Page 49

The word was laced with a clear undercurrent of something else.
Rebel bounced lightly on her bare feet, the mattress dipping beneath her weight. She watched the two of us with interest, then laughed. “Oh my. What is going on here? Do I detect the sweet, sweet smell of two men who’ve seen each other naked?” She gave an overexaggerated inhale. “Truly my favorite scent. I have no idea why two men together does it for me, but damn, it really, truly does.”
Kian leaned over and offered her a high five. “Me too.”
She slapped his palm gleefully while I stared at them, dumbfounded. “Again. What the fuck? But same question for you too, Roach. Were you just jumping on his bed? How do you even know each other?”
“Roach?” Kian questioned. He wrinkled his nose. “That’s the worst nickname ever. I’m running with Little Demon.”
What the fuck was he even talking about?
Rebel flipped her feet out from beneath her and landed on her ass before scooting to the edge. “Settle down, psycho. First, yes, I was jumping on the bed. You should try it sometime. It’s fun.”
I was sure I was staring at the woman like she’d just grown another eyeball. “My head would go right through the ceiling.”
Rebel gazed up at it and shrugged. “Never have to worry about that when you’re my height. Yay me for being fun-sized. But anyway. Back to your questions. How do we know each other?”
“We’re besties,” Kian said, another dig, I was sure, aimed at hurting me.
Because once upon a time, it was me and him who’d been inseparable. Though that couldn’t be further from the truth anymore.
“Since when?” I demanded.
Rebel turned to Kian, and he made a show of checking the time on his phone. “About thirty minutes ago, when I found her moving into the bedroom on the other side of my bathroom.”
My brain was struggling to keep up. “At the risk of sounding like a record on repeat, what?”
“I moved in,” Rebel said with a grin. “I hope you don’t mind. I took the room at the end of the hall. You know, since I own half the property now.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, spitting out my words. “You do not own half this property. Or anything in my father’s name.”
A low growl came from Kian’s chest. “Watch the way you speak to my bestie, Weston.”
Was he for real? He’d known me for decades, her for thirty minutes, and he was taking her side? Hurt stabbed through me at how far our friendship had disintegrated.
Rebel cleared her throat. “I don’t want to fight. But I do own half this property, and I’m not letting you sell it.”
“If the will remains as it is, and that’s a big if, you’d get half the profits anyway. What do you care if I sell it?”
She glared at me. “I get that you’re Richie Rich and have no idea what it’s like to have no home of your own, but not everyone in this room was born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Some of us think this house is amazing and can’t think of a single other place in the world they’d want to call home.”
“This is ridiculous.” I glanced at Kian for backup. “You cannot possibly want a stranger living here in your home?”
He cleared his throat, looked me dead in the eye, and said, “Why not? That’s exactly what you are. At least she’s not threatening to kick me out.”
I flinched. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Yeah, but you did. So fuck you, Vaughn. I’m on the little demon’s side. She stays.”
Rebel softened a tiny bit. “I was evicted from my apartment. I have nowhere else to go.”
The fight went out of me entirely at the thought of her living on the streets. “You could have led with that.”
She raised an eyebrow. “So you aren’t calling the cops?”
I turned and walked away. “Don’t tempt me, Roach.”
I meant it in more ways than one.