Vaughn made a face. “Can you blame him, dude? He’s a huge, well-known player, and his dad is the commissioner. Not everyone is cool like your best friends.”

Wells didn’t laugh like Vaughn had wanted him to. “Well, if he loved me, that other stuff wouldn’t matter, but whatever. I’m done talking about that. My sister, on the other hand, we need to discuss.”

Jensen basically ran to the couch before plopping down beside Vaughn. Tricksie jumped in his lap with a big lick to his face. “What happened?”

“I don’t know, man. Something is up. She ignores my calls, my parents’, and Shanna’s.”

“Whoa, she’s ignoring Shanna’s calls? That’s her best friend since we were like two,” Vaughn added, and at that moment, he really started to worry something serious was up with Wren. That it wasn’t just that she was a bitch or dead inside. “That’s not good.”

“I know. I don’t know what’s up. Have you talked to her?”

“She just said that she got dumped.”

“Dumped? She doesn’t date.”

“Apparently, she tried,” Jensen said sadly, and Wells clicked his tongue.

“Hm. Maybe that’s it. I don’t know. I’m gonna harass her when you guys come up here next month.”

“Sounds like a plan. We’ll try to go see her more,” Vaughn added, and Jensen gave him a look. They both knew that wasn’t true, but he’d try. For Wren.

“Maybe ask her in therapy?”

Vaughn’s brows shot up. “I hardly go, and when I do, I just sit there and play on my phone while she yells at me. I could turn the tables on her, though.”

“There you go. See how that goes,” Wells said. “Let me know. You guys have the Assassins’ New Year’s thing this weekend, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Taking anyone?”

“Nope, and Jenny won’t ask our Wren, so that’s a no-go.”

Jensen’s eyes soon started throwing daggers at Vaughn as Wells laughed. “Just ask her out, dude. She’d say yes.”

“Shut up.”

“He’s sensitive,” Vaughn teased. Wells laughed while Jensen got up, heading back to his room. “I was joking, Jenny! Jeez. Wren is a sore spot for that guy.”

“Always has been. They’re made for each other.”

“Yeah.”

“Anyone special for you?”

“Fuck no.”

“You hesitated.”

“I did not!”

“You did! Who is she?”

Why did Brie come to mind? Fuck. Probably because he told her he liked her just fine the other day at NateWay. He was just being nice, trying to get Rodney in. Or, at least, that’s what he was telling himself. As he sat there, though, he wasn’t sure what was going on. All he did know was that he couldn’t stop thinking of that spitfire.

Weird.

“Dude, it’s no one.” Tricksie barked, and he cuddled her, kissing her nose. “I take that back. It’s my baby Tricksie, but we can’t bring dogs to the party.”

“Ludicrous.”

“I thought so too.”

“I’m gonna let this go, but I know you’re lying.”

“Lucky for me.” Tricksie wiggled beside him before barking loudly. “Okay, well, baby girl needs to go outside. I’ll call ya later.”

“Sounds good. Bye, bro.”

“Bye.”

Hanging up, he tucked his phone into his pocket before getting up to go get Tricksie’s leash. Usually, he let her out on her section of fake grass on the balcony when it was super cold. But it was actually a pretty day, so he figured she could use a nice walk. Looking toward Jensen’s room, he yelled out, “Hey, Jenny. I’m taking Tricksie for a walk. Wanna go?”

“Die, Jo.”

“Jeez, overemotional ass,” he muttered. Rolling his eyes, he called out, “I don’t know why you’re mad. I was just joking. Just ask her out already!”

“Fuck off.”

“Dude, I mean it with love.”

Jensen didn’t answer back, so with a shrug, Vaughn hooked Tricksie’s bouncing self up before sliding his jacket on, while she did circles around his legs, barking like a crazy dog. He still didn’t understand Jensen, but then, it wasn’t his business. Jensen would get fed up one day and act. At least, Vaughn hoped he would. You never knew with Jenny, but he really couldn’t worry about that guy, not when Wren was seven shades of being weird. Vaughn wasn’t sure what was going on, but he would make it a point to harass her at the New Year’s party. When Tricksie started to bark more frantically as he put his hat on, he looked down at her. “Two seconds, baby.”

She continued to bark as he grabbed his keys before reaching for the door, which she took off out of. He went to tell her to calm down, but before he could, he heard a woman’s voice, “Oh, my goodness! Hello!”

Peeking his head out the door, he found Brie on the ground. On her back, her arms around Tricksie as she jumped and licked her to death. “Oh, my God! Hello. My name is Brie. You are the cutest little dog I’ve ever seen in my whole life. Yes, you are. What is your name? Tricksie? Oh, my goodness, I just love you, I do. Is that your name because you are a three-legged baby and your daddy thinks he’s awesome at scoring hat tricks? I bet so.”

“For your information, yes.”

Brie just grinned as she continued to kiss and love on Tricksie. Which Tricksie was eating up like mad. “Do you want a treat? Treat? Ah, come on.”

Then she yanked the leash out of Vaughn’s hand before picking Tricksie up and kissing her head. “Hey, that’s my dog.”

“I know,” was all she said before pushing her door open and taking his dog into her apartment.

“Can I have her back?” Peeking his head in her door, he watched as she went to the kitchen, grabbing a treat bag before putting Tricksie on the counter and feeding her.

“Don’t worry, they’re all-natural treats. The guys across the hall in my last building had four French Bulldogs, and I used to give them treats until they went into food comas.”

Tricksie was going crazy, obviously falling for the blond-haired beauty who stood before her. Like the day before when they had moved Rodney in, she was wearing jeans and a shirt that he assumed said something witty. He couldn’t see because she was still cuddling Tricksie as she fed her. “You shouldn’t give treats to other people’s dogs.”