Page 41 of Filthy Rich Brother’s Best Friends (Filthy Rich Harems #5)

Miles

W e just had chicken tacos for dinner and the four of us are relaxing in the living room.

Jude settles on the floor, flipping through something on his tablet.

Reid’s in one of the armchairs, scrolling through his phone.

I sit down on the couch, pulling Lola with me.

She settles across my lap, tucking her head against my neck.

I can’t believe this is real. I have spent years dreaming of this exact scenario. Well, maybe not this exact scenario. I didn’t imagine I’d be sharing her with two of my best friends.

Lola is the girl of my dreams. And by some strange stroke of luck, I get to call her mine.

Obviously, I wish things were different with Wes. It’s been a few days since the huge blow up and none of us have heard from him. I hope that with time he might understand it and try to accept it.

My brain is chewing on ideas to make Lola’s studio more successful than she ever dreamed about. Ideas like exclusive branding, franchising and national exposure float through my mind.

Now may not be the best time to bring all of it up, but I’m dying to run it by Lola and the guys.

“I’ve been thinking,” I start.

“When aren’t you thinking?” Reid chimes in.

“Be nice, butthead.” Lola tosses one of the throw pillows at him. “Go ahead, Miles. What were you thinking about?”

“I know you like to handle things on your own. But I have some ideas that I think could help take your business to the next level.”

“Like what?”

“You’ve already built the hardest part,” I tell her. “But I think I can expand on that and help you take it further.”

“I have an idea too,” Jude says, raising his hand.

“We’re not in grade school, dumbass. Put your hand down.” Reid sets his phone on the table. “I want in. Marketing. Events. Outreach. Whatever you need—I’ll make it happen.”

Lola doesn’t respond right away. She starts to say something, then stops. She swallows hard and tries again.

“You guys…” she manages. A single tear tracks down her cheek before she can blink it away.

“You don’t have to do this alone anymore, babe.”

She leans in and kisses me, then settles against my shoulder again.

“Who’s up for a game of Scrabble?” Jude asks. “I’m feeling lucky tonight.”

Reid jumps up from his chair, nearly knocking it over in his excitement. "I'm going to destroy all of you again. Just like last time."

"Last time?" I can't help but laugh. "You mean when I beat you by thirty-seven points?"

"In what universe?" Reid counters, already heading to the shelf where we keep the board games. "I dominated that game and you know it."

"You're full of shit," I tell him, but I'm smiling. "The only reason you think you won is because you can't add."

Lola shifts off my lap, settling beside me on the couch. "I remember you winning, Miles," she says, giving my thigh a squeeze.

"Thank you," I say, shooting Reid a smug look. "At least someone here is honest."

Jude snorts. "Remember when he tried to play 'quixacu' and claimed it was an ancient Sumerian musical instrument?"

"That was legitimate!" Reid protests, setting the Scrabble box on the coffee table.

"You're the worst cheater I've ever seen," I tell him as I help set up the board. "You don't even try to make your fake words sound plausible."

Reid starts arranging the letter tiles face down. "Just because you don't know a word doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

"Dramastic," I say flatly.

Lola bursts out laughing. "Oh my god, I remember that one!"

"It's a real word!" Reid insists. "It's a cross between dramatic and drastic. Look it up."

"I did look it up," I counter. "It's not in any dictionary."

"You used the wrong dictionary then," Reid says with complete confidence. "Oxford has it."

I roll my eyes but can't help smiling. The truth is, I knew damn well the word doesn't exist, but I didn't challenge him because I appreciated the creativity.

Jude chimes in. “Yeah, I knew there was no such word.”

"Oh please," Reid continues, pointing accusingly at Jude. "Like you're some brainiac, Massage Boy. What about 'frawn'? Remember that one? You tried to convince us it was a type of monkey."

Jude's face flushes. "That's different. 'Frawn' should totally be a real word."

"So I'm not the only one who occasionally comes up with words that aren't real," Reid says triumphantly. "At least mine sound like they could be real."

"Yours sound like you're having a stroke," I say, and Lola nearly chokes on a sip of water.

"Can we just play the game?" Lola asks. "And agree that any word has to be in the official Scrabble dictionary or it doesn't count?"

"Fine," Reid concedes, "but I'm protesting in advance.”

We each draw seven tiles to start. I stare at mine in disbelief. Six perfectly decent letters and one useless Z. Fucking fantastic.

"Who wants to go first?" Lola asks, arranging her letters on her rack.

"Youngest," Jude says automatically.

"That's me," Lola grins, placing down "HEART" for a solid opening move.

Jude follows with "TRAIN," building off her T. Reid adds "SIMPLE," using the P from Jude's play.

Reid puffs up, pumping his fists, since he used six of his seven letters.

It's my turn. I stare at my letters, mentally cursing the Z. I've got nothing that works with the board as it stands.

Wait. I see it. A slight smile crosses my face as I carefully place my tiles to spell "ZAIRE," connecting with the E in "SIMPLE."

Reid's head snaps up so fast I'm surprised he doesn't get whiplash. "That’s a proper noun," he declares, pointing accusingly at me.

"Challenge me, asshole, and you'll see," I reply calmly, crossing my arms.

"Oh, I'm challenging," Reid says, already reaching for his phone.

Lola and Jude exchange amused glances as Reid types furiously. His confident expression gradually morphs into confusion, then disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding me," Reid groans, tossing his phone onto the table. "Zaire. The former basic monetary unit of Zaire—now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since when do you know African currency?”

"Since college," I reply with a smirk, tallying my score. "That's fourteen points, by the way."

"With the Z on a double letter," Lola points out. "It’s actually twenty-four."

Reid glowers at the board. "Fuck both of you."

The game continues with more trash talk than actual gameplay. When Lola manages to play "QUIXOTIC" on a triple word score, Reid nearly flips the board over.

"That's seventy-eight points!" she announces, beaming.

I pull her into me in a bear hug. “Way to go, Lo!”

Reid continues to sulk while Jude and I pump Lola up for the killer word choice.

Looking at all three of them—Reid with his competitive scowl, Jude's easy smile, and Lola's triumphant grin—I feel a warmth in my body. How the hell did this happen? How did I end up with these ridiculous people who make me happier than I've ever been?

"You okay?" Lola asks, nudging my shoulder.

"Never better," I tell her honestly. "Just thinking about how fucking lucky I am."

"Aww, Miles is having feelings," Reid teases.

"Shut up, dickhead," I mutter, but I'm smiling.

"Group hug!" Jude announces, abandoning his letter tiles to lunge across the coffee table.

Before I can protest, I'm enveloped in a tangle of arms. Jude's got one arm around my neck, Reid's reluctantly joined in from the side, and Lola's pressed against my chest, laughing into my shirt.

I could definitely get used to this.