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Something rushed out from around the corner. No, someone. They slammed right into me with a war cry.
I stumbled back a couple steps, grappling with the dark-haired person squeezing my midsection.
“Frankie!” I huffed, trying to force my lungs to work once my heart started beating again. “What the fuck?”
“Did I get you?” she asked with a grin, brown eyes shining brightly.
“Yeah. You almost gave me a heart attack.” I shoved her away and opened the door. “What are you doing here?”
“I was bored. I missed you.” She darted inside and did a pirouette before flopping backward on the couch. “Can I crash here this weekend?”
“If you want...” I dropped my backpack onto the floor and kicked my shoes off before joining her in the living room, collapsing on the other side of the sectional. “What’s up?”
“Freddy’s home,” she groaned. “He finished his classes early and has been a royal pain in my ass all day. I had to get away.”
“That’s no way to talk about your brother.” I lobbed a pillow at her. She whipped it right back at me.
“Says the only child. You don’t know how good you have it.”
“Oh yeah, it’s great. You get spoiled beyond belief, you’re constantly the center of attention, and oh, my personal favorite, you get to carryallof your parents’ expectations and be an epic disappointment when you ultimately fail to measure up and crush all of their hopes and dreams. Yay!”
Frankie snorted. “What aboutyourhopes and dreams?”
I sighed. “Maybe that’s how the Starling household works, but my hopes and dreams are completely irrelevant unless it involves sitting upon the NIB&T throne and making my father even more money.”
“So what are you going to do about Georgetown?” She rolled over onto her stomach to look at me, swinging her feet in the air behind her.
Shaking my head, I searched the ceiling, like I could find the answer to my predicament amongst the many layers of paint. “Hell if I know…”
“You should come with me to New York,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “We can be starving artists together. I’ll be the beautiful ingenue and you can be the brilliant musician.”
I had to admit, it was tempting — the idea of giving my dad the finger and doing whatIwanted for a change instead of following His Majesty’s royal decree that I get my Master’s in Finance (not Economics, not an MBA, only Finance — he was quite clear about that) and join him in expanding the NIB&T empire.
“Yeah, but you’ll meet some guy and I’ll get the boot and then where will I be? Homeless and penniless in New York or living as your third wheel?” I shook my head. “Hard pass.”
“Oryoucould meet some guy andI’dbe the third wheel,” she countered.
I rolled my eyes. “First of all, I don’t have time to meet anyone. And second of all, I don’twantto meet anyone.”
“Still hung up on Wyatt?” she asked with a grimace.
“No,” I sighed. It was fun while it lasted, but I wasn’t going to drag his ass out of the closet. I’d never been the type to beg for anyone’s attention, no matter how desperately I might have wanted it.
“Pierce?”
“No. Jesus.” That one was maybe a little true... He was tall, dark, and moody, a puzzle I was always working on. I should have known better than to get involved with an art major, but I liked his unpredictability. It kept me on my toes, until the drama got to be too much. As a musician, I had my own creative struggles, thank you very much. I didn’t need to suffer for the sake of his art, too. “I’m not hung up on anyone.”
“You can say it,” she sighed, batting her lashes at me. “You made a mistake with the whole ‘gay’ thing and now that it’s out of your system, you’re ready to come back to the love of your life.”
“You got me.” I shot a finger-gun at her with a wink. “I’ve been biding my time until you broke up with that last asshole to swoop back in and reclaim my woman.”
“I know.” She beamed at me. “I’m simply irresistible.”
“You’re something alright.”
She gasped and launched another pillow at me. I caught it with a laugh and tucked it under my head. The invisible knot in the middle of my stomach finally began to unwind. For the first time in weeks, things felt normal again.
4
