First Comes Like

by Alisha Rai

  “You have work or something?”

  “I’m meeting a friend.”

  Luna slurped the last of her smoothie. “Is it the same friend you met on Friday?”

  “Yes.” He hesitated. If Jia was coming here, she might run into Luna, and in that case . . . it simply didn’t feel right to lie to Luna outright. “Her name is Jia Ahmed.”

  A blink was Luna’s first response. She slowly lowered her glass. “Jia Ahmed’s your friend?”

  “Yes.” Was friend the right word? Was there a right word for acquaintance you met because your brother and cousin catfished her? Or woman whose YouTube videos I cannot stop consuming?

  He’d felt silly, but he’d picked up a toner and an essence on her recommendation while he was out on Saturday and carefully followed along with her when she dabbed them into her skin. He didn’t think they’d done anything, but he’d give it a few more days.

  “Jia Ahmed. The model.”

  “Do you know her?”

  Luna shoved a curl out of her eyes. “Uh, yeah. I know her. Why do you know her? She’s cool. And you’re old.”

  He drew himself up in mock outrage. He might be a few years older than Jia, but that did not mean he was old. “I beg your pardon, madam. I will have you know that I am very lit.”

  “Oh my God, don’t use that word, please.” His niece glanced around, like the American police were huddled below their table.

  Dev was happy there was a shadow of a smile on Luna’s lips, though. He’d never indulged his silly side with anyone else. Perhaps he should have brought it out more for his younger brother.

  He shoved away the pinch of hurt. “It will be difficult, but I will try. To answer your question, we are collaborating on a project together.”

  “Huh.” Luna placed her glass down. “Okay.”

  He cocked his head at the lukewarm response. If Luna thought Jia was cool—so much cooler than him—she should be more excited at the thought of her being his friend, yes? “You may get to meet her tonight.”

  “I can?” Luna raised her eyebrows. “I wasn’t allowed to meet anyone famous Daddy knew.”

  “What? No actors or actresses? No singers?” Rohan had had more interesting contacts than Dev did, given his proximity to films instead of TV.

  “No.”

  That was absurd. Dev had only lived in his grandparents’ home for a few years, but famous people had always been parading through, paying their respects or currying some sort of favor. Granted, Rohan had lived separately, but how had he built such a bubble around his daughter? Had he been neglecting her or protecting her by keeping her out of his public life?

  Perhaps if Dev hadn’t tried to separate himself from everything Dixit, he might know the answer to that. “I’ll ask her. She’s coming here first, so I’m sure it would be fine. Are you ready to head out?”

  Luna glanced down at her outfit. “My new clothes haven’t come yet. Do you think I look okay?”

  Since she’d done him the honor of asking his opinion, he surveyed her black jeans and gray shirt with the kind of grave consideration one might give to a runway model. “I think you look lovely.” The shirt dipped off her shoulder, and he did want to smooth it back into place, but he’d read an article about not policing teen women’s bodies.

  She rolled her eyes and drained her smoothie. “You’d say that no matter what I wore.”

  He busied himself with the dish towel. He was glad she thought so. It meant she was secure in his love, yes? Maybe, just maybe, he was doing a decent job fumbling through this parenting thing.

  “That is true,” he agreed. “But you also look lovely. Now fetch your backpack. Let’s get you to school.”

  DO YOU MIND meeting my niece tonight? She tells me you are much cooler and younger than me.

  Jia quickly typed back. I’d love to. Also, I am.

  She was so distracted by proper Dev sending her a cry laughing emoji in return that she rammed right into a big mass of a man. “Whoa there.” Large hands went around her shoulders and he steadied her.

  She looked up at Samson. Rhiannon’s boyfriend was a former lineman and still built like one. “Hi, Samson. Sorry, I was texting and walking.”

  “Happens to the best of us. I was lost in my own thoughts as well.” The lines next to his eyes crinkled, and he gestured to the building they were standing in front of. Crush’s headquarters were in a rather unassuming place for a multimillion-dollar app. Rhiannon had chosen the Silver Lake site in lieu of the more obvious Silicon Beach locations because, in her words, the farther we can get from the more annoying tech assholes, the better. “You here to see Rhiannon, I’m guessing?”

  She lifted the duffel bag she held. “She needed some things from the house, so I’m dropping them off for her.” Rhiannon had stayed over at Samson’s since the gala.

  If Jia hadn’t been looking right at Samson, she might have missed the way his usually pleasant face tightened. “Ah. Good.” He patted her on the shoulder, and she tried not to lurch backward. He must be distracted, if he wasn’t keeping his own strength in check. “I’m running late to meet my aunt for breakfast. I’ll see you later.”

  She watched him walk to his car at a brisk clip. That was odd. Samson was usually charming and chatty to the extreme.

  Jia was quickly buzzed up by the receptionist, who greeted her warmly. She made her way through the cubicles, smiling at the few people she knew. Rhiannon had recently started a more flexible work-from-home program, so there weren’t nearly as many people in the office as there used to be.

  She waited for Rhiannon’s acknowledgment before she entered the office. “Hey there. Got your stuff.”

  Rhiannon glanced up from the computer. “Oh thanks. Leave it on the floor.”

  Jia placed it on the floor, out of the way from anyone who might enter the door. “I saw Samson when I was coming in. Did he drop you off?”

  Rhi turned in her millennial pink swivel chair. The whole room was decorated in pinks, with the occasional splash of yellow. Crush colors. “Yeah. How was he?”

  Jia dropped into the chair in front of her friend’s desk. “Ah, fine. Why?”

  Rhiannon’s brow pleated. “We had a bit of a fight before he left.”

  Jia raised an eyebrow. In terms of couple vibes, Rhiannon and Samson didn’t have the calm peacefulness of Jas and Katrina, but they didn’t fight that much. “Is everything okay?”

  Rhi huffed out a breath. “He wants me to move in with him.”

  “Oh.” Jia tried not to clap her hands together, but she probably couldn’t suppress all the excitement in her voice, because Rhiannon gave her a dry look. “Um, do you not want to?”

  Rhiannon reclined in her chair. “I don’t know. I mean, I do. I live there enough as it is. But Katrina . . .”

  Ahhhhh. Jia nodded understandingly. While she didn’t think she’d ever be as close to either woman as they were to each other, she absolutely understood why Rhiannon wouldn’t want to leave Katrina’s home. “She’ll be okay. You know she’s totally zen about us living our lives. I feel like she’s even hinted that you should move in with Samson.”

  “Hmm.”

  “She doesn’t need us. You know that, right?” Jia shook her head. “Katrina’s panic disorder doesn’t mean that she’s incapable of handling her own life without chaperones. She became a millionaire before you or I started living with her.”

  “She likes clucking over us, though.”

  “Sure. But she’s got Jas. She has other friends who aren’t us. What’s that thing she says? People come and go, you enjoy the parts in the middle? And it’s not like you’d never see her again, she’s your freaking business partner.”

  “I don’t want her to be lonely. She has abandonment issues from her shitty father. What if I trigger those by telling her I want to leave?” Rhiannon played with her nails. “I don’t want to hurt her.”

  “I think you’ll hurt her more by making her think she’s holding you back or something,” Jia remarke
d.

  Rhiannon sighed. “This is why it’s easier to be alone.”

  “Easier, but not nearly as much fun. Or as delicious, given Katrina’s culinary skills,” Jia offered cheerfully.

  “Yeah, yeah. Okay, I’ll think about talking to her.”

  “Is Samson . . . ?”

  Rhiannon waved that worry away. “I’ll call him later. He’s feeling a little rejected right now, but once he thinks about it, he’ll understand. He’s going out with Jas tonight, anyway; that’ll cheer him up. Now, what’s up with you? I haven’t seen you in days.”

  Jia bit her lip. She had told Katrina the bare bones about what was going on over the past Dev-packed week. Katrina had been worried, but apparently her friend hadn’t passed the message along to Rhiannon. “Um, I’ve seen that actor, Dev, again. And again. And again.” She thought for a second. “Yes, three times.”

  Rhiannon’s eyebrows rose so high, they were in danger of climbing off her face. “Why on earth did you do that?”

  “Well, because I accidentally told my mom we were together, and my family’s coming here soon and I don’t want to admit to them that I was catfished and he felt bad his cousin and brother did the said catfishing so he agreed to pretend to date me.”

  Rhiannon steepled her hands under her chin. “I need a longer explanation.”

  Jia ran through as much as she’d told Katrina. When she finished, Rhiannon rubbed her forehead. “His cousin?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I can’t believe I missed all this. How did you get into this mess?”

  “I’m not sure. Sometimes things happen to me.”

  Rhiannon edged her keyboard closer to her. “You know I’m going to stalk him, right?”

  “I’m surprised you haven’t already.”

  “My personal life is clearly distracting me. This is what friends do.”

  “I don’t think friends regularly stalk people their friends are having fake relationships with.”

  “It’s so wild, how you don’t hear how silly that sentence sounds.” Rhiannon twirled her pen between her fingers. “Has your family been driving you nuts?”

  “No, actually. They seem to have calmed down. My mom said she’s waiting to talk to Ayesha before booking their flights, but they’re aiming for the end of the month. Noor and Zara have chilled out. I haven’t talked to Ayesha or Sadia yet.” Privately, Jia had wondered if she could have had this level of peace all along if she’d just made up a fake boyfriend that they approved of.

  She could have a huge platform, do groundbreaking stuff, and no one relaxed until she had a man. Amazing. And annoying.

  “Well, that’s—”

  A knock came at the door, and a petite woman with blond hair stuck her head in. “Rhiannon? I’m sorry, but you said it was okay to interrupt? I need a few signatures.”

  “Yes, Tina,” Rhiannon said warmly.

  She walked in and handed Rhiannon a sheaf of papers. “Here’s that information you wanted, too.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I couldn’t find the files on the pension plans, though.”

  “Hang on a second.” Rhiannon tapped a button on her phone. “Lakshmi can show you.”

  Jia nearly groaned. Rhiannon’s assistant, Lakshmi, was cool, intimidatingly cool. She was also painfully dismissive of Jia, which brought out all of Jia’s worst habits, like baiting and poking.

  “You know my roommate Jia, right? Jia, this is Samson’s aunt’s assistant. She’s on-site while we iron out the details of this merger.”

  Jia waved at the young woman. Samson’s aunt owned a rival company that was close to being a sister company. “Hi, yes, of course. We’ve met a few times.”

  Tina gave her a quick smile. It faded when the door opened and Lakshmi stuck her head inside. “Yes?” Lakshmi gave Tina a once-over, and then her attention moved to Jia. She bared her teeth. “Jia.”

  “Lakshmi.” Jia twitched her skirt into place. Lakshmi wore a cropped tank and high-waisted jeans. The side of her head was shaved, and the rest of her hair was dyed blue. So damn cool. “Good to see you.”

  “Sure. Come up with any life-changing makeup hacks lately?”

  The sneer in the other woman’s voice turned Jia’s smile syrupy. Her mother had once said that the sweeter Jia’s smile, the more trouble everyone was in. “Sure. I was sent a new line of lipstick that tastes like fruit. Want to try it? It might wipe that sour expression off your face.”

  “Ladies.”

  Jia subsided at Rhiannon’s chiding tone and made a mental note to work on her bitchiness—er, crankiness—again.

  Rhiannon gave Lakshmi a look. “Can you help Tina find the historical paperwork on the retirement plans?”

  Lakshmi refocused on Tina. “Sure. It’s in the storage closet. I can show you.”

  Tina’s lashes lowered. “Oh, you don’t have to take the time. I can find it.”

  “Not a problem.”

  Jia waited a good three seconds after the coast was clear before she muttered. “Should we lock them in that closet together so they can work stuff out or are we going to have to watch this dance for the next ten years?”

  “Jia!” Rhiannon shrugged. “There’s no lock on that closet, or I’d say yes.”

  Jia chuckled. She’d only been around Tina and Lakshmi together for a small amount of time, and their chemistry was blazingly obvious to her. She might be wary of Lakshmi, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have her ships.

  Rhiannon reclined in her chair. “Are you guys ever going to make peace?”

  “Who, me and Lakshmi?” Jia tossed up her hands. “I’m happy to make peace. I’m extremely peaceful. She thinks I’m an airhead.”

  “Because you act like an airhead around her.”

  “If people want to assume the worst about me, why shouldn’t I annoy them with it?” Jia tried to keep her tone light, though it hurt to know how many people in her life regularly dismissed her. “If they think I’m useless, then I’m not going to try to change their mind.”

  “I don’t think Lakshmi thinks that.”

  Ehh, yes she did. But Jia didn’t want to argue with Rhiannon over her friend.

  “In any case, as someone who used to struggle with her I’ll show ’em reflex, maybe try dialing it back a hair here or there. You don’t have to be so reactive to everything.”

  Okay, that might be some good advice. Jia had worked hard at growing more mature over the last year or so. “I’ll try.”

  “Good. Now, are you seeing this guy again anytime soon?”

  “Yeah, tonight.”

  “Wow. Isn’t that excessive for a fauxmance?”

  “It’s when we both have time. And we do have to learn about each other, or how will we fool my family?” And I want to see him again.

  “Hmm. Yes, of course. There are no other ways to get to know each other.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means I’m worried about this convoluted plan of yours,” her roommate said gently.

  “It’s not convoluted! It’s very luted.”

  “That’s not a word.”

  “It’ll all work out fine. I trust Dev.”

  “Why?”

  Jia opened her mouth, then closed it again. Why did she trust Dev? It was the same question he’d asked her, and she still couldn’t come up with a perfect answer. The first time she’d met him, he’d cracked her heart, and the second time he’d tried to pay her off.

  “Jia?” Rhiannon prompted.

  “I have a good feeling about him. It’s weird, I feel like . . . like I know him.”

  Rhiannon’s lips thinned. “But you don’t.”

  “Oh, I know.”

  “Do you? Or are you getting confused because you talked to someone with his face for a couple months?” She pointed her finger. “It seems like this whole thing is an excuse to keep him around.”

  Jia shifted. It was nicer when Rhiannon and Katrina played her friends and not her big sisters. She had
enough of those, and they made her feel foolish on a regular basis. She didn’t need her friends to do the same. “I know you think I don’t have very good judgment, but this catfishing incident notwithstanding, I think my instincts have served me pretty well.”

  Rhiannon looked immediately apologetic, which made Jia feel a little bad. “Of course. It’s not that I think you have bad instincts, only that you’re a little sheltered and naïve when it comes to men.”

  Jia nodded. “That’s probably true. But I suppose the best way to learn is to try and to fail, right? It’s like peach blush.”

  “What?”

  “Peach blush. It was the it color for last summer, right? So I kept trying to make it work. Only it made me look sallow and I finally learned.” Jia snapped her fingers. “But I wouldn’t know peach blush was bad for me if I hadn’t tried it and failed. Does that make sense?”

  Rhiannon laughed. “Only you would compare men to blush palettes.”

  “It was a shade, not a palette,” Jia corrected gently. It wouldn’t do to have her roommate out there spreading misinformation.

  Rhiannon’s lips twitched. “Gotcha.”

  “Anyway, I have to head to my studio. Got some filming to do.” And she had to brainstorm some more content, maybe something she could do with perky little Harley to pull in the youths.

  “It’s all about the views.”

  Right. Which was what she was going to remember, no matter how much she trusted Dev. It was all about the views, and her future. A future that didn’t include a man she barely knew, even if he made her tummy flutter when he said her name.

  Chapter Twelve

  JIA HADN’T really registered much about Dev’s home when she’d dropped him off, but now that she wasn’t rushing to get him home to his sick niece, she could see it wasn’t nearly as nice a place as she imagined a Bollywood dynasty member might live in. Oh, it was a good location and had decent security, but given what she knew about his family, he could probably easily afford a Malibu mansion.

  She’d considered waiting downstairs or calling to let him know that she was there, but then she remembered how he’d picked her up from her door, and she parked in visitor parking. The security guard took her name and let her up with a smile and directions.