He turned and stepped back into his apartment.

Cat watched the door close, her eyebrows pulled down.

“See you around?” she mouthed.

Chapter Six

LUCKILY SYLVIE WAS not interested in any drama because she apologetically skedaddled about three minutes after Cat did. Lara and Jared disappeared into his room while Quentin cleaned up the kitchen and ignored the television that was still paused on Star Wars.

He wanted to go over to the couch and plunk down and press Play and have Cat sitting there beside him again. Wouldn’t it be great to rewind to an hour ago when the two of them had been inching closer and closer on the couch? Wouldn’t it be great if the reason she’d come over tonight had been to watch a movie with him? And not as a way to make a play for his cousin?

The memory of Cat’s face when she’d seen Jared making out with Sylvie flashed in Quentin’s mind. She’d looked... Well, he actually couldn’t name the emotion that had been stamped across her features. But she had not looked happy at all. And she could not have left any faster than she had. Quentin had thought that Cat just had the hots for Jared. But now he was left to wonder if maybe she had real feelings for him.

Quentin gave up scrubbing the sink and strode over to the couch. Sinking into the cushions, he let his head tip back so he could stare at the old water stain on the ceiling. He thought he’d long ago become immune to girls preferring Jared over him.

Apparently it could still hurt.

Suddenly, he felt the way he had as a teenager when he’d gone to live with Jared and Aunt Sarah. Quentin had been the child of a divorce so brutal that after his mom had finally gained full custody of him, she’d dropped him off at her sister’s so she could take a “well-earned vacation.” A month turned into two into six into a year into two years, and then there was Quentin, graduating high school with only Aunt Sarah in the bleachers.

Jared had been good-looking and popular and everyone always wanted a piece of him. Quentin had been the designated driver who hadn’t wanted to screw anything up with Aunt Sarah.

He understood why the girls had flocked to his cousin, but still, it would’ve been really nice if things with Cat had been a different story.

The door to Jared’s room opened and Quentin straightened, surprised to see Lara walking out by herself. She was red around the eyes, but she was otherwise the same walking perfection that she always was.

She balanced one hand on the wall by the door and started wiggling into her Louboutins. “You gonna miss me, Quentin?”

He looked at her in surprise. “You’re...not coming back?”

When they’d disappeared into Jared’s room together, he’d expected to have to sleep with a pillow over his ears to block out the sounds of their reunion.