Page 65 of As the World Falls

I scoff in disgust. “You are exactly what’s wrong with people with too much money.”

“Well, sorry, I’m a little exhausted from our little escapades last night.”

I roll my eyes. “Ugh, don’t remind me.”

“Oh, I’m going to remind you every day of the shit you stuck your big nose in.”

“My nose is not big,” I grumble as I try to cover it with my hand, but I stop when I feel the weight of my bags. Tobias takes them from me as he chuckles, and I let him, needing a break. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“Came to check on you. You know, since you’ve been lying and haven’t been home in a while.”

I sneer at him over my shoulder as we walk inside and up the stairs to my floor. “I wasn’t the only one lying about what I’ve been doing.”

“Okay, well, at least I knew what I was doing. You irresponsibly butted in where you didn’t belong and got us into some deep mafia shi—” Lance walks out of his door across the hall, forcing Tobias to shut his mouth. Lance stops once he notices us, his suspicious gaze bouncing between us.

“Uhm, hey. I was going to pick my parents up and head to the restaurant,” he mentions slowly.

“Great,” I squeak out. “I’m going to head inside and get ready.”

Lance nods, looking strangely at Tobias for a second before looking back at me. “I’ll see you in a little bit then.”

I nodded, and Tobias did the same, waving goodbye like he couldn’t wait to end this altercation fast enough. Once Lance was gone around the corner, I whipped my head back in Tobias’s direction. “Do you think he heard us?”

“No. I think he’s just as clueless as ever.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Come on, Lia. You’re telling me you don’t see how obviously in love with you he is, and you couldn’t be further from it?”

“I’m not…far from it,” I say defensively, but it lacks strength.

“Please,” he scoffs. “If you weren’t far from it, you guys would have taken a tumble in the sheets by now. You live right across from each other, for crying out loud.”

“Ew, don’t be crude.”

“See, that reaction right there just proves it. You’re repulsed by the idea of being anything more to him. Cut the guy a break and let him loose already.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I scowl, yanking open my front door. He can’t just show up after all these years and tell me what I feel or don’t feel for Lance. He had no idea what we’d been through. He had no idea that I was so scared to change the dynamic of our relationship because he was the only person I could count on in my life. I didn’t want to risk that, but I would be lying to myself if I said I wanted to in the first place.

The more time that passes, the more resigned I am to the decision that maybe Lance and I are better off just being friends. I didn’t think I wanted anything more than what we were. I like what we already have together. He was my best friend; why complicate that?

Plus, there’s also the fact that he’s never once made me feel the way James has. Not even in high school when he was known to be the cutest boy. I always looked at him as only my best friend because that’s all he was to me, but I didn’t like Tobias telling me that and acting like he knew everything. Especially when it only reminds me how much I’m still hiding from him, like my weird and sudden attraction to his boss and the fact that he gave me the best freaking kiss of my life outside that god-forsaken bar.

But like I said. I’m not thinking about that today.

Nope.

Not thinking about it.

God, that kiss was so good, though. How could I not think about it when he lit my entire soul up with that freaking kiss. Not only am I more suspicious about his mafia past, but now I’m curious if he has some kind of superpower that makes him an out-of-this-world kisser. Maybe he was an alien. Bottom line, he was not your average man. No siree.

Tobias follows me into my apartment, and I immaturely slam every cupboard door in my kitchen as I put away my groceries so that he knows I am annoyed with him.

“I feel like you’re mad,” he finally interjects as I put that last item away in my fridge. I slam that door, too.

“Really? What made you think that?”

“Well, you’re being kind of hostile right now.”

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