Kade gave Lily his best ‘come here and let me hit that’ grin. Nikoli turned so he could look his brother dead in the eyes. “No.”

Kade’s eyebrows shot up again. Nikoli knew how territorial he was being and how unusual it was for him, but he’d be damned if he sat here and watched his brother flirt with his girlfriend.

He saw Lily shake her head out of the corner of his eye, and he shot her a glare. “I mean it, Kade. Hands off my girlfriend.”

“Your what?” Kade spewed his coffee across the table and right onto Lily, who let out a dismayed gasp. Coffee stains covered her t-shirt.

“Girlfriend.” Nikoli leaned over to wipe the coffee off Lily with a napkin. She looked so shocked at his use of the dirty word, girlfriend. She was his until he broke up with her after Miami. Or until she said yes to Boy Wonder, whichever came first. A brick settled in Nikoli’s stomach at the thought. Damn, he wanted to hit something.

“You don’t do girlfriends,” Kade sputtered.

“I do now,” Nikoli growled. “Apologize to Lily Bells.”

Kade stared at her with his mouth open, and Lily suppressed the urge to laugh. The man looked like he’d been kicked in the teeth at the thought of his little brother having an honest to goodness girlfriend. So funny.

“Sorry,” he muttered at last, confused and frowning. It was all she could do to keep from smiling at his so Nikoli-ish look. She’d seen it on Nikoli’s face a lot the last month or so. If he hadn’t been so blasé about Adam this morning, she might have actually thought he cared. Nikoli confused her. He acted like he didn’t want her, and then he went and told his brother she was his girlfriend.

It was seriously pissing her off, to be honest. She loved the idiot, and he couldn’t seem to make up his mind about what she was to him. Lily knew deep down Nikoli would never be hers, but moments like this gave her hope that maybe she was wrong, maybe he did feel something for her. God, she wanted him to feel something for her. Needed it more than she needed anything else. And it scared her because she was going to be so broken when this ended.

“So, Lily, are you a senior or…?” Kade left the question hanging and brought Lily out of her dire thoughts.

“Senior.” She smiled. “I graduate at the end of this semester.”

“Same as Nik,” Kade said. “What’s your major?”

“English,” she told him. “I’m going to be working at a literary agency in New York when I graduate. They’ve already offered me the job.”

“So you’ll be working with authors? Not an author yourself?”

“Oh, I am an author,” she said, smiling. “My novel is almost done. When I finish and revise it, I’m going to try to get published.”

“You’re writing a book?” Nikoli asked. “You didn’t tell me.”

“No, I didn’t,” she agreed. “I don’t tell you everything, Kincaid.”

“Apparently,” he growled, and Lily laughed. He was in full testosterone mode this morning. “What’s it about?”

“None of your business,” she said, laughter brimming in her eyes. She knew it would drive him nuts until he found out. If he only knew…she shook her head. He’d read it eventually and understand what she wanted to say to him. It was their story. She’d write the ending once they’d ended things. That was all that was missing from their story.

“Why don’t you want to tell me?”

Kade said, “Writers don’t normally share their work until it’s published. Something about needing their privacy.”

“And how would you know that?” Nikoli asked.

“I dated a writer for about a week.” Kade popped a piece of sausage into his mouth. “She got all pissy when I peeked at what she was writing.”

“That sounds about right,” Lily agreed. “Come near mine and you’ll get hurt.”

“Come on now, Lily Bells,” Nikoli wheedled. “Let me read it.”

“No.”

“Just the first chapter?”

“No.”

“Leave it be, Nikoli,” Kade said. “She’ll hurt you. Don’t you see that gleam in her eye that says she’s ready to stab you with her fork?”

“Lily wouldn’t hurt me,” Nikoli scoffed.

“Wanna bet?” Lily asked, remembering his blasé attitude earlier.

This time it was Nikoli’s turn for his eyebrows to shoot up. Ah, he was finally getting the message of how pissed she was. He probably had no clue why, but he didn’t need to know why, only that she was.

“So, Kade, you are working on the serial killer case?” she asked so she wouldn’t have to deal with Nikoli. “Do you guys have any leads?”

“I really can’t discuss an ongoing case, Lily,” he said. “I will tell you that we just got here last night and are catching up on everything. We’ll get him. Soon.”

“I hope it’s sooner rather than later.” She shivered. “That last one was too close to campus.”

“Yes,” Kade murmured. “We are asking for the college to allow a police presence there, just in case. Make sure you never go anywhere on your own, always bring someone, walk back to your dorm with a friend. Never alone.”

“I’ll make sure of it,” Nikoli promised.

Kade’s food came, and Lily turned her eyes back to the TV. The news was still talking about the latest victim. If the FBI was here, then the situation was serious. She’d been nervous about the whole situation since she’d seen the first news broadcast over the summer.

She hoped they caught him soon.

***

When Lily returned to her dorm room, she expected to find it empty, but Adam was sitting on her bed, his face troubled. She closed the door and leaned against it. When his eyes met hers, they were dark and thoughtful. The hangover was evident from his wince when the girl in the next room slammed her door.

“You look like hell.” Lily pushed herself away from the door and plopped down in her desk chair.

He ran a hand through his hair. “I feel worse.”

“Getting shit-faced will do that to you.”

He fell back on her bed and started up at the ceiling. “Lily, we need to talk about…well…”

“What you said last night?”

“Yeah.” He still didn’t move. “I know blurting that stuff out at you when I’m drunk wasn’t the best idea.”

“Ya think?”

“I may have been drunk, but I meant every word I said, Lily.”

Lily closed her eyes and counted to ten. A month ago, this conversation would have meant the world to her, but not now. Now, it only meant she had to hurt the one person who had always been there for her through everything.

“Adam, you don’t mean that…”

“Yes, I do.” He sat and looked her in the eye. “I love you, Lils. I’ve loved you my entire life. I just didn’t think you’d ever get better…”

“So you’re only interested in me now that you think I’m getting better?” Anger leaked out of her voice. She couldn’t help it.

“That’s not what I meant.” Adam rolled his shoulders. “I tried, Lily, I tried so hard to help you, but I couldn’t. I don’t understand why Nikoli could, when nothing I did worked. That is what I meant.”

Either way, the outcome was the same. He hadn’t shown any interest until Nikoli. It still stung a bit, but she’d forgiven him somewhere along the way. Didn’t mean she wasn’t pissed he only told her this after Nikoli.

“Adam, I love you. God knows, for the longest time, I thought I was in love with you, but I’ve only recently discovered the difference. You’re my best friend, and you did help me more than you know. Just being there for me, never letting me push you away. That kept me from going off the deep end. You will always be my best friend, and I will always love you, but I’m not in love with you.”

“You love the campus manwhore.” Adam’s eyes dilated, his anger evident in the way his body tensed. “He’s going to break you into little pieces.”

“Then my best friend will be there to put me back together again.” Lily offered him a small smile. She knew it was true. Nikoli was going to hurt her, but she’d take the hurt for the way she felt right now.

“But, Lils, if you’d only listen to what I’m saying, you won’t be broken.” Adam stood and started to pace. “I love you, Lily. We can be so happy together, if you’ll just trust me and let me show you.”