“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m drinking and enjoying your delightful company.” I raised my glass. “It’s nice to see you again, Larsen.”
“I wish I could say the same.”
Rhys had been grumbling and brooding since I arrived, which wasn’t a huge departure from his usual demeanor, but now that the girls were out of the room, he turned the full force of his ire on me.
“One year of being Prince Consort and you’ve forgotten our history. Our friendship.” I laced my tone with carefully crafted disappointment. “I thought you were different, but it’s true what they say. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
I used friendship in the loosest sense of the term. Our rocky, complicated relationship started with Rhys saving my life and him walking away from Harper Security to be with Bridget. The path between those points had been riddled with disagreements, barbs, and a strange mix of mutual respect and suspicion.
“Cut the bullshit, Harper.” Rhys’s glare crackled with irritation. Classic Larsen. If he brooded any harder, he’d require a plastic surgeon to carve the frown out of his face. “I told you to stay away from Stella. I don’t care if it’s fake. She’s living with you, and I don’t trust you under the same roof with her.”
“You seem awfully concerned about her love life,” I drawled. “Anything Bridget should know?”
The air dripped with silent danger, but no one seemed concerned except for the royal bodyguards shifting uneasily in the back of the room.
Josh watched our back and forth with fascination from Rhys’s other side while Alex scrolled through his phone, looking bored.
“I’m concerned because of Bridget,” Rhys growled. “Stella is her best friend. You fuck with her, Bridget’s gonna be upset. Which means I’ll be upset.”
“Ah, I see.” I swirled my drink in its glass before taking a thoughtful sip. “It must be tiring, having your emotions so intimately connected with another’s. Does it work the other way around, or is it a one-way leash only she gets to yank?”
Josh snorted out a laugh.
“You act amused,” Rhys said without looking at him. “Like Jules and Ava won’t be riding your asses if anything happens to Stella.”
Josh’s smile disappeared. Alex looked up from his phone, those cold green eyes drilling into my skin for the first time since I arrived.
We hadn’t acknowledged each other beyond an obligatory nod of greeting.
We didn’ts hide our quasi friendship, but we didn’t announce it to the world either because there was nothing to announce. Other than our monthly chess matches and the occasional business interaction, we rarely saw each other.
“Obviously, I’m concerned,” Josh said, doing a one-eighty as he directed his next question at me. “What are your intentions with Stella?”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you. I don’t even know you.”
A lie. Magda had inadvertently fallen into his hands before Dante bought it off him, which meant I knew every single thing about Josh Chen. His family background, his grades in med school, his favorite basketball team and how he took his coffee.
He was a golden boy with a dark streak, but not one I needed to concern myself with now that Magda was no longer in his possession.
“You’re sitting in my house, dating one of my sister’s and girlfriend’s best friends, so you do, in fact, need to explain yourself,” Josh said. “If you don’t like it, feel free to leave.”
I sighed, regretting my decision to attend this damned party.
If Stella hadn’t been so adamant about attending, I could’ve spent the day doing something more productive, like hunting down her stalker, reorganizing my library, or finishing yesterday’s crossword.
Anything was better than this insufferable conversation.
“You know…” Rhys’s expression turned speculative. “Bridget told me about all the things you did for Stella. Lowering her rent, agreeing to the dating arrangement, moving her into your house when some creep spooked her.” The speculation morphed into a knowing glint that set off a dozen warning bells. “Thought you didn’t like people in your personal space. Any reason you’re handing out special treatment like candy to her?”
“I have my reasons.” I flicked a piece of lint off my sleeve, the picture of undisturbed calm, even as unease glided through my chest.
Rhys was a royal pain in my ass, not only because he was one of the few people unafraid to stand up to me, but because he was observant as fuck and knew me better than anyone except Dante.
My annoyance ratcheted up another notch when he examined me with…amusement? What the fuck was so funny?
“I’m sure you do.” Humor lengthened his drawl. “Catching feelings, Harper?”
“Only that of irritation at being interrogated.” My back teeth clenched before I caught myself and relaxed. “What I do with my life and time is none of your business.”
Rhys’s grin widened. “Deflection. Which means I’m right.” His low chuckle sharpened the edges of my displeasure. “Oh, this is rich. I never thought I’d see the day.”
Beside him, Josh’s fingers flew over his phone with alarming speed.
My eyes narrowed. “Are you texting Jules?”
“Of course not. But in case you’re wondering, the girls will be in the bathroom for…” He checked his phone. “At least another half hour.”
Jesus Christ.
Of all the people Stella could be friends with, she had to choose these people.
“Having feelings is nothing to be ashamed of.” A tiny smile cracked the ice in Alex’s expression. “You’ll get used to it.”
The Alex Volkov I knew three years ago would’ve never said such a thing, not even as a joke.
Yet another sign that love turned the most level-headed of people into fools. It was enough to make a man want to hunt Cupid down and string the bastard up using his own arrows.
Aggravation expanded in my chest. “Don’t start with me. At least I didn’t give up my company to follow a girl around for a year in hopes she would spare me a second glance.”
“Yet I have the girl and you’re sitting on a couch arguing with her friends’ significant others,” Alex said mildly. “If you don’t have feelings for Stella, you wouldn’t be so worked up over it.”
“Exactly.” Josh nodded like he knew me even though we’d exchanged a total of five words prior to today.
My smile was pure ice. “I would spend more time improving your chess skills and less worrying about other people’s business, Josh. I’ve beat Alex in chess. Have you?”
Josh’s smile disappeared. “What do you mean, you’ve beat Alex in chess? When did you play chess together?” He whipped his head toward Alex. “You’ve been playing chess with someone else?”
Alex closed his eyes briefly before he opened them and glared at me, his expression filled with frost-tipped venom.
My smile widened. “We have a standing chess date every month.” I swirled my drink in my glass. “Didn’t he tell you?”
Josh looked stricken. “You have another, secret best friend? But…I’m your best friend! I bought you a banana float for your bachelor party!”
“I don’t want a banana float, and he’s not my best friend.” Alex’s glare intensified.
I shrugged, my meaning clear. What can you do? C’est la vie.
It wasn’t my fault he was so antisocial that his best friend freaked out at him spending time with someone else.
“I can’t believe it. Standing chess date,” Josh muttered furiously. “Was that why you wouldn’t watch the latest Marvel movie with me? Because you know I’ve been dying to see that movie for weeks…”
Rhys was too busy laughing to pay attention to the drama unfolding less than three feet away.
“Wait till I tell Bridget. She’s going to love this.”
My temporary good mood evaporated. “You won’t tell her shit.”
“Sure I won’t.” His big frame shook with mirth.
My back teeth clenched with aggravation.
If there was one thing I despised, besides incompetence and Valentine’s Day, it was people digging into my personal business.
Once upon a time, Alex and Rhys would agree. Now, they were too whipped by their other halves to conduct themselves with a modicum of self-respect. Alex making a joke? Rhys giving up his privacy for a lifetime of paparazzi and ribbon cuttings?
It was nauseating.
Stella and I were different.
I didn’t love her, but I wanted her with an intensity that left the flimsy, overused concept of love in the dust. It wasn’t sweet or saccharine. There were no rainbows or unicorns, only desire edged with roughness and darkness.
Hot June days. Secret smiles. Turquoise.
I’d waited a long time.
Eventually, I would catch her, and once I did, I was never letting her go.
