Page 4 of Forever Defiant
“Fine. We’ll get you food. We should probably have ordered Spence his noodles.”
“Spaghetti.”
“Whatever.” We walked back to the apartment, my mind on the tall, dark-haired drink of water I left behind.
Hadley Peterson?Why?Whydid the hot chick have to be the one woman, other than Savvy, that Dante would have a freaking coronary over if he knew I had my tongue in her mouth the other night?
It wasn’t just that she was hot. It was that she’d pulled away. Nobody pulled away first. That was my move.
When we got into the apartment, Dante was sitting on the couch, a silver foil container in his lap, and a piece of bread in his mouth. “Immphh wimmphyou.”
“I think he’s trying to say he got food without us.” Noah gave me an eye roll. “Did you order for us?” It was a rhetorical question; he was already pulling out a container and opening it.
“This one for me?” He showed the contents to Dante, who nodded. “Nice.” He took his container and bag of breadsticks over to the couch.
“Where’ve you been?” Dante asked, his mouth clear of food. “I didn’t think I’d been away that long, and when I came back, you were both gone.”
“We headed to the bar,” Noah told him, settling down. “Didn’t think you’d be here. It was pretty crowded, and I was hungry, so we came back.” He didn’t even look my way as he told the whole truth without embellishing things. “Where’s Savvy?”
“She was supposed to have dinner with her dad, but decided not to. We were on our way to the shed, but her mom called her, and it became...” He shrugged. “A thing. She ended up going to her dad’s after all.” He looked between us.
“Well, that’s good for her. Right?” Dante shrugged in reply and kept eating. “I told Noah you wouldn’t be back. I thought you’d be gone for a while.”
“I got you spaghetti and meatballs.” Dante didn’t lift his head from his food. “I know you get fussy if you don’t get red meat.”
“You knew we wouldn’t order?” Noah asked, tearing his bread in half.
“Wasn’t sure about you, knew Dust would get sidetracked.” He looked over at me, his gaze sharp but playful. “So who did you duck out of the bar to avoid?”
He thought I’d seen a hookup and bailed. I did. Just not the kind he was expecting. He wasn’t wrong about the reason, just the specific situation, not because the six-four mountain of muscle on the couch would rip my head off my shoulders if I went near my last ‘hookup.’
“You know me so well,” I mocked as I walked over and sat beside them. “When did you order? When you got back, or on the way back?”
Dante grinned. “Youknowmeso well. On the walk back. I don’t want to say I knew you wouldn’t, but...” He took a mouthful of his pasta. “This was exactly what I needed,” he added, pointing his fork at his food.
“It’s just pasta,” I grumbled, getting comfortable. I took a bite, feeling a little resentful toward my unassuming ball of ground beef, then flipped off my roommate when I saw the shit-eating grin spread across his face because I was practically drooling on the first mouthful. “You went to the good place,” I mumbled as I dug in.
“Yeah.”
I couldn’t even argue because, shit, this was good food. I glanced over at Noah, who looked to be as happy as I was with the dinner choice.
The three of us ate in silence, and I wasn’t overly surprised when Noah dropped his empty container on the table. “We need to eat there more often.” He leaned back, his hand rubbing his stomach in appreciation. “How much do I owe you for my share?”
“We don’t do that,” I told him. “Shit, is this the first time we’ve had takeout with you?” I asked in surprise.
“This is the first time we’ve had takeout thissemester,” Dante told me as he wiped his hands on a napkin. He turned to Noah. “We usually take turns paying, you good with that? Or do you want a split?”
Dante always knew how to make someone feel at ease when discussing money. I knew my folks had more than his mom did, but at the end of the day, we were all on scholarships. My parents had some cash, enough to flaunt, but not enough to be reckless with it.
I looked over at Noah.
“I don’t know a thing about you,” I realized out loud. “I mean nothing.” I glanced at Dante, whose lips were twitching. “Do you know shit about Noah?”
He shook his head. “I know he’s got a little brother who’s really smart, I know he gets mostly B’s, and I know he’s a shit-hot linebacker.” He cocked his head when Noah grunted. “I know he’s got a mean right hook, I know he’s loyal, and I know both of you are going to be on my speed dial for the rest of my life.”
Noah’s head dipped, but I saw the pleased flush. Dante and I exchanged a look, but my smart mouth wasn’t one to be quiet. “And Ididn’tknow that you hooking up with Savvy Cole would make you all emotional and in touch with your feelings... cringe.”
“It’s a new era, my friend.” Dante rubbed his shoulder. “But Dust is right, we know very little about you. Spill all the details, CliffsNotes only, else Dust will fall asleep.”
