AllFreeNovel
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I sit and look around. Without knowing, you’d never suspect Ryan is a St. James. He’s two years older than me and an ER doctor in the city. While doing his residency, he’s smack-dab in the center of this epidemic, and that scares the shit out of me. Ryan’s humble and loyal to a fault and will work as long as he needs to fight this and save his patients.
Being his best friend growing up, I know all about Cameron and their family’s billion-dollar fashion company. I’m from a completely different world, and the only reason we met is because my mother was their housekeeper for years. When the sitter canceled at the last minute, she’d take me and my little sister, Ava, with her, and though we promised to stay hidden and quiet, the moment Ryan saw us, he encouraged us to play with him. I was ten years old when he showed me that money wasn’t as important as kindness and compassion. A lesson the rest of his family has yet to learn.
Clara St. James didn’t approve of our friendship at first but warmed up to the idea. Her husband, Bradford, was never around to be with his son, and Ryan needed a real friend because he hated his uppity private school classmates. After a while, Clara approved for my mother to bring Ava and me along. Ryan and I developed a strong bond that’s lasted for fourteen years.
Cami was eight at the time and wasn’t allowed to play with us—Ryan’s rules. He couldn’t stand his annoying little sister, but for some reason, he didn’t mind Ava. Probably because she wasn’t a stuck-up sass machine, but I think that’s why she never wanted to play with Cami either. They were the same age but had nothing in common. As time went on, Cami grew on me, and the four of us hung out and played. It was the first time I felt included in a group.
But that was ages ago, and I’m not that boy who easily gets his feelings hurt anymore.
My mother saved as much money as she could and made sure we didn’t go without even though she had nothing. I never knew my dad but didn’t care much about it based on the stories my mother told me about him. When I met Ryan, he opened up and talked about how dysfunctional his family was too, which made me feel not so alone. He was the older brother I always wanted and still is.
I keep Bruno in the bedroom and head back to my rental car to grab the rest of the items I brought. Since I take the subway to the office, owning a car in the city is unnecessary. Parking’s a bitch and expensive, but I got my license for random road trips.
After popping the trunk, I grab as many bags as I can. I brought enough perishables, medicine, drinks, cleaning supplies, and toilet paper to last for weeks. Of course, that was before I knew other people were staying at the cabin, so it might not last that long.
My goal is to stay quarantined for at least a month before I have to make a trip to the store. Last weekend, my roommates were out partying and could’ve infected me. It’s why I had to get the hell out of there as fast as I could. Cami’s a student at NYU, and it only shut down yesterday, which means she was around dozens of people too. So it’s best we steer clear of each other, which shouldn’t be an issue. This place is massive.
I have plenty of work and reading to keep me busy. Between that and taking Bruno out for walks and playtime, there’s no reason to be around Cami and her tool bag boyfriend.
“What are you doing?”
She’s so loud that I nearly jump out of my skin. “Jesus.” I groan, shaking my head as I continue to the kitchen and set the bags down. “What’s it look like?”
“Looks like you’re doing the opposite of leaving.”
“Very good. You’re so observant.” Pulling the items out of the bags, I start cleaning them with disinfectant wipes, then look over at her. “Why do you care if I’m here? You’ve done an incredible job of ignoring me for years. So, it shouldn’t be a problem for you now. Right?”
She crosses her arms, tilts her head, and squints at me. “Why do you insist on always being an asshole? Is it ingrained into your DNA or something? Or do you just enjoy pissing people off?”
I hold back a smirk because I’m getting to her as much as she used to get to me. “Nah. Just you, princess.”
Cami rolls her eyes, and her arms fall to her side. She’s still wearing next to nothing, but I’m sure she doesn’t care. She’s used to people gawking.
