Kaz shook his head. “I consider myself somewhat of an expert on not liking people, and this—” he waved his arm again, “—is not what it looks like.”
“Maybe you overestimate your expertise,” I shot back, grabbing a folded towel from the floor and using it to wipe myself down. “I meant what I said.”
“I know you don’t want to be an asshole, but we’re about to become famous musicians. Our kind gets a hall pass for acting like assholes on occasion.”
I tossed the towel over my shoulder and stood up. “We’re going to have to work with all kinds of people if we want to make it in this industry. I’m not going to set a precedent by taking the easy way out.” Working with Molly would be a good test for my ability to stay composed. I was determined to treat her just like any other stranger.
“Huh. Look at you being all mature and shit.” Kaz grabbed one of the chairs, swung it around, and sat on it backwards. “And I spent a good chunk of that meeting thinking that despite her sharp tongue, she’s still fine as hell.”
A bitter feeling rose inside my chest. “Didn’t notice.”
Kaz laughed at my transparent attempt to dismiss his comment. As if anyone with eyes could have missed the fact that Molly was gorgeous. “Your girlfriend will be happy to hear that. Speaking of, she’s upstairs.”
Damn it. I forgot I’d invited Charlotte over today. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
“Well, whatever she is.”
“A friend.”
“That you fuck.”
“Maybe your fascination with who I fuck would fade if you were fucking someone of your own. What happened to that brunette you had over last week?”
“I got bored of her,” he said lightly, as if he was talking about what he ate for breakfast this morning.
“Yeah?” I scanned his face for any sign of emotion but came up empty. Kaz and relationships were topics that didn’t fit in one sentence. Sure, he got laid as much as anyone could want to, but he also tended to quickly get bored with every single one of his hookups. “I’m sure you can find someone else.”
He cracked his neck, keeping his gaze on me. “I was thinking of taking a shot at Molly. What do you think about that?”
A cold feeling trickled down my spine. Kaz waited, cataloguing every single one of my reactions in that encyclopedic brain of his. “You want to sleep with her?” I asked, trying to keep my voice from betraying my emotions.
“Why not? She’s going to be around us more than any other woman for the foreseeable future. It would be convenient,” he said. “Plus, you wanted me to keep her away from you. What better way to do it than to keep her busy with me?”
“Has anyone ever told you you’re a romantic?” I joked, trying to loosen the tight vise around my heart.
“I haven’t met anyone who’s that good a liar,” he said, a smirk sneaking onto his face. “Of course, I won’t make a move if you don’t want me to. You know I’ve always got your back.”
“I already told you I don’t like her. I don’t care if you try to get with her.” Somehow, I’d managed to force a good bit of conviction into my voice. “Good luck, though. I don’t think she likes you much after how you egged her on today.”
Kaz pushed off the doorjamb. “I read once that desire can be spurred on by hate as much as by love. Always thought it was an interesting theory to test.”
If my experience counted for anything, the theory was true. I wished that Molly’s last words to me could have made me forget her, but instead, it was like they threw gasoline over a fire. I couldn’t stop wanting her for a long time, and that kiss sure as hell hadn’t helped the matter.
But that was years ago. I’d moved on. Maybe not completely, but enough to know getting close to her wouldn’t bring anything good. Enough to not give a shit if my best friend tried to sleep with her.
I headed for the stairs. “Just don’t let whatever you do with her interfere with our work.”
“You know I won’t.”
“I’ll be upstairs with Charlotte.”
“And I’ll stay as far away from you two as possible.”
Ignoring his comment, I made my way up. Kaz didn’t like Charlotte, just like he never seemed to like any of the women I started things with. He always had some reason for it—according to him Charlotte was too self-centered—but I suspected he frequently pulled these reasons out of his ass. It seemed to me that he was jealous of the time I spent with them and not him.
Yeah, sounds weird, but I didn’t mind it that much. Or at the very least, I understood it. We’d taken off on our own and moved to a city where we didn’t know anyone. We’d both more or less lost contact with our families around the same time. In those early months in LA, we stuck to ourselves. We’d work random jobs during the day to pay the bills and spend the rest of our time together writing songs. The bond we’d built was deeper than any relationship I’d ever had. Sometimes, it seemed Kaz knew me better than I knew myself.
When I hung out with someone I was seeing, Kaz was on his own, working in the basement, or going on one of his long drives to God knows where. He hadn’t made many friends in LA—the guy was allergic to most people—and none of his flings had lasted more than a few weeks. Still, none of those things seemed to get him down. As long as we were making music, he was happy. As happy as a guy like Kaz can be.
