Of course, if he weren’t so appealing, he wouldn’t be so perfect as Neptune. But that perfection was going to come at a cost to my sanity. For the hundredth time, I second-guessed what the heck I was doing. I’d texted with him for a good hour the night before, answering questions about Neptune lore that Milo could have discovered perfectly well on his own, only stopping when Kellan and Jasmine came to collect me for food. And really, I should have been grateful for the interruption. I wasn’t supposed to find any part of this…arrangement fun.

“Who is it?” Mom prodded, concern evident in her eyes. She wasn’t the biggest fan of some of the game-store crowd, and she was probably already visualizing someone entirely unsuitable to have around April.

Heck. No choice but to share the truth, or at least a version of it. “Milo. Funniest thing, but he came into the store, and we got to talking and he…volunteered.”

“Milo Lionetti?” Mom frowned, which wasn’t the reaction I’d expected.

“Heard he got himself into some trouble a while back.” Dad’s expression was even more grim.

“He sure is cute trouble,” April added, which got her pointed looks from all three of us.

“I haven’t seen him since the funeral.” Shaking her head, Mom cut her food into neat pieces. “Poor Cathy. That boy has put her through the ringer on top of everything else she’s had to endure. And she’s not the only one. Jasper, do you really want to get involved with him again?”

“We’re not involved.” My fork clattered against my plate. Business. This was business. A transaction. A Neptune for Kellan and April and the kids at the hospital. Some help for Milo, but even that was more for Bruno, who hadn’t deserved his dumbass brother losing his cards. Involved was not even remotely on the table.

Across from me, April smirked like she knew better. And then my phone buzzed in my pocket and I immediately wondered if it was Milo. Damn it. Even friendship would be beyond stupid. He’d proved enough times that he wasn’t to be trusted.

“Good.” Dad nodded firmly before returning his attention to his food. I got why they were both firmly anti-Milo. I’d moped for months when our friendship had ended, and they’d had to hear more than one tale of woe in the following years about Milo’s new crowd and their idea of jokes involving the smart kids.