“Hey, Brother.” Pulling me in for hug, he pushes the beer he is holding into my hand. “I only just opened this one, so it’s now got your name on it.”

“Perfect,” I reply as I take the first mouthful. Feeling it sliding down my throat is soothing.

Walking past him into the apartment, I see Nic and Tori are here, and then as I’m walking toward them to take a seat on the couch, I hear her voice coming from the kitchen where she is helping Felisha. Harper is already here and sounds like she is in the middle of some epic girl talk with her bestie. The volume of her voice tells me it’s an intense story, and I’m just praying it’s not about me. I’m not purposefully listening in, but I have no choice but to hear what she is saying.

“And after the second glass of champagne, I was so ready to head to his place, but the bastard then kissed me on the cheek and thanked me for dinner and made an excuse to leave. Like, what the actual hell. He wined and dined me, and I was more than ready to get freaky in the sheets with him, and he just left. Like what the fuck, who passes up this much goodness, seriously.”

Harper’s back is to me, and I’m not sure she knows I’ve even entered the room when Felisha gives me a wave because she obviously doesn’t want to stop Harper when she is on a roll. But it’s enough to have her looking over her shoulder, and her eyes now fix on me. And because I’m an idiot and seem to lose my ability to keep my words in around her lately, I say something that is about to set the night off on the wrong foot, I just know it.

Waving at Felisha, I mumble to Harper, “Well, at least you let him feed you dinner, but then again, I guess it was because you were interested in what he was bringing to the table.” I mentally smack myself in the forehead when I see her eyes darken, and the snark in her voice tells me that she is happy to take me on.

“Yeah, pity he didn’t take what was on offer, because there are only so many times you’ll put it on the menu before it’s removed for good.” And with that, she turns back to Felisha who is giving her the death stare, and I know it’s not for what she said but that she has told her that I’m off limits and to stop flirting with me. Not that it seems to make any difference.