39. Renee

By the time I make it into Sutton’s apartment, I’m ready to drop dead. It was a long day inside of a long week, and that was also a long five minutes inside of a very emotionally charged elevator. I’m weary on every level.

But as soon as I shut the door behind me, I frown. Is that… music?

It is. Soft jazz, crooning through the speakers. I know for a fact I wasn’t playing soft jazz before I left for work this morning. I’m more of a Bon Jovi girl in the mornings.

My purse isn’t huge but it’s heavy, and after years of living alone, I’ve worked out exactly how to use it as a weapon. So instead of backing out into the hallway to call the police, I creep forward, further into the apartment. A murderer or a thief wouldn’t turn on soft jazz, anyway. Not unless they had a very specific M.O.

So if it’s not a killer and it’s not a robber, who else would be…?

I quicken my steps and burst into the kitchen like I’m training to be a very loud ninja. “A-ha!”

Sure enough, there she is. A sight for sore eyes. A woman who knows exactly when I need a friend and shows up to be one.

“Sutton!” I squeal her name in a tone so shrill every cat in the neighborhood is probably coming our way. “I can’t believe you’re here!”

My best friend hugs me back. “I couldn’t stay away!”

We spend a couple minutes happy-hopping around the kitchen. When we finally settle down, she pours me a glass of wine. I take a deep breath of the cabernet and feel myself unwinding. The smell of Sutton’s famous pasta sauce bubbling on the stove top doesn’t hurt, either.

“Tell me everything,” I beg her. “I want to know about your movie, your costars, your wardrobe. All of it.”

With a dazzling smile, she starts to jabber and I start to listen and for the length of dinner, all is right in my world.

Until we’re heading out for dessert. “Tell me about everything here,” Sutton insists as we wait for the elevator. “Have you talked to Jackson lately?”

“He’s been gone for a while in Hawaii. He DM’d me, actually. We’ve sent a few messages back and forth.” I shrug when I feel her Tell me more gaze searing a hole in the side of my head. “He’s flirty, tells me about how pretty I am, how I could be a model if I want him to hook me up, how I should have a man worshiping me on the daily. He even sent me a selfie.”

“Shirtless?” When I nod, she laughs. “Oh, yeah. You should definitely give that man a minute. I once rode the elevator down with one of his dates and she swore her knees were still weak and that his tongue should be put in some sort of sexual hall of fame.” She lifts her eyebrows. “I mean, come on. Who doesn’t want that in her life?”

As I’m about to answer, the door to the stairwell flings open—and Weston powers through.

He pauses when he sees us. I give him a shy smile, trying to ignore how my heartbeat triples the second I smell his cologne. “Hey. You give up on the elevator?” I wouldn’t blame him after what happened the other night.

He grunts a meaningless reply, stomps to his place, then slams the door.

Sutton looks at me. “Now, that is a man who has one stuck in the chamber.”

“Come again?”

“When Weston needs to get laid, he’s a grump. Seriously. No laugh. No smile. Just grunts as he passes.”

“A guy like that could get laid anytime he wants,” I mumble, trying to hide how my cheeks are heating up red.

“Could? Yes. But he won’t. He’s too afraid someone might get attached. That one has commitment issues.”

He has issues, yeah, but I don’t know what I’d call them. He showed me a whole new side of him in the elevator earlier tonight. A real side. A vulnerable side.

“Really?” I ask, hoping she has more info.

“He went through some bad shit with some chick he dated for years. Eva something, I think? She stole from him or something, I don’t really remember. I was drunk when Paolo told me about it.” She shakes her head. “He’s a relationship-phobe, is my point.”

When the elevator arrives, we get in and hit the button for the lobby. It closes up and starts its gentle descent. “He was nice earlier,” I murmur, mostly to myself.

“‘Earlier’?” Sutton cocks a brow, the hint of a smile tilting one corner of her mouth. “Have you been holding out on me, Nay? Spill the tea!” She gives my shoulder a playful shove.

It occurs to me how much I’ve missed her. I feel like I’ve been fighting battles all alone without her here.

“We got stuck in the elevator for a little while. And he was nice. Kinda… kinda sweet, even.”

I can still smell his cologne, dancing on the edge of my perception. Or maybe that’s just my imagination talking.

“He has moments, but they’re so few and far between.” She sighs melodramatically. “You’re better off letting Jackson make your knees weak.”

I trust Sutton more than anyone else in the world, but there’s something to be said for good old-fashioned attraction, and I can’t deny that I am attracted to Weston Scott. Even if it stung when he stomped past me. “You think he heard us talking about Jackson?”

“Oh, no. If he did, there’d be bloodshed.” She twists her bracelets on her wrist. “Those two really hate each other. They almost both got kicked out of the building for fighting.”

“Fighting? Like with their fists?”

I could see Weston fighting. I have actually seen him fight in a game. But Jackson seems a bit too concerned with his appearance to be much of a brawler.

“Oh, you should’ve seen it. They were right out in the hallway, beating the shit out of each other. Actually, it was kind of a one-way beatdown. Weston threw Jackson through his door, broke that damn thing in half.”

“Did you see it?”

“Duh! I watched the whole thing through the peephole in my door. I couldn’t go out there. They were throwing each other around. Busted some drywall, even. Sounded like there was a war going on.” She shakes her head. “All over Weston’s sister.”

My jaw drops. “What about his sister?”

“She dated Jackson way back when. From what I understand, it ended ugly. But I don’t know the details.”

“Oh.”

My blush must give me away, though, because Sutton fixes me with a skeptical side eye. “Is something going on with you and Weston that you haven’t told me about?”

I shake my head. “No. Not really. Well, we… we kissed in the pool. Sort of. But it fizzled quick and we both ran our separate directions. It’s for the best.”

“Eeek!” Sutton squeals. “You kissed?”

My cheeks are on fire. “It wasn’t a big deal. It was nothing, really. Like I said, we just left it at that.”

“Fine. If you don’t want to get excited about it, I won’t.” Sutton shakes her head and loops her arm around me. “You’re too good for the grump anyway. Jackson is a good time, I’m telling you.”

It isn’t that I don’t believe her. And Jackson is certainly gorgeous enough to make a girl want to be with him. But he isn’t the one who makes my belly tight and my head dizzy.

“I’m sure he is.” It’s all I can think of to say to her.

She shrugs. “It’s your call. You’ve always been into the guy least likely to smile.”

She isn’t wrong. Felix was a perma-scowl kind of guy. I like serious men, probably for daddy-issues reasons I very much don’t want to unpack. But the truth is, I have seen Weston smile—and there isn’t much in the world that I’d rather see again.

Maybe that’s why I’m so hooked on him. It feels like there’s more, right there for the taking. I felt it in the pool. I felt it in the laundry room. I felt it in the elevator.

We could have it, if we wanted.

We’re both just too stubborn to say yes.

“So do you have any advice on the situation, Doc?” I ask as we step out into the lobby.

She laughs as she walks along beside me. “As a matter of fact, I do. I think you should fuck Weston once, let him give you cab fare or a boot across the hall, and move onto someone else. In my professional opinion, anyway.”

I try to play off my wince as something casual instead of how it really hurts when she suggests a future like that. “Not so sure that’s the right move. We’re being friendly and I’m being cautious.”

Sutton laughs, carefree and unrestrained. “Screw that. You should be wanton and he’ll be horny. Give that a go and then call me in the morning. You’ll be right as rain and Weston Scott will be a distant memory.”

She grins and I do my best to match her bravado.

If only it could be so simple.