Page 33 of Rescued By Midnight

“Nothing. Want to make yourself useful and start the rice?”

“Not particularly.” But he gets to work. “You know what your problem is, don’t you?”

I glower at the garlic clove beneath my blade. “I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”

“It’s her. That’s your problem.”

“She isn’t a problem.”

“She’s a problem for me.”

I drop my knife and turn to face him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You fucking brought her here,” Cody says. “I didn’t ask for that. You didn’t even check if it was okay.”

“Because I didn’t think for a second that you’d act like such a gaping asshole about it.” I turn on the tap to pour myself a glass of water. I need to cool down before I sock him in the nose. Beneath the sound of the water, another noise reaches my ears. “Wait…”

I turn around, my brain cataloging what I just heard—the elevator door.

Shit. Alice is home. How much did she hear?

13

ALICE - NOW

I type in the key code to take the elevator back to Landon and Cody’s apartment, still fuming over Jericha’s request. I should’ve known our friendship was over as soon as she stepped into my hospital room, looking shocked and none too happy. And I could have maybe, eventually understood her and Brayden getting together in my absence, if she felt any regret whatsoever. But she wants to forge ahead, making a family with him.

She isn’t a friend, and I don’t think she ever was. She would be happier if I had disappeared forever.

I just want to throw myself down on my bed and forget Brayden and Jericha exist.

When the elevator door opens to the entryway, voices come from the kitchen. The guys are home, and they’re arguing.

I pause in the elevator doorway, preventing it from closing. Maybe I shouldn’t be here for this. The last thing this evening needs is more drama and conflict. At the same time, I’ve never heard them be truly angry with each other. They always seem so synced up, in everything from their conversations, to their jokes, to what they do in their spare time.

But eavesdropping is wrong, and I’m a guest here. I take the few steps back into the elevator.

Then Cody’s loud voice, the syllables harsh with irritation, makes me freeze in place. “You fucking brought her here. I didn’t ask for that. You didn’t even check if it was okay.”

Oh. They’re arguing about me. My heart thuds a final time before stopping completely. Cody doesn’t want me here. Of course he doesn’t—I’m a mess, and he no longer considers me a friend. I could tell when I first saw him, that something had shifted between us.

“Because,” Landon shoots back, “I didn’t think for a second that you’d act like such a gaping asshole about it.”

Cody doesn’t respond. The sound of running water fills the new silence.

I carefully step back into the elevator and press the button to return to the garage. I don’t know where I’ll go from there, but I’ll figure it out. Or maybe I’ll get lucky and the elevator will penetrate through the earth and take me straight to Hell. I think Hell would be an improvement on my current reality.

“Alice!” Landon skids as he comes around the corner and into the entryway. “Wait?—”

I shake my head. The doors have nearly slid closed.

Just before they do, he slams his hand between them.

Crap.

“Landon, just let me go.” I try to sound calm, collected. Nobody wants to listen to a hysterical woman—that’s what I’ve been taught. Decorum. Purity. Perfection. “I’ll be fine. Brayden is trying to get me to come home, anyway.”

“That home isn’t your home.” He narrows his eyes.