Page 48 of Interference
“I miss when we would all carpool,” Kellan says.
“You miss my singing?” I tease.
He snorts. “Fuck no. We don’t get enough bonding time together, though. I missed out on that my freshman year.”
I frown when I think about it. During Kellan’s freshman year, he thought he was in love with Grace, but he treated her pretty badly. Especially when she started falling for our captain, Clay. Some shit went down, and let’s just say Kellan wasn’t our favorite person. It wasn’t until sophomore year when he metCora and we saw the man he truly was that we accepted him into the fold.
“We have plenty of time to bond. I mean, fuck, you connected yourself to Clay for life, and sorry to tell you, but we are a package deal.”
He laughs. “Where does Wyatt come into all of that?”
I wrap my arm around Wyatt. “Wyatt is our adoptee. He looks sad and homeless, so we brought him home.”
Wyatt pushes me off of him as he gives me the middle finger. When he opens the door and holds it open for us, I hear laughter. I watch Kellan step inside and move to follow him.
Only I freeze, making Wyatt bump into me in the doorway.
“Can you move?” he asks, with humor in his voice.
I ignore him as I take in the scene in front of me. Kellan said I had a surprise, but I wasn’t expecting this.
Emery is curled up on the couch with Cora, with the blanket from my bed covering her lap. Her hair is up in a messy bun, and a movie plays on the TV.
She’s here.
She’s here, and I didn’t have to ask her to come.
Emery is willingly hanging out here, at my place, with my friends.
I don’t know how this happened, but I like it.
Shit, I love it.
Emery smiles at me hesitantly. “Hi. I hope it’s okay that I came over here.”
“It’s more than okay, you know that,” I tell her.
“Good. We were having some girl time. The pizza should be here anytime,” Cora says.
I look over at her and she smirks.
“You’re welcome,” she mouths.
I dip my chin in acknowledgment.
For some reason, my girl sought out refuge, and Cora gave it to her. For that, I’ll forever be thankful.
Moving, I drop my bag in the entry and head toward the couch. Gently, I move Emery and sit down behind her, making her lean against my side.
“Are you sure this is okay?” she asks quietly as Kellan greets his girl.
“This is perfect.” Leaning over, I kiss her temple.
And I mean it. I can’t think of anything better than this.
twelve
My shit day turned into a great one, but now it’s late and I don’t want to go home, but I have no idea how to ask to stay.
