Page 76 of Never the Same

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Hollis

I bent my legs up underneath me, trying to get comfortable alongside Ranger on the living room couch, preparing myself for a deep dive into our texting past.

Ranger set his head on my thigh, his curious eyes pointed at me like I was doing something wrong.

“He gave me permission. Not violating your daddy’s privacy, promise.”

I was desperate to ask him what he meant by the November date being his reset point, but I knew better than to press my luck and push him to open up.

“Work or personal phone first?” I peeked at Ranger, and he bopped the work phone with his nose. “Okay, then.”

I opened Reed’s texts and had to scroll through several other names to get to mine. A group text with Ryder, Alex, and others was at the top. That thread probably had to do with me, but I wasn’t going to abuse the trust he gave me and read anything other than our messages.

I spotted my name and opened our exchange. No image of me for the profile, which made sense. Why would he want to look at my face when we swapped texts?

I swiped back as far as it’d allow, landing in late February of this year. I read over the messages, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why I drove the man nuts. I was not easy to deal with, that was clear. My way or the highway when it came to a mission involving Audrey, and my God, what the heck . . . Based on what I could gather from the texts about the operation, my best friend had been through a lot.

I stopped on a string of texts while we were in New Zealand undercover as a couple.

Me: Your suit is on the bed. I didn’t trust you to shop for yourself, so I picked something out for you.

Reed: I can dress myself, thanks.

Reed: And why were you in my room while I was in the shower? You could have walked in on me.

Me: Should’ve locked the door.

Reed: I did.

Me: Locked it . . . better?

Reed: Why Audrey likes you, beats the hell out of me.

Me: Same goes for why anyone puts up with you, Mr. Grump.

Reed: That’s . . . fair.

I smirked at our back-and-forth, reading between the lines, pretty sure we were flirting, not hating on one another.

There were a few more texts after that relating to the mission, but that was it.

I switched to his personal phone, my stomach aching at the first name at the top in his messages: Mom.

When I opened our exchange, I was surprised to see there was a profile picture of me in this one. I was outdoors, crouched alongside Ranger and smiling.

Interesting.

I swiped all the way back to our very first message and began there.

Me: It’s me. Figured I’d text on your personal line when it’s not op related.

Reed: Who is this?

Me: Your favorite person. Give you three guesses, but you’ll only need one: a sexy brunette who kicks ass for a living, drives you nuts just by breathing, and is a sucker for banana bread.

Reed clearly programmed my number at some point after that, since it didn’t say Unknown with my picture.