Page 20 of Property of Bob

I stared at him.

He stared back.

Then he grinned. “Not me, fucker.”

“Then get the fuck out,” I growled.

Prime laughed and moved farther into the room.

Shay stepped in behind him. She smiled at me. “Hey, Bob.”

“Hey.”

She looked good. Better than the last time I’d seen her. Everybody had looked like they’d been dragged through hell yesterday, and from what I’d managed to piece together, they pretty much had.

“You okay?” I asked.

Her smile softened. “I’m good.”

I nodded.

That was all I needed.

Shay stepped to the side, and my interest was officially piqued.

There was somebody behind her.

At first, all I saw was a woman.

Jeans. Dark shirt. Long brown hair falling over one shoulder. Then she took one step into the room and everything inside me stopped.

No.

Fucking way.

She looked different. Of course she did; twenty years had passed.

Her hair was longer. Her face was thinner than I remembered, with little lines at the corners of her eyes that hadn’t been there when she was eighteen. She’d filled out in places that made my eyes want to wander before I reminded myself who the fuck I was looking at.

But I knew her.

Immediately.

There wasn’t even a second of doubt.

Those eyes hadn’t changed.

Neither had the way she stood when she wasn’t sure what the hell she was walking into, shoulders back like she was ready for whatever happened while her fingers worried at the strap of the bag hanging from her shoulder.

I’d seen that a thousand times when we were kids.

“Ramona?”

Her lips curved. “Hi, Ash.”

Prime made a strangled sound behind her.

I tore my eyes away from Ramona and looked at him.