That had me barking out a laugh.
He could be so damn dramatic.
Sliding the laptop off of me and settling it down onto the couch, I stretched my legs out in front of me before rolling onto my feet. Teasing Marlow Knight mercilessly was one of my favorite pastimes. Especially, when it came to us battling it out about which side of the tracks we both grew up on.
Coming from the same small suburb of Ellington Heights, but having met officially in boarding school halfway around the world, was the wildest thing I’d ever experienced in my short seventeen years.
The old adage that Hazel was always fond of quoting to me as a kid, how small this world truly was, never quite hit until the day I’d gotten my room assignment and walked in to my new roommate sitting on his bed and discovering it to be Marlow.
He’d filled the void Brandon had left behind quite seamlessly. Helping to ease the pain of losing someone so important and leaving behind the only life I ever knew.
Coming from new money, unlike my family, was an added bonus. While Marlow wasn’t able to relate to my struggles growing up as a trust fund baby, he certainly knew how difficult life could be while navigating relationships where money was a deciding factor on whether people wanted to stick around or not. Which unfortunately, had been a startling realization the moment both of us had stepped out into the real adult world.
I stood at the window facing out to the back of the mansion’s property, overlooking the crystal clear, Olympic-sized swimming pool. “So, what brings you to calling me so early in the goddamn morning?”
“I knew you’d be awake,” was his simple reply. “I heard you came blowing back into town and didn’t bother telling anyone. Let alone yourfriends.”
That had me sighing at my reflection in the window.
Despite his rather cavalier tone, this was Marlow’s way of scolding me just like he’d done many times before. There wasn’t exactly a question as tohowhe knew about me coming back to my—or rather,our—hometown, since it was pretty obvious that he’d heard about it through the grapevine consisting of our staff.
But rather, it was all a matter of principle.
He wasn’t a relatively patient person, a flaw in most financial analysts these days, and even giving me two and a half days to settle in was generous of him. So, calling like this was more of a formality.
The next time, I’d most likely find him showing up to bang on my damn gate.
“Is this you telling me you miss me?” I teased.
“You’re full of yourself. Silas was the one who missed you.”
That had me rolling my eyes. “Don’t hide behind him.”
“Never could. He’s too short. And he’d rather throw me to the sharks.”
“Funny coming from you when I can see clear over both of your heads.”
He scoffed at me. “Are you coming out tonight with us or what?”
I loved ragging on him. As the one only three inches taller than my companions, it always gave me a sense of satisfaction to knock both one of them down a few pegs on something as simple as height when they were getting a bit too rowdy for their own good.
With all three of us typically having our heads shoved too far up our asses at times due to our insane wealth, a little heckling now and again kept us all humble enough to not be completely insufferable to be around.
I checked the time on my watch, noting I still had time to run over to Brandon’s shop and catch up with him about the cars before I’d unavoidably get roped into whatever Marlow clearly had planned for tonight. And as much as my instincts to hunker down and avoid everything at all costs until the situation with Ana Liapovich got settled, it was only going to make my restlessness worse.
What better distraction than to head out to whatever bar I was going to be dragged to and finding myself a woman or two to blow off some steam with?
“Text me where we’re going and I’ll meet you and Silas there tonight,” I said.
“Great.” The grin was obvious in his voice. “Hope you’ve got the day off tomorrow.”
How ominous. “We’ll see.”
“Famous last words,” Marlow said, right before ending the call.
I shook my head, letting out a chuckle, and pocketed my phone.
Hopefully, Marlow’s warpath would lead me to getting laid tonight.
