“I don’t need one of those.” Cheyenne snorted. “If I’m trying to find you, all I gotta do is walk in my front door.”
“Woah!” Ember looked down.
The halfling glanced at her friend and their overly friendly neighbor, then rolled her eyes. “Sorry. I think I’m in ‘stun undergrad students into silence with barbed sarcasm’ mode.”
Which is kinda my go-to mode anyway.
The fae looked at Cheyenne with a resigned expression that said the same thing.
“I can only imagine. And I know I wouldn’t be able to stand up in front of a room of students and try to get anything through their heads, so no offense taken.” Matthew smiled at the halfling and looked genuinely okay about the whole thing.
“All right.” Cheyenne nodded and pulled her cell phone from her back pocket. “Hey, what time was your PT?”
“Oh. Two o’clock.”
“It’s a little after one. Should we get outta here?”
Ember nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m ready to rock the hell out of PT.”
“Anything I can do to help?” Matthew was only asking Ember. He seemed to have forgotten about the bitingly sarcastic Goth chick standing across from him.
“I don’t think so.”
“We got it, Matthew. Thanks for the offer.”
“I’m more than happy to tag along. Help with the chair. Go grab food or whatever while you guys are there. We were just talking about lunch.”
“That’s really awesome of you.” Cheyenne pushed herself away from the back of the couch. Then she clapped her hand on their neighbor’s upper back—hitting his shoulder would’ve been ridiculous with at least a foot between them in height—and guided him toward the front door. “Right now, this is a housemates kinda deal, you know? And we gotta get ready, so thanks for coming over. We’ll see ya later, huh?”
“Yeah. If you need anything, really, guys, I’m right across the hall.”
“Oh, we know. Much appreciated, neighbor.” Cheyenne opened the door and finally removed her hand from his back. “Have an awesome Monday.”
Matthew chuckled and stepped into the hall. “Yeah, you too. Oh, hey. How’d you like the coffee?”
The halfling blinked. “It’s to die for.”
“Ha. Good one. I thought you’d like it.”
“Good taste in coffee, man.” She started to close the door, but Matthew spun and pushed it open again. “Seriously?”
“Sorry.” He stuck his head through the partially open door and grinned at the fae girl watching the whole thing. “Bye, Ember.”
“Yeah, see ya.”
“Yeah. Okay.” Matthew pulled back, nodded quickly at Cheyenne, then stepped all of five feet across the hall and into his apartment.
Cheyenne shut the door all the way and twisted the deadbolt with a jerk. “Are you kidding me with that guy?”
Ember threw her head back and laughed. “He’s a lot.”
“So a lot.” The halfling scrunched her face and closed her eyes. “I can’t believe you spent all day with him yesterday and still let him come back this morning.”
“Come on, Cheyenne. Do you know how hard it is to tell someone, ‘Hey, sorry, I know we live right across the hallway from each other, but I need you to not come over for a full twenty-four hours?’”
“Didn’t sound like that was very hard.”
Ember rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, I don’t have a problem with you.”
“You have a problem with Matthew? ‘Cause I can take care of that.”
The fae stared at her friend. “Please don’t.”
They burst out laughing. “Then what? You’re just gonna let him drive you crazy? And that’s exactly what’ll happen, by the way. He’s the kind of guy who won’t back down until someone gives him a flat-out no. Even then, it probably takes three or four times to get through his head.”
Ember folded her arms and blinked. “You haven’t spent more than ten minutes in the same room with him.”
“I don’t have to, Em. He’s a carbon copy of half the people who used to show up at my mom’s house asking her for advice, endorsements, or a good word put in with whoever. They’re still knocking down her door, and I spent most of my life watching them do it. If Matthew Thomas dabbles in politics, I bet you he at least knows someone who’s been out to see my mom.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Yeah. But hey, if you need someone to be upfront with the guy, let me know. I also spent most of my life watching Bianca Summerlin gracefully put her foot down with no room for argument, so I’m sure I’ll be able to handle it for you.”
“You did a pretty good job two minutes ago.”
“That was nothing.” Cheyenne wiggled her eyebrows, and her fae friend rolled her eyes.
“I feel really sorry for anyone who gets on your bad side, halfling.”
“My bad side is like ninety-nine-percent of the whole thing.”
They laughed, and Ember ran a hand through her hair. “I’m in the Cheyenne Summerlin one percent. Go, me. And on that note, we really should get going.”
“No problem. What do you need?”
“I got it.” Ember wheeled quickly through the kitchen and into her bedroom.
Cheyenne went to the fridge and pulled out the two leftover pieces of pizza wrapped in tinfoil. She’d eaten one of them by the time Ember came back out with her purse in her lap.
“Wow. My whole worldview of how fast a person can cram pizza into their face has officially been shattered.”
“I have a lot of talents,” the halfling muttered around a mouthful.
“Clearly.” The fae eyed her friend and the cold pizza dangling from Cheyenne’s hand. Then she nodded at the front door. “Let’s go.”
“Right behind you.” Tossing the crumpled foil into the trashcan, the halfling skirted around the kitchen island and raced to the door first. She leaned against it to peer through the peephole, then unlocked the deadbolt. “Okay, the coast is clear.”
“Come on. Give him a break, huh?”
“What, like he’s giving you a break.” Cheyenne laughed. “We’ll be late if he opens his door and sees us for even a second.”
Ember shook her head. “Then we better be fast.”
“I got you, Em.” As she pulled open
