get right. He stays mostly clean shaven—probably perfect for kissing. Warm, espresso-colored eyes that pull you in without even trying. He’salso got a great sense of humor, endless amounts of charm, and is smart as hell.
Perfect on paper, but. There’s always abut. I love my best friend,buthe’s non-committal, always has a new plaything on his arm every week. He pours the milk into the bowl first,thenthe cereal. Who the fuck does that?
He leaves his dirty laundry right by the freaking basket when it takes two seconds to just put it in the damn thing rather than the floor.
He’s a serial flirt—which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can be when you’ve slept with not one but two of the front desk receptionists at work. And because we work at the same design firm, I get to witness our boss, Roy, wonder why his receptionists keep crying in the bathroom, then quitting a week later.
The turnover rate is kind of high and Logan might have something to do with that—breaking hearts and all.
But …I still love the guy. The most loyal friend I’ve had for the last decade of my life, and I wouldn’t change him for anything.
My phone pings with a flight check-in notification. Impatience floods me as I squeeze my eyes shut to drown out the sound of my rumbling stomach and the god-awful cat-in-heat-type wailing echoing off the too thin walls.
Judging by the volume of whoever he’s got in there—and the pace of the thuds—the show is almost over. It better be, or else I’m leaving his ass in Austin and celebrating Audrey and Donovan’s engagement without him.
I should be one sake shot down and one spicy tuna roll inhaled at this point.
Ugh. I’m so hungry. Hurry the hell up.
“Logan! Yes! Yes!!”the girl screams.
Five hard thuds later, they finally stop, and we’re approximately three minutes away from Logan guiding her out the door.
“Finally,” I mumble, mindlessly scrolling through social media as the sound of footsteps from inside his place gets closer.
The door opens with a whoosh, and the sound of her giggles coupled with Logan’s murmuring jolts my focus away from my phone.
“Call me when you get back from California? I can wait for you at your place when you get back. Naked,” she purrs, and I bite my lip to stifle the laugh that wants to come out.
