“Traded it…?” Troy paused and then grinned. “Yeah, yeah, that’s why.” He looked at me and took my hand. “Wanna go catch up in the bedroom for a few seconds?”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” TJ said with a small frown. “So, you like sports cars, Troy?”
“Yeah. I used to drag race in high school. My buddy Pete souped up an old Honda CR-V and we used to take it to the track every Friday.”
“I like car racing as well.” TJ nodded. “I like to take out my dad’s Ferrari and race it.”
“Wow, a Ferrari.” Troy’s jaw dropped. “That’s dope.”
“Yeah. I drove a Spyder a couple of months ago.” He grinned.
“That’s cool,” Troy said. “I think I’m going to get a Honda CBR and get into some street-bike racing.”
“Yeah, I do that too,” TJ said. “Though my bike’s in the shop. I had a little accident a couple of months ago.”
“I didn’t know that,” I said sharply. “You were in a motorcycle accident?”
“Yeah, no biggie.” TJ shrugged. “Just fractured my wrist.”
“You fractured your wrist?” I frowned and looked at his arm. “How did that happen?”
“A truck pulled into my lane and he didn’t check his blind spot,” TJ said nonchalantly. “It happens. It’s the risk you take every time you drive.”
“Yeah, but you don’t almost die in a car every day, like you do on a bike.”
“Bikes are safe,” TJ said, his lips thinning.
“No, they aren’t,” I said stiffly, my heart thudding as my face heated up. I couldn’t believe that TJ had been in an accident and I didn’t even know. No one had told me—not him, and not even Cody. Did I matter that little? But why would they tell you, Mila? a voice inside of me whispered. What possible reason would you have to know about what’s going on in TJ’s life? It’s not like you’re his wife or girlfriend. And, sadly, that was true. I was barely his friend.
“Mila, darling, did you miss me?” Troy asked me, looking at me adoringly. I wanted to ask him what the fuck was going on, but I figured he was some really good actor that Sally had hired to help me make TJ jealous. I kinda wished I’d made up the fake boyfriend for her now. She could have hired someone to try and make Cody jealous. In fact, I was going to tell her that very fact as soon as I got her in a private room. How could she do this to me and not tell me? Ugh! I was so annoyed.
“Of course, my dear,” I said to Troy, looking into his sky-blue eyes and trying to smile. I could see both Cody and TJ looking at me and I knew they were trying to figure out what was going on.
“I’ve been thinking about you all day and night, hoping that I could see you and kiss you all over,” Troy said, and I could see Cody’s eyes narrowing as he looked over at me. Oh boy, Troy was really laying it on strong and I knew that it was way too strong when I saw Cody at our side.
“So tell me again—who are you, exactly?” he said, looking at Troy properly for the first time.
“I’m Troy, Mila’s boyfriend,” Troy said confidently, his perfect white teeth looking up at Cody as if he expected that answer to be the solution to any problems that might come up. “Who are you?” Troy’s smile faltered as he realized that Cody was now glaring at him.
“I’m Mila’s big brother,” he said and squared his shoulders. “Her very protective, older, big brother.”
“Oh, hi,” Troy said, looking at me for help. I nearly started laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Troy, who I’d never seen until ten minutes ago, was looking for me to help him with my brother.
“How long have you been dating Mila?”
“Um, it feels like I’ve known her all my life,” Troy said with a beguiling smile that turned to despair as Cody didn’t smile back. “It’s been a while,” he said weakly and he reached for my hand. I sidestepped to the side of him and stuffed my hand in my pocket. I looked over at TJ and I could see that he was watching everything with an eagle eye and a small smirk on his lips. Jackass!
“Hey hey.” Barbie sauntered outside. “What are you two up to?” Barbie looked at Cody and then TJ, and gave what I’m sure she considered was a sweet, sexy smile. “I thought we were going to eat?” She touched Cody on the shoulder and batted her eyelashes. “I was waiting.”
“Yeah, we are,” Cody said, his eyes lightening as he looked at her. My heart started pounding as I wondered what was going on, but then Barbie walked over to TJ and slapped him on the ass.
“And you, big boy, you need to eat,” she said and licked her lips, like some sort of hungry cat that had just seen a bowl of milk and hadn’t had anything to drink in days.