9. Worst Best Friend Ever

Chapter 9

Worst Best Friend Ever

Ethan

E very time I looked at Libby, my brain couldn’t let go of the fact that having her on top of me had made me hard. Which was a lot since I couldn’t take my eyes off her. There was no way to pinpoint when the shift in my feelings for her had started happening, but they had, and now I had to decide if it was worth risking our friendship to tell her how I was feeling.

I knew I should tell her, but the thought of her rejecting me made me want to puke. I couldn’t keep it in forever, but now wasn’t the time with all the anxiety she had about moving and starting a new job.

The best thing for me to do was to help her get settled. But the prospect of Leo swooping in, or even Carter, had me wondering if I was making a mistake by holding back. Neither man was her type, but then again, Libby just got out of a relationship with a man who wasn’t her type. She probably couldn’t even tell me what her type was.

The movers were almost done bringing everything in, so I grabbed a box next to the island that was labeled cups and put it on the counter. There was the perfect cabinet right next to the refrigerator, but when I opened it, there were several mugs and cups already inside.

“Libby! What do you want me to do with the crap your brother left in the cupboards?” I leaned back and looked down the hallway.

She appeared in the doorway to her bedroom. “Huh?”

The movers shuffled in with the couch as I started taking the stuff out of the cupboard. The coffee mugs were interesting to say the least. One said, ‘nice tits’ and had a bunch of bird pictures. I’d had no clue that some bird names had the word tit in them. Another one had a cactus and said, ‘don’t be a prick.’

“Is here okay for the sofa?” one of the movers asked. It was facing away from the kitchen and was in a good spot for both skyline viewing and watching TV.

“Uh... sure.” I put the mugs down and started opening drawers and cabinets. There weren’t a lot of things, but enough that it would take a box to clean out.

Libby came down the hall and eyed the stuff I was pulling out of the cupboards. “What’s that?”

“Ryker apparently wanted you to have some coffee mugs about tits and pricks.” I wiggled my eyebrows, and the two movers laughed.

“We’re all done. We need you to sign off that everything was unloaded and nothing was damaged.” One of the movers handed Libby a clipboard.

“Thank you so much. You guys did a great job.” Libby scribbled her signature and handed it back to him. “I’m never moving myself again.”

Libby walked the two men to the door before coming back to the kitchen. “I didn’t even think to look in the cabinets last weekend.”

She went to the refrigerator and opened it. “Uh...”

I frowned at all the drinks and prepared meals stacked in the refrigerator. “Maybe Leo left them. What day did he move back to his place?”

“I don’t know.” She grabbed two sodas and handed one to me. “Ryker should be here soon with lunch; I’ll make him deal with it.”

“Thanks.” I popped the top and took a long drink, leaning against the counter. “You still doing okay?”

She mirrored me against the other counter. “How many times are you going to ask me that?”

“Rawr.” I raised my free hand and made claws.

“Sorry.” She sighed and looked past me out the windows. “But really, I’m fine. I’ll let you know when I’m not.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I pushed off the counter and grabbed the rest of the cups out of the cabinet, Libby’s eyes boring into me. “Is this cupboard okay for your cups?”

“Is it big enough?” She walked to the stacks of boxes for the kitchen and grabbed another box. “I have a lot.”

“How many is a lot?” I knew she had a collection of resin tumblers that she liked to match with her work outfits, mood, day of the week, or whatever.

She cringed and sliced open the tape. “Last count... about fifty.”

“Elizabeth!” I turned to her, my hands on my hips to find her hugging one of her precious cups to her chest. “Give it here.”

She stuck out her bottom lip in the most adorable pout. “What are you going to do?”

I held out my hand and made a give it here motion. “See if it even fits on the shelf.”

She reluctantly handed it over. “If they don’t fit, I was thinking that I could get a shelving unit or one of those hutch things for the dining area... if you don’t mind.”

“It’s your place. I don’t mind, though.” I slid the tumbler that had a picture of a chicken onto the shelf. “They’ll fit, but it won’t leave any room for normal glasses.”

“I can put the book related ones on my bookshelves. Hand me the chicken one back.” She started to sort her cups.

“The chicken one is from a book? Please don’t tell me some hot man with a big dick shifts into a chicken... or rooster.” I started grabbing the ones closest to me to put away.

“That would be hilarious.” She started giggling and then couldn’t stop. “Cock a doodle doo!” she crowed.

“What in the world is going on in here?” Ryker came into view from the entryway, Paige, Luca, and Garrett right behind him.

“Just Libby discussing cocks as usual.” I tried to keep a straight face and failed.

“I’m always up for a good cock discussion.” Luca grabbed one of the tumblers and examined it. “Imagine if this was someone’s cock.”

“Please don’t.” Ryker put a bag on the counter along with one Paige had been carrying before he hugged Libby. “Welcome home, sis.”

Luca ran a hand over the island like he was caressing it. “A lot of memories are in this condo.” He gave the counter a quick pat.

“Do I even want to know what that was for?” I’d worked with these four for almost a year now and knew more about their sex lives than I should have.

“Nope. That’s between me, Paige, and the counter.” Luca smirked and picked up the tit mug. “I’m surprised Leo kept this.”

“Maybe you can take it up to him.” I didn’t like the look Luca, Garrett, and Ryker exchanged. “What?”

“You didn’t tell her?” Paige gave Ryker a look and sighed when he looked confused. “Typical man. You didn’t tell her about Leo staying longer?”

“Oh!” Ryker’s face held a mix of apology and resignation. “So, about Leo... his place isn’t ready yet. The flooring was delayed.”

Libby’s reaction was subtle but noticeable with a slight tightening of her shoulders and a quick flash of discomfort in her eyes. “Delayed? How long are we talking?”

“A couple of weeks. He said the flooring is on a container from Italy. Honestly, I didn’t think it would matter much since he’s in the guest room.” Ryker shrugged like it was no big deal that he’d given permission to a man to stay with his sister.

“But can’t he live there with no floors? The bedroom doesn’t have flooring?” I crossed my arms. This wasn’t ideal. Not for Libby and not for me. Especially not now that she’d kissed him.

“He had heated floors installed, so the entire place has wires everywhere.” Luca opened one of the bags they’d brought. “My brother isn’t home very much anyway.”

“Can’t he go stay in your hotel, or with your parents... or you?” I didn’t like the idea of Leo being here alone with Libby.

Luca shrugged. “I mean, he could, but he has stuff here already. It should only be a few more weeks. Is that okay?”

Libby forced a smile. “I guess it’s not the end of the world. It’s temporary, right?”

I cleared my throat. “Actually, that’s not going to work.” All eyes were suddenly on me. “I’m moving in. Tomorrow.”

Libby’s eyes widened, but she quickly caught on and started nodding. “The room Leo is in is Ethan’s.”

“Yeah!” I was a bit more excited about kicking Leo out than necessary. “One of you will need to call him to come get his stuff.”

Ryker narrowed his eyes at me. “You told me you weren’t moving for a few months because you couldn’t find anyone to sublease.”

“My roommate threatened me.” It wasn’t a complete lie. He said he was going to shove my Swiffer up my ass if I bothered him one more time about sharing dusting duties.

“Oh, shit.” Paige pulled away from Garrett and came over to hug me. “That must be so stressful and uncomfortable. We should get you out of there today.” She was such a sweetheart; it was no wonder she had three men wrapped around her finger.

“He probably has movers already lined up.” Ryker didn’t look convinced that this had been the plan all along. “You can stay in one of the other bedrooms until Leo moves out.”

Movers? Shit. I hadn’t thought this idea through all the way. If I couldn’t find movers on such short notice, I could bring what I could and sleep on the couch or in Libby’s bed.

There was an awkward minute of silence before Luca started handing out sandwiches from Pastrami Palace. Thank the all mighty pastrami gods everyone’s mouths would soon be full of meat.

I heard noises sometime around six in the morning and carefully slid out of Libby’s bed. On top of the moving festivities, we’d stayed up late unpacking, and both of us had passed out before we could even discuss what to do about Leo.

I knew what to do about him, though.

I’d wanted to pack all his shit and leave it in the hall, but Libby talked some sense into me, at least for the time being.

After shutting Libby’s bedroom door with a soft click, I tiptoed down the hall, noting the guest bedroom door was shut as I followed the noises to the kitchen.

I found Leo leaning against the island in jeans and a button-down shirt, making coffee. His hair was a mess, and I hazarded a guess that he was coming and not going.

He was so focused on his task that he didn’t notice me until I cleared my throat. “Leo.”

He jumped and turned to face me. Why did such an asshole have to be so good-looking? His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showing his strong forearms, and the top two buttons were undone. Even worse was that he was barefoot; there was something about a man in jeans and no shoes or socks that made me want to bite my fist.

“Jesus Christ! What are you doing here?” He narrowed his eyes and looked past me like he could see down the hall from where he stood.

“I live here. Luca called you and told you as much.” I crossed my arms over my chest, which drew his attention back to me, his eyes falling to my naked chest before meeting my stare. “Your shit is in my room.”

The coffee maker dinged, and he grabbed the steaming tit mug from under it. “I’ve been busy.”

I sneered, looking him up and down. “Clearly.”

He sighed and put his coffee down on the island before pinching the bridge of his nose. “It’s too early for this.”

“You kissed her.” I wasn’t going to beat around the bush about this.

His hand dropped and a smirk spread across his face. “Ah, I see. This has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you .”

I wasn’t a violent man, I never saw the point, but there was a first time for everything, and I snapped.

Grabbing him by the shirt, I slammed him—okay, it was more of a gentle backing up—into the refrigerator. A few clinking sounds came from inside. Leo’s smirk fell, his eyes widening.

“It has to do with you not being able to keep your dick in your pants.” I was pissed, and I wasn’t even sure why. It wasn’t like this guy was important to me, but I would never forgive myself if I let Libby get her heart broken by some tool. I had no doubt that when he kissed her, his intentions weren’t to stop there.

Like when he’d kissed me at the damn Christmas party, his intentions hadn’t been to stop. Luckily, he’d been so shit-faced that he’d passed out before anything had happened.

“Not that it matters, but Libby is the only woman I’ve kissed recently.” He grabbed my hands and pried my fingers off his shirt before giving me a small shove. “And it’s none of your business who she chooses to kiss or fuck.”

“And men?”

His brows furrowed. “What do you mean ‘and men’?”

“You don’t remember?” With the way he was looking at me, I didn’t think he had any idea what I was talking about. “You know what? Never mind.”

Shrugging, he grabbed his coffee and walked toward the hallway. If he thought this conversation was over, he was wrong.

“Why’d you kiss her?” I followed right on his heels.

“Fuck off, man,” he growled under his breath, opening the guest room door and walking inside.

I didn’t want to wake Libby up, so I followed him in and shut the door. “I wonder what Ryker will think.”

“Oh, please.” He looked at me and rolled his eyes as he set his coffee down on the nightstand. “We’re grown-ass adults.”

He started unbuttoning his shirt as he walked toward the closet. He slid the shirt off once he was inside and threw it in the hamper before turning to face me.

The banging in my chest was so loud I was sure he could hear it as I took in his sculpted body that looked like something straight off one of Libby’s romance novel covers.

“You’re jealous.” His hands went to the button on his jeans, and I sucked in a breath through my gritted teeth.

I was officially the worst best friend ever for wanting to see him take off his pants, but I turned around so I could keep my cool. “What?”

“Are you jealous of me kissing her or her kissing me?” The sound of his zipper made me bite my lip.

I spun around so fast I made myself slightly dizzy. “What the hell are you talking about?”

He pushed down his jeans before kicking them off into the depths of the closet. He stood there in front of me wearing only a pair of baby blue briefs that showed the outline of everything, and I mean everything .

The fucker smirked .

He tried to brush past me on the way to the bed, but I grabbed his elbow to stop him. “You’re awfully handsy, Ethan.”

“I won’t let you hurt her.” Was that a growl that just came from me?

Leo’s eyes went straight to my lips and my cock decided at that moment to come to life. “I think you need to let my arm go.” His voice dropped low, and his tongue peeked out to wet his lips.

I was frozen, under the spell of this frustrating man whore who had probably fucked at least three people in the past twenty-four hours despite him saying he had changed his ways. That thought sobered me and I stepped away from him, backing into the door.

All my fight was gone, especially when he looked down to where I was sure he saw the evidence of my arousal.

“Stay away from her, Leo.” I opened the door, not taking my eyes off him. “And go stay somewhere else. For your sake and for hers.”

As I stepped out into the hall, Leo laughed. “And apparently yours.”

I closed the door, standing there with the knob in my hand, my cock aching.

That man was going to cause some serious problems.