Friends & Lovers Trilogy Read Online Free PDF Page A

go out
into the dining room. Pam didn’t mind if they took their breaks out
there, as long as it didn’t cause a problem for the customers.
    Briana grabbed a Coke from Pete and was
about to find a seat when she found herself face to face with
Colin.
    “ Hey, Bree.”
    This was the moment she’d been dreading, but
now that it was there, she found that she knew just how to handle
it.
    “ Hi, Colin,” She replied,
and started to walk around him.
    “ Wait,” he said, putting
his hand on her arm to stop her from walking away. “Can’t we
talk?”
    She looked pointedly at his hand and then up
at his face, not saying anything until he removed it.
    “ We don’t have anything to
talk about, Colin,” she said, hoping her face looked bored because
her nerves were bouncing all over the place. “Besides, I’m
working.”
    “ Looks like you’re on
break,” he replied. “C’mon, Bree, just give me a couple
minutes.”
    She was about to tell him to shove it, when
she felt someone come up behind her and two strong arms wrapped
around her.
    “ Hey, Babe, I’ve been
wondering if Pam was ever gonna give you a break.” Kent whispered
in her ear
    He said it loud enough for Colin to hear,
and Briana noticed him stiffen at Kent’s words and his obvious
familiarity.
    “ Yeah, I’ve got a quick
one.” Briana turned and gave him a grateful look, before going up
on her tip toes to meet him for a brief kiss.
    She thought she heard a grunt or something
come from Colin, so she turned to give him a smile and an
introduction.
    “ Oh, sorry,” she said,
though she wasn’t in the least. “Kent, this is Colin. We went to
high school together. Colin, this is Kent.”
    “ What’s up, man?” Kent
asked, extending his hand for a shake.
    Colin looked at the offered hand, then back
at Kent who may have been an inch shorter than him and shook
it.
    “ Not much. You must be new
around here.” Colin said.
    Briana tried to hide a smirk at Colin’s
discomfort. It looked like he wanted to punch Kent in the face.
    “ I’ve been here for about
two years. I work over at the paper. You know, just temporary, to
gain some experience and move on to a bigger gig.”
    He seemed happy to hear that Kent was just a
transient and that he’d be moving on eventually.
    Briana couldn’t help but think that Colin
had no right to be jealous of anyone in her life. He was the one
who walked all of those years ago.
    “ Cool, man. Well, I’ll
leave you two to your business and I’ll see you around,” Colin
said, eager to get out of there. “Bye, Bree.”
    “ Yup,” was her only
response. She pretended to ignore him as he walked away, focusing
her attention on Kent. “Thanks for coming to my rescue.”
    “ Who was that guy?” Kent
asked, looking up at Colin’s retreating back before looking back
down at her. “At first I thought he was your date or something, but
the look on your face changed my mind. It looked like you wanted
out of the situation. I hope you didn’t mind me coming up behind
you like that. It just seemed to fit the situation.”
    “ No, I didn’t mind, I
appreciated it. We dated in high school and I really hoped I’d
never have to see him again. Pretty stupid, considering how small
the town is, but he’d never planned to move back here.”
    Kent was quiet for a moment. “Oh, so he’s
the douche from high school.” He looked up again, as if wishing
Colin was still standing in front of him.
    “ Yeah, but it’s no big
deal. It was a long time ago. He just took me by surprise, is all.”
As did the feelings she’d had when his hand touched her. It didn’t
seem fair that the one person she never wanted to see again was the
one person who could set her body on fire with one innocent
touch.
    “ All right, Babe. You know
that I’m here for you anytime you need me. If you want to tell him
we’re together, feel free,” Kent said with his cocky little grin
lighting up his face.
    Briana touched her hand to his cheek