She looked up at Samson. Rhiannon’s boyfriend was a former lineman and still built like one. “Hi, Samson. Sorry, I was texting and walking.”
“Happens to the best of us. I was lost in my own thoughts as well.” The lines next to his eyes crinkled, and he gestured to the building they were standing in front of. Crush’sheadquarters were in a rather unassuming place for a multimillion-dollar app. Rhiannon had chosen the Silver Lake site in lieu of the more obvious Silicon Beach locations because, in her words,the farther we can get from the more annoying tech assholes, the better.“You here to see Rhiannon, I’m guessing?”
She lifted the duffel bag she held. “She needed some things from the house, so I’m dropping them off for her.” Rhiannon had stayed over at Samson’s since the gala.
If Jia hadn’t been looking right at Samson, she might have missed the way his usually pleasant face tightened. “Ah. Good.” He patted her on the shoulder, and she tried not to lurch backward. He must be distracted, if he wasn’t keeping his own strength in check. “I’m running late to meet my aunt for breakfast. I’ll see you later.”
She watched him walk to his car at a brisk clip. That was odd. Samson was usually charming and chatty to the extreme.
Jia was quickly buzzed up by the receptionist, who greeted her warmly. She made her way through the cubicles, smiling at the few people she knew. Rhiannon had recently started a more flexible work-from-home program, so there weren’t nearly as many people in the office as there used to be.
She waited for Rhiannon’s acknowledgment before she entered the office. “Hey there. Got your stuff.”
Rhiannon glanced up from the computer. “Oh thanks. Leave it on the floor.”
Jia placed it on the floor, out of the way from anyone whomight enter the door. “I saw Samson when I was coming in. Did he drop you off?”
Rhi turned in her millennial pink swivel chair. The whole room was decorated in pinks, with the occasional splash of yellow. Crush colors. “Yeah. How was he?”
Jia dropped into the chair in front of her friend’s desk. “Ah, fine. Why?”
Rhiannon’s brow pleated. “We had a bit of a fight before he left.”
Jia raised an eyebrow. In terms of couple vibes, Rhiannon and Samson didn’t have the calm peacefulness of Jas and Katrina, but they didn’t fight that much. “Is everything okay?”
Rhi huffed out a breath. “He wants me to move in with him.”
“Oh.” Jia tried not to clap her hands together, but she probably couldn’t suppress all the excitement in her voice, because Rhiannon gave her a dry look. “Um, do you not want to?”
Rhiannon reclined in her chair. “I don’t know. I mean, I do. I live there enough as it is. But Katrina...”
Ahhhhh. Jia nodded understandingly. While she didn’t think she’d ever be as close to either woman as they were to each other, she absolutely understood why Rhiannon wouldn’t want to leave Katrina’s home. “She’ll be okay. You know she’s totally zen about us living our lives. I feel like she’s even hinted that you should move in with Samson.”
“Hmm.”
“She doesn’tneedus. You know that, right?” Jia shookher head. “Katrina’s panic disorder doesn’t mean that she’s incapable of handling her own life without chaperones. She became a millionaire before you or I started living with her.”
“She likes clucking over us, though.”
“Sure. But she’s got Jas. She has other friends who aren’t us. What’s that thing she says? People come and go, you enjoy the parts in the middle? And it’s not like you’d never see her again, she’s your freaking business partner.”
“I don’t want her to be lonely. She has abandonment issues from her shitty father. What if I trigger those by telling her I want to leave?” Rhiannon played with her nails. “I don’t want to hurt her.”
“I think you’ll hurt her more by making her think she’s holding you back or something,” Jia remarked.
Rhiannon sighed. “This is why it’s easier to be alone.”
“Easier, but not nearly as much fun. Or as delicious, given Katrina’s culinary skills,” Jia offered cheerfully.
“Yeah, yeah. Okay, I’ll think about talking to her.”
“Is Samson...?”
Rhiannon waved that worry away. “I’ll call him later. He’s feeling a little rejected right now, but once he thinks about it, he’ll understand. He’s going out with Jas tonight, anyway; that’ll cheer him up. Now, what’s up with you? I haven’t seen you in days.”
Jia bit her lip. She had told Katrina the bare bones about what was going on over the past Dev-packed week. Katrina had been worried, but apparently her friend hadn’t passed the message along to Rhiannon. “Um, I’ve seen that actor, Dev, again. And again. And again.” She thought for a second. “Yes, three times.”
Rhiannon’s eyebrows rose so high, they were in danger of climbing off her face. “Why on earth did you do that?”
