Page 73 of Off the Wall

Nori’s smile goes shy. And even in borrowed clothing, with no makeup on and her hair totally unbrushed, she’s still so breathtakingly perfect, a part of me wants to stay in my apartment with her forever, here in this moment, sharing inside jokes.

But that’s not real life.

So I follow her out the door, juggling a basket of laundry and an internal battle she’ll never know.

We’re halfway down the hall when Nori’s roommate—the redhead, Hayden—appears at the top of the stairs. She’s with the brunette I’ve learned is Keeley. Both women spot us and freeze before sharing a quick glance with each other.

“Look, Hayden,” Keeley says on a smirk. “It’s our favorite key-loser.” She converges on Nori, wrapping her in a bear hug. “How are you, friend?”

“I’m just fine, bone crusher.” Nori extricates herself and nods in my direction. “Keeley, this is Cash Briggs. Cash, this is Keeley Roberts. And you already know Hayden.”

“Nice to meet you, Keeley.” I bob my head. “Good to see you too, Hayden.”

“Hey, there.” Hayden’s mouth slips sideways, and her gazedarts between Nori and me. “You’ll never believe what I found.” She holds up a ring of keys on a smiley face chain and jangles them.

Nori sucks in a gust of air. “Where?”

“In the courtyard.” Hayden hands the keys over to her. “Under a lounge chair.”

Whoa.

“I swear I looked everywhere.” I shift my weight, hoping Nori doesn’t think I arranged things so she’d be stuck staying with me last night. “I was on my hands and knees, scouring every inch of the pool deck.”

Nori clutches the waistband of my sweats in one hand and her wrinkled clothes in the other. “I’m sure it was just too dark for Cash to see.”

Hayden aims her crooked grin at me. “Is that what happened, Cash? Was it too dark for you to see?”

“Honestly?” I splay my hands. “I have no explanation.”

“Well, either way,” Keeley interjects, “thanks for taking care of our girl in her time of need.”

“Of course.” My chest swells at her validation, but I shouldn’t want Nori to need me—for so many reasons. I’ve got to shift the attention to something else.

Quick.

“How did the wedding planning go?” I ask Hayden. “Nori says the big day’s coming up, yeah? I bet you’ve got a lot to do.”

This works.

“Somuch to do,” Hayden squawks. “For the most part everything’s great. We finalized the seating chart and met with the caterer to pay for the food. But then my fiancé’s cousin called. Apparently, her son’s getting his tonsils out or something, and they can’t leave him with a babysitter, so Jasper and I have two extra dinners we already paid for.”

“That’s too bad.” I wince, thinking about the poor kid.

“Totally.AndJasper insisted on filet and lobster,” Hayden adds. “Jasper’s my fiancé. I was just telling Keeley how ridiculously expensive the meals are per plate.”

“Not to mention the open bar,” Keeley chimes in.

“Unfortunately”—Hayden shrugs—“I’ve already invited all our family and pretty much every friend I’ve had since kindergarten.”

“Hazards of being popular.” Keeley snorts. “A real tragedy.”

“Totally.” Hayden darts her gaze between Nori and me, and a slow smile breaks across her face. “You know what?” She turns my way. “Youshould come to the wedding, Cash.”

I blink. “Me?”

“You won’t know too many of the guests, but you and I have met now. And Keeley will be there with her boyfriend, Andrew. He lives in the building too. And Nori’s my maid of honor, of course. So there will be plenty of people for you to chat with.”

Nori lets out a little yelp. “Cash doesn’t want your pity invite.”

---