Late Nights (Love At Night Series)

1. Cannon

Explosions and gunshots sounded through my headphones, drowning out the nauseating couple in the kitchen making protein bites together.

My best friend, West, and his new girlfriend, Halle, were still in new couplehood bliss, making healthy snacks together to grab on the go, like the fit couple they were.

If I sounded bitter, I wasn’t.

Okay, maybe a little.

Not because I was jealous of his sickening lovey-dovey relationship. That was not what I wanted. But I did miss my best friend.

West and I used to hang out all the time. I’d drag him out to the bar, and we’d be each other’s wingmen. More like he would be my wingman, since he hadn’t been interested in anything other than work. At least until Halle had shown up.

Now I was all alone. And not just when I went to the bar.

West wasn’t just my best friend, he was my only friend. Which hadn’t been a big deal before he ditched me for a pretty brunette.

My fingers flew over the controller, moving on their own. I’d played this video game so many times that I didn’t even have to think about it anymore.

I’d gotten into video games at a young age. Same as now, I’d used it to block out the conversations happening around me back then. It would drown out the yelling, the cursing, things crashing to the ground. I could get lost in a fantasy world and pretend I was somewhere else, anywhere but in that awful house.

A loud knocking broke through the sounds of my game.

Pushing off my headphones, I looked around but didn’t see West or Halle in the kitchen, where I had thought they had been.

Knocking sounded again, and I set down my controller and walked toward the door. I opened it and took a step back in surprise.

She was the last person I expected to see on the other side of the door. And I especially didn’t expect to see her surrounded by more luggage than any one person should ever have. The shiny rose-gold suitcases covered practically every inch of the third-floor landing.

My eyes couldn’t completely focus on her luggage enough to count how many pieces because they didn’t want to stop drinking in the beautiful woman in front of me.

Her blonde hair was down, with one side in the front pulled up and back in some intricate braid, showcasing a face so beautiful that I always struggled not to stare at whenever I was with her. She wore a matching black athleisure set, the zip up jacket fitting to her upper body with a sliver of her skin showing that had me hurrying to look back up at her face.

“Hey, Cannon,” she said, looking past me. “Is West home?”

Her voice pulled me out of my daze and made me finally notice that her eyes were watery and her cheeks were blotchy.

Had she been crying?

But before I got a chance to say anything, West came to the door, shifting me aside.

“Demi?” he asked, his voice full of concern. “What’s going on?”

Demi broke out in a sob and threw herself into West’s arm. “Dad kicked me out, and I have nowhere else to go.”

West’s eyes widened as he held his sister. “What do you mean he kicked you out?”

Halle stepped out into the hallway from West’s bedroom, where they must have been hanging out. “Oh no, what happened?” She rushed to West’s side and placed a hand on Demi’s back.

Demi pulled back to look at West and Halle. “I…I…” she hiccupped. “I dropped out of Stanford.”

A ripple of shock and silence filled our apartment.

West looked over at me. “Cannon, can you bring in Demi’s bags?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” I said, moving robotically to get her luggage.

My brain struggled to process everything that had happened in the last five minutes.

How had I gone from the monotony of playing a video game, to West’s sister possibly moving in with us? The sister who I’d worked hard to distance myself from. The sister whom I was extremely attracted to. West would strangle me immediately if he had any clue about what I thought of her.

I brought in more of Demi’s bags, still reeling about why she was here. That she’d dropped out of her last semester at Stanford before getting her MBA was a big enough deal in itself. But dropping out of Stanford as a child of Victor Vanderhall was probably worse than committing a serious crime. I couldn’t say I was surprised that Victor’s reaction was to kick her out. Not that I agreed with it. But being a Vanderhall came with a lot of pressure and responsibility. It was just understood that you went to Stanford and then joined the family business. He’d already been annoyed that Demi had taken a two-year gap between her undergraduate and graduate degrees.

“I just couldn’t do it anymore, West,” Demi said as she sat next to her brother on the couch, Halle on her other side. “I don’t want to be a venture capitalist. I don’t want to work at Vanderhall Capital. I couldn’t do one more day at Stanford, going from class to class, studying all night long. It felt like a part of me was dying every day I kept trying to live that lie.” She swiped under her eyes.

West rubbed his forehead in confusion, evidently hearing about this for the first time. “Demi, how long have you felt this way?”

She gave him a sheepish look. “Since I graduated from high school.”

His brows shot up. “You’ve been hiding your true feelings for eight years? Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

Finally getting the last bag inside, I shut the door.

I stood there awkwardly, not knowing if I should join them in the living room or if I should give them some privacy. I wasn’t technically part of the Vanderhall family, but I had been an honorary member for the last ten years. Demi and I had drifted apart over the last couple of years. Ever since she’d come back from her gap, things had shifted between us. What had always been an easy camaraderie was now awkwardly tense.

West turned to look over his shoulder at me curiously, pulling me into the conversation. “Cannon, did you know anything about this?”

Why would I know anything about her wanting to quit the mandatory Vanderhall path that had been laid out for them since birth?

“No, of course not,” I said, shaking my head as I came to join them on the other couch, now feeling like it would be weird if I left.

West nodded and turned his attention back to Demi. “So I wasn’t the only one blind to your unhappiness.”

That must have been why West asked me if I’d noticed. He wanted to make sure he hadn’t been the only unobservant brother.

West referred to me as his brother often, and usually it was a welcome term. When it came to Demi, I didn’t want to be seen as a brother at all. But unfortunately for me, I couldn’t be anything more to her than that, instead existing in this weird sort of limbo.

“I tried. I really did,” Demi said as she kept swiping at the tears falling from her eyes. “You know how intense Dad can be. He doesn’t care that I want to make my own path, do my own career. All he can see is me working for him, loving the company as much as him, and wanting to work crazy hours alongside him.” She rubbed her hands along the tops of her thighs. “I know deciding to drop out at the start of my last semester, being so close to getting my MBA, wasn’t smart, but I felt like I was suffocating.”

West rubbed her back. “I know exactly how suffocating Dad’s expectations can be.”

He really did. He’d almost lost Halle over trying to prove himself to Victor. It had been three months since West had stood up to his dad, and I’d never seen him happier.

“I know you do,” she said. “Watching you tell Dad how you really felt, and watching Halle living out her dream by starting her own dance studio—you both helped me find the courage to finally do something.”

Halle bit her lip and snuck a glance at West.

“And you’ve really thought this through?” West asked his sister.

“Yes.” She’d finally stopped crying, and the look of determination in her features was enough for us to know she was serious.

“Okay, then.” West nodded. “You know you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need.”

Her shoulders relaxed in relief. “Thank you. I’ll try to stay out of your way as much as possible. And I’ll make sure it doesn’t look like you have someone living on your couch.”

“Demi, I’m not having you sleep on the couch,” West said. “You can take my room, and I’ll stay out on the couch.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, her voice sounding unsure.

“Don’t let him fool you,” I chimed in, giving West a smug grin. “He mostly sleeps over at Halle’s, so he won’t be spending too many nights on the couch.”

West’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink. “Do you have to tell my sister about my nightly habits?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “It’s not like she wouldn’t have found out on her own. She may be your little sister,” I paused, my eyes moving over to Demi on their own. “But she’s not little anymore.”

West’s posture stiffened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Yanking my attention away from Demi, I worked to keep my expression neutral. “Nothing. I’m just pointing out that she’s old enough to understand that her brother is sleeping with his girlfriend.” Looking back at Demi, I let a mischievous smile out. “Before nine p.m., of course.”

My comment had both Demi and Halle laughing.

Before Halle had rearranged West’s priorities, he had been a stickler about his nine p.m. bedtime. Neither of us had thought that him storming out of our apartment one night in his slippers would have started a feud between him and Halle that would eventually lead to them falling in love.

West gave us all an unamused look. “Very funny.” His attention returned to my earlier comment about his sister. “I don’t need to worry about you two, do I?” His eyes bounced between me and Demi.

Before I could say anything, Demi was already answering him with a smack on his arm. “Of course not,” she said, incredulous. “Cannon’s like a brother to me.”

My face blanched, not able to hide the sting of her words. West and Demi didn’t seem to notice my reaction, but Halle was watching me like a hawk.

Crap.

I hurried to avoid her gaze. I didn’t need her to have a conversation with West that didn’t need to be talked about.

Demi seeing me as a brother was a good thing, I reminded myself. It would help me remember there was a wall between her and me. One that was apparently well fortified on her side with the word brother.

Halle returned our focus to the earlier conversation—thank goodness. “West can sleep at my place. It’s really no big deal. He really is there most nights, so this won’t change things. And it would be weird to have you on the couch when his room is available.”

“Okay,” Demi said. “If you’re sure.”

“I’m positive.” West stood and looked around our apartment, that was now filled with her luggage. “Not sure how we’re going to make this all fit, but we’ll figure it out.”

Demi let out a small chuckle. “I tried to pack light.”

“This is light?”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Halle interrupted. “When we went on that overnighter to Monterey a month ago, you packed enough for a small army.”

“The weather was finicky and unpredictable that time of year, so I needed options,” he argued.

“Sure, you keep telling yourself that,” she replied, amusement lacing her tone.

“It’s a Vanderhall thing,” I said to Halle. “You should see them go on a family vacation. They have a separate vehicle just for their luggage.”

“Hey,” both West and Demi said, reprimanding me.

I held my hands up in surrender. “What? I’m just telling her the truth.”

They both pursed their lips at me in annoyance, looking even more like brother and sister.

“Should I tell Halle about when you showed up at our dorm room at Stanford?” I asked West.

“Ooh, yes,” Halle said with excitement at the same time that West said, “No.”

“We’re focusing on Demi right now,” West said. “Not telling stories about our time in college.”

I chuckled but let the story drop for now.

“Give me a hand, and let’s get this luggage into my room.” West picked up two suitcases and headed back to his room.

Standing, I grabbed two more bags and followed behind him, the girls trailing behind me.

Once all the luggage was in West’s room, there wasn’t much room to walk.

“We can store some of the bags in my room once you empty them,” I offered.

“Thanks,” she said sheepishly, only looking at me for the second time since she’d arrived.

When we were with West, she avoided me, and that included looking at me. I wasn’t sure how to take that. Was it because she felt something toward me as well? Or was she oblivious to me once there was someone else to occupy her interest?

When it was just the two of us, things were fairly friendly, maybe even flirty at times. Although I didn’t know if that had more to do with our personalities than anything else. We never talked about anything serious—everything always remained surface level.

“We’ll let you get settled, and then we can talk more about what happened,” West said. “I’m sure Mom is a mess right now.”

Demi winced at his words. “Yeah. She’s mad at Dad and disappointed in me.”

West pulled her into a side hug. “I’m sure it will all work out. We can figure it out together.”

She wrapped one arm around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. “Thanks, West.”

The three of us retreated back to the living room, leaving Demi to unpack.

West rubbed a hand down his face. “Well, this is unexpected.”

Unexpected didn’t begin to describe how blindsided I felt. Never in a million years did I think I would be living in the same apartment as West’s little sister.

Halle placed a hand on West’s arm. “Demi’s a smart girl. I have no doubt she can figure out what she wants her future to be.”

“I know, but…” He let out a heavy sigh. “It was one thing to tell my dad that I want to work less. It’s another thing altogether for Demi to tell him she don’t want to work with him at all.”

I could see the concern in Halle’s eyes, but instead of voicing it she said, “I’m sure after some time has passed, things with your father will be okay. He’s probably just in shock right now. Maybe even sad at not having his little girl join him at Vanderhall Capital.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” he nodded. “Although he’s going to be a beast to work with tomorrow,” he said to me.

After West and I had graduated from Stanford together, we had immediately started working at Vanderhall Capital. Not only did I work for a great company, but I also got to work with my best friend.

“I think I have a day full of meetings tomorrow,” I said in jest.

West chuckled. “Yeah, me too.”

Victor Vanderhall was a good man, but his business persona was hard-nosed. Vanderhall Capital meant everything to him, so much that he often lost sight of what really mattered in life. And dealing with the fall-out of one of his children not joining the family business was going to make for a rough couple of days at work.

Halle wrapped her arms around West’s waist and reached up to place a kiss on his cheek. “Why don’t you grab what you need to stay at my place tonight and let Demi get some rest before you feel the need to plan out everything.”

He smiled down at her. “Okay.” He kissed her on the forehead before letting her go and heading back to his bedroom to pack.

Halle turned her gaze on me once West was gone. “You going to be able to handle this?”

My brows furrowed. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

She gave me a you-know-why look. “West may be clueless, but I’m not.”

My jaw clenched. I liked Halle, a lot. She was great and perfect for West. But right now, I was not liking how observant she was. Tonight wasn’t the first time she’d given me questioning looks when it came to my relationship with Demi.

“You heard what Demi said,” I pointed out, trying to avoid sharing any of my real feelings. “She sees me as a brother. And that’s how it will remain.”

She scrutinized my features, seeming to look for any areas where my feelings might be exposed. Too bad for her, she wasn’t going to find any. I’d become a pro at masking my feelings, and she wasn’t going to be the first one to see through me.

Accepting that she wasn’t going to find what she had hoped, she relented. “Fine. Just be careful.”

I gave her one of my fake but charming smiles. “I always am.”

And it was true. I was always careful. Careful not to let anyone in, no matter how much I wished to.

“Ready?” West’s voice cut through my staring contest with Halle.

“Yep,” she said, smiling at West.

The two said their goodbyes and were out the door, leaving me in the apartment alone with Demi down the hall.

Now I just needed to figure out how to act brotherly toward a girl I didn’t think of at all in a sisterly way.