Page 19

Mindy

I’m moving in with Adonis.

The thought still boggles my mind. My world seemed to be crashing down a few hours ago, and now I’m moving in with Adonis.

Peaches slithers over as I open her cage, offering her meal. “How would you like to live with the prettiest man to ever walk the earth?”

She snatches up her dinner.

“Yeah, I jumped at it too. It’s probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. But I’ll regret it if I don’t try.”

“Try what?”

Canyon! “Just once, do you think you could knock on the door?”

He pretends to consider it for a moment. “Nah. There’s no fun in that. So, what are you going to regret?”

“Do you really think I’m going to answer that?” Peaches takes her meal to the back of her cage, and I close the door.

“Maybe. I can guarantee my responses will be better than Peaches’.”

I raise an eyebrow at that.

“Try me?”

Challenge accepted. “How would you like to live with the prettiest man to ever walk the earth?”

Canyon’s jaw drops to the floor.

“See, I told you.”

“Wait, give me a minute to process your question.” Canyon stands up and fiddles with his wristwatch. “So, who decides he’s the prettiest man?”

“It’s an unquestionable fact that every woman agrees to.”

“Every woman? This must be one special guy.”

He’s certainly pretty.

“Well, for the first fifteen seconds, I might feel a little intimidated. Then I’d offer him a beer and turn on the game.”

Laughter sneaks out of me. “You know that’s not what I asked.”

“Why do you think you’d regret it?”

That’s not a question I want to answer. It’s too personal. I shrug.

“You really going to move in with this guy?”

“Yup. In two days.” That will give me time to take a million cab rides over to move my stuff. Which is going to cost money that I don’t have.

Carrying all my stuff on the subway would be the frugal way to do it.

“I’ll help you move.”

What? No. I mean, yes, that would be fantastic. He probably has access to a car. And with all those muscles, it wouldn’t take him any time at all.

“Help her move what?” Maddox asks from the other door.

Great. Wonderful. Stupendous.

“Mindy is moving in with the prettiest man on earth in two days. I offered to help her move her stuff,” Canyon offers this like we’re chatting about the weather.

I can’t even look at Maddox. Instead, I step over to Rainbow’s cage and slide the door open. Maybe if I pretend hard enough, this will have never happened.

“We should help her move. What time are you starting?” Maddox asks.

Starting? I hadn’t even planned on having help or when to do it. “You guys don’t have to. There isn’t much to move.” Most of the furniture I’ll leave in the common areas for people to take. Adonis’ place is already furnished. All I need to bring is my clothing and personal effects.

“Sure, we do. Many hands make the load light and all that. Plus, I’d like to meet your boyfriend.” Canyon is sooo very helpful.

“Yes. I enjoy getting to know all my employees’ significant others.”

Of course, Maddox would be like that. “We’re just roommates. He is my boss.” I look up at Maddox. “My other boss. It’s purely platonic.”

Why did I feel the need to say that?

This is just a mess.

“Platonic?” Canyon asks. “How platonic are things with the pretty boy?”

“You’re a menace.” I glare at him.

“I know. See you.” He swaggers out.

Will Maddox disappear, too?

Rainbow pokes her head out, smelling her dinner in my bucket. “Here you go.” I hold out her food with a pair of tongs. She gobbles it up.

“How about you? Are you ready for dinner?” Maddox didn’t leave.

Can I talk about this?

Maddox will know there’s something wrong if I don’t go. “Sure. I’ll be right there.”

***

“Pho.” How long has it been since I’ve had a bowl?

Maddox lifts another lid, revealing Char Siu pork and veggies. The last one contains stacked steamer trays full of dumplings. “I probably should have asked if you liked pho.”

“I love it. There isn’t much that I don’t like except liver and fried gizzards.” Ugh. I shudder at the memory.

“Fried gizzards? That sounds like a story.”

It is, and one that doesn’t involve any real drama. I grab a plate full and my massive bowl of pho and head to the table.

“Beer?” He asks as we sit down.

That sounds amazing, but I’m way too tired not to end up falling asleep after all this food and a beer. “Water, please.”

Maddox raises an eyebrow as he grabs us water. “So, what happened?”

To be seventeen and wild again. “Spring Break junior year happened.”

He leans forward. “Spring Break?”

“Yeah, the traditional high school stupidity. I did all of it. Did you?” Was he ever a stupid kid?

“Spring Break? Nope.”

Wait, does that mean he was a nerd in high school or a jock? He fits either one. “You didn’t miss much. Except the beach was nice when you could find a spot that wasn’t packed.”

“You spent a week getting drunk and dancing?”

That’s almost insulting. “I don’t get drunk. But we did go dancing.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I don’t get drunk. My tolerance, even then, was crazy high.” Winnie, on the other hand, got drunk after two drinks. Drunk Winnie is funny, but not half as hysterical as drunk Winnie and Cordelia together. The two of them always seemed to end up knocking the hottest, richest, and snootiest guys in the clubs down a peg or three. Greer, Leonie, and I just watched and laughed. “But you don’t want to hear about that. We decided to drive back—” Basically, because Winnie’s jet wasn’t available. “—and we were down south. Ottilie had done all this research, and she found that the best food was found in these little gas stations.”

“You didn’t eat gas station food?”

Snacks are great from a gas station up here, but anything else is questionable. “So we stopped at this hole-in-the-wall gas station in the middle of nowhere. There wasn’t even a streetlight for hours. And the person that placed the mile markers on the road had to have been drunk because the numbers followed no sort of order. Greer and I were tasked with going inside and getting the goods. Let me tell you, it smelled greasy and good inside. We got the biggest containers of fried chicken and mashed potatoes that they had. As she was packing our containers, the lady behind the counter asked if we wanted some gizzards, too.”

“Did you know what they were?”

“Absolutely not. If I had, I would have run in the other direction. But we were in a greasy goodness haze, so we said yes.” Never let yourself be upsold. They’re always trying to get you to buy junk. Those were actually words of wisdom from my mother.

“And?” He lifts a dumpling to his luscious lips.

Nope. I’m not attracted to Maddox. I need to think about something else.

What were we talking about? Gizzards! Gross things, good choice.

“When we finally got settled back in the car, Leonie and I agreed to taste these weird-looking things at the same time. It didn’t go well. We both spewed it out all over the back of the rental.” Suffice it to say, no deposit was returned to us, and we paid a cleaning fee. “Winnie said they tasted good, but she’s a bit weird.”

He chuckles.

“So why didn’t you go away for Spring Break?” Now why did I go and ask a personal question like that? Light, silly conversation only tonight.

“For several reasons, the biggest was I’d already dropped out of school.”

WHAT? “You dropped out?” How? Why? How did he get where he is as a high school dropout?

“I stopped going to school around eight when my grandma’s dementia started getting bad. Even after she died, I didn’t see the point of going back.”

Eight! He stopped going to school at eight! “How?” That was as clear as mud.

“Crazy old women, a ton of work, and a mentor that didn’t believe in failure.”

Crazy old — “That woman…I think they called her Mrs. Wright…was she one of them?”

He grins. “So, you met her?”

“More like she found me, terrified me, and disappeared numerous times.”

I love Maddox’s laugh. It’s warm and real with a little bit of a rough rumble.

“That’s Louisella. She’s lethal and protective all at the same time.”

“I’d ask how to avoid her, but I’d bet there’s no way.”

“None at all.” His smile is contagious.

“You don’t seem sorry about that.” I cut off a piece of Char Siu.

“You can’t ask for a better person to take you under their wing.”

What would it be like to have a person protect me? To not worry about the world crashing down on me?