Carter Reed 2 (Carter Reed 2)

“I second that.” Theresa looked like she was bursting at the seams. She bounced up and down, waiting for me to lift my glass. “Come on, Ems. You’re back with us. You’re safe. Your sister is safe, and hey—you have a sister! A true blue sister. That’s amazing. Don’t get me wrong, though. I do not want to know what all happened out there because, you know—” She winked in Brian’s direction. “But you’re home. You’re alive, and we missed the hell out of you.”

The tears weren’t going to stay hidden. One slipped down my cheek, and I felt more coming. I tried to swallow the emotion, but I knew my smile was watery. “You guys… Thank you.” I couldn’t. The words weren’t coming. This. I really felt accepted by them, no matter what happened or what would happen. I flicked some of the tears away. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

Theresa frowned. “Because we’re drinking rum instead of wine?”

“We love you, Emma.”

I heard the tenderness from Amanda again. When I turned to look, she held my gaze and continued to smile softly at me. She glanced to Brian, then back to me, and her smile lifted up a notch. I knew what she was trying to convey to me then. No matter what happened, we were family. I nodded, and that broke the dam. I couldn’t stop crying after that.

“Oh, Emma.” Theresa came around the counter and hugged me, glass still in hand. Amanda laughed as she joined us, with her glass, too. “Wait.” Theresa raised her glass. “We should all take a sip like this.”

“What?” Amanda frowned at her.

“I mean it. I know it sounds stupid. We’re mixed up in a knot here, but let’s try it. It can be a new thing, like a bonding, sisterly-drinking thing. If anything, we’ll all look really dumb together.”

“Oh my god.” Amanda rolled her eyes.

“Hush it.” Theresa shot her a look, but she was trying not to grin. “This is what memories are made of. When we act stupid, we know we’re going to act stupid, and we do it anyway. Now drink, woman.” She lifted up on her tiptoes, straining toward her glass.

Amanda and I did the same. My lips barely touched my glass, but I tried. Amanda screamed and began laughing. She started hopping up and down, jostling me. “Hey,” I said. My lip was almost there. I could just feel it when my glass tipped. I had one second to register what was coming, and I closed my eyes just as the liquid rained down on me.

“Oh my god.” I laughed, extracting myself. I was wet, and a little cold, but everyone laughed. Peeking out through one eye, I could tell Amanda and Theresa were in similar states, both drenched. Noah and Brian stood by with the emptied glasses in hand.

The three girls shared a look, and as one, we launched for the guys.

Theresa leapt for Noah’s beer, but he lifted it up and out of her reach. Instead of jumping for it, she darted around him, opened the fridge and pulled out a champagne bottle. Noah’s eyes got big once he saw what she’d grabbed, and he began backing away. It didn’t matter. She sprayed it all over him, shaking the bottle up and down.

“Theresa.”

“You asked for it!” she yelled. “I’m giving back, Noah.”

Amanda and Brian were tussling, too, and I stepped back to watch both couples. Seeing what Theresa had done, Amanda bypassed her boyfriend’s beer altogether and grabbed the rum.

“Hold up,” I called.

“Good thinking.” She set it back down and grabbed the juice container. Instead of shaking it like Theresa had, she climbed up the counter and tipped it over. Brian just stood there, letting her do it. He shook his head and fought back a grin.

When he saw me watching, he lifted his hands in a shrug. “What do you do? I asked for it.” Then he twisted around, snaked an arm around her waist, and plucked her off the counter.

Amanda shrieked, but it wasn’t from terror. She was excited. No, I corrected myself—she was happy. As he swung her around in a circle, I saw that she was genuinely happy.

Good.

That warm emotion settled in my gut. It was firm, and it resounded through me. Everything I’d done was worth it. Leaving them, hiding with Carter—all of it was worth it. Making sure Amanda had changed her mind? That was more than worth it. She wasn’t Mallory. She had a future. She needed to live it as much as possible. And me? I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. I had my own future.

I snuck away, but as I did, I glanced over my shoulder. Brian was ducking Amanda’s tickling hands and watching me. We shared a look. I wasn’t sure what message was in it, but he nodded and started tickling Amanda all over again.

He was distracting her so I could go.

I got to the front door, where I was able to read my text message.

There are men downstairs for you.

I frowned. It wasn’t a number I recognized. Carter?

A second passed.

Another.