Page 68 of Nicki's Fight

“Well, you’re going to love this, then!” Kaine said excitedly. “Mason is going to headline the Pop Culture Festival next weekend, and he’s staying with Lee until then. Remember the person I mentioned as playing Scrabble with the moms?”

I nodded.

“Mason Fucking Cameron,” he declared.

“No way! That is fantastic!” I exclaimed. I was fanboying hard.

“We also suspect there may some hanky in the panky between Mr. Cameron and Lee,” Bishop teased. Kaine handed me his phone and I got a look at the pictures from the signing.

“I hate to say it, but I think you guys are right! That isnotan innocent blush on those cheeks,” I remarked.

“We can probably get him to sign something for you,” Bishop said. “He’s in town until next week. You should come to D&D Sunday night with the fam.”

I was glad for the darkness as I bit my lower lip, trying to decide if I should accept. We three had enjoyed a good time that evening, but I was under no illusions that one meal would fix the six years of grief that I’d caused Kaine.

“You should come,” Kaine said softly from the backseat. He’d insisted on sitting in the back when we left the restaurant.

I glanced toward him, but it was far too dark for me to make out his expression. I had to just go with my gut.

“Okay. I’ll check my schedule, but the restaurant closes early on Sundays, so I don’t think it should be a problem,” I said.

When we got to the apartment building, Bishop couldn’t find a parking spot, so he double parked for a minute while Kaine and I got out.

I noticed almost absently that the security light over the entrance was dark. We’d found a lot of little things like that around the building that needed to be fixed so I added it to my mental list of problems for the landlord.

Kaine opened the hatch, then lifted the bicycle out of the back like it weighed nothing. I wasn’t exactly a ninety-pound weakling, but manhandling the thing was a struggle for me. Not for the first time in my life, I envied Kaine his physical abilities.

He rolled the bike over to me and handed it off. I smiled at him in thanks.

“You’ll— You’ll really come, right?” he asked shyly, his hair flopping in his eyes a bit. He tossed his head back almost automatically, a move I remembered fondly from when we were kids.

I nodded. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

He grinned, and despite the darkness, I could almost feel the warmth of Kaine’s smile when I agreed.

He started to head back to the car, then stopped and ran back.

“Quick, I need your number,” he said by way of explanation. “I left the note you gave me at home, and I want to add you to the group chat.”

We traded cell numbers, and I grinned again when he almost bounced his way back to the car. Bishop turned the emergency flashers off and I watched them drive away.

I locked my bike up at the bike rack and walked in the front entrance. Glass crunched on the concrete under my feet as I used my key to enter the building.

I took the stairs up two flights to our floor. There was an elevator in the building, but it was slow, and I didn’t feel like waiting. I walked in and turned the lights on.

“Hey, Viv!” I called. I didn’t get an answer, but I saw light glowing from under her bedroom door. I knocked and entered when I heard her call to come in.

“Hey lady!” I said, walking in and then bouncing on her bed.

She was sitting on top of the covers, the television on and her laptop on the mattress in front of her. She had some textbooks and notebooks scattered around the bed and a highlighter in her hand.

“Hey there, lover boy! A little late, isn’t it?” she teased.

“As if I haven’t been texting you all evening, lady,” I teased back.

“Yeah, but texting isn’t details, so spill!” She demanded as she piled her school things on the floor. “I’m sick unto death of low pressure zones and wind speed. I need some good old fashionlovedrama!”

“Well, not much love drama. It went surprisingly well,” I said. “And apparently Mama K and Bishop make for a devious team…”