Page 33 of More For Me

“Did he tell you that?”

I move my hands to peer at her over my fingertips. “Well, no. But he must have been! They totally set us up.”

“Did you have a bad time?”

“Of course not.” It was Bodhi. I’ve never had a bad time with Bodhi in my life. “We drank gallons of fancy champagne and ate piles of expensive sushi. We put nearly a grand on Will’s credit card.”

She grins. “That’s my girl.”

“I still wish they wouldn’t have done it, though,” I mutter, sullen. “I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable every time he’s around our family.”

“Sweetie.” She takes one of my hands and gives it a squeeze. “Did it ever occur to you that they only do this kind of thingtofamily?” I blink at her, confused. “They only interfere with family. They only gossip about family. They don’t get all up in someone’s business unless they’re family.”

“I know that they’re my family,” I snap. “That’s the problem.”

She shakes her head. “Not you, Lele. I’m talking about Bodhi. They consider Bodhi family.”

“Oh.” I let that thought roll around in my head a little, not sure I like the way it feels. It’s not that I wasn’t aware they were all close with him. Hell, he was friends with Rose before I even met him. So why do I feel so…proprietary?

“I still want to kick their asses,” I grumble, and she laughs, raising her glass to clink against mine.

“Baby girl, I’m not going to stop you. Just give me time to grab some popcorn.”

* * *

As is oftenthe case in the family the size of ours, something happens to distract me from my plan. In this case, it’s Fox, who grabs me by the arm pretty much the second I walk out of the house onto the patio.

“I need to talk to you,” he says in a lowered voice.

I glare at him. “You and me are in a fight, Fox.”

He rolls his eyes. “We can be in a fight in half an hour, okay? Just talk to me first.”

I narrow my eyes to study him, noting the flush on his cheeks and the way his eyes look just a touch too bright. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.” He tugs on my arm, pulling me around the side of the house to a small pergola space no one ever uses. I see Alex sitting there, looking sheepish, and I cross my arms.

“I know, I know,” Fox says, waving his hands between the two of us. “You’re in a fight with her, too. Can we just focus for a second?”

“Is this about the store?” Alex asks, straightening.

“Yeah.” He runs his hand through his blonde hair, making it stick up in all directions. “I mean, kind of? I don’t know. I guess so.”

“Okay, let’s just chill out for a second here.” I push him down into a chair and he buries his face in his hands.

“I don’t know what to do!”

“What’s wrong?” Alex asks.

“Nothing bad,” he says quickly, probably hearing the note of concern in her voice. “It’s just…Jesus, this is crazy.”

“Start at the beginning,” she suggests, ad he nods, taking a deep breath.

“Okay, so you know Carla.” He shakes his head. “Of course you do. She’s our freaking agent.”

“What about Carla?” I press, starting to get nervous. This isn’t like Fox. He’s usually the calm one whenI’mfreaking out.

He looks at me with wide eyes. “She told me someone wanted to meet me. Another agent.”