Lex dragged me out of the conference room while Nate and John packed up. I steered her into the first elevator and hit the emergency stop button inside.

“What? When? How?”

“Last winter when we visited New York. We went clubbing and I went home with a guy …”

Her eyes bugged out of her head. “That was him? You slept with twenty-something Jon Hamm masquerading as a lawyer?”

“He didn’t give me a bio, Lex! Or say ‘Sue you later.’ Pretty sure that would’ve killed the buzz. Besides, you were there too.”

“It was dark. And we were drunk,” she admitted.

I slid to the floor and stuck my head between my knees. My stomach was not staying where it was supposed to in relation to my other organs.

“I hate to say it, A. But the bigger problem is this lawsuit. Bryson wants two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in damages. They might also be able to stop us from selling anything else with that motif on it if they win.”

Shit. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars was probably the better part of my parents’ house. “We don’t have that kind of money. How can they sue us for that if we don’t have it?”

It was surreal. We hadn’t done anything wrong. To Bryson, the designer Tall, Dark, and Asshole was representing, or anyone else.

We both knew Tony Bryson’s clothes but had never met him. In any other circumstances, I’d have been fangirling.

Two months ago no one knew what Travesty was. Then part of our fall line had made an emerging designer showcase and caught the eye of an A-list teenage celeb. Her stylist had called us directly to request our Claire skirt before it hit stores, and she’d already worn it. Orders had spiked overnight.

Apparently that made us almost legit. And a target.

“Lex, there’s no way I would copy someone else’s designs.”

“I know.” Her voice was firm. “Though I’m usually the last person to say this,” she went on, “don’t worry yet. They’ve picked a fight with the wrong girls. I’ll talk to Grant. See if he knows anything that might help.” Lex’s stepfather was a patent lawyer in San Diego.

“I just don’t understand why he’s back. He’s like a fucking boomerang in Hugo Boss.”

“Still thinking about the lawyer, huh?” Lex slid down the elevator wall beside me and squeezed my knee. “It’s hard to plan these things, A.”

“I’m trying to find a decent boyfriend, but since you don’t have any brothers I can date, what’s a girl to do?” I asked sweetly.

Lex rolled her eyes.

She had started going out with my little brother last fall. Or technically, hooking up with him. It was worse than weird when I found out. But having had a few months to get used to it, I could see they were actually kind of amazing together.

Despite being two years apart, Dylan and I had never been tight. We’d gotten closer recently, both because he’d transferred to our college last year and because of Lex.

But that didn’t mean I’d pass up a chance to tease her about it. “It’s totally cool,” I said. “Except when your best friend and your brother go at it. A thousand times a day. Like the world is going to end.”

She flicked her hand dismissively. “You’re exaggerating.”

I cleared my throat. “Oh, God! Just like that! No, harder!” I banged my hand on the floor of the elevator for emphasis.

“We do not sound like that.” Lex’s face went as red as her hair.

“You’re right,” I conceded. “You’re way dirtier.”

I gave Lex a once-over. My friend was tall and slim, with great hair and unusual eyes. And enough girls seemed to think my brother was hot. “If we lose this lawsuit, could you guys make two hundred and fifty thousand dollars’ worth of porn?”

“Ava!” Lex gasped. “I cannot believe we’re talking about this.” Her eyes flicked down. The card still clutched in my hand caught her attention. “What’s that?”

Before I’d escaped the room, Nate had written a name and number on the back of the card and returned it to me. “If you’re looking for a new apartment, a friend is renting one out. It’s between here and the park,” he’d said.

The guy had balls for days. Like he was trying to do us a solid, in the middle of stealing from us.

I told Lex about the call from our landlord and what Nate had done. “I’m just going to tear this into about a million pieces.”

She plucked the card out of my hand and held it a safe distance from me. “Listen. I know you want to and I do too. But maybe he’s trying to be nice.”

“Nate Townsend is a lot of things, Lex.” Hot. Quirky. More than one lifetime’s worth of fucked up. “He’s not nice.” I reached for the card but Lex jerked it away.

“Right now it doesn’t matter if he runs the mafia. It’s impossible to find a good apartment fast. Can we at least see it?” Lex pushed herself up from the floor, then pulled me up after her.

“Fine,” I said grudgingly.

“Good.” She nodded. “Now let’s get the hell out of this elevator before the firefighters show up.”

My mood brightened. “I like firefighters.”

“We’re probably in violation of a fire code. They’ll bill us.”

“Screw firefighters.”

* * *

By that afternoon, I’d fantasized a hundred ways to tell Nate Townsend what to do with his bogus lawsuit.

And his midtown rental.

And his pretty blue eyes.

Carl, the owner, buzzed us up soon after we called. Tall and fit, with hair graying at the temples, he was good-looking in a generic, Viagra-commercial-star way. Carl explained he was moving overseas for work but keeping the condo. “You’re friends of Nate’s?” he asked.

“Ahh—something like that,” Lex replied.

I was ready to hate the apartment. But the suite was almost new, with a familiar vibe even though it looked completely different from the house I’d grown up in or the one Lex and I had shared with two other girls at school.

“How much is this place?” Lex asked. She made notes as we trailed behind Carl through the condo, but I could tell we had the same reaction: it was really freaking great.

The price Carl gave us made my eyebrows shoot up.

You could’ve fit four of these in our old townhouse, but the place had ten-foot ceilings and windows along the entire side. Plus, there was a nook off the living room I could use for sewing. What sealed the deal was a huge island taking up most of the kitchen that could easily double as a bar for entertaining. I pulled Lex aside, eyeing the island longingly. “OK, just think of the parties …”

“Let’s not think of the parties,” she murmured, though her mouth lifted at the corner. “It’s at the top of our price range, but less than anything the same size.” Lex knew the city better than I did, having lived here the previous summer for an internship.

“Can we get back to you by the end of the day?” she asked Carl.

He nodded and Lex pulled out her phone again to flip through messages as we followed Carl out. “Let’s talk tonight. I’m heading over to the magazine office to find some things for John. He’s filing a motion to dismiss the case. With any luck we’ll be done with this mess within the week.”

“Good luck with that.” I smiled winningly. “I’d better go work on the spring line so they have something worth suing us for.”