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We stare at each other for a second. I can’t be honest with her about everything, but I can be honest with her about this next thing. “And Nina?”

“What?”

I pull my jacket tighter around her, so she’s all warm and covered up. “When I said you looked fine earlier…” I swallow. “What I meant was that you looked absolutely breathtaking tonight, and the person you end up with is going to be one lucky bastard.”

Her lips tilt to the starry sky. “Now, that’s a compliment worth spending two hours getting ready for.”

“Should’ve just lead with that.”

The valet pulls up with my Range Rover, and as soon as we slide into the car, Nina rests her head on the window and passes out for the whole ride back to her place.

As I drive, I can’t stop thinking about the way she stood up for me. Her solid strength. I’m not used to having someone standing tall by my side.

Pulling up to her apartment, I put the car in park. Nina doesn’t even stir when I open the door to get out. I squeeze her bare shoulder, trying to wake her up, but her eyes stay shut. She must be exhausted. After pulling out the key from Nina’s purse, I scoop her into my arms.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed,” I whisper, cradling her against my chest.

I carry her into her sister’s brownstone bridal style, and it takes me five minutes to find her bedroom, but based on the amount of pottery and plants, I’m pretty sure it’s Nina’s room.

I lay her on the bed and grab a crocheted blanket from the armchair, peering at the stitching. That’s some good handiwork. I place the blanket on top of her, but she doesn’t budge.

This girl could sleep through a buzzer.

She might have a killer headache when she wakes up, so I head back into the kitchen for some pain medicine, jerking to a stop when I see Gwen standing in a pink robe. She lifts her head from the green fridge, eyes widening in surprise.

“Rhode? What are you doing here?”

Annoyance blasts through me as I grab a glass from the cabinet and fill it with water. “Nina wasn’t feeling too well after the event, so I brought her home.”

“Is she okay?”

I keep my eyes on the water running from the sink. I’m not the biggest fan of Gwen, but I don’t want to be an asshole to Nina’s sister. “She’s fine. Just sleeping.”

“That was nice of you.” She shuts the fridge so there’s no more light in the kitchen except for the moon. “How are things going with you two?”

I shut off the water, grabbing the bottle of painkillers. “Look, I know Nina doesn’t like talking to you about us, so I’m not going to either. You can ask her.”

She tucks a blonde strand behind her ear. “Of course, I get it, but um, listen… I never apologized for the bar incident, and I wanted to talk to you about that.”

“So you remember kissing me then?” I try not to sneer, but it’s hard.

She clutches the robe tighter, and her cheeks turn red in the moonlight. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I was pretty drunk that night and dealing with my own issues. It’s not an excuse, but I wanted to thank you for keeping our secret.”

“Hold on, let’s get one thing straight,” I interject, irritation rippling through me. “It’s not our secret. It’s your secret. I don’t mean to sound like a dick, but I haven’t thought about that night once, and I probably wouldn’t have remembered it if I hadn’t seen you again. The only reason I’m not saying anything is because it’s not important to me, alright?”

She glances at the orchid on the windowsill. “Well, thanks anyway for not saying anything. Nina and I are finally in a good place, and I don’t want to mess anything up again. I’m still figuring things out with Isaac too, but I never should’ve done that.”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have, and you should probably spend less time talking to me about that and more time talking to your boyfriend and your sister.” I grab the glass of water. “I’m going to check on Nina.”

Turning, I head back to Nina’s room.

She’s still in the same position, passed out on the bed. A grin spreads across my lips as I watch her sleep. She looks so peaceful that I almost want to curl up beside her.

I place the water on her nightstand and write out a note. Drink Me. Then do the same for the pills. Eat Me. I think I saw that in a movie or something. I glance at the box of cinnamon gum by her bed, and my eyes drift to her lips. Without a second thought, I pocket the gum, stashing it in my jeans. I’ll chew this just to know what she tastes like.

Being around Nina is harder than I thought. I'm impressed at how she keeps finding new treats for Chicken and mails them to my apartment like that’ll make my cat like her. She's got all my stats memorized and has my back, even though she swears she can't stand hockey.

Everyone always calls out the big things about my life, like my wins and successes, but people rarely notice the small stuff like she does. The hardest part of all of this is that I like Nina’s strong personality the most, which makes it hard to stay away.