Yeah, because that sounds in character.

Where the hell was she?

You're never going to find out because she's a stranger on the street.

I met lots of girls every day. So why is this one different?

You usually don't meet women who you have to rescue. You meet women who want to bone you.

Yeah, good point.

But I didn't get the impression the girl generally needed rescuing. The way she'd protected that camera, like she would have done anything to keep it safe, did I feel that way about anything?

Besides your brother?

When I turned my attention back to my conversation with Nick, he was studying me. "What's wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. You were staring at that bird. Do you know her?"

"No.” It was true. I didn't know her. I would very much like to know her. All about her, actually. Her ins and outs, what she smelled like.

Okay, that was bordering on creepy.

No, just making sure she's okay.

He frowned at me as if to tell me he didn't believe me. Which was fine. "What?"

"I don't know. You're acting weird. Anyway, like I was saying, are you feeling good about the Toshino deal?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it's a good deal and it's a shit ton of money."

"That kind of money will break us both free of our fathers."

I nodded. "Yeah. We can really do what we want."

Nick shrugged. "Not that I don't already, but at least this way I don't have to do the old man's bidding."

While we both had the whole daddy-issue thing in common, Nick's daddy issues were a whole other kettle of fish. His father owned all kinds of night clubs in the city. In all parts of the greater London area, actually. And some up north as well. But the rumors of how he'd gotten there tended to leave a bad taste in the mouth.

Nick wanted nothing to do with him. When it came to partying and such, sure, Nick was more than happy to party on the old man's dime, but if it came down to actually working for him, he had zero interest. He had more interest in venture capital stuff with me than anything of his father's. Plus, I knew for a fact that after his mother died when Nick was ten, he didn't trust the old man one bit. He'd been shipped off to boarding school then, which was where we met. And a part of him had always thought maybe his dad had something to do with it, considering he'd moved in his mistress just a month after his mother’s death.

"I mean, it's a fantastic deal. It could give us what we want. There can't be anything bad about it. We've already done the due diligence. It's time to enjoy it, I guess."

He nodded slowly. "You think your dad is going to try and stop it?"