“Fine. Great.” I smile, stalking into the front of the shop as the door closes behind me. “Nothing interesting to report.”
Her blue eyes study me as she bites down on the pencil in her hands. “You sure about that?” she asks, the words garbled.
“Yep,” I reply, keeping any type of tone out of my answer.
She reaches out, grabbing my forearm as I start to walk by her, and stops me from moving to the back. “And Arlo?”
I glance down to where our bodies are connected. “Still in one piece and just as I left her last night, I’d assume.”
“You assume?” She raises an eyebrow. “And how did you leave her last night?”
“Ask Arlo,” I tell her, yanking my arm free of her grip, and keep moving.
Lily’s right behind me, her heels clicking away against the tile floor. The shop is still empty except for the two of us.
This is my week to open, but Lily has taken it upon herself to be here too, probably wanting to bust my balls and question me before the rest of the crew gets here. There is no probably about it—this is her only purpose for being here.
“I don’t know why you’re so grouchy. You asked me to do this. You asked for my help. You asked for me to set you up with a nerdy girl so you could broaden your horizons beyond your usual barflies.”
I spin around, stopping in the middle of the workroom, and Lily practically runs into me. “I know I asked for your help, but Arlo and I have history, Lily,” I groan, shaking my head. “She’s almost perfect, and you did this shit on purpose to drive me fucking crazy.”
Lily tips her head back, a smirk on her face. “Did you sleep with her last night?”
“Of course not. I’m not going to push her to do something that she doesn’t want or isn’t ready for.”
“You kiss her?”
“No, Lily.” I glance at the ceiling and sigh. “Not even a kiss.”
Lily places her hands on my chest, looking at me like I’m sweet. “You’re a good man, Mello. There’s hope for you yet.”
“What have you done to me?”
She giggles and pats my chest. “Nothing. You asked, and I delivered.”
I narrow my eyes. “You’re setting me up.”
She lifts her hands in the air and takes a step back. “I’m doing no such thing. You asked for help, and I’m helping.”
“You’re ruining me,” I grumble.
“Nah, cousin. I’m fixing you. We’re rewiring your brain.”
“My brain worked just fine before Arlo.”
“Did it, though?” she asks, her voice filled with sarcasm.
I tilt my head, crossing my arms and continuing to stare at my cousin as she smiles.
“Hey,” Gigi says, walking into the shop, and she stops dead when she sees us. “Oh boy. What happened?”
“Mello is falling for Arlo,” Lily tells her, not breaking eye contact with me.
“Am not,” I argue.
“He so is,” Lily returns. “Head over heels.”
“Like fuck, I am.” I growl those words.
Gigi’s eyebrows rise as she throws down her purse and comes to stand by us. She looks at Lily and then to me, her lips tipping upward. “Did you fuck her yet?”
I roll my eyes. “Again, no.”
“Kiss?” Gigi asks, going down the same route as the other one.
“No. Jesus, you two are a perfect match.”
“How’s he falling in love with her?” Gigi asks, looking back at Lily. “If he were, he’d at least touch her.”
“Arlo said he stayed over last night and snuggled with her too.”
Gigi’s eyes grow wide. “You snuggled?”
I grunt. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”
Gigi mimics my stance, crossing her arms, head cocked to the side. “You don’t snuggle. You don’t do sleepovers either. You also fuck everything that walks.”
“I checked on her ink, and we watched a movie and fell asleep.”
“While cuddling,” Lily adds.
I snarl. “Well, since we weren’t fucking, I dozed off.”
“Uh-huh,” Gigi mutters, laughing and elbowing Lily. “He dozed off from boredom. Is that what he’s saying?”
“Yep,” Lily says with a small giggle.
I wave my hand at them and stalk toward my workstation. “You two can fuck off.”
“He cleaned her tattoo and brought her Chinese, too,” Lily tells Gigi.
“Did she tell you everything?” I ask, not bothering to look at them.
“No. I didn’t know if you did anything more, but you confirmed it. She was cagey with her answer, which was odd.”
“She was cagey?”
“Yeah.” Lily shrugs. “Figured I’d get the rest out of her later since it’s literally her job to get the goods on you.”
“Right. I forgot,” I mutter, honestly forgetting that nothing that was happening between us was real.
It felt real.
Every moment I had been with her felt natural and not like we were acting a part as practice for the big event with another person.
Being with Arlo is easy, and I hate her for it—and Lily too.
“Did you want to kiss her?” Gigi asks as she plops down in the chair nearest me.
“Fuck yeah. I’m not blind. She’s gorgeous.”
“She isn’t your usual type,” Gigi tells me. “But there were definitely some sparks when you brought her to Mammoth’s shop to get her car.”
“There were not, and I have no type, cousin.”
She taps her chin, studying me. “If any woman is ready, willing, and able, along with having a very open vagina policy, you are game to hit that shit.”
I cover my eyes with my hand, shaking my head, hating her and Lily right now. “Not with Arlo.”
“And yet, you still went to her house,” Gigi says. “You’re smitten with her. Just admit it and save yourself some grief.”
“It’s fake, Gigi. I’m a pet project, and that’s it, babe. Let’s be real. A classy chick like Arlo isn’t going to be interested in a guy like me.”
“A guy like you?” she asks, jerking her head back, her eyebrows drawn down. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“She’s like the best of the best, and I’m…”
“A playboy?” she asks.
“That’s one way to describe me.”
“You’re a single guy who’s living his life. There’s no shame in that. Hell, Pike had a colorful past, and Jesus, look at Jett. We all have pasts, and they don’t define the person we are or who we will be in the future.”
“I don’t know,” I mutter.
“Do you truly like Arlo?” Lily asks me, coming to sit with us. “Like like her, like her?”
“I think so, babe. I don’t know how I feel. Maybe my head’s just foggy because I haven’t fucked another chick and it’s messing with my mind.”
“Then go fuck someone else and see how you feel afterward,” Gigi tells me like it’s no big deal.
“Technically, it’s against the agreement, but I’ve never seen you so grouchy and bent out of shape. Maybe you should. We can keep it our little secret,” Lily says, touching my shoulder.