AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No problem, I’m on my way. Did you know about Henri moving Laurent Industries down the street from you?”
Nick had known Xander Montague for almost a decade. Xander smirked.
He scoffed. On occasion, he almost smiled. He growled.
Never had he heard Xander startled into laughter.
He held the phone away from his ear. Yep, my life is one big joke to everyone.
“Nick, where have you been?”
“On ops for you.”
“I thought I was the hermit. Flip on the T.V. It’s all over the news. The media has been talking about it non-stop.”
“I saw Ares give a comment.”
“Yeah, he did that well.”
“Are you worried about the competition?”
“I compete with no one, Nick. You know that.”
Nick sighed. “Okay. I have to go to the general meeting and the gala, but this isn’t going to change anything, Xander. I’m still on Team Stealth.”
“We’ll talk when you get here, Nick,” Xander hung up on him.
Nick threw his phone down, glancing at the mess in his condo. Man, he needed to get the cleaning service in here.
CHAPTER FIVE – MULBERRY
Having Emma in the new house felt like old times, but her friend always travelled with a lot of stuff. Mulberry picked up her sweater and hung up her bag before joining her in the dining room.
“Pre-requisites for LSU?” Emma picked up the brochure on the table, flipping through it. Seeing her friend casually handle it made her feel weird, like a secret out in the open.
“Yes. I have everything they need except for the last math class.”
“Amazingly, you were able to do that, despite what happened to you,” Emma said. Her friend smiled at her. “I want you to be close to me so we can steady together and hang out. I’ve missed you, Mulberry.”
A knot of guilt gnawed in her stomach as she swept the brochures off the light birch oval table. She hadn’t seen a lot of Emma over the last year or hung out with their other friends. “I’ve missed you too, Emma. And everyone. And getting out of the house and going out.”
“Some of our friends are here! We’ll do a girls’ night out soon.”
“Great,” Mulberry smiled tightly.
Emma beamed at her. “Now, give me your nails! Mulberry, they’re awful!”
“I try,” Mulberry snapped her hand away. “But I can’t help it.”
“Let me clean them up. Red or sparkles?”
“Sparkles,” Mulberry pointed to the sparkly white nail polish. “Thanks for hanging with me tonight.”
“The hotel gets so boring. I thought Cassie would be here.”
“You know how they say it’s a small world? One of the women Cassie used to take pottery lessons from now lives down the street. So she’s at a throwing party or something.”
“Cool,” Emma said. “Give me your hand.”
