Page 6 of Falling For My Best Friend's Brother

Chapter three

Knox

My favorite self-preservation technique was keeping myself away from people whose peculiarities did not match with mine. Not that I hated them, or wished they were dead or anything too crazy. It was more of a conscious decision to ensure that our incompatibility, whether it be in work or relationships, did not affect my ability to function.

That said, as I dragged my luggage behind me down the hall to my sister’s new apartment, I wondered what I was getting myself into.

When Lindsay called me earlier to say that she was already at the airport, and wouldn’t be able to see me before she left for Boston because her flight had changed, I’d huffed and resigned myself to my fate.

Said fate being that I’d canceled my hotel room, and told my assistant to forward any important mail to the new address I would be staying at, assuming Lindsay would be there too. But as it stood, I was about to be rooming with her best friend, who was quite literally the most disorganized and disorderly person I’ve ever met.

Hopefully, now that Nina Burton had grown up, she was more responsible. I’d always thought that she was too reliant on Lindsay. Anyone who needed another person that much had to be toxic.

I rubbed my temples as I stood in front of the door. Deep down in my heart, I knew I was going to regret this. I spent all of last night after Lindsay broke the news thinking about what to do. I was the older one here, wasn’t I? And Nina was nothing but a child. All I had to do was set the tone for our arrangement, and she’d follow it. Didn’t children like being told what to do?

Besides, I had other things to worry about. Like the Spencer Project, and how I let it slip away from me.

Inhaling, I raised a fist to the door, knocking twice. Once I got over this irritating introduction, I’d ask Nina for a key.

It took about five seconds for the door to open, though there was no one there. Frowning, I pushed into the apartment and sure enough, Nina was standing in the middle of the living room, cheeks flushed, with lips pressed together in a tight smile. Her red hair was disheveled and she stood with hands intertwined infront of her. The action pushed her chest forward, drawing my attention to it. I glanced away.

Okay. She grew some tits, and they actually look really nice.No child had those kinds of jugs. And her red hair was longer than the last time I saw her, which was about three, maybe four years ago.

Swallowing down that idiotic thought, I shut the door behind me, pulling my luggage along. So, she wasn’t a child anymore.

How old was she? Twenty-three? It felt like she’d grown up overnight. She was the same age as Lindsay, and I still considered my little sister a child. Maybe that was why I thought Nina was one too.

Either way, it didn’t matter. The only changes I could see were physical. Mentally, we’d have to see if she’d developed.

“Good morning,” Nina chirped in that animated voice of hers that grated my nerves. “Uh… Lindsay’s gone, but I’m sure you already knew that. I took the liberty of decorating your room, and we moved Lindsay’s bed in there this morning.” She smiled thinly, as if she was nervous. “So, I’m not much of a cook myself, but I can make the basic stuff like pancakes and eggs. Lindsay always says that it’s the thought that counts, so if you’d like, I can make you breakfast.”

She stopped, biting her lower lip. I could smell her nerves all the way from here. Fuck me. I didn’t remember her beingthischatty. Had she gotten worse over the years?

I resisted the urge to groan. I was already dealing with a lot. The last thing I needed was some girl who didn’t know how to shut the fuck up.

Ignore her, that was what I would do. Ignore the fuck out of her until she realized we would not be friends, and I sure as hell didn’t want her breakfast.

“No, thanks,” I replied curtly. “Point me to my room.”

She gaped at me. Mouth open and eyes wide, staring at me like she couldn’t believe I understood English.

Clenching my jaw, I forced myself to be civil.

“What is it?” I asked, though I didn’t really care.

“You just spoke to me,” she murmured, still shocked.

Hot air blew out of my nostrils. I didn’t have time for this. I needed to get to my room and get some work done.

“Did you not expect me to?” I scoffed.

Nina shook her head slowly and I just… I had enough.

“Listen, I agreed to come here because my sister was supposed to be here, but she’s not, and I’m stuck here for a foreseeable future. However, I want to make things clear: I do not want to be friends with you.”

“There will be no braiding of hair or exchanging secrets, or whatever the fuck young girls like you do in your spare time. For Lindsay’s sake, I will be as amicable as possible. So, I suggest you think twice about speaking to me, and whether you really need to. Understood?”

Nina was still shocked alright, though her deep green eyes went from startled to outraged. She was still staring at me as I sighed in exasperation and walked toward the hallway, stopping to look back at her in question.

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