The Roommate Equation

I laugh. “Have you met Vinnie Sax? That man doesn’t know the meaning of an early day.”

Sloan reaches into his pocket, plucks a twenty-dollar bill from his wallet, and waves it. “Take this. You didn’t eat dinner last night. You must be starving by now.”

“Sloan,” I groan.

I turn away from my brother, and Dylan clutches my shoulder. “Take it,” he whispers. “Otherwise, he won’t leave you alone.”

Knowing Dylan is right, I angle my body to face Sloan and grab the money and stuff it into my purse with an appreciative smile. “Thanks, but you don’t need to do this.”

“Have a good day at work,” he says. “Call if you need anything.”

We grew up with loving parents who are still happily married, but they didn’t have much money. I’m not used to luxury, and I don’t need it. But now that Sloan is wealthy, it’s as if he feels guilty for having so much more than me.

Money or not, he’s still my big brother. I don’t look at him any differently than I did before his app took off. He would do anything for me, and I love that about him. But I hate when he makes me feel like a charity case.

Dylan knows better than anyone how much I value my independence. He would never force his money on me, nor would he offer it. When we were together, he let me make my own decisions.

After I say goodbye to the boys, I head into the office. I wave to a few people who work in the building and step into the elevator that Willow Duvall is holding open for me. She’s my only real friend in this city and a junior agent at my firm.

“Hey, girl,” Willow coos. “You look like you had a rough night.”

“You have no idea.”

She punches the button on the wall, and the doors close. “Out late with a guy?”

“You could say that,” I deadpan. “I got kicked out of my apartment, and now I’m living with my brother.”

Her eyes widen. “Wow, that’s crazy. So, you’re living in Malibu now? With Sloan.”

She licks her lips at the thought of my brother. Most women do. It’s gross but whatever.

“I got drunk and fell asleep on the beach with Dylan.”

Her smile widens. “Your ex is hot in a sexy nerd kinda way. Like a young Tony Stark but not yet a billionaire.”

“Knowing Dylan, he will be one someday.”

Dylan is brilliant, the smartest person I know. I wasn’t the least bit surprised that his app made him loads of money and even less shocked when it became the hottest anti-dating app in the country.

When the elevator doors open, Willow mumbles, “This can’t be good.”

Her brown irises bug out when she looks at the reception desk that’s buzzing with excitement. The phones are ringing, one after another, as the secretary pool scrambles to answer calls. One of the receptionists is running down the hallway that leads to Vinnie Sax’s office.

Brenton-Lake is the top talent agency in the country, but we’re never this busy. Well, I haven’t worked here long enough to know for sure. But by the looks of it, we either lost a high-profile or gained one.

I turn to Willow and shake my head. “No, this is definitely not good.”

I walk by the reception desk, past women speaking so fast that I can barely understand a word. A group of agents crowds around cubicles, some of them spilling into the hallway that leads straight to Vinnie’s office. A senior agent is standing outside of his doorway.

I march straight into Vinnie’s office, where I find more agents and secretarial staff perched on couches and seated at his conference table. Vinnie makes a fist, the color fading from his knuckles. He yells into his Bluetooth headset, tugging at his hair that’s pulled into different directions.

Vinnie steps out from behind his desk to hand a notepad to an agent. He has a slightly crazy look about him, but he’s not entirely disheveled, dressed in a sharp three-piece charcoal suit and black wingtips. A silk tie is loose around his neck, the buttons of his vest open, exposing a white oxford with a coffee stain on it.

I shove my way through the crowd and wave my hand in front of Vinnie’s face. He glances up from his desk to acknowledge my presence.

“Ash,” he says, relieved. “About time.”

Vinnie drops the headset onto his desk, cups my shoulder with a firm hand, and leads me out of his office.

He shakes his head, staring down at the floor. “We have a problem.”

Please don’t fire me…

I’m only a few minutes late.

We step into a conference room with a large flat-screen television hanging on the wall and a table large enough to seat most of our employees comfortably. I shut the door behind us. Vinnie takes a seat at the head of the table, gesturing for me to sit next to him. My heart hammers against my chest as he stares at me.