I find Will in the back of Chinese Garden with four plates full of food, digging into each of them with his fork, like a ravenous beast. As I approach the table, he peeks up at me, chewing with his mouth half open. My mother used to make comments about Will’s etiquette during dinner, right after he’d leave our house for the night. It wasn’t often that we had guests for dinner since our house was more like a mausoleum than a home. But on the few occasions Will had been invited for Sunday dinner with my parents, he ate the same way. And my mom said something to me every time.

“Don’t they teach that boy any manners,” she would say, talking shit about the Romans.

I would roll my eyes and ignore her. Who cared how Will ate? He was the closest I had come to a brother since Erik.

I sit across from Will and pick up a pair of chopsticks. “Couldn’t wait until I got here?”

“Dude, I haven’t eaten all day, and you are late. When it comes to food, I wait for no one.”

I dig into a plate of Mia’s favorite—General Tso’s. She would live off this shit if she had the money to buy takeout every night.

“Where have you been all week?” Will shoves a forkful of rice into his mouth, speaking between bites. “You shacking up with some chick I don’t know about?”

I laugh, attempting to chew the rubbery chicken. “Nah, you know me. I don’t do repeats. Too much drama.”

He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, like a caveman, and continues to eat fried rice out of a white container. Will has never been coordinated with chopsticks, forcing him to use silverware. Even so, he still has food all over his mouth and down the front of his shirt. And he’s not even drunk yet.

Will sticks his fork in the rice carton and sets it on the table. “Where have you been then?”

“You know, here and there. It was getting a little crowded at Mia’s apartment. I rented a room at the Ritz for a few nights so I could get some sleep. The couch was killing my back and shoulder.”

Lies, all lies. Except for the part about the hotel and my shoulder. Sometimes, the pain of my past comes creeping back at the worst times.

He snickers. “And you didn’t invite me? Dick. The mattress in Mia’s guest room is kicking my ass. The floor would be more comfortable.”

“Hey, you were the one who was sneaking off with that chick. If you weren’t MIA most of the time, I would have asked you to share a suite with me.”

In all honesty, we needed a break from each other. We play hockey for the same team and share an apartment. At times, we have even shared girls. I needed some space from the Roman family with how intense things were getting between Mia and me.

“Ahh, that’s cool, bro. Don’t worry about it. My sister is hardly ever home now that she got a new job. I only see her before she goes to work. We eat breakfast together, and then she leaves. I crash in her bed when she’s gone. The arrangement works.”

“Keep it up with all the partying, and you will be paying for it big time once the new trainer gets a hold of you.”

Will cracks open a fortune cookie and laughs at the message on the paper, before throwing it onto the table in the open space between us. “Even the Chinese proverbs are telling me to go out again tonight, and you my friend, are coming.”

I lift the paper and shake my head. “Flattery will go far tonight. I don’t think there’s a hidden meaning behind this fortune.”

Will shrugs. “Yeah, maybe not, but it’s an excuse to have some fun before we have to go back to real life.” He reaches across the table and grabs the egg roll from my plate. “You gonna eat this or what? I’ve been eying it up for the last ten minutes.”

A smirk touches my lips. “Go right ahead.”

Will bites into the egg roll, licking some of the juices that slide down his lip. Watching Will eat is almost comical, gross, even. He acts as if he hasn’t had a meal in days. I have no problem sticking to our diet during the season, but Will isn’t as disciplined when it comes to the meal plans I make him follow.

Binge drinking and eating for the first few weeks after the regular season is part of Will’s MO. I could just as easily fall back into old habits along with him, but I have to control myself. I can’t go back to being the person I was back in high school. Because, unlike Will, I won’t be able to stop once I lose myself.

“Your sister got another job?” As much as I don’t want to ask about Mia, I can’t help but wonder about her. “Did she get fired from the paper?”

He wipes his hands with the tablecloth, shaking his head. “Nah, nothing like that. She’s on a special assignment. Not sure why working at a record store is so top secret. Mia said she’s not allowed to talk about it. Whatever that means.”

Our jobs were something neither of us had talked about, probably because we were too busy taking off our clothes. Apart from what I know about the girl I met most nights in her backyard, I understand very little about the woman Mia is now. And that annoys me because I should—no, I want to know—more about her after all these years.

“How is she juggling that with her other job?”

I miss her. She deserves a decent apology, one that I will most likely fuck up. A girl like Mia deserves someone better than me, someone who can love and worship her like a goddess.

“You know Mia, all business no pleasure. She leaves early in the morning for the Inquirer and goes right to Old City Records after work. I usually bring her breakfast. That’s about the only time we see each other.”

“You should invite her to come out with us tonight.”

Before I have time to stop myself, the words are out of my mouth. But I don’t regret them. I miss Mia. I haven’t been able to get her out of my head all week. My cock still perks up at the thought of her naked body. Her sweet scent is still burned into my nostrils. Why does she have to be related to Will? Anyone but Will.

Will’s face lights up as he pulls his cell phone from his pocket. “Good idea. She could use a few drinks. Mia has been even more uptight lately than her usual. I don’t know what has her so pissed off all the time.”

I do. Me.

“Hey, little sis,” Will says, holding the phone up to his ear. “Come hang out with your big bro tonight. Family drinking night, my treat.” He laughs at Mia’s response. “If you’re so worried about me, then you should come and be my chaperone.” A few beats pass where he rolls his eyes and then chuckles. “Yeah, I could use one. Is that a yes? Mmkay…See ya then.”

Will hangs up with Mia and stuffs his phone back into his pocket. “Change of plans. Mia is coming, but she wants us to meet at her apartment and then go to Scores.”

Now, I’m the one laughing. “Your sister, of all people, wants to go to a strip club? I have to see this for myself.”

Will cracks a smile. “Me, too. She looked awkward as fuck at The Sixth Floor. I can’t even imagine how she will react when a stripper shoves her tits in her face, looking for a few bucks.”

I turn my head away from Will to glance around the crowded Chinese restaurant below Mia’s apartment, wishing she were here with us. It’s her favorite place to eat in the city, which is kind of sad, considering this place is a dump. Shifting in my seat, I finally make eye contact with Will, who is now shoving more food down his throat. Unable to get the thought of Mia shaking her tits in my face out of my mind, I look at the table and lock onto the fortune cookie paper.

Flattery will go far tonight.

I wonder if it will work on Mia. Because I need to do a lot of apologizing—more like groveling—If I want her back.