Page 37 of Tiger Lilies and Tight Ends

“Bro—” He grabs my arm. “Do you see who I see?” he asks.

“Who?” All of us standing together turn, follow his line of sight, and sure enough, he’s spotted Lily. Lily is laughing at something that Lexi has said, and I’m glad.

When I told her about the barbecue last week and invited her, she was adamant that she was not going to come. Her fears of being seen out in public, while justified, are a lot more severe than I originally thought. While she has been staying on the downlow after the breakup, I’m even more convinced now that Lance is wrong. None of this is about Dean. It’s about not feeling safe outside the house, which is alarming, and makes me wonder if I should be more concerned when she does leave. But then she told me about her books, and I swear she became a different person. It’s like that one admission to me released a link in the chain. I don’t know if it’s holding her down or holding her back. Probably both. But then this morning over coffee, she tells me she’s changed her mind. That she can’t and doesn’t want to stay hidden forever, and that this would be a good place for her to go since she had friends there.

I agreed wholeheartedly.

She disappeared into her room, and when it was time to go, she reappeared in a cute white dress that showed off way too much of her legs, her hair down and styled, and she put on makeup. She looked like she should be stepping out for an upscale brunch at a country club. She looked beautiful, she looks beautiful, but given this situationship, I’m not sure that’s something I can tell her, so I just told her she looked nice.

“Isn’t that Davis’s girl?” he whispers, while scrunching up his nose at just saying his name. “Oh, damn! He’s not joining our team, is he?” He looks at me, Jonah, Titan, Darius, and Reid.

“Nope, he’s not joining our team,” Titan says, with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Why do you look like that?” Rico asks him. “So what is she doing here?”

“The better question is, who is she here with?” He wags his brows, and it makes me want to smack him upside the head.

“Nooo,” he drawls out. “Who is she here with?” he asks with anticipation like he’s going to be let in on the biggest secret there is.

All of the guys turn and look at me.

Rico stands up tall, confusion gracing his face as he looks at me, too. “Nah. No way.”

The guys next to me start chuckling.

“What? How? And why do all of you know and I don’t?” Rico asks, looking completely put out.

I shove my hands into my pockets. “I’m best friends with her brother, Lance. We played together in college.”

“And what, she’s just here to visit you?” he asks, confusion still marring his face. “You’re tight with your best friend’s sister like that?”

“Not just to visit,” Titan says with a shit-eating grin.

Rico’s gaze swings from him back to me. There’s no getting around this. I knew it when I invited her. “She’s staying with me for a bit.”

He looks at me like I have two heads. Everyone knows I don’t do roommates. “What do you mean?”

“She left Davis and needed a place to crash.”

His eyes widen, and his mouth drops open in the shape of an O. “She left Davis?” he whispers.

“Apparently,” Titan tells him.

He looks at each of us and then throws his head back and laughs. “I would have loved to see that prick’s face when he found out she’s staying with you.”

“I don’t think she’s told him where she is, and what do you mean?” I ask, turning to face Rico a little better.

“What do I mean?” He looks at me incredulously. “Bro, have you seen you? You’re like an eleven on a scale of one to ten. There’s no way in hell I would let any of my ladies stay with you. Ever. Especially not my little sister.”

“I don’t know if I should be offended by this or flattered.”

I’m not dumb. I know I’m a decent-looking guy. I’ve never had a problem meeting women. I have great hair, and I work out so much that my body is like a work of art.

“Be flattered. So how long is she staying?” he asks, glancing back and forth from me to her and then to me.

“I’m not sure. As long as she needs, I guess.”

We still haven’t talked about a timeline, and she hasn’t said anything about what she’s currently doing to look for a place or even if she is. I suppose I should ask her, but it’s not as terrible as I thought it would be to have a roommate.