Hope Unbroken (Unveiled Series Book 3) Read Online Free

doors. “Liar.”
    Our laughter echoed off the vaulted ceiling and spun behind us in the circular doors leading to a misty December morning in Oregon.
    A look of intrigue built behind her eyes. I couldn’t even hint at the prospect of wedding planning without sparking a chain of ideas. For her sake, I was glad Riley hadn’t taken me up on my impulsive suggestion to go to Vegas. That conversation seemed so long ago now.
    At her Fiat, I opened my door and studied her across the hood. “It didn’t even cross your mind to check if there was still an engagement ring on my finger, did it?”
    She lounged her forearm along the doorframe, angled her head, and stared at me like I’d asked a no-brainer. “Of course not.” A divulging grin trailed into the car.
    I buckled in as she cranked the heat. A blast of tropical air freshener clashed with the coffee scent forever embedded in her car’s upholstery. At least it was better than breathing that nasty, recycled air on the plane.
    Several miles down the road, I tore my gaze away from the flashes of scenery passing by us. “You’re not going to ask me what happened?”
    “Wasn’t sure you were ready to talk about it.”
    I towed my legs up into the seat and rested my chin on my knees, still sorting through it all myself. “Can everything and nothing change at the same time? It’s weird. In some ways, I feel like we’re in a new relationship. Like, we’ve reached this place we hadn’t been able to before. But it also seems like we picked things up right where we left off in August.”
    I stared out the side window again and dragged my finger down the condensation on the glass. “Guess it sounds sort of crazy.”
    “It sounds like love,” Jaycee said. “You grow. You change. That’s part of life. Doing it together is what makes love work.”
    Okay, when we made it back to the apartment, I seriously needed to check for some kind of shared transmitter between her and my brother.
    She glanced at my expression. “What?”
    “The musings of Jaycee McAllister.”
    She yanked off her glove with her teeth and flung it at me.
    I doubled over. She might’ve been a lot like Austin, but there were some roles only a best friend could fill. No chance I would’ve survived college without her. She was right. Again. Riley and I’d both changed, but we were in this together. I shoved down my worry about whatever Nick and Jess were lording over him. Now that I was back, the center needed my attention.
    Jaycee parked in front of our campus apartment. Outside, I inhaled Reed College’s familiar aroma of evergreens and exhaled the residual stress left from my whirlwind weekend. She grabbed my bag from the backseat. I took out my cell and jutted my chin at the door. “I’ll be up in a minute.”
    She trekked into the stairwell, and I backed against the fender.
    Trey answered my call on the first ring. “You heard.”
    No beating around the bush. “Yeah, secondhand. Why didn’t you call me?”
    “Aw, now, there was no use interfering with your trip.”
    Was he serious? Every minute counted. If Dee’s death hadn’t taught us that much, nothing would’ve. My heart pinched. Dee’d come so far—from a broken gang member to a boy who hoped for a new future. He’d lost his chance too soon. I wouldn’t let that be in vain.
    “Well, I’m back, and I’m coming in tomorrow.”
    “Emma, I’ve already turned in your performance review. It’s the last few weeks of the semester. Why don’t you focus on your studies?”
    Background noise from the center swept in with sounds tied to my heart. It wasn’t just an internship. It was a part of me. “You know where I stand, Trey.”
    His husky laugh trickled through the line. “Didn’t leave your stubbornness in Nashville, huh?”
    “It’s not stubbornness.” I lifted off the car and smoothed out my coat. “It’s perspective. This wise sage once told me, keeping perspective is the only way to make it through life.”
    His