Max reeled with disbelief. His gaze kept shifting between Nina and the dark-haired pretty boy who was standing across the room. Unconsciously, he clenched his jaw and balled his hands into loose fists.

Was that obnoxiously good-looking bastard really Nina's ex?

Fuck him. Never had Max felt more territorial or threatened by another male.

The next few minutes played out like a bad dream.

The very second Ethan caught sight of Nina, his black eyes flickered with recognition. His handsome face grew pale, and his entire body tensed. Judging from the bastard's stunned reaction, it seemed to Max that Ethan hadn't been expecting to run into Nina at this party, either.

Ethan leaned over and whispered something into Parker's ear. His beautiful date nodded with a slight scowl. Then, Max watched in dismay as Ethan headed straight for them. His gaze was intensely fixed on Nina.

Instinctively, Max stepped closer to Nina and placed his hand on the small of her back. He wished there was something more he could do or say to let Ethan know that Nina was off-limits. Nina didn't shy away from Max's touch, but it was pretty obvious that her entire attention was focused on her ex. Max developed the sneaking suspicion that he had ceased to exist in Nina's mind at the moment.

Zahara rushed over to Nina. Her lovely features had crumpled with distress. "Shit, shit, shit! Nina, I had no idea that he'd be coming tonight. Carson and I would've never invited you if we had known. I'm so sorry for putting you in this position. Did you wanna go? Just say the word, and we can all take off right now.

"It's okay, Zee," Nina replied in a small voice. "I'll probably head out in a bit, but you guys should stay."

"I can take you home," Max volunteered.

Nina didn't seem to hear him. She only had eyes for Ethan.

Shalani, Connie, Zahara, and Carson crouched together in a conspiratorial huddle. They began whispering and muttering to each other. Then, all at once, they broke their circle to crowd around Nina like a barricade.

"What the hell do you want, Ethan?" demanded Connie. "Nina doesn't want to talk to you."

Ethan stared down at her coldly. "I have something important to discuss with her. Why don't you let Nina decide whether or not she wants to speak to me?"

Carson sneered at him. "Go back to your new girlfriend, asshole. You're not welcome here."

Shalani clutched at Nina's arm anxiously. She mumbled, "You don't have to talk to him if you don't wanna, okay?"

"I know. Thank you, Shalani."

Nina gave all of her friends a grateful smile before stepping forward to address Ethan in a surprisingly steady tone, "If you wanna talk, Ethan, then let's talk. Somewhere else, though. Not here."

"I was hoping you'd say that, 寧寧."

Ethan smiled in triumph and held out his hand to Nina. The gesture appeared to be second nature to him.

Off to the side, Max started glowering.

Níngning?

Max hated Ethan's nickname for Nina. It sounded intimate. Familiar. Far too intimate and familiar for his liking.

While Nina was mulling over whether or not to take Ethan's hand, Max moved ahead to grab it. Ethan's eyebrows rose with displeasure as Max proceeded to give him an unyielding, almost painfully firm, handshake. The two guys stood at almost equal height. Tensions rose as they eyed one another with distrust.

There was an unmistakable edge in Max's voice when he introduced himself, "Hey. You're Ethan, right? I'm Max, Nina's new roommate."

Without letting Ethan respond, Max slid an arm around Nina's shoulders, pulled her close, and murmured loud enough for her ex to hear, "Let me know if he gives you any trouble, mami. You know I'm always here for you."

Max then turned to glare at Ethan. Defiantly. Max knew he was being a petty motherfucker, and, admittedly, he had never called Nina "mami" before, but—

He wanted the bastard to believe that his relationship with Nina was more than friendly.

Max wanted to make Ethan question whether or not they might be more than roommates.

To stress over whether or not they might be actually fucking.

Nina turned to look at Max for the first time since Ethan's arrival. Her honey-brown eyes went wide with interest and wonder. "Thank you? I... appreciate it, Max."

Ethan smiled coldly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Max, but please don't trouble yourself. I've always taken good care of Nina. I know she deserves nothing but the best."

Then, he reached over to pull her away from Max. Nina followed him without a word of protest. As Nina and Ethan walked away, Max couldn't help despairing over how good the two of them looked together. To Max's annoyance, Ethan didn't hesitate to position his hand snugly around Nina's waist, as though he had every right to claim her as his own, and guided her towards the penthouse elevator. When Nina didn't brush her ex's hand away, Max's chest tightened with worry.

He was almost certain that Ethan wanted to do a hell of a lot more than just "talk" to Nina, and that wasn't fucking cool with him at all. From the corner of his eye, Max noticed Nina's friends gathering together in a huddle again. Max couldn't hear what they were saying, but their expressions looked positively Machiavellian.

When the girls finally split up, Shalani commented to Max, "Ethan and Nina look amazing together, huh? They're kinda like Prince Charming and Cinderella."

Max side-eyed her with trepidation. What did she mean by "Prince Charming" and "Cinderella," exactly?

"What are you talking about? Ethan has a girlfriend. I dunno what the hell he's doing with Nina right now."

Shalani smiled at him knowingly. "You like Nina, don't you?"

Max tried to deny it, "No, we're just friends."

"It's okay, Max. We already know," Connie said with a sigh. "Nina told us how you guys have been crushing on each other. She didn't go into too much detail, but you guys have been so fucking obvious about your feelings that I'm pretty sure a blind man would be able to see how badly you two wanna bump uglies..."

Max turned bright red. "Um, I mean..."

Connie probably wasn't wrong. But he refused to agree with her out loud.

"We all hate Ethan, by the way," Carson supplied helpfully, "in case you were wondering. That doesn't mean I'm rooting for you, of course, since your whole vibe just screams 'LA fuckboy' to me, but, if you, as Nina's roommate, can help her get over that son of a bitch, I'd be forever grateful to you. That pretentious Harvard prick and his family really did a number on her."

Zahara grimaced. "To be clear, Max, we don't hate Ethan. He's actually not a bad guy, but what I think Carson meant to say was—he's not really the right guy for Nina. We want to see her get to a better place, mentally and emotionally, now that he's finally out of her life. It might be helpful if you could keep an eye on her since, you know, you guys live together."

Shalani spoke up again, "Obviously, Nina is her own person. Whether or not she goes back to Ethan will be her decision, but... we're worried about her. And, if you care about Nina at all, please, help us look out for her."

Max felt thoroughly blindsided by this sudden outpouring of goodwill from Nina's friends. Either they genuinely despised Ethan. Or they disliked him slightly less than they disliked Ethan and had decided to make an ally out of him instead. Shalani sounded so sure that Nina was going to, at the very least, consider dating Ethan again, which was an extremely alarming thought for Max.

He didn't know quite what to make of all this yet, but he recognized this moment as a golden opportunity to win over Nina's friends. Not to mention, Max had absolutely no problem with turning himself into the world's biggest cockblock between Nina and Ethan.

"Of course, I'll be happy to do what I can for Nina," he promised. "Like you guys, I only have her best interests at heart."

Carson made a gagging motion with her finger and mouth. Zahara shot her a dirty look before turning to him with a smile. "Thanks, Max."

"Don't let us down, okay?" Connie muttered testily. "We're only asking you to be Nina's friend and not her fuck buddy."

Max chuckled nervously. "I understand. I'm not gonna fuck anything up. Don't worry."

Seemingly satisfied with his answer, Nina's friends turned away from him to resume their own conversation.

Max exhaled a shaky breath. That Connie, especially, was a sharp one. Or maybe Nina had said something to her about their awkward conversation in his bedroom. Either way, Max decided that he'd need to be on his best behavior from now on.

If Max was being perfectly honest with himself, Nina's ex intimidated the hell out of him. Ethan was tall, good-looking, and, apparently, according to Carson, Harvard-educated as well. Worst of all, Ethan shared a history with Nina that Max could never match. The way Ethan carried himself around her made Max feel like a boy. Max didn't want Nina to see him as a boy. He wanted her to look at him like a man. Preferably, her man. Max wanted to erase all doubt from Nina's mind that he belonged in her future and that Ethan needed to stay in her past.

Now, the only problem that remained was: How?