This is Love by (Checkmate Duet 2)

“So, what happened exactly? Do they know?” I’m impatient as I ask, but I try to stay calm.

“The sheriff told me bits and pieces, but until they do a full accident reconstruction, they only know from what the witnesses told them. Basically, he was driving down the ramp and a semi in the right lane wasn’t moving over, so he slowed down to get behind it. However, the car behind them wasn’t paying attention and rammed right into the back of them at full speed, pushing them forward into traffic. Luckily, there weren’t many cars were on the highway at two in the morning.”

Jesus.

My heart hammers in my chest as I picture Travis going through something like that. He could’ve been hurt a lot worse had there been more traffic or the semi driver suddenly slowed down or the car that hit him was going faster or…

“Viola,” Drew’s voice breaks me out of my thoughts that were pulling me away. “He’ll be okay.”

“What about his precious Challenger?” Courtney asks with a mock smile.

“It’s in bad shape.”

“Priorities, Courtney!” I scold.

Drew looks at her, holding back a smile. It’s the most attention he’s paid to any girl since his breakup. Courtney instantly lights up.

“What? It’s not like I asked about the car first!”

He glances over at her again, and I wonder what he’s thinking because his face isn’t giving him away.

I roll my eyes at her comment and follow Drew as he finds us a spot in the waiting area, but I’m glad she took the attention away from me.

We sit and stare at the TV, knowing damn well none of us can focus on whatever courtroom reality show is on. I hate this.

I hate waiting.

I hate not knowing.

I hate being left in the dark.

It’s eating me up inside; I have to speak up. “So, any idea why Travis would be with Mia in the first place?”

Courtney’s eyes widen as she looks to Drew for a reaction, but he doesn’t give one.

“None that make any sense.” He shrugs, keeping his eyes locked on the screen, paying us no attention at all. It’s such a dude reaction.

“You don’t seem too concerned that your friend was in a car with your girlfriend or that she was naked in his backseat.”

He cracks a weak smile. “Well, I know he wasn’t fooling around with her, so I’m not that concerned.” He pauses a moment. “And technically, she’s my ex-girlfriend now, unless she magically changed her mind again.” The sadness in his tone doesn’t go unnoticed.

I ignore the ex-girlfriend comment, but Courtney perks up at the mention of it.

“Travis may be a lot of things, but he’d never betray me like that,” he states with certainty.

“Bro-code,” Courtney adds, and I glare at her without Drew noticing.

“There are just certain people you don’t fool around with, and he’d never do something like that behind my back.”

Certain people like an ex-girlfriend or little sister…?

A dagger shoots right into my chest as I hear about Drew talking about the strong friendship and bond he has with Travis.

Courtney flashes me a look, and I know we’re both thinking it. If we weren’t all sitting together, Courtney would be swooning over Drew a lot harder. He’s clueless as to how he affects girls, especially Courtney. Even though she was with Toby, and Drew’s been on and off with Mia, she’s always had a little thing for him. And takes every opportunity to remind me.

Even before Toby and she were on the path to breakup city, Courtney had crushed hard on him. Shortly after we first met, she came with me to his house and nearly walked into a beam the first time she saw him.

“Are you all right?” he asked her, genuinely concerned.

She blinked a few times, and Drew took a step toward her.

“Fine,” she finally said. “Just wasn’t looking where I was going.”

He nodded and flashed one of his infamous charming smiles. Drew doesn’t have to do much to get a girl’s attention, with his dark, shaggy hair and tattoos lining his arms and chest. He’s built like a rock and was the reason guys wouldn’t come to the house back in high school. He looked terrifying, but I knew he had a soft side, too.

“Stop looking at my brother like you want to rip off his clothes!” I groaned once Drew was out of hearing distance. My friends swooning over him was something I had gotten used to in high school, and somehow it continued to happen in college.

Her eyes remained locked on him as he walked down the hall to his bedroom. “I want to do a lot more than that…” Her lips tilted up. “And those handcuffs—”

“All right, I get it,” I said, cutting her off. “You want to go all Fifty Shades on his ass.”

She chuckled. “Hot cop fantasy.” She shrugged unapologetically.