Page 27 of Accidentally Amy

He stopped short, looking surprised to see me.

Same, bro.

Then his eyes went down to my beer, and he said, “You drinkin’ my beer?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but the guy laughed and said, “Just messin’. Where’s Iz?”

“Shower,” I said slowly, having no idea how to respond, because I didn’t know who this guy was to her and what he was doing there.

“Good—I need to steal a few things. Don’t tell.”

I watched as the guy went into the kitchen, grabbed three beers and an unopened bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, and then turned and headed for the door.

“Is she okay with this?” I asked, feeling like I should step in or something.

“Yeah, she owes me,” the guy said, smiling like it was no big deal. “Tell her the Darkling puked on my bed today, so I’m collecting.”

“And you are…?”

“Oh, my God, clearly an asshole,” he said, and shifted the stolen items to his left hand. He extended his right and said, “I’m Josh, her cousin. I live upstairs.”

“Blake,” I said, hating the relief I felt that the guy who was clearly very familiar with Izzy was family and not something more complicated. “Her car broke down on the interstate—”

“That explains the missed calls.” Josh shook his head. “And I told her, after her starter caught on fire, that she needed to get a new car before she got stranded. But you know how she is.”

I actually had no idea.

“Maybe now she’ll listen,” he said.

And I just said, “Maybe,” in agreement, because what else could I possibly say?

“Well, it was nice meeting you,” Josh said, then added, “Hey, will you come grab the cat?”

Am I in an episode ofThe Twilight Zone?I got up and followed the guy out of her apartment and up the stairs, moving out of pure curiosity. And even though he’d asked me to “grab the cat,” I almost laughed when the guy shoved an asshole cat at me (the asshole scaled my chest with all of his claws) because the entire situation was so…unusual.

By the time she (I still couldn’t think of her as IzzyorAmy, so she was simply “she” at that point) returned to the living room, the cat was purring on my lap.

She stopped, looking at me with her eyebrows crinkled together. “The Darkling is sitting on your lap.”

“Why does that conjure the unfortunate image of Ben Barnes reclining on my thighs?”

She smiled. “But he hates everyone—even me, half the time.”

I wasn’t sure how she managed to look hot with wet hair while wearing sweats and fuzzy socks, but she just did. Maybe it was because she just looked so…at home, like she was freshly showered and ready to settle in for the night.

What the hell is wrong with me, thinking idiotic thoughts like that?

“Josh said you owe him because this guy puked on his couch.”

“That mooching dick.” She shook her head and said, “If Josh didn’t feed him sushi all the time, he wouldn’t puke. Did he take my beer?”

“Only a couple. Does he babysit the cat for you or something?” I asked.

The door buzzer sounded, and she held up a finger. “I’ll tell you the whole story of this building after I get that.”

“The tip’s already been charged to my card, so we’re good, by the way.”

“Okay, thanks.” She opened the apartment door and went out to the stoop to meet the pizza guy. I heard her say, “Hey, Austin,” and I was somehow unsurprised when the delivery driver launched into conversation like they were lifelong friends.

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