She’d definitely been hot. And she’d obviously found someone she liked far more than him. She’d been holding Matt’s hand, looking up at him. She hadn’t even noticed when he’d walked in the room.
Matt was a good guy, but he was something of a player. He wouldn’t care that she was rude and looked down on everyone who wasn’t from her lofty world. He would hop right in bed with her and enjoy the good time.
Rand was frowning his way. “What are you not saying? Was she mean to you? Did she throw her cell phone at your face or something?”
“She’s not a thrower,” Martin corrected. “She slays with words.”
“I wouldn’t say she slayed anything.” It wasn’t like she’d insulted anyone. She’d been off-putting. “She has zero focus. We’re there talking about her situation and she’s zoned out. When Big Tag asked her if we were boring her, she said yes.”
Martin laughed, slapping a hand on the bar. “Now that sounds like the Ally we know and love.”
“I wish I’d been there to see how she handled Big Tag,” Rand admitted.
She’d barely looked Big Tag’s way. Most women he’d ever met stared at the big guy and did whatever he asked of them. Or they argued with him and told him what an ass he was. Either way, most women were interested in getting the boss’s attention.
The only guy here I thought was my type was you.
He wasn’t going to think about that, but he did need to figure out if there was a way to repair the relationship. Despite what she’d said, he still half expected her to fire him.
“He told her she could leave if she was bored, and she tried to,” he admitted. “It was actually kind of fun to see someone who was in no way intimidated by Big Tag.”
“So you liked her?” Martin asked the question with an anticipatory air.
“I did not say that.” He was shutting that shit down now.
“But you didn’t not say that,” Martin countered.
He wasn’t even sure he could follow that line of thought. “I didn’t like her. She was rude and obnoxious, and she’s way too sensitive for her own good.”
Rand snorted. “No, she’s not. I mean, say what you like about her, but the girl can take a hit and get back up. Do you have any idea how many auditions she went on? That woman spent years getting rejected, and every minute of it was filmed. I’ll be honest, I would have quit if I’d gone through what she did.”
“I’m sure it’s terrible to not get a role and have to go back and hang out at your parents’ mansion.” He wasn’t buying that she was some pillar of strength. The worst thing that happened to the girl in a day was she chipped a nail.
Or had people break into her house to terrify her.
Rand had that look on his face, the twin-sensors-going-off look. “What is going on in your head? Because you don’t judge people this quickly…unless…shit. You’re attracted to her.”
Martin sat up, his hands clapping together. “I knew it. This could be my every fantasy come true. It’s a little like watching you with a Hollywood star because he’s your twin, but I don’t have to share you. If they get married, can we have a double wedding?”
“You don’t even know how she feels about same-sex marriage,” West pointed out.
Both of the other men stared at him like he’d said something stupid.
“So she’s cool with it?” They obviously knew something he didn’t.
“Half the charities she works with are LGBTQIA.” Rand said the words with a shake of his head, and it took everything West had not to point out that up until a couple of years ago, Rand himself wouldn’t have known what all those letters stood for.
“That’s good to know, and I’m not attracted to her.”
“You’re not attracted to one of the most beautiful women on the planet?” Rand asked, skepticism obvious.
“Honey, I’m attracted to her, and I’m gay,” Martin added with a shake of his head.
“Fine, she’s pretty, but it’s not going to go anywhere because I’m not playing stud to some reality star,” he explained.
Rand snapped his fingers like he’d just figured something out. “Oh, this is about the princess person.”
Some of it, maybe. But Ally Pearson had her own set of issues. “She wasn’t as bad as Princess Amelia, though she was rude. But all of that said, I was not as professional as I could have been, and maybe that was about the princess assignment. Maybe I was a little too aggressive.”
“What did you say to her?” Martin asked.
They were treating her like she was their friend or something. “I might have pointed out that she was being rude.” It was worse than that. She probably would have shrugged that off and agreed with him. “I might have also accused her of trying to hit on Wade.”
“What did she do to Wade?” Rand’s eyes had gone wide. “Does Genny know?”
“She didn’t actually do anything. She asked about him.”
Rand raised a brow. “She asked if Wade was single?”
Yep, this was the part where he was the asshole, and he needed to slow his roll because now he was worried Rand was right and he was being affected by something she hadn’t done. “She asked if he was my brother.”
“Oh, she was doing that thing where she tries to guess everyone’s story,” Martin said like it was a perfectly normal thing to do. “It’s one of the best parts of the show. It’s a segment called Ally Reads the Room. She makes up a story about new people she’s met. Some of them are just funny, but she’s right a surprising amount of the time.”
She’d mentioned that, and he’d doubled down. He sighed. “I was kind of an ass… I was a total dick, and she hates me. I’m serious about not getting involved with her…not that I think I could. What I’m saying is there’s no potential romantic connection between us, but it would be nice if she didn’t hate me. I think she really liked Matt. It would suck to get replaced as lead by Matt.”
He and Matt got along fine. They were buddies who grabbed a beer after work often, but he’d been surprised at the nasty feeling that had taken root in his gut when he’d seen Ally’s hand in his. It made zero sense since he should be thrilled. He hadn’t wanted the job anyway. He was doing it for the money and to please his older brother, but there were other ways to accomplish both. And the idea of Matt taking over pissed him off.
“Matt?” Rand exchanged a glance with his fiancé.
Not a good one. “What’s wrong?”
Martin shrugged a single shoulder. “I don’t like that man. And he doesn’t like us. He’s not the same when you’re not around.”
West looked to his twin. Even when they were dumbass kids, Rand had always been honest with him. West had known about his sexuality almost from the minute Rand had the revelation. He didn’t like the thought of his twin keeping something from him. “What did he do? Did he say something to you or Martin?”
“Oh, I love it when one of you gets all protective. You bulk up. I mean it. It’s like you grow extra sets of muscles,” Martin said with a happy sigh. “Sometimes I wonder if we should go to that town in Colorado.”