The Moth and the Flame (When Rivals Play #2) - B.B. Reid Page 0,151
burst in. “What’s up, ladies? Four.”
She didn’t bother looking up from her phone as she flipped him off. I had the feeling from the heat pinking her cheeks that she was busy sexting with Ever. After I’d given Wren his ultimatum, he’d left without a word, but the promise I’d glimpsed in his eyes just before he turned away kept me from knowing what to think.
Jamie crossed the room and shoved open the window before taking up a seat on the wide sill with one foot hanging from the window and the other planted on the floor. He then dug in his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, popped one in his mouth and then dug for a lighter.
“Jamie, I don’t want my room smelling like smoke.”
“Hence, the open window, kitten.” He ignored the rest of Four’s protests and lit up. Jay D, enamored by the newcomer, rushed to his side, and Jamie greeted him with a cloud of smoke blown in his face. Jay D barked but didn’t move away, so Jamie took another drag with a twinkle in his eye.
Seeing this, Four rushed over and grabbed her baby before Jamie could do it again. “I don’t think there is a person in this room who won’t say that you fell out that window and broke every bone in your body.”
“You wouldn’t dare and not because your balls aren’t big enough but because you’d have no one to use when you need to make Ever jealous.”
“And why would I need to make Ever jealous?”
“Because his attention is divided.” He looked over at Tyra, who was painting her nails. “You’re shit at that,” he remarked.
I couldn’t argue with him and neither could Tyra as she frowned at her toes.
“Well, if you’re going to crash our slumber party,” Tyra griped, “you should at least make yourself useful.”
He didn’t respond other than to lift his lithe yet powerful body from the window and stroll unhurriedly to the tall white chest in the corner of Four’s room where an iPod was hooked to a pill-shaped speaker.
“Thief.” He snarled at Four before plucking the last of his cigarette from his lips and putting it out on the pristine wood.
“Jamie!”
He ignored her and thumbed through the iPod. ‘She Loves Me Not’ by Papa Roach came through the speakers, and Four cocked her head with a teasing smile.
“Something on your mind, James?”
“Bite me,” he said before taking a seat on the bed and yanking Tyra’s foot into his lap.
“Careful!” she scolded. “I’m delicate.”
“But your tongue is sharp,” he retorted with a snicker. “If you’re looking for ways to get Vaughn to stick around, I wouldn’t suggest giving him a blow job.”
Twenty minutes later, he was applying a final coat of red polish to Tyra’s toes.
“Good boy.” She patted the top of his head, so he pushed her feet off his lap, making her shriek and inspect her toes for smeared polished.
Sighing, he looked between Four and me. “Who’s next?”
Four snorted, so I wiggled my toes in invitation and tossed him one of Tyra’s many blue polishes.
“How are you so good at this, anyway?” I asked him as he applied the first stroke.
He frowned before he ducked his head, and I had the feeling he was hiding. “My dad sometimes painted my mom’s toes. After he died, she would always cry whenever she did them herself.”
“So you painted them for her.”
He shrugged and dipped the brush inside the bottle for more polish. “I didn’t like seeing her cry.”
“Aww, Jamie!” we all cooed at the same time.
The vicious scowl he wore in response had us laughing until we cried.
“Laugh all you want, but the joke’s on you,” he grumbled. “I lied so one of you would sleep with me.”
I shook my head while Four rolled her eyes. Jamie hadn’t lied, but the way he avoided our gazes told me he was afraid of being open. So afraid that it made me wonder if he’d been hurt before and how deeply.
“You’re shit at that,” Tyra said, throwing his words from before back at him.
“At what?”
“Keeping people from seeing who you really are.”
“Perhaps I’m a magician, and you’re too busy watching the wrong hand to see all the magic happening in the other.”
“Now who’s the thief,” Four teased. “You totally stole that from Now You See Me!” She bent over clutching her stomach while Jamie glared daggers. It didn’t faze her one bit, and after a while, Jamie grinned, too. I realized then that their friendship was an