“What do you mean?”
She shrugs, looking down at her red nails again.
“I don’t know, Petunia. I mean, how long have you known Nico? And how much do you really know about this guy?”
I stare at her.
“I know plenty,” I say in a somewhat frigid tone. “In fact, Nico’s also the CEO of the company where I work. You know, Key Largo, out in Jersey? He’s a shipping magnate.”
Lark nods.
“Okay, that’s good. But you know how these billionaires are. They’re shady. I’m not saying thatNico’sshady per se, but just be careful, girlfriend. I mean, did you do a background check?”
I snort.
“Of course not, because Sanctum already did that for us!”
Lark rolls her eyes.
“No, I don’t mean a formal criminal check or anything like that. I mean, just googling him. You’d be surprised at what’s out there.”
That’s when I get prissy and uptight.
“No, I didn’t google Nico,” I say with a sniff. “I don’t need to.”
Lark looks genuinely surprised, blinking her big brown eyes at me.
“Are you serious, Pet? That’s like the first thing I do. That’s the first thingeveryonedoes. Youhaveto look this dude up on google and check out all his social media because maybe he’s dealing drugs or something. Hell, you should even be checking out his family and friends’ social media too!”
I snort.
“He’s not dealing drugs, Lark. Why would you put something like that on social media anyways? It would just get you arrested.”
My buddy shrugs.
“People do, but they’re discreet about it. It’s all coded with words like, “Do you enjoying flying?” or “Looking for ski bunnies to party with.” These dudes aren’t stupid.”
I merely roll my eyes again.
“Trust me, Nico Matthews isnotselling drugs on-line.”
But Lark perks then.
“Okay, so you said his name is Nico Matthews?” she asks, already fumbling for her phone. “Then I’ll do the search for you.”
But I stop her.
“No don’t, because I hate doing things like cyber-stalking,” is my firm command. “It’s so cringe-worthy, and I don’t want to fall into that hole. I mean, I want to enjoy the process of discovery and getting to know someone through our interactions. It feels wrong to snoop on someone like I’m a private eye or something.”
But Lark looks at me like I’m crazy.
“Yeah, but isn’t that the whole point?” she asks in a confused voice. “I mean, you don’t want any big surprises later down the line, and again, you’d be surprised at how secretive people are. Sometimes, there are dudes who’ve done time in jail, and they never even bring it up while you’re dating. To be honest, they figure that you probably already know, seeing that everyone stalks everyone else.”
I stare at her.
“Nico has not done time in jail, Lark. He wouldn’t be the CEO of Key Largo if he had.”
My friend just shrugs again.