Page 39 of My Brother’s Best Friends Entanglement

She smiles at me. Then her face changes. Something dark and painful passes over her eyes, and she turns to Rhys.

"Are you going to make me?" she asks him.

Rhys looks at her for a beat too long. "I should help Marcus," he says after clearing his throat. "Otherwise he'll come back wearing half of it."

He goes and doesn't look back.

"What was that about?" I ask, almost afraid of the answer.

She shakes her head. "Nothing."

"Oh, it was most definitely something."

"Zachary."

"I'm just saying. As the person who now lives with you, apparently, I feel like I should" — I imbue as much seriousness into my voice as possible — "understand the household rhythm and all."

She grabs the pita pile and throws it at me. "You're all insufferable," she says with a laugh.

"And yet you just agreed to live with three of us for three months."

"I'm aware."

"So what does that make you?"

“Ask me again in three months."

We sit in the silence until the guys come back with more food than we can possible eat.

As Marcus shoves a handful of loaded fries into his mouth, I notice her sitting back, staring at Rhys. He's ignoring her, but there's no way he doesn't notice.

"What?" I say to her, curiosity getting the better of me.

"I was just wondering," she says, "What Rhys said to you at the last place, that made you all get up and leave."

Marcus stops chewing and flicks his eyes to me. I don't say anything.

Rhys looks up at her and then surprises us all when he actually replies.

"I told them, that it was too far away.”

Her brows furrow in confusion before she asks. “Too far for what?”

He stands, pushing the sleeves of shirt up as he looks down at her. “To get to you in time if you needed us.”

Marcus

There are three bathrooms in this house and this morning, somehow, none of them are mine.

Rhys has his own ensuite, which he insisted he would have when we built the place. That leaves the main bathroom, which I usually use in the mornings, and the second one down the hall, which Leon usually uses. Zachary, who doesn’t usually get up until after everyone else has left for work, uses whichever one he wants. Today, however, he’s decided that he absolutely needed to have a shower at the exact same time everyone else is getting ready for work, and in Leon’s bathroom.

Which means Alexia is now in my shower. Alexia is holding my razor, my shaving cream, my body wash and my good moisturiser, everything I need to look and feel like a functioning human, hostage in there.

I check my phone. Twenty-two minutes. Surely she's got to come out eventually? I lean against the wall and wait.

Ten minutes later, I knock once, lightly, just to register a presence. "Alexia?"

There's a pause, then she calls out. "I'm in the shower."