Read Buried (Hiding From Love #3) for Free Online

can about his plans. Remind him how much you meant to each other.”
    David clears his throat, and when he speaks, his voice is rough. “He was the best friend I ever had. That’ll always be true, no matter what happens next.”
    I nod, too overwhelmed with the emotion in my throat and behind my eyes to speak.
    “All right. You win,” David mutters. “I’ll be there Saturday morning around ten. And if you had some empanadas and coffee for me, that’d help.”
    A smile stretches across my face as I pump my fist in the air. “You got it, big brother.”

    Friday seems to drag on forever. I spend the day in class and at the library. Finally, late in the afternoon, when I can’t take the strain of acting like I’m focused on coursework anymore, I text Jill and head to our favorite local coffee shop off campus. The Higher Ground is a hangout for women’s studies students, skate punks, and a random collection of Rastafarians and wannabe musicians. The place usually has several guys with guitars sitting around, strumming their latest creation on the sidewalk out front while kids in skinny jeans and multiple piercings clatter their skateboards up and down the pavement.
    After dodging a guy with a purple Mohawk whose board flips out from under him and crashes into the side of the building, I walk into the darkened interior of the shop, breathing in the scent of patchouli and roasted coffee. Once my eyes adjust, I see Jill sitting across the room on one of the shabby, velvet sofas that fill the corners of the space.
    “Hey,” I say as I approach her and collapse onto the sofa.
    “Hey yourself,” Jill answers, reaching to the table in front of us and grabbing a cup of coffee, which she hands to me. Her platinum crew cut is starting to get dark roots, but somehow it manages to look good on her, even with the hot pink nose ring she’s sporting in one nostril.
    “Thanks.” I sip at the hot liquid gingerly. “I really needed this.”
    “What’s shakin’, girl? You’ve been MIA for days now and you look all stressified.”
    I lean my head against the smooth, leather back of the sofa, closing my eyes briefly.
    “It’s this guy,” I say, opening my eyes and looking at Jill, who watches me with a bemused expression.
    “The convict?”
    “Juan. His name is Juan.”
    “God, you finally go and do it and holy shit, Bethy.”
    “What does that mean?” I scowl at her.
    “You finally get bitten by the love bug and it’s a fucking gangbanger who’s served hard time.” Jill shakes her head. “You just had to make it really complicated, didn’t you?”
    “I haven’t been bitten by any bug.” I roll my eyes. “He’s an old family friend. I told you that.”
    Jill smirks as she takes a sip of her drink. “I think you told yourself that. All I heard was yada yada yada, Juan is wonderful, yada yada yada, Juan is special.”
    “Fuck off,” I mutter.
    Jill laughs, and I can’t help but crack a smile.
    “So tell Mama Jill all about it. He still being an obstinate ass?”
    “Yeah. I saw him the day before yesterday and he pretty much told me to go away and mind my own business.”
    “But you’re not going to, I assume.”
    I set the coffee down on the adjacent table and turn so I can face her. “Seven years ago we couldn’t stop him from walking out the front door of our house and joining a gang. It ended up getting him put in prison for four years. Then, just ten days after he gets out, I go to work and there he is, standing fifteen feet away from me. What are the odds? He’s stuck there for ninety days, and I work next door. I can’t ignore that. It’s like a big, flashing neon sign that says, ‘Help him. You failed him before. Don’t fail him again.’”
    “You sure you’re not doing all this just because you feel guilty?”
    I shake my head but keep my lips sealed for a few beats. My heart flutters inside my chest as the image of him flashes in my mind. His thick, soft hair and eyes that are almost