Dating and Dragons (Dungeons and Drama, #2) (62)

I put a hand on my hip. “Well, whatever this protective act is, you can stop it now. Logan is a friend.”

“A friend with benefits,” he mutters. “You thought your old friends were cool too—”

“Listen, I know you don’t know me,” Logan interrupts, stepping forward as if he thinks we’re about to lunge at each other’s throats. “But all of us care way too much about Quinn to ever act like that.”

“Yeah, I saw how much you care a few seconds ago. Do you have any idea what she went through with her last group?”

Now I’m the one who might need to break up a fight. “Andrew, stop.” I hold out a hand to keep him back and turn to Logan.

“I’m fine,” Logan reassures me before I can say anything. To my surprise, he doesn’t look angry. “I’ll go.” He nods to Andrew and walks to the door. When it clicks shut at his back, I whirl on Andrew.

“What the hell has gotten into you? Logan is a good guy—you didn’t need to act like that with him. Or like you’re my big protector when we both know you couldn’t care less what’s going on with me.”

“That’s not true,” he argues, and pulls a Gatorade from the refrigerator like we’re having a casual chat about the weather.

“That’s a surprise to me.”

“I like it here,” he replies, as if that makes any sense given the context of the conversation.

“Um, okay?”

“What they did really messed you up, and I don’t want to move again.”

“What are you talking about? We didn’t move because of me. We moved because Grandma needed help.”

“But the fact that you were so miserable certainly motivated Mom and Dad.”

I tilt my head. Did it? It didn’t seem like anyone took much notice of what was happening with me at the end of last year. I didn’t necessarily mind, since I wanted as much space as possible.

“It wasn’t fun living with you after that,” Andrew continues. His shoulders slump. “I didn’t like seeing you that way.”

Some of the sharpness in my chest softens. I guess there are worse things in life than having an overprotective little brother. Although his timing could be a lot better.

I take a Diet Coke from the fridge and scrub a hand over my face. “Thank you for worrying, I guess, but it’s not necessary. I’m happy here too. And this new group really is great.”

He sniffs.

“You certainly seemed interested in Kashvi before,” I say with a raised eyebrow.

He shrugs me off. “She doesn’t count.”

“Hmm.” The solution to the riddle from before comes to me. I bet that’s why he was logging into our game. He wasn’t doing it to see me; he was doing it for Kashvi. I’d almost be impressed that he was trying to learn about her interests if I weren’t absolutely horrified at the idea of my little brother wanting to make out with my closest friend.

“The game wasn’t as boring as I thought it would be,” he says begrudgingly.

“You’re full of surprises today.”

I take him in, an idea coming to me. He did watch my livestream, which is more than I’d ever expect of him. Maybe I should make more of an effort to do things with him too.

“Would you want to try hanging out sometime?” I ask. “Maybe playing a game of pickleball at the rec center? I promise you’ll crush me at it.”

“The weird sport Grandma plays? Yeah, no. You aren’t the worst sister in the world, but I have my limits.” He pushes away from the counter and heads upstairs without a backward glance.

Good to know he’s still my charming little brother.





Chapter Twenty-Four





“Wow, that went so well!” Kashvi says on Monday when we get back into her car. I haven’t shaken off the disaster of this weekend, but I’m still glad to be hanging out with Kashvi again so soon. Today we’re taking our newly finished jewelry—including multiple pieces with the halfling dice—to a few different stores around town. To our surprise, the stores have been eager to stock more of our pieces on consignment. We celebrated by using our newly earned money to buy expensive iced coffees. Not exactly financially responsible, but very tasty.

“We’re going to need to get back to work if our stuff is moving this quickly,” Kashvi continues, and puts on her seat belt. “Unless you’d be willing to part with a few of those pieces?”

“Not a chance.” I play with my bracelets—spinning them around my wrist until my favorite stones and dice are on top. This particular combo pulls together all the earth tones from my skirt, and if I get rid of any bracelets, then it won’t tie together. I glance down at my phone and find a text from Logan.

Logan: Do you have time to come by my work? I can offer free ice cream as a bribe, but only mint chocolate chip. It’s time I win you over.

A zip of electricity runs through me. As if it’s possible for Logan to win me over more than he already has. But I can’t respond right now, so I turn my phone over and focus on Kashvi.

“Luckily we still have tons of dice from Logan, so that’ll help,” I say.

“I still can’t believe he gave us all of those. He’s always been such a great guy. It’s annoying, actually.”