Friend Zone to End Zone - Judy Corry Page 0,68

of the groomsmen who had been partnered with Emerson to walk down the aisle—the guy who was Derek’s best friend from high school. Logan? Or Landon?

But that guy was a psychology professor at a college in Utah. He couldn’t be a professor and a rock star…could he?

I blinked my eyes a few times. Maybe I’d had more wine than I thought because I was probably just seeing things.

“Oh, I need to pee,” Arianna suddenly said, bouncing up and down and breaking me away from my thoughts.

“Can you make it there on your own?” I asked her.

“Uh huh.”

And before I could stop her, she was stumbling toward the bathrooms.

“I should probably make sure she doesn’t hit her head on something,” I said to Incognito. “I promise she’s not normally like this.”

“I imagine she’s not,” Incognito said with an amused look in his eyes. “But for what it’s worth, it doesn’t take a psychology degree to know that what people say while they’re intoxicated is often a lot closer to the truth than they like to admit.” He patted me on the shoulder. “I don’t know much about your story aside from what Derek told me, but I don’t think I’d be too far off by guessing there’s a lot more to your relationship than a friend just wanting to help the other friend find love.”

“You think so?” I was trying really hard not to let my hopes get up too high based on a stranger’s estimation.

Incognito glanced over to where Arianna had disappeared around the corner. “I don’t know how this thing will end.” He met my inquiring gaze. “But I think that girl is fighting really hard to convince herself that she doesn’t want something that she very much really does want.”

“So you think there’s something to what she was saying at the beginning of your conversation?” My heart was in my throat over the anticipation of such a possibility.

He nodded. “In my professional opinion, I think she definitely thinks you’re hotter than Chad.” He chuckled, like the whole conversation had been the most entertaining thing to happen to him in a long time.

It was even harder not to get my hopes up with him basically confirming what I myself had gotten out of their conversation.

But there was something else I’d caught on to as well that had my curiosity burning.

“Your professional opinion as a musician?” I tilted my head to the side. “Or a psychologist?”

A mischievous grin lifted the corners of his lips. “A musician, of course.”

His gaze seemed to catch on something behind me. I turned around and found a waitress with red hair walking toward us with a very uncomfortable expression on her face.

“Mr. Kekoa?” she asked in a timid voice. “Your guest just fell down in the ladies’ room and I thought you might want to know.”

29

Cole

“I’m sorry I’m so drunk,” Arianna said when I walked into the guest room at my house with a T-shirt and gym shorts for her to change into. She’d dozed off a little on the thirty-minute drive to my home and was much more subdued than she’d been during her conversation with Incognito.

Her mom was working the night shift at the hospital tonight, and since I wasn’t super comfortable leaving her alone when she wasn’t feeling well, I had offered her my guest room so I could keep an eye on her if she needed anything.

A little overboard on my part? Perhaps. But it would make me sleep better to know she was okay.

I handed her the clothes. “I’m sorry you’re not feeling well.”

She took the pajamas from me. “I’m just really, really tired.” And when she spoke, the words were drawn out—as if just speaking in full sentences was hard work.

“Will you be able to get changed by yourself?” I asked when she just stared blankly at the clothes I’d handed her, like she wasn’t quite sure what to do with them.

She rolled her arms forward, and then she seemed to notice how restricting her dress was. She frowned and reached her arms behind her back to unzip it. She struggled for a few seconds, then standing up, she turned her back to me and said, “Can you just do it? My hands aren’t working right.”

“S-sure.” I stepped forward hesitantly, not exactly sure how to proceed. Because from the cut of her dress, I really didn’t think she was wearing the kind of bra underneath that would be appropriate for me to see if she needed more help than