Page 9 of A Song for You

Before I join her, I shuffle to the light switch by the front door and turn down the lights. Mia, unsurprisingly, has every light in the living room on. “Hurts my head,” I groan.

The pizza box is open on the living room table, and Mia is perched on the couch, her legs tucked under her as she brings a greasy slice to her mouth. She motions to the box. “Come on, eat while it’s hot.”

I really shouldn’t. One slice is at least three hundred calories of grease and cheese. I hate myself for even thinking like this, but when I look at Mia in her skimpy dress, I can’t help but suck in my stomach. She doesn’t have an ounce of fat on her. She is literally what men and women dream of. Long silky legs, a tiny waist, not a hint of cellulite marring her skin, and perky breasts.

I bite my lip and sit across from her, inhaling the smell of garlic and staring at the pizza longingly.

“Eat, bitch,” she coaxes.

I sigh and drop my shoulders. “I’m not hungry.”

“Not true. You’re worried about the calories. I know you,” she reminds me, tilting her head and cocking a brow. “You’re wondering how long you’ll have to work out in order to eat a few bites. Or considering going for it and throwing it up later.”

I rear back in response. I wish she didn’t know me so well. I wish I didn’t think like that. But experimenting sexually wasn’t the only secret I kept as a student at an all-girls school.

For most of my life, I was told that women were meant to look a certain way.

And I’ve tried my hardest over the last few years to fit into that mold.

“Are you going to tell me why I’m awake at this ungodly hour, or are you going to pester me back to sleep?”

Mia raises her eyebrows. “I mean, if we’re going to your bed⁠—”

I hold up my hand. “Mia, stop.”

She sighs and slumps back against the couch, staring at her pizza with glazed-over eyes. “Fine. Whatever. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that you got the job.”

“How?” I ask seriously.

“Jay was impressed,” she says with a flip of her hair.

“Jay?”

“The boss you served the worst coffee ever to.”

I laugh. “Why would he want to hire me?” When she bats her eyelashes, I fake a gag. “I take it back. Don’t tell me.”

She smiles. “Fine. But he’s all-in with hiring you. He even gave me a promotion tonight.”

That is literally more than I need to hear. Does Mia not realize how she sounds? How everything she says sounds?

I fake a smile. “Great, thank you. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I’m going to bed.”

She pouts. “Really? You won’t stay up and chat with me?”

“Mia, it’s four a.m. I have spin class at eight, and then I’m meeting my brothers for the afternoon.”

She looks at me for a long moment, her lips pressed together. “You finally going to introduce me to these infamous brothers?”

I shake my head. “Not a fucking chance.”

She huffs in mock offense. “But I’m your best friend.”

“Who they know used to be more than that. No, you can’t meet them. Cash would…” I shudder at the thought of how my overbearing younger brother would react to meeting Mia. He would not be kind. And Carter? God, Carter cannot know about that.

At least not until I figure myself out.

“You shouldn’t hide who you are,” Mia murmurs.