Page 3 of Falling For My Best Friend's Brother

I nodded, but didn’t say anything else. The rest of the day was spent arranging our stuff. The moving company arrived with the rest of our belongings and by nighttime, the house was coming together.

After a pizza dinner, we hung up the decor I made around the house, and I was very proud of myself. I genuinely loved arranging spaces, and being able to hang my art felt really good. It was the only thing I was good at after all, no matter how useless my parents said it was.

The thought of having another roommate did not escape my mind even as I slipped into bed later that night. I imagined what it would be like to live with Knox. Interestingly, when I was a teenager, it was one of the things I wanted most. Of course, I couldn’t have that, but Knox didn’t live with his family at the time and when he came home to visit, it was usually very brief.

Everyone knew that their father’s death changed him. I came into the picture barely a year later, so I didn’t exactly have an idea of who he was, but Lindsay occasionally mentioned that Knox was much livelier before their father died. Apparently, some things happened during that time that shook their family. They didn’t like to talk much about it.

Either way, it would have been nice to have met him before all that craziness. Maybe then he would’ve at least acknowledged my greetings, or said a word in response. Knox now, or at least the last time I met him, was a conservative, no-nonsense, brooding man who had probably forgotten how to smile and would no doubt make living with him difficult. I couldn’t stand people with a constant saturnine funk.

I groaned, throwing the covers over my head. I was going to regret this. I just knew it.

Why did I say yes?

Chapter two

Nina

Things got a whole lot worse when Lindsay hopped onto my bed with a squeal the next morning, waking me up. Or rather, propelling me sideways. I landed on the ground with anoomph, startled awake.

“Nina, oh my God, you won’t believe it,” Lindsay said. “Wake the fuck up!”

Groaning, I raised my head and untangled myself from the covers. “What the fuck, Lin? What time is it?”

Lindsay fell to the bed on her knees, eyes glowing, phone in hand, lips spread wide in a smile. “I got a job.”

I stared at her, barely processing her words. Wiping a hand down my face, I tried to clear the fog in my brain. “Lin, for the sake of cheese and rice, it’s too early.”

“I’m serious. I randomly applied for an assistant position online about three weeks ago, and I just received an email saying I’m hired! I start as soon as possible.”

She was serious. Blinking, I digested the words, along with the dread that was trying to force its way up my throat.

Lindsay applied for a job?

“You randomly applied?” I clarified, wondering how someone could just… apply for a position and get it. I might’ve never had a job, due to my parents’ wealth, but at least I knew it wasn’t that easy.

Lindsay bit her lip. “Okay. So, maybe there was one other interview… and a test.”

Right. Maybe.

“You didn’t say anything,” I murmured, getting to my feet.

She nodded, though her face had lost some of its excitement. “Yeah. I mean, I didn’t think I would get it. I didn’t want to raise my hopes for nothing. It was just… It’s crazy, really.”

“Yeah, crazy…”

Let me be honest. I wasn’t happy. I mean, she was my best friend, and I was happyfor her, but I wasn’thappy. And it wasn’t by any fault of Lindsay’s. I was just too dependent. Itprobably spoke terribly of me as a person. I didn’t care, but it was true. I was reliant on Lindsay. I knew it; she knew it. Maybe everybody else did too.

“Aren’t you happy for me?” Lindsay asked, holding my gaze.

I tried to chuckle, sitting next to her on the bed. “Oh, silly. Of course I am. It’s great that you got a job. I’m just surprised, is all.”

My friend smiled warmly. “Thank you, babe. Me too. Fuck, it’s going to be insane. Moving to another city in such a short period, settling there for a while—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up.” I jumped to my feet, legs akimbo, eyes wide. “Did you just say you’re moving? To another city?”

“Yeah.” She visibly gulped. “Boston.”

I released a staggering breath. “What the fuck, Lin? We literally just moved in!”

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