Page 51 of A Little Complicated

Flicking her long, dark hair over her shoulder, she hands him the cup and smirks as he runs his thumb across the phone number. His voice is too low for me to make out his response, giving me zero clues as to who I may or may not be kind of, sort of stalking.

The twin turns around, ready to exit the building, stopping short when he sees me hanging out near the entrance.

Aaaand, I’ve been spotted.

Heat builds in my chest, and I rub my lips together, unable to move even if I wanted to.

“Opie,” Maverick greets me with a hint of annoyance on the tip of his tongue.

“My name isn’t Opie,” I remind him.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m not stalking you, in case you’re wondering. I was craving an iced latte, and—”

“I didn’t think you were stalking me.”

“Good,” I snap. “Because I wasn’t. I’m sorry if I interrupted your…”—my gaze flicks to the barista staring at us, and I tuck my hair behind my ear—“conversation?”

The corner of his mouth lifts, but he doesn’t bother looking at the barista as he closes a bit of the distance between us. “Are you jealous, Opie?”

“Hardly,” I lie. “Although, if you plan on hooking up with her tonight, you might want to let the guys know. I’d hate for you to bail on them.”

“You keeping track of me, Lia?”

“Reeves got me a fake ID and invited me to your little night out at SeaBird,” I mutter.

“Is my brother busy again?”

“He has a work thing tonight.”

“So it’s me, you, and the guys, huh?” he questions.

“And your date, who’s busy staring at us.” My attention slices to the barista behind him, but he doesn’t bother to look.

“Not my date.”

“Yet.” I step around him, heading toward the counter while pretending I’m unaffected by his presence. I doubt he buys it. That’s what you get when you grow up with a person. They see through the bullshit, making it impossible to hide things you’d rather keep hidden. Honestly, it’s annoying. I can feel him at my back as I place my order, but I do my best to ignore him despite the barista’s pinball gaze bouncing between us. Her unspoken question grows louder and louder with every passing second.

Trust me, girlie. If I knew why he was still standing there, I’d tell you.

She makes my iced latte and hands it to me with a forced smile. After thanking her, I turn around and demand, “Why are you still here?” My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I lift a finger. “Just a second.” Digging it out with my free hand, I see Archer’s name flash across the screen as I slide my thumb to answer the call. “Hello?”

“Hey, what’re you doing?” Archer asks.

“I’m at the Bean Scene. You?”

“Just finished a meeting,” Archer answers. “I have some great news.”

“Really? What kind of great news?” I shift my phone to my opposite ear, glancing at Maverick in front of me. Clearly, he knows who I’m talking to, and clearly, he refuses to give me any privacy, which makes zero sense since he ditched me on the rooftop last night after basically professing his love.

Okay, he didn’t profess his love, but he did admit he cared about me while we were together.

It’s for the best, and I’m not complaining. But am I in the wrong for feeling a bit whiplashed? I’m gonna go withno.

“You know the event I’m attending tonight? The one I was telling you about?” Archer asks, completely oblivious to my inner dialogue, thank goodness, and continues, “Well, I was able to grab you a seat.”

“A seat?”

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