I Love You More Than I'm Afraid (Our Forevers #2) by Rebel Hart (the first e reader .txt) 📕

it’s been really good. Aria’s mom brought me flowers and told me she feels like I’m the second daughter she always wanted. Aria and Tristan of course fawned over me all morning while we were getting ready to walk. My sisters threw me a little mini party in my room with a cake, balloons and presents. It was so cute. They insisted upon taking pictures in my gown, doing the whole thing. I loved it. Plus, there’s you and the dinner you guys have planned. I mean, honestly, I feel like the most important girl in the world.”

“Good,” Suli said. “You are the most important girl in the world, so I’m glad everyone is making you feel that way.”

She reached over and took my hand and I kissed the back of it. Suli was great. She wasn’t the healthiest relationship for me by any means, but it was a nice way to pass the time until New York, and to keep my mind off of Hannah.

We rode in silence after that point, at least until I noticed Suli take the highway going in the opposite direction from her house and towards downtown. I thought maybe she was just avoiding traffic or something, but long after the last opportunity to redirect and get to where she lived, she continued into downtown until it was clear that was her destination.

And my stomach twisted with nerves.

“Uh… Where are we going?” I asked.

She snickered. “Where else would we be going? We’re headed to The Undersound.”

My jaw went a little slack. I really didn’t think that Suli would have planned my graduation dinner there. She knew that The Undersound was part of the whole reason Aria flipped out, and Codie had already confiscated my ID and told me not to come back. There was no way he was just going to let it slide, and besides, I promised Aria I wouldn’t go there.

“Um…” I let out an awkward laugh. “Why there? Are we just swinging by, or…?”

Her nose bunched up in confusion. “Huh? No. That’s where your party is. It’s like our home base and you haven’t been in a few months, I figured what better place to celebrate than in one of our famous VIP booths. I even actually paid for it this time so that we can’t be kicked out or anything. You’re gonna love it. The gang’s all there already.”

“Even Codie?” I said nervously.

“Yeah!” She squeezed my hand reassuringly. “Now I know that he said he wouldn’t stand for you coming back here at all, but I talked to him and convinced him to be calm about it just this once. I swear, no booze or drugs or anything crazy, just dinner and enjoying one another. Some dancing maybe, but that’s it. He understands and is chill about it, I promise.”

I scratched the back of my head, knowing that if Hannah saw that I was heading to The Undersound, even with the totally hands-off way she’d been as of late, there was a small chance she’d tell Aria, or at least Tristan. “I promised Aria I wouldn’t come here.”

“I know,” Suli said as she pulled into the parking lot, “but I’m hoping she’ll forgive just this one time. The Undersound means a lot to you, and I guess I understand her reasoning for not wanting you to be around stuff that’s bad for you in her opinion.” She rolled her eyes. “But we all know that you’re trying not to do that stuff, so it’ll be fine. We’re not gonna let you drink, do any illegal substances, or get caught by security. We’re slipping in the side door and are going to stay in our booth most of the night. Honestly, the closest to doing anything bad tonight that you’ll get is the fact that I think the chicken riesling was made with a hint of riesling.”

The whole thing gave me a bad feeling in my gut. Aria was counting on me to keep my promise, and she was right, The Undersound was full of bad influences. Then again, Suli already went to all the trouble to put together something nice for me, and it wasn’t like there was anything inside that Suli couldn’t have gotten at her own apartment if she really wanted to. Apart from The Undersound being a 21+ club, there wasn’t really any additional risk, and if Suli was swearing that her and the rest of our friends weren’t going to let me get into anything bad, then I could trust it, right? Codie would be there, and he promised Aria he would help her keep me on the straight and narrow.

By all accounting, it should be okay.

“Okay,” I said. “But god help me if Aria shows up.”

“Oh believe me, we have already discussed an exit strategy. Darton will bring you home and the rest of us never saw you.” She leaned over and gave me a peck on the lips. “Come on. We’ve done all this for you and you certainly deserve it. Just put everything else out of your mind and have fun. For old time’s sake.”

She climbed out of the car and I was left with a terrible feeling of foreboding. “Yeah. For old time’s sake.”

17

Hannah

It was difficult to force myself to be friendly and social during graduation dinner with my family. Everyone kept asking me what was next, where I was planning on going to school, what I wanted to major in, and the truth was, I just didn’t know. I always just assumed I’d know by the time I got to graduation, but I was still so unsure of what I wanted. On top of that, I hadn’t really felt like my old self the past few weeks because Tristan and I had been on relatively icy terms. He was trying his best not to hold it against me that I had a problem with Aria. But as big a part of his life as she was, it made it