Page 83 of Sleeping with the Frenemy

She patted his leg. “I know this isn’t what you want but take care of yourself. You don’t want to do any more damage.” Thethan you already havewas clear even if it was unsaid.

Leo’s head dropped. He was such a fucking idiot. Everyone had told him to take it easy, to stop rushing it, to just give his body time. Yet, he’d decided that he knew better and he’d gunned it. Now look at him, worse off than before.

Sometime later, Leo was walking toward the lobby patting his pockets with his good arm. Where was his phone? He needed it to order an Uber. He checked the other pocket, but all he felt was his wallet. Shit. He’d forgotten his phone somewhere. Now how was he going to get home? He was going to have to ask the nurses at the desk to call the only number he knew by heart, El Coquí.

“Hey, Vega,” a voice called out.

Leo looked up and found Obi sitting in one of the waiting room chairs. “What are you doing here?” Leo asked.

“Since I brought you here, I figured you’d need a ride home at the very least.” He stood. “I sent Ahmad and the rest to go get your car and drive it home for you. I knew you weren’t going to be able to drive yourself.”

Leo hadn’t even realized that he didn’t have his keys. God he was such a fucking mess. He shuffled from foot to foot. “Thanks.”

“Come on,” Obi said leading the way to the door. “Do you have to pick anything up before we get to your place?”

“I need to pick up my meds and I can’t find my phone,” Leo said as they stepped into the parking lot. “It must’ve fallen out while I was testing.”

“Your phone is at home,” Obi informed him. “You forgot it there.”

Leo frowned. “How do you know that?”

Obi hit the button to unlock the door of his black SUV that was still a few rows away. “Ahmad said that when they got to your place with your car, your family was freaking out because they couldn’t find you. They had your phone. I’ve been texting with them from your number.”

“Fuck.” Leo grimaced. He was hoping to sneak up to the apartment and put off telling his family as long as possible. He wanted some time to lick his wounds, but of course that would’ve been too good to be true.

Obi helped Leo buckle his seat belt and then they were off. For once in his life, Leo wasn’t in the mood to talk, so he just stared out of the window even after they picked up his meds at the drive-thru. Luckily, Obi wasn’t much of a talker so he didn’t require small talk. He reminded Leo a lot of Saint—the strong silent type. As a matter of fact... “Obi, have I ever told you that you remind me of my brother Saint?”

“Yes,” Obi replied. “Many times.”

Leo ignored that, an idea was brewing in his brain and it was distracting him from how fucked his life was, so he was going to go with it. “I think you two would be good friends. You need to meet him.”

“You’ve said that too,” Obi pointed out.

“Then why haven’t you met him yet?”

“Because I’m not a little kid who needs to be set up on a playdate.”

Leo ignored that too. “One of these days I’m going to have a party and I’m going to make you come so you two can meet.”

“Don’t try to set me up with your brother like it’s a group date. That’s weird.”

“No, it’s not. You need more friends and he needs a friend. Shit. You’d probably like my sister’s fiancé, Liam too. You gotta come kick it with my family, man.” Leo knew that Obi missed his family. He was currently the only member in the state, since his younger siblings had settled all over the world after college and his parents had gone back to Nigeria to care for his paternal grandparents.

“Do you invite everyone else to come kick it with your family?”

“Hell no, Collins is old and married, Ahmad is too much of a slut to let loose around any of my cousins, and Stefani would end up getting punched in the face.”

Obi nodded like that made perfect sense. They turned onto Division Street and Leo knew he didn’t have much longer to put his plan in motion. “But you, you’d fit right in. You’re cool as shit. Plus, my mom and aunts would fawn all over you and my sister would feed you bomb-ass food until you explode like a seagull eating rice.”

“I don’t think that sounds how you think it does,” Obi informed him.

“You should just come in with me,” Leo said.

Obi snorted. “Nice try. I’m not going to be your distraction from giving your family the explanation they deserve.”

Leo’s brow furrowed. “How do you know I owe them an explanation?”

“Because when Ahmad explained what happened during the exam, they all had no idea that you were even taking it.” His tone was even enough, but Leo could hear the censure.

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