Sun Poisoned (The Sunshine Series) by Nikki Rae

nothing to dig us out of this awkward exchange, I say, “Well, does she have a phone number or something?”
    Evan raises his eyebrow like he rarely gets asked a question like this. “Yes,” he says, bending over the desk again and scribbling it down for me.
    “ So what do you want us to do?” I ask, once the paper is in my hand.
    “ Anything you want,” he says, seeming satisfied with how this transaction has gone. “She has been wanting to get a haircut. Can you do that together?”
    I simultaneously stand, fold up the number, and shove it in my pocket.  ”Uh, yeah. I guess so.”
    Evan nods to himself, clearly pleased. “Great.”
    That’s it. End of weird conversation. Now we’re both standing and not saying anyt hing.
    “ Well,” I say. “I’ll text her, I guess.”
    He looks a little put off by the word ‘text’, like it’s something he’s only heard of a few times, but then he says, “Thank you, Sophie.” And he follows me to the door so he can shut it behind me.
    Compared to how the night started out, the rest of it is pretty uneventful. I watch Kelly and Dana kill it on stage and then I sell their merchandise to fans afterward. I’m so busy that I barely think about how basically Evan and Myles made it so my band earned a combined fifteen hundred dollars. I leave the club around one, sticking to a crowd of other people who live in the apartments until I’m at my own.
    Myles is waiting there. The look on his face says that he already knows about what happened in Evan’s office, but I prolong the inevitable for a few seconds longer, taking my time finding my keys in the depths of my bag.
    He speaks first.”Hey,” he says. “How did your day go?”
    I glance up for a second. ”Interesting,” I say flatly.
    Myles places an arm around me, and he starts turning me away from my apartment.
    “What are you doing?” I ask, but my feet don’t stop moving.
    He smiles. “We’re going to my apartment,” he says. “I have something for you that I’m not sure you’ll like.”
    “ So you’re going to bribe me in order to make me forget about the money?” I say as we’re climbing the stairs.
    “ That wasn’t the plan,” he says, “But if it works, that’s cool.”
    “ You’re joking? Seriously?” I cross my arms in front of me.
    “ Okay,” he says. “I’m sorry. We can talk and then I can bribe you.” We stop at the landing and Myles unhooks his keys from his back belt loop. “Plus the thing’s kind of heavy, so I didn’t want to bring it downstairs unless you like it.” He smiles for a second. “Especially if you’re too mad to accept it.”
    “ Oh…kay.” I say. “But don’t think this gets you a change the subject card.”
    He smiles wide this time. “Of course not.”
    Myles opens the door and we step inside. He acts like it’s no big deal that I haven’t ventured up here yet, but I have to take a deep breath and try to push paranoid Sophie down.
    Myles’ apartment doesn’t look much different than mine. It’s the same basic layout. The only difference is the way his furniture is arranged. And the fact that it’s way neater and cleaner than my apartment.
    “ Okay, sit down,” Myles says, gesturing to a black sofa.
    I do as he says, not forgetting that we need to talk for a second as the backs of my legs rest on the couch. I take a look around as he disappears down the hall, I’m guessing to his bedroom.
    Most of his apartment is grey, black, and blue. He has the same TV as me, the same shelving built into the walls on either side of it.
    When I hear the door of his room open, I also hear the jingling of Malakhi’s dog tags, and soon he’s panting over to me, tongue hanging out. I run my hands through the thick, white fur of his face. He blinks his one brown and one blue eye. I haven’t seen him in a while, but I’m smart enough to know when someone’s trying to soften the blow with cute animals.
    Myles comes back out carrying a large, heavy looking,