Page 33 of Finally Loved

Charlie’s voice, audible but indecipherable, broke the momentary silence between them.

Neve shot Alba a look. “Think you’ll still be feeling special if Charlie catches you here?”

Alba rolled her eyes, only half amused. “She does know you’re an adult and allowed to pick your own friends, right?”

Something flitted quickly across Neve’s expression that told Alba she’d hit a nerve, but Neve locked it down so quickly it was clear she didn’t want to talk about it. Not yet, at least. “She just cares, you know? Worries about me.”

Alba desperately wanted to know if Neve had ever come close to doing anything that suggested she required such worry. She couldn’t imagine it, but there was that fascinating edge that popped up occasionally. There wasn’t anything Alba could think of that Neve might not be capable of.

They both seemed to be searching for the correct thing to say next when there was a knock on the bedroom door, which caused them both to jump and drew attention to the fact that Alba still had her arm wrapped around Neve. Alba was at least glad she didn’t naturally yank it back like she’d been caught doing something wrong.

“Neve? You up?” Charlie’s voice called.

Alba wasn’t especially bothered by Charlie, but she didn’t enjoy the way Neve tensed slightly. Whatever was going on with those two, even Alba could pick up that Neve wasn’t completely comfortable with the situation.

“Yeah, I’m awake,” Neve called back, clearing her throat slightly but not pulling away from Alba.

She had locked the door last night. At the time, it hadn’t seemed all that unusual—Alba had lived in enough shared homes, and visited enough people in them, to know some people were door lockers—but, now, she wondered whether Neve generally locked her door, or whether it was simply a way to keep Alba safe from whatever ire her presence was going to elicit in Charlie.

“Do you want breakfast? We made pancakes,” Charlie called through the door.

“Ooh, pancakes,” Alba whispered very quietly and very close to Neve’s ear. That didn’t stop Neve from brushing her fingers over Alba’s lips in warning, though. Alba suppressed a laugh and a shudder.

Being around Neve, Alba was quickly learning, was a million overwhelming, wonderful, conflicting experiences all at once. She wasn’t sure she’d ever experienced anything like it.

“Oh, uh, no, thank you. I’m… actually going to meet a friend for brunch,” Neve called back.

Alba gave her a look. It didn’t sound much like a lie, not after she got past the initial hesitance. Was she actually supposed to be meeting someone?

Charlie’s tone on the other side of the door changed. She wasn’t an especially subtle person. Perhaps that was why she didn’t like Alba, they were too similar in that way. “Who?”

“Oluwatobi,” Neve called back, her voice steady, but her face crumpled in a way that indicated she was definitely lying.

“Oluwatobi? Why?”

Alba frowned. She’d never once told Zainab she was meeting someone and been quizzed about why, nor had she ever quizzed Zainab—or any of her other friends—like that. There were concerned friends and then there was whatever this was. It made Alba’s insides squirm uncomfortably. She could only imagine what it must be like being on the receiving end.

“We’ve got some things to go over for work. Presentation next week, you know?”

It took a minute to realize that Neve was fidgeting again—she did that when she was anxious too, it seemed. This time, though, she wasn’t fidgeting with her own shirt. Under the blanket, her fingers were worrying the edge of the shirt she’dgiven Alba to wear. Alba wasn’t sure Neve even realized, but, once she was aware of it, she couldn’t not focus on it.

“Oh, right. Yeah. Didn’t realize you were working with Oluwatobi on it.”

“Uh, yeah. He sends his regards.”

Charlie snorted. “Sure he does.”

Perhaps Alba had judged too quickly. There was clearly some history there. Maybe the questioning really was coming from the right place. If Zainab was putting herself in a questionable position, Alba would probably worry. Hell, Zainab had asked plenty of questions about Alba’s insistence on seeing Neve. Maybe the delivery had been abrupt but the question wasn’t so bad after all?

Neve listened carefully for a few moments, and Alba could hear Charlie walking away from the room and back downstairs.

She grinned at Neve. “So, should I be letting you get to your brunch?”

Neve crumpled, groaning as she moved to roll her face into her pillow again. However, this time, the two of them were so close together that she mostly rolled herself into Alba’s hair and pillow. She didn’t seem in a hurry to pull back, though.

“There is no brunch,” she said, her soft voice muffled into almost nothing.

“Oh, really? You don’t say?”

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