“Kelsey. So get your slacker ass off my couch,” Evan called back. The casual bystander would have detected a hint of hostility in his tone. They might have been right. Brian took it all in good humor, though at twenty-six he really did spend more time on Evan’s and his parents’ couches than anywhere else except the local tattoo parlor, where he was an artist. And a damn good one, at that, but he couldn’t even commit fully to the things he excelled at and enjoyed.

“I knew you were talking to a girl. I can always tell.” Brian padded into the kitchen, his feet bare and his long black and blue hair mussed, to get a Red Bull from the refrigerator. Dragons and flames and God only knew what else crawled down the skin of his arms from under the Nine Inch Nails T-shirt he wore. To look at him, one would think he was a pierced, tattooed nightmare, and it was true Evan often worried when Brian showed up unannounced that he might be harboring a fugitive. He was the reason Evan would probably never make a run for district attorney. But he was mostly harmless.

“Brian, piss off.”

“So she’s coming over because…”

“Because I invited her.” Evan set the microwave to defrost and put in one steak. He turned to his pantry and collected the spices he needed for seasoning. “You do remember that we leave the day after tomorrow, right? And that I’m letting you stay here unsupervised the whole week? Don’t make me regret it before I even leave.”

“Whatever. So are you making a play for this girl?”

It was the burning question. Was he? She’d always been an enigma to him in college, and ten years later, she still was to an extent. Back then she’d been a strange mix. At a party she was the one laughing the loudest in the room, talking to the most people, staying till the wee hours. She might do that one night and close down the library the next, careful not to jeopardize her near-perfect GPA. He’d never known anyone more loyal, more genuinely nice. She was everyone’s sweetheart. He’d been head over heels for her because of that alone.

But on the flip side, she’d been a bit…prudish. She was only laughing the loudest until dirty jokes or sex talk started to fly, then she turned blood red and usually vanished. She’d never dated anyone that he knew of until she met Todd. Even now, just two days ago, she’d choked up when he got a little suggestive over the phone.

And by the time long ago when he’d decided that facet of her personality didn’t matter to him anymore, it was too late. Now there was another chance, but damn if there weren’t even more problems.

He’d seen how her heartbreak of six months ago had wounded her down to the bone. He couldn’t relate. Courtney’s betrayal had delivered a swift sucker punch to his ego that over time morphed into relief. Most days he didn’t waste a single thought on what the girl had done to him, and if he did, it was because he was thinking of Kelsey, and wishing he hadn’t introduced two such destructive people into her life. She’d probably be better off right now if she’d never met him.

“We’re just friends, Brian. I invited her because she’s had a rough time these past few months and she deserves to have a little fun.”

“And the fact that you always wanted to nail her has no bearing on it at all.”

Evan whipped his head around. “What?”

Brian took a swig of his drink without taking his too-knowing gaze from Evan’s. He smoothed a hand down over his black goatee. “I know you, man. Hey, it’s cool. She’s fun.”

“Yeah.”

“Dude, if you try to get through a week alone with her without getting a piece, I’d hate to be you. You’ll come home with your nuts on ice. And I’ll laugh.”

“She really doesn’t need one of her best friends putting the moves on her after what she’s been through, Brian.”

“What if she goes crazy and begs you for it, man? That happens to me all the time.”

Ha. Not likely, not with Kelsey. Evan cast his brother a wry glance. “Right. How drunk did you have to get these girls?”

“Avoid the issue at hand. That’s all right.” Brian laughed in merry triumph and wandered off to the guest room he often crashed in. The rumbling thunder of Pantera’s “Psycho Holiday” began shaking the foundations of the house soon after. Evan sighed. He didn’t mind heavy metal and went to concerts with his brother sometimes, though he usually felt wretched standing in plain sight of the dozen or so prosecutable offenses going on in the crowd around him. But Brian played his music at a volume that made Evan thankful he didn’t have any close neighbors. Still, it didn’t drown out the trill of his ringing cell phone. When he checked the display, he almost wished it had.

Etiquette didn’t dictate that it was necessary to answer an ex-fiancée’s call, especially when said ex-fiancée was with someone else. It wasn’t like they had kids to discuss, or any reason at all to continue speaking to each other. More than anything else, Courtney had become a source of entertainment and information over the past several months. He almost let her call go to voicemail, but decided it probably best to deal with her and get it over with. If he didn’t, she might call his mom, cry to her and get her all upset. The two had been great friends.

He answered with a curt, “Hey.”

Her reply was soft and sad, as it usually was lately. The woman was miserable. But she’d made her bed. “Hey. What are you doing?”

You remember the girl whose marriage you wrecked? Yeah, I’m hanging out with her tonight.

It might not be the nicest reply. Sometimes he thought he was too nice. “Getting ready for company.”

“It sounds like you’re having a party.”

“No, Brian’s here. You know how he is.”

“Oh. Never mind, then. I was hoping…I was hoping maybe we could talk tonight.”

“Is Todd not in a talking mood tonight?”

There was a pause. “I left him.”

Evan nearly dropped the phone. After he managed to hang onto it, he gripped it with both hands and wrung it as if it were a neck. Hers. Casting an aimless Why me? to the ceiling, he brought it back to his ear.

“Sorry to hear.”

“Are you?” she asked on a halting note, as if she’d expected him to fall into paroxysms of joy at the news.

“Well, Court, you hurt a lot of people to be with this guy, so I guess it’s a shame it was all for nothing.”

Christ, now she was weeping. She tried to cover it up, but not very well. “I think he wants his ex-wife back. I guess you think I deserve it.”

Great. But at least he managed to avoid the bait she threw out. “Did he say he wanted her back?”

“No. Just a feeling I get, and I can’t stand it anymore. Who do you have coming over?”

“A friend. Don’t worry about it.” Kelsey would probably fly through the roof when she found out about this. He wouldn’t tell her, not tonight.

“You mean it’s none of my business.”

“If that’s the way you want to take it.”

“A girl?”

“Believe it or not, I didn’t put my life on hold waiting for you to make this call, Courtney.”

“I didn’t think you were seeing anyone.”