What If (Willowbrook Book 2) Read Online Free

understatements. Once Drew realized she was pregnant, she’d be in deep shit.
    “Ma’am, we’re here.”
    The cab parked along the curb. She handed the driver the fare and got out of the cab. His window rolled down.
    “Want me to wait?”
    She shook her head. On the drive, she’d texted Eve to send the limo to Pier 7 in an hour. Time alone was what she needed most right now, and not pity from her friend. The driver gave her a final questioning look before he shrugged then drove off.
    Ignoring the few stragglers who stared, she walked down the pier in her plum ball gown with her head held high. In the open expanse of the night sky, the moon competed with the brightness of lights strung high on the Bay Bridge.
    She hiked up her dress and rushed past the wood benches and Victorian-style light fixtures. A lump lodged in her throat, and her chest ached. At the end of the pier, she collapsed onto her knees. Her shoulders shook, and she let the tears fall.
    There’d be no more of Drew’s strong arms holding her safe at night, especially in the winter months when rain thrashed against the window panes. No more of his smart-ass remarks that had her wishing she had something to throw at him after he’d already had her laughing so hard she snorted. Or his kisses that left her tingling from head to toe.
    Since their breakup, Drew had been linked to several beautiful women. There was no mention of her. To the world, Emma and Drew hadn’t existed. And that had been her doing.
     
     
     

Chapter Five
    Three weeks later…
     
    “No way will I be a part of your reclusive guy retrieval team.” With her palms flat on the kitchen table, Emma raised a defiant brow at her friends, Eve and Asa.
    They calmly sat across from her and exchanged knowing glances before redirecting their conspiratorial sights on her.
    “You’re the perfect one to get him out of that hole he calls a house,” Eve said with an exaggerated wave of her hand.
    With her hands outstretched in front of her, she backed toward the kitchen door. “Remind me again why you think I’m the one when either of you is capable?” She reached behind for the doorknob, ready to make a clean and quick getaway.
    “Of the five of us, he hates your guts the most,” Eve said with her usual tact. “If we send you in, he’ll come running from the woods begging us to give him a spot in the auction.”
    “Haha, funny.” Though she was twenty-four and too mature to stick her tongue out, Emma did so anyway. “Not.”
    Eve sighed. “We need him, Em. He’s a celebrity. Put Drew in our gala, and we’ll for sure get high bids. More bids equal—” Eve rubbed her fingers and thumb together “—more moo-lah.”
    Lucas, Eve’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, got up off the couch, came over, and started to massage Eve’s shoulders.
    “Maybe that’s not the greatest idea. There’s a reason Drew’s holing himself in his place. Screw the injured pride excuse he gave Rhys and me. Could be he needs a woman’s sympathetic ear.” Lucas directed those serious eyes of his on Emma. “Rhys and I—”
    “Are tired of holding his junk for him while he pisses,” said Rhys, Asa’s boyfriend, from where he sat on the couch flipping channels on the television.
    At the thought of holding Drew’s junk for him, she said a hurried, “I’ll think about it,” and bolted out the door and into her Prius.
    She wanted to help, but like Eve had said, Drew hated her guts. For sure, he blamed her for putting his throwing arm out of commission. Well, not just his throwing arm, but his other one too. And she couldn’t forget his last words to her. Stay the hell away from me.
    For some unknown reason, he was back in town, and had been for a week now. Though it hurt to admit it, she didn’t believe he was in Willowbrook because of her .
    Now, their friends asked of her what she didn’t want to do—be near Drew. But they were right. If anyone could unearth why Drew was hiding from a world he