Page 81 of Green Flag
“Nice crash,” Nix laughed in my ear.
I unmuted my headset. “Alright, asshole. I remember only one of us crashing out of second.”
“I’m the only one of us to have been second.”
Touche.
“You and Livie would come to dinner with us, wouldn’t you?” I asked, loading up another game. “If we went out.”
Everly shuffled down the end of the bed to my side.
“Yeah, Livid and I would be up for that.” His nickname for her always made me smile. “As long as a few other people were there. Not like a date night. But something smaller, yes.”
And I’d realised what I’d done too late.
Everly leaned into my face, eyes wide with excitement. Over her epiphany.
“Great. Yep, we’ll sort out the details,” I said quickly before closing down the game and turning to her, ready for her onslaught of questioning.
“Was she there with him?”
I shook my head.
“She was the other night when you played. I knew I recognised that voice!”
“They’re friends,” I retorted.
She cocked a brow and tilted her head. “Sure, Luca Mendes.” There was a beat of silence. “He’s been really hard to get hold of. Maybe I should get a copy of the game and track him down.”
How I wanted to grab her and throw her back on the bed to distract her from my slip-up, or stop her from trying to make me jealous. But we were friends. Just friends.
And really good ones.
“You hardly talk about your mother.”
She shrugged. “I appreciate you trying to change the subject for the sake of your friend, so I’ll let you. But theyaretogether.”
I trusted her. But I knew Livie wouldn’t.
Her job was at risk with this. Which is what I wanted mine to be.
“They’re not in a relationship. He had an interview at his home. They have to spend a lot of time together with the charity Nix has started, and the interviews and…” And I was making a mental note to text Nix that little lie later.
“Got it.” She sat back on the bed, the book she’d been reading dismissed on the side. “I take my mum’s advice on everything. She’s not around much to ask for anything specific, but she’s full of so many phrases that I kind of live my life by them.”
“Like what?”
She breathed in deeply as if struggling with where to start. “Tough times don’t last, but tough people do…” Yeah, I saw that in everything Everly did. “Chase your passions, not just a salary.” She laughed and shook her head. “That one has been harder to follow than others. And one of my favourites is to surround myself with good people.”
I raised a hesitant finger to my chest, mouth hanging open in mock shock.
Her mouth twitched. “And then that went out of the window when I started here,” she teased, tsking. “Now I’m simply surrounded by the worst of people.”
My hands grabbed her by the waist and threw her back on the bed with me as I tickled her sides. She cried out, kicking and pushing me off. “Luca!”
“I’m the worst, am I?”
“Yes!” she wheezed.
