Crossing Lines Read Online Free PDF Page A

prior to Miranda’s wedding. Of course, we’ll have an additional two hundred people here, and everything will take place outside. But in her mind, it was the perfect trial run.”
    Erik nodded thoughtfully. “I can see where that would make sense to Lizbeth.”
    The two fell into their own thoughts, and Kevin studied Erik’s profile as he shuffled foot to foot and checked his watch, as anxious as Kevin to get this party over and done. Without much thought to taste, Kevin sipped his wine and contemplated going where the two of them had never gone before. At least not at the same time.
    He wasn’t sure why they’d never discussed Lizbeth or her and Erik’s previous relationship. It was as if they’d come to a mutual, unspoken agreement the best thing for their friendship would be to pretend Erik hadn’t had her first. Literally. After a long silence and much deliberation, Kevin decided to end the Lizbeth moratorium. “How long did you and Lizbeth date?”
    Erik whipped around and his mouth fell open. He snapped the hatch shut a few times, but the thing kept flopping open into the oh-shit position.
    “I understand,” Kevin said. “Date isn’t the best descriptor. But for the sake of this conversation and our friendship, let’s go with that.”
    Erik nodded like a busted bobblehead and loosened his already slack tie. “Yeah, okay. That works.” He tossed back the last of his wine and said, “We saw each other a handful of times over about six months.” He lifted his shoulder nonchalantly. “Then she left for Europe and I didn’t see her again until the night she showed up in Topsail, when you guys hooked up.” His eyebrows dipped as he studied Kevin. “Why?”
    Kevin shrugged, trying to match Erik’s indifference, but doubted his friend would buy all the just-curious-and-making-conversation. “How well did you get to know her?”
    Erik’s eyes cut to the door a split second before his feet and body angled in the same direction.
    “Not biblically, dumbass, in general.” Kevin was aware standing here talking about his girlfriend—for lack of a better term—with his best friend, who once upon a time also banged said girlfriend, should leave him feeling guarded or protective, at least raging with jealousy like Erik had been over Kat.
    It didn’t. Digging around for any kind of emotional attachment to Lizbeth only garnered a whole lot of nothing.
    And for that , he felt bad.
    “Do you know her favorite food, favorite color, what kind of books she reads? When she stares off into space and gets a sad expression, did you figure out the cause?” At Erik’s blank stare, Kevin glanced to the door and tugged at his collar again, feeling like a convict trapped in a house with the swat team closing in. He’d gotten himself into this situation, but now he had no way out and nowhere to hide. Despite his discomfort, he’d started the conversation and he needed to finish it. “How well did she get to know you?”
    Erik sighed and his shoulders sagged. “I didn’t bother to learn any of those things, but she didn’t care about me, either. That’s not what our relationship was about. We usually met out for drinks, and then…” He made a you know motion with his hand and cut his eyes to the wall.
    A moment later, he took a deep breath, then turned to face Kevin, committing himself to the conversation despite the awkwardness. “What’s going on? Why the questions after all this time?”
    “I’m not sure,” Kevin said, still trying to figure out the whys himself. In the past, mostly in college, Kevin and Steve, and Erik and Steve shared women. Kevin and Erik never did. Whether it was their competitive natures or an ego thing, he didn’t know, but it was a well-established line they all understood would never be crossed. It seemed counterintuitive to discuss Lizbeth like this, but desperation had Kevin searching for a lifeline. “I guess I’m looking for someone else who understands her.”
    Erik