Uncovering You 8: Redemption Read Online Free PDF Page B

say softly.
    “I know,” she steps up to me and rubs my arm. “But that’s what friends do for each other. Isn’t it? I’ve got your back, Lilly—even when you don’t know you need it.”
    “Thanks,” I mutter. I wish with all my heart that her confidence in our friendship was enough to have her take me at my word when I tell her that everything is all right.
    But, it’s not. I don’t entirely blame Fey. In fact, I shouldn’t be blaming her at all. There’s only one person responsible for this mess, and that’s Jeremy Stonehart. I don’t know what he thought when he decided to block Fey’s calls. E specially after the heartfelt message I left on her machine—which he obviously could have heard by virtue of having all my calls bound through his cell.
    He said he did it to protect me. From what? If this is the outcome of that decision— and it’s something he says he anticipated—what could the alternative have been? How much worse could this situation possibly be?
    I shudder to think about it. That is the scary part. The hole I find myself in right now is bad enough. The facade I have to put on about my life with Jeremy in front of Fey and Robin is bad enough. If this was the better of two options…Well, I have no idea how much worse the other one must have been.
    “It’s late,” I say. “I think we’re all pretty much exhausted. Let’s just find some beds before we rip each other’s heads off. We can figure out what we’re going to do next in the morning.
    “Yeah, okay,” Fey says, linking arms with me. “Come on, Robin. It’s time to go.”
     
    ***
     
    It took a fair bit of haggling on my part. But an hour or so later, the three of us are sharing two adjacent rooms at the Revere Hotel Boston Common.
    The issue of staying here came down to cost. I said that I would pay for our rooms. Robin wouldn’t hear of it. He wanted to pay, as the only man.
    Of course, he does not have the income to afford even a night’s stay at a place like this. I know it. Fey knows it. And Robin definitely knows it.
    So there was a bit of an argument when I first named the hotel. It was one of those uncomfortable situations where nobody wanted to address the issue directly: Robin said the he had said to Fey that he would pay, before I suggested where to stay. It was the first I’d heard of it—mentioned only after I named the hotel. I insisted that I would do it. Fey, of course, understood what was going on. Trying to help Robin save face, she suggested going to a hotel that was closer, had great reviews on Yelp, and was decidedly cheaper.
    That last bit was never spoken out loud, though.
    But I was firm in my conviction that we would stay at the Revere. I needed to be close to Jeremy. I needed to be able to sneak off and have a secret rendezvous with him, if I got the chance.
    And so, cue the fireworks and impending explosion. The argument in the back seat must have sounded quite comical to our cab driver. Or maybe not. Maybe he’s used to this sort of thing.
    In the end, however, I achieved my goal by guilt-tripping them about ripping me away from my job in California—Oh! If they only knew the irony behind that reasoning!—and pointing out that among the three of us, I was the only one with an appreciable income.
    Robin still insisted he would pay half. I let him. If only to appease his stubborn man-pride.
    “Good night, guys,” I call out, just before closing the door linking our two rooms. “See you in the morning.”
    “Night, Lilly,” Fey says. Robin mumbles something with a toothbrush in his mouth.
    The door clicks shut. I turn the lock. Then, I just lean my forehead against the frame and try to take in everything that has happened in the last twenty-four hours.
    My life is never what’s expected. That’s for sure. When Jeremy left for Boston, I thought I’d have the weekend free to catch up on some sleep and recover from the intensity of the previous week. Little did I know that I would never