“Wow, and now he’s your boss? That must be awkward.”
“No, he just owns the company. I work for his CFO, who’s really nice.”
She watched Lily take that in. “Do you like it?” she asked eventually.
“Yeah, I do, surprisingly. I never thought I’d get involved in the family business.”
“You don’t work for the mob, do you?”
Jay laughed. “No. Nicholas is an investor. Not a killer. I don’t even think he owns a gun.”
Lily tilted her head. “Not to belabor the point or anything, but, what’s going on there? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention a brother before. Are you close?”
“Not that close,” Jay mumbled.
Liar.
(Why are you making that sound, little bird? Is it because it hurts? Or do you like it when Daddy fucks you rough?)
A memory of him biting her neck while he sank into her from behind popped into her head, sharp and visceral. It nearly left her breathless.
(Such a good little slut)
“You’re not close and he flew all the way across the state to offer you a job?”
“It’s complicated.” Her voice came out sounding a little strangled. “We have . . . history.”
“Ah. I get it. Things are kind of weird between my mom and aunt, too.”Are they, though?that obnoxious voice in Jay’s head whispered. “They don’t like each other, but my mom would drop everything to fly back to Asia in a heartbeat if anything ever happened to her.”
“Yeah,” Jay said faintly. “I guess it is a little bit like that.”
(you’ve owned me for years)
There was a lull in the chatter of the restaurant, and Jay could hear some female pop artist playing in the kitchen as the fry cook cleaned. It made her remember a different kitchen, where her fourteen-year-old self had once eaten a hamburger with a pretty young stripper named Honey.
“You know,” Lily said, a little self-consciously, “I was never sure you wanted to be friends.”
“What?” Jay covered her mouth, hiding the bite she’d just taken as her mouth fell open.
“You were just so quiet and kind of distant.” She toyed with her bright purple straw. “I figured we were pretty good work friends, but it didn’t seem like you wanted to be more than that.”
“I’m sorry.” Jay set down her food. “I’ve never been very good at reaching out.”
“No kidding.” Lily wiggled her brows to soften the bite of her words. “I didn’t want to lead with this, because I didn’t want to freak you out, but I actually have some cousins who live in the OC. Sometimes we all rent a house in Malibu and spend a few weeks by the beach. So, if you want, you could come and hang. All you’d have to do is pitch in for rent.”
“That would be amazing. I’d love that so much.”
“See? Yes. Now it needs to happen.”
Jay smiled and shook her head. “So what else have you been doing? You got an amazing promotion, and that’s awesome. Do you have anything else going on?”
“Well, I’ve been seeing this guy. I met him at an art show. They were doing a Yayoi Kusuma exhibit at the SFMoMa—you should totally go, Jay, they have an exhibition onephemeral art—and we got to talking in the infinity room. He was wearing an OK Go hoodie so I knew he was going to be cool. We ended up going for drinks and desserts in the museum café.”
“Wow,” Jay said, a little longingly. “That’s like something out of a movie.”
“Iknow.” Lily grinned. “What about you? Seeing anyone?”
“Um.” Jay flicked her aluminum wrapper. “Kind of.”
