Page 25 of Hungry Hearts

I push the button to the ignition and stare at myself in my rear-view mirror. Flashy women have attracted my attention and occupied my bed up until a few days ago. They’ve never occupied my mind. The vision of flash, yes, but never anyone specific.

Maia is anything but flashy. She’s gorgeous. She’s real. She’s fucking perfect.

And I’m whipped.

“Since when are you the first to arrive?” Drake startles when I enter his office and drop a dozen donuts and four coffees in the middle of the conference table. “Thirty minutes early and playing our coffee girl today?” He spins in his office chair and searches the Boston skyline. “Where are the pigs?”

“Cute, Doc.”

Drake has a dozen nicknames, thanks to yours truly. The most common is Doc, because we like to tease him about having a PhD in math. He’s a genius with numbers, hence how Nolan, Trey, and I were able to even consider being silent partners when he opened Four Aces a few years ago. The second is Switz, short for Switzerland, because he’s the voice of reason when it comes to our squabbles.

“Get some bad reviews or something? Business slowing down?”

“Hardly.” I pull out a chair and flip open the donut box, reaching for a Boston creme.

“Hiding out from a woman?”

I snort. “No.”

“Need to cry on my shoulder because you’re having women problems?”

“For a genius, you’re pretty stupid sometimes.”

Drake lets out a sigh and returns to his laptop. “Feel free to be quiet and ignore me while I get work done before our meeting.”

I push back my chair and prop my feet up on the table and scroll through my phone. A dozen TikToks later, my phone vibrates with a text message.

It’s from Drake—who’s sitting fifteen feet from me—to our group chat.

DOC:Benton got here twenty minutes ago. With donuts. And coffee.

SEALY:Bullshit. He’s never first.

BAX:K

SEALY:You hiding out, Ry-dog?

DOC:I asked him the same thing. He denies it.

SEALY:Must have stayed at the penthouse.

BAX:Ella and I stayed at the PH last night. Didn’t hear him come in.

I slept at my apartment last night, but I don’t cut in.

SEALY:Probs because you and Ella make so much noise.

DOC:Pot. Kettle. Black.

BAX:Dude. My sister.

SEALY:Baby brother doesn’t like to hear about how loud Avery is when I make her–

BAX:Fuck. Off.

SEALY:I did. Last night. Twice. Once this morning.

I snort from my seat, loving that the focus is off me and now on someone else. It’s too much fun watching Nolan and Trey go at it. Things were tense for a hot minute when Trey learned Nolan was hooking up with his sister.

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