Free Reed (The Love Family Series Book 4) by Kate Allenton Page B

mouth and sending him off balance. His arms flailed as he flew off the dock and landed with a splash.
    Reed spun to find Avery standing on the end of the dock with her arms crossed.
    “Avery…”
    She turned her cheek and held up her hand as Reed passed. Was she as aggravated as him? Good. Reed stomped up into the house and into his room. He knew when he wasn’t wanted, and he damn well wasn’t going to be sticking around with that little prick. He had a life to go back to, even if he wasn’t dragging Landon’s ass home with him.
    ***
    Landon climbed up on the dock. His shoes squished and his clothes dripped, and Avery’s palms itched to shove Landon back in.
    Unsure why—maybe it was the daggers she was sending him—Landon lifted his hands. “Now just wait.”
    Avery pressed her lips together, ready to kick Landon’s ass.
    “I had to know that what I was picking up on about his feelings were true. I only said that to see his reaction. I had to know for sure.”
    “You had to know what?” she asked through gritted teeth.
    He took a tentative step in her direction and stopped out of arm’s reach. “Av, I don’t know how to tell you this, but Reed is falling for you, and not just in a crush kind of way. He’s falling hard.”
    Avery dropped her arms to her sides. “This was a test?” She stepped closer. “Your brother risked his life to find your sorry butt, and this is how you repay him?”
    “We’ve been best friends a long time, Av. I don’t want either of you hurt, so if this is just a fling, you’ve got to end it now. Save the guy some dignity and cut him loose.”
    Avery threw her hands up in the air when she really wanted to choke some sense into her best friend. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. It hasn’t even been a week since we started our hunt to find you.” She shook her head. Landon was playing some twisted game.
    “He punched me because of you.”
    “No, I’m pretty sure it was all because of you,” she countered. “He’s angry, and from the sound of it, he has every right to be.”
    “Oh, so now you’re going to side with him?” Landon asked incredibly. “I have a job to do, Avery. I work. That’s who I am. I’m not pretending to be someone I’m not.”
    “You think I’m pretending!” Avery clenched her fingers into a fist.
    “We live for the job.” His voice softened, as if he was placating her. “That’s who you are, too, so don’t go fooling yourself that you’d be happy on the Island for a long stint.”
    “The only one pretending here is you, Landon. You’re pretending that your actions aren’t hurting your family. You’re pretending to give a shit about something that you, yourself, couldn’t care less than two rats’ asses about.” She stepped into his face. “You’re a lot of things, Landon, but I never thought you were a dick….until now.”
    Avery swiveled around and stormed off, slamming the back door on her way into the house. How dare he even suggest she was the one pretending?
     
    ****
     
    Reed glanced up to find Emily standing in the doorway. “You’re leaving?”
    Reed shoved another shirt into his bag and disappeared into the bathroom on a hunt for his toothbrush. “Yep, I can report back that my brother is still an asshole.”
    He rounded the corner to find Emily had stepped into the room. “You can’t go yet. We haven’t found Alice.”
    Her eyes searched his, and he tried his best to ignore the plea in her eyes. “Landon says I’m getting in the way.”
    “Since when do you care what he thinks?” She plopped down on the bed and laced her fingers in her lap. “Alice is a lot like your brother and you.”
    She glanced down at her laced fingers. “Her job is her life, like Landon, but she cares, like you. She spent more time at her clinic than she ever did at home or the hospital.” Emily gave a sad chuckle. “That’s why she doesn’t have any animals on her farm. She was afraid that she’d forget to