Page 80 of You Found Me in the Dark
“He looks like he ghosted a girl once over incompatibility with their zodiac signs,” I said, lips twitching. “But he’s cute.”
Harper snorted. “He owns a record player and three houseplants that he calls his babies.”
Reed’s voice cut in from the front seat, casual but listening. “Let me see this weirdo.”
Harper leaned forward between the seats, holding the phone out toward him. “No judgment, big brother. He’s sweet.”
Reed glanced at the screen, sunglasses still on but judging. “He’s wearing corduroy in June.”
Cam didn’t miss a beat. “I’ve taken shits more attractive than him.”
I burst out laughing, and Lena was in tears because of Cameron’s response.
Harper whacked Cam’s shoulder from behind his seat. “You’re such an ass.”
Cam just grinned. “I’m just saying, if you bring him around, I’m making him sit on the floor.”
Harper rolled her eyes, trying to hide her smile, and I caught Reed glancing at me in the mirror—just for a second, like he was more interested in my laughter than the road. My heart tugged in that warm, fluttery way it always did around him.
“Don’t worry,” I whispered to Harper, nudging her with my hand. “If he ends up being a weirdo, we’ll pretend we never saw his picture.”
“I never agreed to that,” Lena said while still cackling.
Harper huffed out a laugh and shook her head.
We turned off the main road, the scent of saltwater growing stronger, and I let myself soak it all in—this early summer moment, this little joy. The people I loved all tucked into one car, heading toward the fire.
We’d just pulled into the gravel lot at the edge of the beach, quickly exiting my small car to stretch our legs. I was second guessing driving my Honda here. Cam’s Bronco would’ve been more suitable.
“I feel like it’s been forever,” Harper said, looking around at the little beach shop and over at the bay.
“To be fair, it has been,” Lena shot back. “It was just winter, Harp.”
Behind us, the boys didn’t say much. Reed leaned against the back bumper of my car with the trunk open, sunglasses pushed into his hair, arms crossed like he wasn’t watching but totally was. Cam stood beside him, already sipping something from the cooler and pretending he wasn’t thrilled to be here.
Reed’s phone buzzed, and he glanced down at it before looking at us. “Dax just texted. He’s pulling in now.”
“Perfect,” I said, walking over to start unpacking the trunk. “He can help with all this crap.”
Blankets, the cooler, the bag of s’mores stuff—there was a whole small army of things waiting to be carried down to the sand.
But none of us moved yet. Not until Dax showed up. For now, the three of us girls just stood there, laughing and catching up, voices overlapping in that familiar, chaotic way.
I glanced at Reed out of the corner of my eye—he wasn’t smiling, not fully, but the soft look on his face gave him away. He loved watching us. Just like I loved having them all here. Together.
50
WREN
Lena had always been a lot—in the best way. Loud, unapologetically herself, and allergic to anything resembling a filter. She was the type to scream compliments across a parking lot or drunkenly confess her love to a stranger and then swear off men entirely the next morning.
She swore she hated men. Truly, passionately hated them. But she also talked about them constantly. Always in theory—like some abstract concept she could pick apart and analyze over brunch mimosas—but the second a man with tattoos and a decent jawline looked her way, she was already planning a fake wedding in her Notes app.
So when Dax pulled up and stepped out of his matte black truck, pushing his long black hair back and throwing the group a lazy smile, I knew we were about to witness something special.
Lena gasped like she’d just seen God. “Who is that?”
“That’s Dax,” I said, grinning at the anticipation rolling through her entire body. “Reed’s roommate and boss.”
