Page 6 of Enemies with my Bestie’s Brother
It’s been too long since I’ve lived in San Francisco. I’ve missed my family while I’ve been away. Penny most of all. Both my brothers do fine on their own, but not a day goes by that I don’t talk to my sister.
A sharp whistle catches my attention and I shake my head. It’s the same whistle Penny used to use when we were younger and she was trying to get my attention.
“There you are!” she says as she gets out of the car.
The heaviness that’s been settling on my heart for so long starts to lift. For years, even though I enjoy living in different states, all the traveling and building businesses is starting to wear on me.
If I had the time, I would settle down, but I already have another business brewing.
A new business means dozens of late nights and early mornings dedicating my time to the startup.
For the foreseeable future, there isn’t going to be any settling down for me.
It’s for the best, though. The last woman I tried to settle down with did nothing but use me to her own advantage, trying to sink her claws into my money and connections long before I ever realized it was happening. Yet another example of my head being too high up in the clouds.
“How was the flight?” Penny asks as she wraps me in a tight hug. “ I can’t believe that you’re finally here. It seems like it’s been forever since we started talking about you moving back.”
I hug her, holding on a little longer than I used to. After her wedding, I avoided San Francisco and seeing her for a long time. I told her I was busy often, but the truth was that I didn’t know how to look her in the eyes.
I slept with her best friend. As close as Penny and I are, she wouldn’t easily forgive me for that.
Although, after falling in love with my best friend, she might be more forgiving than I like to tell myself she would be.
Maybe she would be forgiving until she found out the way I left Whitney, at least. After that, all bets would definitely be off. Penny would have my head.
“I don’t know why you insist on staying in a hotel,” Penny says, shaking her head as she steps away from me. “You know that we have more than enough room at my apartment. Sure, Whitney’s in one room, but there are two others.”
“I don’t want it to be too crowded for you guys. Baby J is still little. If there’s too many of us around, there is no way that she’s going to sleep.”
Not to mention, I needed to be avoiding Whitney as much as possible.
Staying in the same apartment as her would just be asking for trouble. A hotel will be fine until I can find my own place.
“If you don’t want to stay with us, please tell me that you’ll at least look at the other penthouse apartment on our floor. It goes up for sale in a couple days, and I convinced the owner to give you the first look.”
I grin as I load my bags into the back of the car. “I’m really not getting much of a choice in this situation, am I?”
Penny shrugs, a mischievous look in her eyes. “Can you blame me? You’re my best friend, Grayson. Parker’s too. We both want you to be close.”
“You really just want a babysitter who lives across the hall,” I say, my tone teasing as I close the trunk.
She laughs as we get in the car. “That is only a very small part of it. I’ve missed you a lot while you’re away. I just want you to be close to us again.”
I nod, knowing that living across the hall from them would be great. I love my sister, and getting to see my nephew grow up is going to be amazing.
“I’ll take a look at the place, and if it seems suitable, I promise that I’ll make an offer.”
Her smile is bright enough to light even the darkest night as she looks at me. I grin and shake my head as she turns up the music and sings along.
When I was away, it was easy to forget the little moments like this that meant the most. I had forgotten the way my sister’s entire face would light up when she was happy, or the way she would subtly push until she got her way.
I can’t argue that her way is normally the best. Penny has a way of bringing the family together, even when we have weeks at a time when we stray from each other.
I forgot how much I missed her meddling ways, even if they do drive me insane sometimes.
It’s good to be home.
Theapartmentacrossthehall from Penny is stunning. Even though she told me it was, walking into the massive space and seeing it is another thing entirely.
