When her stomach rebelled at the too-quick consumption of an entire pint of dairy, she dug her laptop out from under the couch, plopped onto the sofa, and pulled up the application form for the internship at ESPN.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she filled it in and hit send. Despite the throbbing boob driving her crazy, she went to bed with a smile on her face. She’d done one scary thing. All she had to do next, was figure out how to do the scarier thing, without losing the most important people in her life.
***
A frantic banging on the door woke Molly up with a start.
“Molly! Open up!”
Shit. Will was pissed.
Cleo’s door swung open and she shuffled presumably to let Will in. “What’s wrong? What happened? Did someone die?”
“Get her up.” His growl wasn’t at all friendly. “Please.” At least he still remembered his manners while he was being a dick to her best friend.
“What the fuck, Will?”
Cleo’s shuffling steps got closer before she knocked on Molly’s bedroom door. As soon as she opened it, Will yelled from somewhere deep in the apartment. “Get up, Molly. We’re going for coffee.”
If he’d said anything other than the magic C-word, she’d have told him to go fuck himself. But she needed coffee. And from the sound of it, he wasn’t leaving until she got her ass up.
“I feel like he wants you in a public place so he doesn’t kill you. He’s big mad.” Cleo’s face softened. Her sympathetic eyes, and small half-wince half-smile made Molly’s skin crawl.
Molly’s breaths came in panicked pants. Did he know she wanted Finn? Had Finn said something about her boob? Shit. Had Will killed Finn?
She ground the heels of her hands into her eyes and bounded out of bed. She’d make sure the Sugar Bean was bustling with potential witnesses before she went inside. If Will was going to kill her, she wasn’t going down without a fight.
Twenty minutes later, she sat facing her scowling, vibrating brother. He hadn’t said a word since his bellowing announcement of his arrival at the apartment. He’d silently pointed at a table when they’d gone into the busy café, bought two coffees, and joined her.
“Cap.” Team asshole and resident pain in everyone’s ass, Johnny White, gave a salute to Will as he passed. Will nodded. The muscles in his cheeks flexed as he squeezed his teeth together. Shit. Shit. Shit. He was really mad.
“Get out of bed on the wrong side this morning?” Johnny stopped, took a few paces backward, and clapped Will on the back. “Happens to the best of us.”
Will glared at Johnny’s hand – still resting on his shoulder – then up at Johnny’s face. A smirk danced across Johnny’s lips. “Does someone need to get laid? I could hook you up if you need to decompress a lil. Littler Mo.” Johnny gave Molly a salute, too. He jerked his chin at her. “We should hook up for real this time.”
Ew. What the hell? Why would he bring that up?
Will sprung from his chair and turned to face Johnny, squaring his shoulders. He still hadn’t said a word. Molly jumped up too, but kept her distance. There was no way she could stop Will and Johnny from throwing down, she’d only get her ass handed to her and she was already hurt. Somehow, Will’s glare intensified as he stood staring down a grinning JW.
Johnny lifted his hands in surrender. “She’s gonna fuck one of us some day, Cap.” He glanced over Will’s shoulder at Molly. “At least one of us.”
“Fuck you, JW. You wish.” Molly flipped him the bird.
A vicious growl rattled through Will and Johnny’s grin grew. The guy really didn’t know when to stop, did he? What the fuck was his damage?
“That’s quite enough from you, asshole.” Finn – forever her white knight – stepped between Will and Johnny and placed a splayed palm on Johnny’s chest. “It’s time for you to leave.”
Had he been there the whole time and she hadn’t seen him? Or had he arrived after Will and Molly? Was this an intervention?
“But we’re just getting to the good part.”
Finn’s shoulders were taut, a vein strained in his neck, and his pale, Irish skin was blotchy and red. “Today is not the day, JW. Back it up.”
The gleam faded from Johnny’s eyes. To be fair, if Finn had squared up to Molly like that, she’d have just gone right ahead and pissed her pants. He was an imposing figure, not least of all when he was defending someone he cared about.
A shiver passed through her. What was Will so bent out of shape about? She sat back down and waited. Finn escorted Johnny to the counter, and stood watch over him while he ordered. Eventually Will sat down, too.
“What’s going on, Will?”
