Page 84 of Hard Rock Desires

The gang was already digging in when we got to the third floor room we calledthe entertainment center. With a big screen TV that took up an entire wall and a plush leather sofa and armchairs, it was like one of those VIP movie theaters. We’d also added vintage arcade games (Finn’s addition), framed classic movie posters (Anya’s idea), and an old-school karaoke machine (at Kaylee’s insistence).

Grace’s mouth dropped when we walked in, but she quickly recovered. She had taken all of our blatant displays of wealth pretty well. Not one snide comment about how nice it must be to afford all this cool shit.

I always thought we could have been a whole hell of a lot worse. I definitely knew there were some rock star mansions with the entire lower floor converted into an indoor swimming pool, and marbled hallway entrances decorated with those stupid fancy eggs sculpture things — Fabergé eggs, I think they were called?

At least we spent our money on stuff we’d actually use. Of course, to someone like Grace, who could only go to college because of scholarships and who lived in a tiny cramped apartment, all of this must have seemed pretty over the top.

“Hey, Grace!” Kaylee called out with a grin. “What’ll it be, pineapple or plain pepperoni?”

“As long as it doesn’t have green peppers, I’m good with anything,” she said.

Kaylee put a slice on a paper plate and waved at Grace to come sit next to her and Anya on the sofa. Grace gave me a smile and a pat on the arm before heading over.

I was glad Grace was happy to hang with my friends. I couldn’t lie and say there wasn’t a part of me that felt a little abandoned, but that was my own shit to work through. It had nothing to do with Grace. I was glad she got along well with Kaylee. Maybe she could even get Anya to open up.

“Your fly is unzipped.” Finn came up to me with two plates of pizza.

“No, it’s not,” I replied without bothering to check.

Finn smirked and handed me the pizza with no pineapple.

“Aren’t you worried?” He nodded over to the sofa. “Kay might steal your girl.”

“I’m not worried about Kaylee,” I said pointedly.

“Are you saying you’re worried about me?” He gave me an insulted look. “I was just kidding around with her at that party. Besides,” a sly grin crossed his face, “you know I’m okay with sharing.”

“I’m not sharing Grace with anyone,” I said.

“So it’s that serious, huh?” Finn let out a low whistle. “Wow. I never thought I’d see the day.”

“Just because you can’t settle down—” I began to say hotly.

“Settle down?” he cut me off, eyes bugging out.

“That’s not what I meant,” I muttered, crossing my arms defensively.

He put a hand to his chest and doubled over. “Shit, man, don’t give me a fucking heart attack.”

Finn’s exaggerated relief was annoying, but I thought I caught a look of distress flash quickly across his face. He was overreacting to be a dick, sure, but there was a real fear there.

Was Finn actually worried? Why would he be worried about me and Grace?

A thought occurred to me.

Was he jealous?

I hadn’t been spending as much time with him lately, that was for sure. It wasn’t even just me hanging out with Grace. It was all the time I’d spent holed up in my room angsting over her, too. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d gone out and partied, or even just hung out in the den playing video games.

Damn. I hadn’t even thought how it might look to him.

“Hey.” I punched Finn in the shoulder.

“Ow,” he complained with an over-exaggerated wince. “What the hell was that for?”

“You’re my best friend, you know that right?” I told him.

He looked at me, startled.