Read Where You Are for Free Online Page A

true or he wouldn’t have become my friend. It was like he saw my damage and knew instinctively to avoid getting tangled up in it.
    But I’m better now. I know what I want. And what I want is Graham.
    *** *** ***
    REID
    Brooke:  Hey asshole, we need to chat
    Me:  Aww, how could i ignore such a sweet appeal? What do you want.
    Brooke:  I have a proposition. Come over.
    Me:  Not interested. But thanks for thinking of me.
    Brooke:  NOT that kind of proposition, you freak. This has to do with Emma.
    Me:  I’m both intrigued and suspicious.
    Brooke:  Trust me, what i have in mind will benefit us both.
    Me:  No way in hell i trust you. But i’m too curious for my own good.
     
    “You’ve got five minutes to convince me to listen to anything further, so spill it.” When she opens the door, I walk in talking. Her apartment is stunning, second only to her. She’s wearing tiny white shorts and a violet halter tank, showcasing her warm skin and sleek blonde hair. My intent is to avoid staring at her directly as much as possible. She’s like Medusa—the most beautiful woman you’ve ever laid eyes on, and also the most personally dangerous.
    I’m a little afraid that she’d kill me if she thought she could get away with it.
    I walk into her monochromatic living room, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a view to die for, and drop onto her white leather sofa, letting my head fall back and staring at the ceiling. So far, so not dead. She sits across from me in a black club chair, crossing her perfectly toned legs but not speaking. If she thinks I’m dragging whatever this is out of her, she can think again.
    Finally, she sighs. “I assume that if you thought you could have another shot at Emma, you’d take it?”
    What the hell? “Not really your business, Brooke.” I’m still staring straight up, counting the tiny lights in the track lighting while wondering what scheme has lodged itself in her head.
    “Come on, Reid, it’s not like it’s a state secret.”
    I chance looking at her. Her expression is serious, almost fierce. There’s definitely something she wants from me—and me only—because if she could get this from anyone else, there’s no way I’d be sitting here now. Playing along is the only way I’ll find out what this is about. “Okay, I’ll bite. Sure, I’d take another shot if I had it. Your turn.”
    The only thing that betrays her is one finger, repeatedly scratching at the seam of her chair. She sits up. “I want Graham.”
    I laugh. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
    Fixing me with a mocking smile, she says, “Well apparently, they want each other.”
    “What?” I knew it. I knew it.
    She laughs, not humored. “He’s… reserved. It’s hard to tell what—or who—he wants. But they ran into each other in New York a few days ago—where she’s looking to go to school next fall and where he lives. Just the fact that he mentioned their little meet-up is enough to ring my alarm bells.”
    I sit up, too, leaning my forearms on my knees. I still don’t fully comprehend what she has in mind, but I’m starting to get an idea of it. “If they decide to hook up, what are we supposed to do about it? Maybe you’re forgetting that thanks to you , Emma dumped me. She didn’t choose some other guy over me. She chose to be alone rather than be with me. You set that whole shit up, Brooke. I don’t know what you told her—”
    “I didn’t tell her anything. She was in the bathroom stall.”
    The silence is profound after she says this. She’s actually managed to shock me. Emma didn’t just get a second-hand account of what went down between Brooke and me, she heard the entire sordid conversation, along with all of the hostility I obviously still felt over Brooke’s betrayal years ago. I’d thought, before that night, that I was solidly recovered. Wrong .
    Little wonder Emma disappeared that night. I slump back into the sofa. “Holy shit, Brooke. How could you do that?