I gave the side of his face a hard look. “No, we didn’t. I know you, Rigby. You avoided answering, which means we did not talk about it.”

Rigby sighed, his jaw bunching. “I’m not going to put the moves on her, River. I wouldn’t fuck this up for you guys for a convenient lay. I barely know the girl.” That should’ve been reassuring, but I wasn’t lying; I knew him. He wasn’t done. “But if she comes onto me for anything serious, I’m gonna see where it goes. I feel this draw to her, man. I can’t explain it.” He took his eyes briefly off the road to stare at me. “You know, though, don’t you?”

I dragged my eyes from his face and back out the window. Was I attracted to her? Fuck yeah, I was. She was beautiful. All dangerous curves and those lips that were just this side of too pouty, so all you could do as she spoke was imagine what they’d feel like. And she smelled like something soft and feminine, something I could never identify.

“What the hell are you even talking about?” I grumbled, not looking at his face where his eyes could read all my secrets. I wasn’t sure why I was even friends with this bastard, but he’d weaseled his way into my life and I loved him as much as Dev now.

“True or false, River ‘I-have-no-feelings’ Cooper. You’ve pictured Nova naked at some point.”

“False.”

“Liar. You aren’t fucking dead. I bet you’ve jerked off to her in the shower too.” I flipped him the bird, and he huffed out a laugh.

“Doesn’t even matter, because what are we going to do? Draw straws for her? It's better for everyone if none of us touch her.”

Rigby snorted. “Okay, sure. So, say she stays. That’s what we want, right?”

“Of course.”

“She’s a beautiful twenty-four-year-old woman. So fucking beautiful. She’s not an old maid. Eventually, she's going to want to get laid. Find a nice boyfriend or something. Are you cool with her bringing men home, and then fucking them down the hall from you? Because the very idea makes my balls shrivel up.”

It made me irrationally mad. Possessive. Exactly what Rigby was trying to get at.

We pulled into the driveway of the house. “You have two options here, Coop. One, you can let yourself feel something. It's rough, and could lead to heartache, or it could lead to something wonderful.”

“You’d stand aside for me?” I couldn’t believe him.

He gave me a crooked smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I would do just about anything for you to be happy. Dev, too. If you haven’t realized that about me yet, I’m going to have to hug you more.”