First Comes Like (Modern Love #3) - Alisha Rai Page 0,50
Samson didn’t have the calm peacefulness of Jas and Katrina, but they didn’t fight that much. “Is everything okay?”
Rhi huffed out a breath. “He wants me to move in with him.”
“Oh.” Jia tried not to clap her hands together, but she probably couldn’t suppress all the excitement in her voice, because Rhiannon gave her a dry look. “Um, do you not want to?”
Rhiannon reclined in her chair. “I don’t know. I mean, I do. I live there enough as it is. But Katrina . . .”
Ahhhhh. Jia nodded understandingly. While she didn’t think she’d ever be as close to either woman as they were to each other, she absolutely understood why Rhiannon wouldn’t want to leave Katrina’s home. “She’ll be okay. You know she’s totally zen about us living our lives. I feel like she’s even hinted that you should move in with Samson.”
“Hmm.”
“She doesn’t need us. You know that, right?” Jia shook her head. “Katrina’s panic disorder doesn’t mean that she’s incapable of handling her own life without chaperones. She became a millionaire before you or I started living with her.”
“She likes clucking over us, though.”
“Sure. But she’s got Jas. She has other friends who aren’t us. What’s that thing she says? People come and go, you enjoy the parts in the middle? And it’s not like you’d never see her again, she’s your freaking business partner.”
“I don’t want her to be lonely. She has abandonment issues from her shitty father. What if I trigger those by telling her I want to leave?” Rhiannon played with her nails. “I don’t want to hurt her.”
“I think you’ll hurt her more by making her think she’s holding you back or something,” Jia remarked.
Rhiannon sighed. “This is why it’s easier to be alone.”
“Easier, but not nearly as much fun. Or as delicious, given Katrina’s culinary skills,” Jia offered cheerfully.
“Yeah, yeah. Okay, I’ll think about talking to her.”
“Is Samson . . . ?”
Rhiannon waved that worry away. “I’ll call him later. He’s feeling a little rejected right now, but once he thinks about it, he’ll understand. He’s going out with Jas tonight, anyway; that’ll cheer him up. Now, what’s up with you? I haven’t seen you in days.”
Jia bit her lip. She had told Katrina the bare bones about what was going on over the past Dev-packed week. Katrina had been worried, but apparently her friend hadn’t passed the message along to Rhiannon. “Um, I’ve seen that actor, Dev, again. And again. And again.” She thought for a second. “Yes, three times.”
Rhiannon’s eyebrows rose so high, they were in danger of climbing off her face. “Why on earth did you do that?”
“Well, because I accidentally told my mom we were together, and my family’s coming here soon and I don’t want to admit to them that I was catfished and he felt bad his cousin and brother did the said catfishing so he agreed to pretend to date me.”
Rhiannon steepled her hands under her chin. “I need a longer explanation.”
Jia ran through as much as she’d told Katrina. When she finished, Rhiannon rubbed her forehead. “His cousin?”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t believe I missed all this. How did you get into this mess?”
“I’m not sure. Sometimes things happen to me.”
Rhiannon edged her keyboard closer to her. “You know I’m going to stalk him, right?”
“I’m surprised you haven’t already.”
“My personal life is clearly distracting me. This is what friends do.”
“I don’t think friends regularly stalk people their friends are having fake relationships with.”
“It’s so wild, how you don’t hear how silly that sentence sounds.” Rhiannon twirled her pen between her fingers. “Has your family been driving you nuts?”
“No, actually. They seem to have calmed down. My mom said she’s waiting to talk to Ayesha before booking their flights, but they’re aiming for the end of the month. Noor and Zara have chilled out. I haven’t talked to Ayesha or Sadia yet.” Privately, Jia had wondered if she could have had this level of peace all along if she’d just made up a fake boyfriend that they approved of.
She could have a huge platform, do groundbreaking stuff, and no one relaxed until she had a man. Amazing. And annoying.
“Well, that’s—”
A knock came at the door, and a petite woman with blond hair stuck her head in. “Rhiannon? I’m sorry, but you said it was okay to interrupt? I need a few signatures.”
“Yes, Tina,” Rhiannon said warmly.
She walked in and handed Rhiannon a sheaf of papers. “Here’s that information you wanted, too.”