Thankfully Rem drops down on to the couch next to me, and the girls end up on one side of the room. Nic works out it’s a good idea to move seats before he gets in the middle of the gossip session that is about to begin. But before he gets too comfortable, Flynn suggests we head out on to the balcony, to which each of us is thankful, as the volume of the girls’ voices is already increasing, and they are all starting to talk at the same time. A skill these women seem to have to follow the multiple conversations that are happening at once.

For me, it does my head in.

“Ummm, what the fuck was that about inside with Harper?” I should’ve guessed that Flynn wasn’t going to let that go.

“What?” I reply, trying to sound like I don’t know what he’s talking about.

“Don’t give me that shit. That comment about dinner had more to it than what you said, and the same for her answer. It was like you were talking in code. You better not have fucked her, because I swear to God, Felisha will kill you both, and I’ll be right behind her to make sure she did it properly.”

“Oh man, here we go again.” Nic turns away from us both and leans over the railing like he doesn’t want to know.

“Listen to me very carefully, little brother. If I wanted to sleep with Harper, then I don’t need your permission, but just so you know, I don’t, so pull your head in, asshole.” I step close to him with my face so close to him that he’ll get the message, crystal clear.

My life, my decisions!

“Your reaction tells me otherwise.” I step back from him to break the tension between us that I just created with my reaction. “Explain the conversation about dinner.” And Flynn’s happy-go-lucky attitude from before is gone. He is not going to let this go unless I tell him.

“Fine.” Sighing and running my hand through my hair, I look him in the eye, explaining that I met her in the elevator and then arrived on her doorstep with dinner because she’s a stubborn pain in the arse. “That’s all it was, and to repeat your words when she moved into the temporary apartment in my building—to help your girlfriend, I might add—you said, ‘keep an eye on her and look after her.’ So that’s all I was doing. Helping a friend who needed it, even if she didn’t want to accept the help.”

Nic’s shoulders are shaking, telling me he is trying not to show he is laughing, but Rem isn’t even trying to hide it.