Page 24 of Challenge Me

“Don’t shoot me,” someone called.

“Jesus,” I muttered. I walked out of the office and flipped on a light. Despite the familiar voice, I glanced around to make sure nobody was hiding in the shadows.

When I reached the front, Oli was standing behind the counter, tapping his fingers. He looked at me, then at my hand with a frown. Gently, he grasped my wrist and took the gun from me. After he removed the magazine and racked the slide, he set both pieces on the counter.

“It’s just me.”

I lifted one shoulder. “Things can change like that.” I snapped my fingers for emphasis.

“What are you afraid of?”

“Nothing. You know me.”

Oli’s hazel eyes assessed me in that thorough way they always did. I didn’t believe that I ever succeeded in hiding things from him, but that didn’t mean I’d stop trying. Self-preservation was etched into my bones, and I knew that he understood it better than anyone else.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“You texted me that you’re going to Florida. That requires an explanation.”

“I have a phone, you know.”

“If you wanted to talk about it on the phone, you would’ve called.” He gave me a pointed look. “You knew I’d show up.”

I didn’t bother to hide my smile. “I thought you’d take longer. Weren’t you in class?”

He lifted himself onto the counter and swung his legs. “I thought my best friend was running off on a reckless adventure. Screw class.”

“It’s just Florida.”

“You could be trafficked. Or eaten by an alligator.”

“I’d still be pretty in pieces.”

“Yeah, but then who will irresponsibly stay up until dawn playing games with me?” He flashed me a signature Oli smile, too pure for this world.

I looked down at the floor to escape the weight of it. “You’ve got Dean.”

“Shut up, bro.” He punched me in the arm hard enough to make me glare at him. “You can’t still be jealous of him.”

I scoffed. “I was never jealous, dumbass.”

“I know. But you’re going to be when you meet our son.”

My eyebrows shot up. “What, already?”

The dimples on his cheeks turned him into the kid I’d met when I was a whole different person—a strange light in a world that had been dark since I was nine. After I ditched the foster system at sixteen, I escaped to Seattle. A few years later, he showed up on my doorstep, deciding he wanted to brave the idea of freedom like I had. And the rest was history. For him, at least. Sometimes, I felt like I was trapped in the past, looking at someone in the mirror who had no right to a friend like Oli, a business of my own, twenty-nine years under my belt.

He pulled out his phone and passed it to me. I stared at the picture, feeling like I was about to melt. “You actually did it?”

The green in his eyes seemed to brighten along with his smile. “Yeah, that’s Kevin.”

I snorted a laugh. “Why Kevin?”

“Dean’s pick, way back when.”

“When do you pick him up?”

“Tomorrow after class. His parents already know, but it’s a surprise for Dean, so don’t say anything.”