Page 36 of A Brother At My Back

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Tiff…

“Wait, you like him as in like him, like him?” Delia was staring at me, agape.

“Yes.”

It had been three days since he’d stayed the day in my apartment the first time and he’d stayed every day since, except we still hadn’t had sex. I wanted him, and I knew he wanted me, but what he was giving me was far more important right now. What he was giving me was an intimacy I had craved for a long time, yet hadn’t known with the front part of my brain that I’d needed.

He held me. We talked. Sometimes he just listened, sometimes I did, but it was a bonding that I think we both needed. A friendship that was definitely going somewhere, but one of the things I needed was my best friend to accept him and the only way that was going to happen was if she got to know him like I did.

Unfortunately, the closer I was growing to Nik, it felt like the further away I was getting from Lia, and I would be lying if I said that didn’t hurt.

“Come meet him,” I practically begged and Delia rolled her eyes at me but followed along reluctantly. Of course, that was probably because I had her by the hand and was towing her out the door past Zeke and across the back lot to where Nik sat bundled on the back of his bike.

“Gidday, ladies.”

“Hey,” I said softly, smiling.

“You must be Delia then?” he asked, and held out his hand to her. She eyed him suspiciously but took it and gave it a solid shake.

“Yep, I’m the best friend,” she declared.

“Nice to meet you.” He gave her a smile that I increasingly was finding to be disarming and asked, “Join us for a bit of brekkie?”

“A bit of what?” she asked and laughed a little.

“It’s what Kiwis call breakfast,” I told her.

“Sure, but for us, it’s sort of dinner time for us, isn’t it?”

“True, but Nik and I have been going to this diner with really good breakfast food that starts up around this time.”

“Maybe another time,” she said. “I’m meeting someone.”

I blinked, taken aback. Delia was my best friend, we shared everything about one another’s lives. How did I not know about this until right before? I rocked back on my heels, surprised to feel more hurt well up and I immediately overruled my heart with my head, thinking to myself Delia is her own person with her own life apart from yours… Besides, you haven’t exactly been forthcoming about Nik. Of course, there was a reason for that. Delia, while having her heart in the right place, was also pretty judgmental about the Sacred Hearts as a whole. It made it hard for me to want to share.

“Don’t look at me like that, please?” she asked softly. “It isn’t like that.”

“Like what?” I asked back, frowning, my sixth sense tingling. Why would she put it that way? She read the look on my face clearly and sighed.

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry.”

Oh, that was rich! Now I really wanted to know just who it was she was meeting up with.

“Why would I worry?” I asked, and now I was like a dog with a bone.

“Cooper called,” she hedged and I felt myself scowl.

“You’re going to meet up with Cooper Roth?” I demanded.

“Like I said, it’s not like that,” she said quickly. “I was suspicious, too, but he swears he just wants to catch up.”

“Conveniently, after three years and right after Silas is released from prison?” I asked. “Yeah, no. I don’t believe that for a minute, and you shouldn’t either, Delia.”

“I’m with Tiffany on this one, Girl. Sounds sus to me,” Nik chimed in.

“Nobody asked you,” Delia snapped at him defensively.

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