The Men Next Door

Ch 2 - Brooks

A convoluted game of tug of war.

That's what I was convinced I'd volunteered myself for by the time I parked Cam's moving truck in a spot marked 'returns.'

She wasn't some shiny prize to be won, but Luca and I were clearly both eager to get to know our new neighbor. Why else would we have agreed to squish into a three-seater cab and journey through the concrete jungle on a whim? And there may have been plenty of time to get to know her, but she only had twenty-four hours in a day and a million more important things to worry about than hanging out with the men next door.

Maybe that was for the best, though. Sure, she'd caught my attention, but for all I knew, she was going to run with the rope and leave us both in the mud. Did I really want to put myself through that? To put Luca through that?

I didn't think he'd felt the first tugs of tension yet, though maybe he was just better at shaking it off. I mean, I was standing there thinking about the flowchart to my future while he'd already found a fresh dose of entertainment out on the main street. The slew of slow-moving cars wasn't all that exciting, but I could see why the flashes of color might keep his mind occupied...And a few seconds later, a glossy yellow passerby jogged mine.

Someone had to call a cab to get us home.

And it wasn't going to be me.

"Nose goes!" I yelled the second that Cam reappeared from inside the dingy, brick rental shop. Driving through Manhattan took enough brainpower; I'd done my part. She probably had too, now that I mention it, but Luca conveniently kept his distance until she'd answered.

"Smart move." Campbell tapped her temple with one finger as she padded across the wet blacktop toward me, already pulling out her phone to request a taxi. "You catch on quick."

I gave a theatrical bow in response, and Luca shot me a knowing smirk as he drifted over to join us. I knew him well enough to recognize the subtle call out. And he knew me well enough to recognize that a bow like that in front of a near stranger was out of character. I was usually more uptight around new people, but with Cam? Well, something told me to let my personality shine through.

Luca wasn't going to leave it at a smirk, though—divine intervention or not. It was against his nature to pass up a chance to give me shit. So while our neighbor busied herself with her screen a couple yards away, he brushed right by me to whisper a taunting "I'm on to you. May the better man win."

I shook my head and let out a small sigh.

Campbell was a beautiful woman, and I wasn't shocked that my best friend thought so too. We'd already made that painfully obvious on the drive over. I was shocked, however, that he took less than a day to make a challenge out of it. In hindsight, I probably should've expected that—he was definitely the most competitive person I knew—but you know what they say about hindsight.

I would've done a lot of things differently if I could press rewind.

"Driver should be here in...five minutes," Cam stated, tucking her phone into the bright green backpack with the last of her things. I tried, unsuccessfully, to tuck my thoughts away with it. Luca's mind reading games had sent me straight into the depths of my head, which was just about the worst place I could be if I wanted to impress anyone. As proven by the fact that when Campbell added, "It's on me, by the way. Thank you both for tagging along," I didn't even think to cover the cost.

In my defense, Luca was there, blissfully unaffected, moving the conversation forward before I could blink.

"Of course. It was fun. The good kind of unexpected. And hey, I was thinking...Did you have any plans for food?"