“No good deed comes free,” Parker complains, pushing away from the island. He and Aleks collect the empty dishes while Jackson packs the few remaining leftovers into containers.
Sydney passes me a heavy document. “Here’s the NDA for you to look over.”
It’s thicker than I expected, which is a touch concerning.
“Do you want my sister to take a look at it for you?” Parker calls over the running tap water. “She primarily works in real estate law, but Paige is a gun at all things.”
I’ve read my fair share of NDAs, even signed a couple here and there. I contemplate sending it to our family lawyer to look over, but then I’d risk my parents finding out I used them for something. They’d want to know what it was for. Obviously, I could lie, but that would be an extra headache that I don’t need. This NDA is also way longer than the previous ones I’ve dealt with. Another pair of eyes would be useful.
“Yeah, actually, that would be great.”
He nods. “Alright, Syd will get our lawyers to send her a copy.”
“Thanks. I’m still going to try to give it a read myself.” I park myself on the black leather couch, curling my feet under me as I start to leaf through it. It seems standard, but there is a lot of legal jargon I don’t understand.
I do understand that I can’t breathe a word about their identities. I can’t come to the apartment unless I’m driven by Francis or an approved security member. I make a face when I see that even our dates have to be preapproved. It kind of blows, but I suck it up.
I breathe a sigh of relief when I read that the contract is void if the boys decide to reveal their identities themselves or if a third party unrelated to me does—like a media outlet.
However, when I see my compensation for the NDA, I still. The number isn’t small, even by my count. My gut sours. It makes me uncomfortable, taking money from them for a secret I had no plan in revealing anyway. I contemplate whether I should ask Paige to get it removed. I don’t even need the money, anyway.
“Sorry, by the way.” Sydney startles me out of my thoughts, and I cock my head to the side.
“For what?”
She takes a seat next to me, “Yelling last night. Emotions were high and, well, I should’ve been more levelheaded. It was unprofessional of me.”
I close the NDA, placing it on the table to give her my full attention.
“Sydney, you were just protecting them. I don’t blame you at all. You’re a good person.”
“Thanks.” She gives me a small smile, tugging her blonde braid to the side as she leans back against the cushions. Sydney looks at me for a moment, biting her lip before blowing out a breath.
“You know, after I met you, I kind of hoped you would text me.”
Oh shit. I never texted her. It totally slipped my mind between everything else going on.
The guilt must show on my face because she starts waving her hands around.
“Crap, that sounded desperate. It’s not like you were obligated to text me.”
“No!” I grab her hands. “I was going to. I swear. I thought you were awesome. Things, life, just totally took over my brain.” I smile at her. “You seem like an amazing friend. I’d want you in my corner any day, prepared to commit homicide.”
Laughter fills her gray eyes. “Parker says I listen to too many true-crime podcasts.”
“I blame Deer and Lee for that; they totally got you into it,” Parker shouts.
“Whatever.” She rolls her eyes before smiling at me. “Friends?”
It’s an easy decision.
“Friends.”
***
I spend the rest of the day hanging out in the apartment.
Sydney leaves shortly after brunch, but I end up gaming with the guys. I was a little anxious, knowing they’d all be so much better than me because they do this professionally. Aleks promised they’d take it easy on me, let me have some time to learn the controls and rules, feel it out. But after a couple of rounds, I started to get the hang of it and began winning. They all doubled down at that point, crushing me back for every win and more. I was getting decimated. It was nothing that a little bit of pouting at Aleks couldn’t fix though. He was more than happy to help me out and nuke the guys—even though it was a PvP game, no teams involved. Jackson switched us to a racing kart game after that, eliciting a groan from Aleks. Apparently, he hates any game where he has to drive a car, let alone one where the entire point is to race against your friends on various maps. The fact that I managed to place higher than him nine times out of ten kind of spoke to his hatred. That, and him throwing his controller across the room at one point.
I, however, feel like a race kart badass.
“Who would’ve thought that I would be better than NightBlade32 at a video game?” I tease him as we lounge on the couch, my head on his chest. Jackson and Parker left to get some food before they stream tonight, but Aleks still has our dinner date set.
His chest rumbles with laughter. I feel it reverberating deep within him, my head bouncing with his movement.
“Jackson knows I hate that game.”
“Don’t lie, you love it.”
“I’d love it a hell of a lot more if I was good at it.” He runs his fingers lazily up and down my arm. That, paired with the evening sunlight filtering in through the windows, has me dozing off, eyelids fluttering shut, full of content.
“Did you have fun today?”
“Mhm,” I hum.
“Really?” There’s something off. A note of nervousness in his voice.
My eyes reluctantly peel open. “Really. Some of the most fun I’ve had in forever.” I hold his gaze and watch as vulnerability peeks through.
“Aleksander, I’m serious. I haven’t played video games with people since I was a kid. Michail, my brother, grew out of them when I was still in elementary school, so I just learned to play on my own or not at all. It was freeing to just let loose and play for the day. I’d missed it.”
I watch as his smile returns, confidence building back up. So, I decide to let him in further.
“And waking up this morning to that brunch? God, I haven’t had a meal like that in ages. Surrounded by people and having fun, being at ease and not having to worry about being proper or putting on a show.” I snuggle in closer to his chest. “We stopped having family breakfasts on the weekend when I was in middle school. My parents were just too busy, and Michail was in high school with all his extracurriculars,” I tell him. “But we’d stopped having family dinners way before that. Now, we only meet up once a month at a restaurant, and that’s only if Michail and Vittoria’s schedules align. It’s something at least.” I shrug. It sucks, but I’ve come to terms with it. I want to spend more time with them, but I never really had much of them growing up anyway. It was my grandparents who spent the most time with Michail and me.
“I know what you mean. I’m an only child, but I lost my parents in a plane crash when I was five. Granny raised me, but she passed a few years ago.” I hear the hurt in his voice, the loss. I hug him tighter. “She was an amazing woman, made the best chocolate chip cookies, and always looked out for me even when I was getting in trouble. We didn’t have much other than each other, which didn’t bother me because she smothered me with love. But it meant that I never had those big family Thanksgivings or Christmases. We’d come back from school break and have to write little essays on what we spent our vacation doing, and mine were always simple compared to others. It wasn’t until I met Jackson in high school that I really had any friends. His family is massive, and they make the most out of every holiday. It showed me how different life could be. You should come to their next Lunar New Year celebration; it’s the best.”