Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

J osie woke naked and in bed alone. She stifled the disappointment. What had she expected? All six-foot two-hundred pounds of Corey to stay all night with her in her twin-sized childhood bed?

She really did need to get a new bed set in here. She'd liked how this one had the trundle so when Bailey slept over—both in high school and more recently, just last year—she had a real mattress to sleep on. But the reality was that Bailey was engaged to Quinn now and she'd be sleeping in his room from now on, not Josie's.

Not that she'd be having many booty calls in this room.

If her parents hadn't been away on their insane Instagram influencer RV road trip they'd be home and there was no way she'd be sneaking boys into her room. Corey was too old to be crawling through her window after her parents went to sleep like he used to. And their adult sex—at least according to her memories—seemed a lot louder and more energetic than their teenage sex had been.

With a sigh, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and reached for an oversized T-shirt to pull on over her nakedness. The tug of sore muscles that hadn't been used at all lately and definitely not that hard had her vividly remembering last night.

What time was it, anyway?

She searched for the clock on her bedside table and found it wasn't there.

A memory hit her. Corey telling her to flip over. Him pressing close behind her. Her almost coming when he said those two words— good girl— against her ear. And then hearing a crash as he braced one hand on the table for leverage and plunged inside her.

Their adult sex was different but in some ways a lot the same. She remembered their first time together all those years ago. Him pushing her mouth lower over his hard length. Him groaning good girl as she took him deeper into her throat.

He'd come then, fast and hard, nearly choking her, but it had been worth it. To hear him. See him. To know she'd done that to him. Made him lose control.

Then he'd proceeded to blow her mind with her first real orgasm and she'd been lost. Her sole goal from then on was to please Corey Jacobs. And then he'd left…

For better or worse she still couldn't hear those words— good girl —even now without feeling a tug between her legs. But this time, unlike then, she was prepared for his departure.

Not letting herself get sentimental, she searched for and found the clock on the floor, as she'd suspected. Reaching down she retrieved it and saw from the glowing red numbers on the display that it was still the middle of the night.

Padding barefoot to the bathroom, she brushed her teeth and washed her face and was about to head to the kitchen to get some water—good sex was thirsty work—when she heard the front door open and close.

Had Quinn and Bailey decided to come home rather than spend the night in the city?

She walked out and stopped when she saw Corey turn after locking the door behind himself.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she said, feeling the flutter of warmth in her chest—and parts lower—just from seeing him.

Mmm. She was a little sore but not so much as to prevent her from inviting him back to her bed for round two. Or would it technically be round three?

"I found something," he said looking excited.

"All right," she said, waiting for him to elaborate while wondering what it could be.

Ooo, maybe he'd gone to the all-night convenience store for something fun. That warming lube maybe that she'd once seen an ad for. A very embarrassing ad since she'd been watching television with her parents.

"Get dressed," he said.

She frowned. "Why? Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

That didn't sound like his discovery was lube. Maybe he'd found a cool spot to have sex.

Was the old tree house they'd used to hide in still there? Her bed, even with as small as it was, would be more comfortable.

He looked so excited she didn't want to disappoint him. But if they ended up in the emergency room with broken bones because he wanted to do it in an old tree house, it was going to be really embarrassing.

"Okay." She nodded, heading back to her room while considering what she should change into. She'd better put on sneakers in case she'd be climbing up that makeshift ladder to the tree house—really just boards nailed into the tree.

As it turned out she wasn't going to be doing any climbing. In fact, the opposite. They were back in the terrible little closet slash security room at the gas station and Corey was sitting down in the same crappy grey metal folding chair he'd sat in yesterday.

Suspicious, she asked, "What are we doing here?"

Was he going to try to convince her Kirk was guilty again?

And speaking of Kirk, was she still going to go to the movies with him given what had happened between her and Corey?

She and Corey hadn't talked about being exclusive. If they were playing by the same rules as last time, this was just for fun . His words. Meaning casual. Short term.

So she should be able to keep her date—not that she wanted to. But she didn't not want to go either. A date with Kirk might keep her from falling hard for Corey again and save her the heartache when he left. Again.

It was just the drive-in movie after all. Although the movie didn't start until it was dark outside. And they'd be closed inside Kirk's SUV, alone, together, in the dark.

Hmm. She'd have to think more about this later. Maybe she'd be able to think more clearly when it wasn't the middle of the night and she wasn't in this shitty room with Corey.

And speaking of Corey and this shitty room, he turned away from the screen that had held his attention since he'd sat and looked back at her.

"Look," he said, triumph in his tone.

"What am I looking at?" She moved closer and frowned at the grainy image.

"That woman goes in right after the librarian does on the morning you found the compass missing."

She frowned deeper when she saw what woman to which he was referring. "That's Mrs. Forester. She's on the board of the historical society."

"And she volunteers at the library. I know. She's a friend of my mother's. She's been over the house before."

"She was in the library when the librarian let me inside that morning," Josie said.

Mrs. Forester being there was not the big revelation that Corey was acting like it was.

"But more importantly than that, it was her son and daughter-in-law who donated the founder's compass to the historical society to begin with," she informed him.

Given her personal connection to the compass, if they couldn't trust her, who could they trust?

"Yes, I know," he said dismissively. "But look at this." Corey pointed at the screen. "The librarian comes out of the building. My mother said she had a family emergency."

"I know. And Mrs. Forester said she couldn't stay so they closed the library early and locked up."

"Yes." Corey nodded. "That's why my mother asked me to drive over with the key for you."

"I still don't understand why you're so excited--"

"Just wait."

She leaned closer and waited, and then saw what he must have.

Her eyes widened at the image and though in general she tried not to cuss, she couldn't help saying, "What the actual fuck?"

"What the fuck, indeed," Corey echoed.