CHAPTER 5

"What's up?" Zara Lane cut in from the couch, chewing on a Clif Bar.

"What are you doing here? Where's Lylah?" Jess Vaughn asked.

Zara laughed and stood up. "Rude much?"

"You know I didn't?"

"I know," she smiled. "I just finished working out at The Nexus Fitness Center and had to shower before I went all the way home to my apartment. I might have let myself in right before Lylah left to meet some guy."

"Well."

Jess left her sentence hanging.

Zara reached for her water bottle on the counter, looking Jess up and down. "You radiate like you're glowing on the inside."

"I lost my virginity," Jess blurted out.

"You what?" Zara asked.

"I lost my virginity," Jess replied, her heart racing in her chest.

"To who?!"

She snorted. "To maybe. an older dude?"

"Like someone who's eighty?"

"No!" Jess exclaimed. "Who do you think I am?"

Zara laughed.

"Like someone who's twice my age, not eighty. He's my dad's best friend."

Mouth hanging open, Zara stared at Jess with wide eyes. "He's your what?!"

"Dang, Zara, do you need a hearing aid from all that music you blast when you work out?" Jess rolled her eyes good-naturedly, her cheeks burning hotter by the second because it was so bad to say this out loud. "He's my dad's best friend."

"Oh my God," Zara said. "We need all the deets tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Jess repeated. "Where are you going?"

"It's movie night with Caspian Black."

"Movie night again?" Jess hummed.

Zara smiled softly. "Yes."

"When are you going to finally admit that you love him?"

Zara rolled her eyes. "I do not love him. We're friends."

"Friends who fuck?"

Her eyes popped wide. "We do not."

Jess laughed. "But you want to."

Waving her hand away, Zara made a move for the door. "I'll see you later."

Before she could make it out the door, Jess grabbed her wrist. "Please."

"I have to go," Zara said to him. "Caspian's waiting for me."

Shrugging Jess off, she smiled warmly and pushed out of the apartment. Jess sighed and closed the door behind her, pouting back to the couch. She flopped onto it, surrounded by only her own thoughts.

Within a couple of minutes, there was a banging on the front door. Jess sprang from the couch and went towards it, searching for Zara's keys since she'd forgotten them more times than she could count.

"Don't tell me you forgot your keys this time. You always do?"

At her door instead of Zara stood Kai Rylan with his furrowed brows in an angry scowl and a rope in his hand.

Hunched over his desk overlooking Ashwood City, Kai Rylan stared out the window and let out a stiff breath. He'd not been able to look Gideon Vaughn, Jess's dad, in the eye all day, and if he didn't get about it, he'd start to notice.

"Are you okay?" Gideon asked.

"I'm fine," Kai replied quickly, yanking his attention away. "Just stressed."

"What's going on?" Gideon asked.

"No, I'm good." Kai rubbed his face.

Gideon waved the folder Adelaide Grey held to her body. "What's this report?"

Adelaide handed him the folder.

"Just some figures from last year. The firm has grown about twenty-four percent since last quarter, mostly because of Adelaide's efforts. Nothing bad," Gideon clarified. "I just like to get you riled every now and then."

Kai rolled his eyes since Gideon had been doing this since they started the business five years ago, and he should have known better. But he couldn't shake his head. All day long, he'd kept thinking of her.

His phone was on the desk, and he picked it up an inch in his direction to see the notification. His face recognition system wasn't having any issues unlocking the phone, and a message from Jess Vaughn appeared on the screen. It was not a standard message, but a naked picture with the caption, Bet you can't guess what I'm doing without your permission.

Pulling his pants tight, he turned the phone off in a rush and jammed it into his pocket. He glanced across at Gideon, who had no idea that his own innocent daughter's naked would be in front of him if he were to turn it back on.

She was going to be getting him so much fucking trouble. But she wasn't going to get away with it. No fucking way.

"By the way," Adelaide cleared her throat, "I'm happy to work underneath you."

"Yes, me too," Kai lied. "Make sure you're in the office by six every morning."

"Yes, sir."

"Address me by Kai," he clarified, glancing down at his phone. Because Sir and Master were reserved for someone else.

"They totally fucked," Lylah Kim giggled at Jess, her gaze lingering on Zara at the counter of The Daily Grind.

Zara hadn't responded to them since the previous night, and this'd only made it stronger that the running joke that she and Caspian Black were hooking up was actually true.

Zara grabbed her Ashley's Egg Sandwich and headed towards them, her complexion glowing and a huge smile on her face. She slowed down her walk, noticing Lylah's naughty expression, and then stopped dead in her tracks. "What?"

"Is he good?" Lylah cocked an eyebrow.

"Is who good?"

"Caspian."

Rolling her eyes dramatically, Zara sat down next to Jess and grasped her sandwich. "If we ever get together-and we won't because we're totally friends-you'll be the first to hear it, okay?"

"Sort of," Lylah tapped her chin, "I think that's a lie."

"Get real," Zara hummed. "You think I could ever keep it from you? Jess couldn't."

Lylah tore her focus to Jess, her eyes erupting. "You what?"

Snip on her phone, impatiently waiting for Kai to reply, Jess sealed her lips, her face reddening. "Oh, well, I might or might not have gotten busy with my dad's best friend last night and-"

Lylah slammed her hands on the table and stood up. "And you didn't warn me?!"

"Anyway, you were with Professor Orion Welles last night."

Zara shook her head as if she was enjoying the melodrama. "Jess hooking up with her dad's best friend. Lylah sleeping with her sex ed professor. And always me who is the butt of everyone's slutty rumors."

"Because clearly you and Caspian Black are banging," someone muttered behind them.

Mei-Ling Wong came over to their table and placed her backpack on the floor beside Lylah.

As Mei-Ling ordered a coffee, Jess reclined in her chair and opened up her messages to Kai. She had been firing off some sassy ones to him this morning when he was at work and she was lounging around at home.