She peels the carrots more forcefully now, the scraps falling into the sink at record pace. “I’m not sure that’s any of your business.”
“I’m your friend. It’s my business.”
She hands me a carrot, and I slice it into coins.
“Friends offer advice. They don’t tell someone what to do.” She buries her head in the fridge, grabbing the salad dressings.
The knife drops from my hand and I lean against the counter to face her. She turns around and startles.
“You’ll be wasting your time with Jax.”
She shakes the salad dressing and her gaze slowly rises to meet mine. “How do you know? Maybe I’m the one who changes him. Or maybe he wants someone like me. I get that I’m not what you’d consider in your league, what with me not having any tattoos or piercings, but can you really speak for a guy you haven’t talked to in almost a decade?” She puts the dressings on the table, a little harder than necessary, and grabs the salad bowl from behind me.
My shoulders slump. “You’re right.”
“What?” she snips.
I’ve never seen Rian this mad.
“Anyone would be lucky to have you. Just be careful.” I grip her shoulder and take the asparagus out of the fridge. “I’m going to grill this up on the roof. I’ll be back.”
Leaving the apartment, I rest my back against the door for a moment before heading up to the roof. The last person I want to sit down and share a meal with is Jax. Rian’s the only person I’d put myself through torture for.
Chapter Five
Rian
“What’s for dinner?” Seth breezes into my apartment and sits at the table, his thumb and forefinger descending into the salad bowl.
I snatch the bowl away before he has a chance to grab anything. “Nope. Roommates only.”
He looks over one shoulder then the other shoulder at the empty apartment. “I’m a roommate.”
“No, you’re a neighbor.”
He mocks offense. “I’ve always thought of us all as roommates.”
“You don’t pay rent for this apartment.”
“Speaking of, you stole one of my roommates. Do you know how many extra boudoir sessions I’ve had to do in order to pay my share of the rent? I’m almost desperate enough to hold a sign out on the sidewalk and dress up in a suit with a rose between my teeth.”
I stare blankly at him.
He laughs. “Thankfully, Blanca is giving me some freelance work.”
“I hadn’t heard anything about that?” I sit down.
Poor Seth’s journey toward his dream career of photography has been hard. Not horribly difficult—the man gets to see half naked women every day—but he complains about it nonstop.
“She and Ethan are doing that blog thing or whatever. She’s asked me to take some landscape shots of New York City.”
I grab his hand. “That’s great.”
He shrugs. “It’s something and keeps me from having to take over my parents’ bagel shop for a little while longer.”
“I haven’t stopped in lately. How is Mama Andrews?” I stand and grab him a beer from the fridge, then I open a bottle of wine because as long as Jax and Dylan don’t throw one another off the roof, dinner should be ready soon.
“Don’t get me started.” He sips his beer. “She asked me if I’d take pictures of her for my dad.” His head falls to the table.
I purse my lips in an attempt not to laugh. His mom is very into having an active sex life and isn’t afraid to talk to her son about it. I struggle to pull the cork from the bottle of wine. “What did you say?”
“What do you think? Hell. No. Then she asked if any of my coworkers would do it.”
“Oh, that’s reasonable.”
Seth waves me over and I hand him the bottle. He pops the cork out with ease. “No, it’s not. Why would I want my coworker to see my mom half naked, puckering her lips for the camera?”
I laugh and he can’t help but laugh too.
“Yeah, my life is a fucking joke. My mom is worried about turning on my dad and my brother is AWOL again.”
“Oh, Seth.”
He shakes his head like he doesn’t want to talk about it, but the way he pushes the half-drank beer to the middle of the table says he’s worried about his brother.
I don’t know much about his brother, other than that he disappears now and then. I think it has something to do with drinking or drugs. Seth only mentions it in passing and every time he does, he brushes the topic away before we can really talk about it.
The door to the apartment opens and we both look over.
“The girl put her finger in my petroleum jelly container and smeared it on her lips,” Dylan says.
“Fuck, I’m guessing you gave it to her?” Jax asks.
“Yeah, but I charged her for it. I mean, use some common sense. Do you want an infection?”
I stare dumbfounded as the two of them walk in like they’re best friends. Even Seth’s eyes are bouncing between me and them.
“Shit, those steaks look good,” Seth says, his eyes wide like one of those cartoons where the ribeye is hanging off a fork in front of the dog.
“Thanks. Want to join us? I got plenty.” Jax places the plate in the middle of the table.
“Nope. Seth has to get home to Knox. This is a roommate-only dinner,” I say.
Dylan slides the asparagus onto the table and picks up a stalk, chomping down. “Sorry, dude, I’ll leave the scraps at your door.” He winks.
Seth sighs, stands from the chair, leaving his beer behind. “No need. I’m gonna convince Knox to get his dick out of Leilani long enough to go to dinner. You realize I’m the only single one now besides all of you, right?” His shoulders slouch and he exaggerates walking to the door like a child.
Dylan and Jax glance at me. I hadn’t really thought about that. Blanca and Ethan, Sierra and Adrian, Knox and Leilani. Seth shoots a pair of pathetic eyes over his shoulder one last time when he reaches the door.
“Jesus,” Dylan says.
“Let the guy stay, Rian,” Jax says.
“Fine. But you’re not to talk.”
Seth straightens and smiles, walking back over and picking his beer up off the table. “I feel like I should’ve contributed something.” He digs his hand in his pocket and pulls out some business cards. “Here. Free bagel for everyone.”
The cards are for Andrews Bagels. He passes them out like a grandpa does butterscotch candies.
“Jeez, thanks. I’ll add this to the stack in my room.” Dylan pockets it.
I shove mine in the drawer with the others we’ve gotten in the past.
Jax examines it. “This is your place?”
Seth swallows his sip of beer. “My parents.”
“I was at the Bagel Place this morning. They have a hot girl working there. Is there a hot girl at Andrews Bagels? You might be able to convince me to switch.”
Dylan looks over his beer bottle at me and we share a look. The Ericksons own the Bagel Place. They’re pretty much the Andrews’ archenemies, which means Seth Andrews can never entertain the idea of Evan Erickson. Some of us think that upsets him to a degree, but we let him pretend the only thing he feels for her is hate.