The Do-Over (The Rooftop Crew #5) - Piper Rayne Page 0,27
their brother’s life.
Chapter Twelve
Knox
Adrian and Sierra live across the street from the Rooftop Apartments, where the rest of us live because we’re not princes with a shitload of money. After working out in his building’s top-notch gym, we head upstairs to their apartment, where Adrian makes us protein smoothies. The man has the self-control of a monk.
We sit around their table that overlooks the street and our apartment building.
“Let’s talk about Knox’s new girl.” Leave it to Seth to bring up Kamea.
“Let’s not.” I tip back my water bottle, but all their eyes are on me when I lower my head back down.
“She’s not Leilani, that’s for sure,” Jax says, standing and refilling his water bottle. “She’s cool as fuck, and if you don’t screw her, maybe I will.” He winks.
Dylan sighs and rolls his eyes. Jax is one of my best friends, and when he first returned to town after years away, he screwed with Dylan to force him to finally make a move on Rian. It turned out great since they’re engaged and all now. But Jax better not be thinking of pulling the same shit with me.
“How about neither of us screw our new roommate?” I say. “Besides, you ready to lose that bet to Frankie yet?”
Jax narrows his eyes at me.
“So she’s the new roommate, huh?” Ethan asks, journalistic curiosity in his eyes.
“She’s got nowhere else to go,” Jax says, sitting back down at the table.
“There are shelters and stuff. You don’t have to be her saviors.” Ethan eyes us as though he doesn’t know how we’ll take that piece of advice.
He’s right. Kamea isn’t our problem.
Dylan laughs and throws a balled-up napkin at Ethan. “Do you know Knox at all?”
Ethan shrugs. “I get the whole cop thing. But what about you, Jax?”
Our friends all know that the three of us grew up poor as fuck. Ethan didn’t grow up with a silver spoon either. But Seth’s family is middle class and they’re close. And I’m not even gonna mention Adrian, who probably has safes and vaults full of valuables.
“Jax puts on a great act, but he has a savior complex too.” Dylan smacks Jax on the back and picks up a smoothie from the counter as Adrian pours the last round.
“Don’t go spreading rumors about me,” Jax says to Dylan, but smiling at me. The three of us know more than we should about each other.
“The real question is, are Knox and Kamea sitting in a tree?” Seth sips out of his straw, his eyes on me.
I shake my head.
“Why?” he asks. “I saw the look you gave her earlier.”
“She is hot,” Dylan admits.
I’m surprised. I honestly thought the guy had been blind to any attractive female since he got together with Rian. I shrug, not having an answer.
“Come on. Why not?”
Seth knows me too well, which comes from being my roommate for so many years. He could tell from the minute I came out of my bedroom with a girl whether I was interested in her or not. Kamea is not only my type physically, but her personality is so opposite of any other woman I’ve dated that I’m intrigued. And Seth sees right through me.
“She’s friends with Leilani,” I say. “I picked Leilani over her at a bar ages ago. But the biggest reason why not is that she’s down on her luck right now.”
Silence falls over the table.
“Why does that matter?” Dylan finally asks.
I sip my smoothie to buy time. Our group of friends aren’t really judgmental people. We might razz one another, but these guys generally know when humor is appropriate. Well, all of us but Seth probably.
So I say, “Because being the knight who saves or tries to save a woman hasn’t really worked out well for me over the years. She’d come to resent me at some point just like…”
“Fucking A, she did a number on you.” Jax leans back, shaking his head.
Jax wasn’t really around for the whole Leilani thing except for the last part of the final time we were together. He saw the aftermath, and I think it scared him away even more from relationships. I was in bad shape.
“Sue me if I don’t want to feel that shit again.” I shrug.
“A date doesn’t mean it will lead to heartbreak,” Ethan says.
I hold up my hands. “As long as she’s under our roof, I’m not laying a hand on her. How much of a douchebag move would that be?”