I shake my head, confused, and his eyes move between mine.
“It was a total of ten seconds, if that,” he tells me then. “But that was all it took for Mason to see.”
“We were playing a game, celebrating a win.” I swallow. “It was nothing.”
“It was something, Ari, and he knew it.” Chase’s lips twitch. “He’s got a solid right hook.”
Pressure builds along my chest. “It was Mason? Mason gave you the black eye.”
My mind spins, anxiously searching for the purpose. For the meaning.
Of what Mason did and why.
Of Chase’s words and the reason he’s sharing them.
“Why did you lie?” My voice comes out lower than intended.
A shadow falls over him, and while his chin lowers the slightest bit, he doesn’t look away. “Come on now.”
Because I would have gotten angry.
Because I would have punched Mason back.
Because I would have assumed I meant more to Chase when I was so sure I didn’t…
Did I mean more to you then?
When did you let me go?
I hastily bend at the knees, my movements jerky as I pick up a few discarded can tabs from the ground.
“Arianna—”
“Why did you tell me that?”
“You said I hit on Jake’s girlfriend. I wanted you to know that wasn’t true.”
But why, I want to ask. That was two years ago, so what does it matter now? I don’t ask because what purpose would that serve?
He said he wanted me to know, fine. Now I do. So that’s that.
I pop a shoulder with overfed dramatics and do my best to wash away the entire conversation with some lighthearted teasing.
“Well, that’s a relief. She was a biatch and matched quite well with her douchey boyfriend, so consider your character redeemed.”
“One goal fulfilled,” he jokes back. “A dozen more to go.”
Looking up, I meet his green eyes, and we share a small smile before going back to the task at hand.
Chase and I tie off the bags, and when he faces me, his beanie slips even higher, now barely hanging on. With a low laugh, I step forward, tugging it back into place. My eyes move to his, and the corner of his mouth lifts into a broken smile.
“Thanks,” he mumbles as I step away.
We turn toward the metal dumpsters, located several yards away, but the slight squeal of brakes sounds behind us.
We both look over our shoulders, finding Noah rolling to a stop at the top of the hill.
“I wonder why he came back,” I think out loud, taking a step in his direction, but quickly pause turning back to Chase.
“Must be something he didn’t want to leave behind.” He stares a moment, slowly facing me, and in the next, his hand is stretched out as a frown builds across his face.
Hesitantly, I pass over my bag.
He’s already walking away before, “Thanks,” leaves me, and so I spin around, jogging up the short hillside.
Noah’s eyes are pointed past me, but lower to mine as I reach him, a small smile finding his lips.
I’m about to ask him what happened when I notice two hot coffees in the cupholders and two breakfast sandwiches sitting on the dash.
“Couldn’t have you burning the forest down trying to make your own,” he drawls lazily, his head sinking to the seat behind him.
A chuckle bubbles out of me and I grip the doorframe, bringing myself closer to him. “Thank you.”
Noah stares into my eyes, slowly sliding his hand into my hair and pulls my lips to his. He kisses me slowly, almost achingly so, and I want to fall into him.
After a moment, he sighs and says, “I don’t want to leave you here.”
I love the way he says what he means. He never leaves me to wonder, and if I ever do, he sees it and answers my concerns without a question asked.
I lower my chin to my forearm and whisper, “So don’t.”
Noah’s eyes grow curious, and I smile.
“I don’t have to crash your visit. You could take me home first, or I can nap in the truck. Get reacquainted with cafeteria food,” I joke.
Noah licks his lips. “You’d leave with me now?”
I sigh loudly, shrugging my shoulders. “I’d have left with you thirty minutes ago if you had asked.”
Noah grips my chin and my lips press together in a grin. “Go pack your bag, Juliet.”
I step back and pull open his door.
He looks at me like I’m crazy, dropping against his seat when I grip the steering wheel and haul myself into the cab, my side squishing against it.
“I’m a good camper, Mr. Riley. Everything stays packed and zipped up tight, so no bugs get in. Cam will grab it for me.”
He eyes me, halting me with a palm to my ribs when I try squeezing past him. “Just like that?”
I tip my head. “Unless you have a problem with me looking like a homeless person, whatever you decide to do with me, yes. Just like that.”
His nod is slow, his fingers spanning out over my stomach. He holds me there a moment, and then he lets go. I crawl into the space beside him.
Noah waits for me to buckle up, and once I am, he passes me my coffee. “Extra hot.”
“Just the way I like it.”
Noah smirks to himself, his hand falling to my thigh, and it only leaves the spot when absolutely necessary.
The drive is peaceful, full of laughs and stories, and once we do finally make it back to town, he doesn’t drop me off at home. He hops on the opposite highway, headed for his mom’s.
As we arrive, he jumps out and reaches for me.
“Not embarrassed to enter with a hot mess like me?”
“Psh.” He hauls me out, stepping back to get a better look, his smirk far too cocky. “You look better in my clothes than you do yours.”
A laugh pushes past my lips, and I shove him away, taking off ahead of him, but he catches up quickly, his lips at my ear.
“And the mark on your neck you thought I wasn’t aware of, we should talk about making it a little more permanent, hmm?”
My steps falter, and he leaves me with his airy chuckle, only turning back once he’s at the entrance, and holding the door open for me to step inside.
He and I walk into the building side by side, hand in hand, and when we curve the corner, stepping into his mom’s room, she smiles wide.
“I prayed you’d be with him today, and here you are,” she admits. “Come sit. There’s so much I need you to know.”
She reaches for me with her right hand, her working hand, so I let go of Noah’s and take the opposite chair this time. I glide my palm under her left one, my other coming down on top of it.
Tears brim in her eyes, but she blinks them away, her free hand covering my own.
I don’t look to Noah, I couldn’t possibly, but there isn’t a doubt in my mind that his eyes are on me. I can feel the weight of his gaze. It pierces through me, searing into my soul, where I suspect a piece of him now lives.
“I like your sweatshirt. I think I recognize that one,” Lori teases, mischief in her eyes when my cheeks burn a bright red.
“Me too, but it’s kind of warm in here. You sure you don’t want to take it off?” Noah takes the place on her right, grinning wide when I pin him with an I’m going to kill you expression while subconsciously pulling my collar a little closer to my neck.
I give all my attention to Lori.
“Tell me the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to him.”
Noah laughs loudly, and his mom’s chuckle follows.
“You know, I hate to disappoint, but he’s never quite been the embarrassed type. A little quiet at times, but nervous or embarrassed…” She shakes he head.
I narrow my eyes on Noah, his grin still in full effect as he props back in his seat, leaning all lazy and gorgeous like. “No, I don’t suppose he was. He never does leave you guessing.”
“Growing up, his
friends were his teammates, so each year, as kids got older or moved programs, the new incoming kids would become his friends. He never did much with them outside of that though. He liked to be home.”
He liked to make sure you were never alone.
He understood her sacrifices as a young boy and grew up with an open heart and a strong mind, both that came from the unyielding love and support of his mother. He didn’t have an army around him like me, but he had her, and he made sure she felt she was enough.
A tender, heaviness falls over my chest, but I try not to show it, propping my chin in my open palm. “Tell me about his first ever football practice.”
“He cried like a baby,” she says instantly, making me laugh. “Begged me not to make him go, but I said, son, listen to me,” Lori continues telling her story and slowly, I look to Noah.
He winks my way, but it’s soft and different, and when he looks to his mom, I realize something.
Noah isn’t all the things the boys are for me.
He’s somehow… more.
Chapter 27
Arianna
* * *
“Brady said this week’s game is a big one for them.”
I nod, flipping over my flashcard. My shoulders fall.
Wrong again. Damn it.
“Yeah.” I drop back in the plastic seat. “Noah said they lost to this team in overtime last season, and right now, they’re tied for first place.” Checking the time on my phone, I begin stuffing my materials into my backpack. “Come on, if I don’t get an energy drink or a coffee or something, I might die, and they still have forty-five minutes of practice left.”
Cameron jumps up, ready to roll. “I wish we could drive out with them. This is the third away game in a row.”
“I know and they’ll be gone for three days this time. It’s a fourteen-hour drive to New Mexico. How miserable is that?”
“Ooh, I almost forgot. Someone might go through quarterback cock withdraws.”
“Shut up before I push you down the walkway.”
Laughing, she leads us down the stadium stairs.
As we get near the final platform, Chase goes out for a route. It’s a quick pass, and Noah bullets it his way, but it slips through his fingers, bouncing off his knee pad and right into a defender’s hands.
The whistle blows the play dead, and Chase tears his gloves off. Rather than jogging back to the line like the others, he walks.
Noah holds a hand out for each guy as they come in, and each one slaps their palm against his in passing. Each guy except Chase.
Instead, Chase bumps him in the shoulder and gets back into position.
Cameron crosses her arms. “What was that?”
I shake my head, watching as, this time, the receivers run downfield, each guarded by a defender. Chase breaks left, but he’s double-teamed, two defenders on his ass, and Noah finds his open teammate on the right, so he fires it off, the ball falling right into his intended target’s hands.
The whistle is blown and they begin their walk back, so Noah turns to speak to the lineman, while waiting for the others to jog back for the next drive, and I pull in a breath when Chase bumps him again, but this time, Noah’s not even looking.
Noah has to jump up to avoid tripping over one of the guys bent down tying his cleat.
Noah whips around, and Chase pushes his chest into his captain’s. Into his quarterback’s chest.
People shout, and Noah puts his hand on Chase’s chest to keep him back, but Chase slaps it away.
Noah tears his helmet off then, jerking forward and pointing his hand down the field, but Chase screams back.
Not even a minute later, Chase shoves him, and then the entire team is on their feet, screaming at Chase as Noah tries to calm them down, but Chase won’t shut up.
Rule number one on the field is never touch the quarterback.
What the hell is he thinking?
“Let’s go.” I frown, turning into the tunnel that leads to the parking lot.
“Ari, really!” Cameron calls behind me, falling in line beside me a moment later. “You don’t want to wait and see what happens?”
“No.”
Without another word, Cameron and I leave the stadium, and it’s not until we’re stepping into the campus coffee shop that she turns to me.
“In case you’re refusing to acknowledge what just happened, I’ll do it for you.” She slips her thumbs through the loops of her backpack. “After last weekend, it would be pretty hard to pretend it wasn’t obvious you and Noah are hooking up.”
“So.”
“So… maybe you and Chase need to have a conversation.”
Shocked, I gape at her, snapping, “What?”
“Don’t what me. You guys never talked about what happened.”
“We did. He said it was a mistake and I absorbed his words like charcoal does gas. There is nothing more to be said. Things almost feel like they’re back to normal again between us, so don’t stand here and try to tell me that the little fit he just threw over a pass that wasn’t sent his way had anything to do with me. Trust me, it didn’t.”
She tries but is unable to hold her thoughts in. “I just think this is, or that it might be, a little hard for him is all.”
“What exactly is hard for him, Cameron?” I step up to the counter, quickly ordering a drink, and she does the same. We pay and step into the little corner to get away from the others waiting.
“The fact that I cried over him for months or the fact that I’m not anymore?”
Her shoulders fall. “Ari, that’s not fair.”
“Not fair is being the one who skipped out on first college experiences with her twin because she knew his best friend would be there sharing those times with him, and she couldn’t stomach the thought of being so close to him. Or how about leaving her own best friend to do those same things, things they talked about doing together for years for the same damn reason?”
Tears brim in her eyes, and I shake my head, gripping her hand. “I’m not upset, Cameron. I made the choice. It was all on me, and I didn’t want to drag you through it with me. I was fucked up for a good minute, and I didn’t know when I’d feel better, but—”
“But now you do.”
My lips curve to one side, and I nod. “Yeah. I do. My brother isn’t mad at me anymore, or at least he’s not acting like it, and Chase and I can be in the same room without a giant ball of tension circling us. Everything feels good. I just want to focus on that.”
Cameron blinks rapidly to hold back her tears, but this time, they’re not sad ones.
She laughs lightly, looking up at the sky as she sticks her tongue out. “Uh, I hate when you’re smart and logical and shit.” She smiles, throwing her arms around me.
The barista calls our order. We grab it and head out the door.
“Let’s blow off the trip to the pub with the boys, eat ice cream for dinner, and watch some trashy TV, what do you say?”
I throw my arm around her, and hers falls over my shoulder. “I say it sounds like a solid plan.”
“Fuck yeah, it does.”
So, that’s exactly what we do.
“So these little FaceTime calls” —Noah grins into the screen, whispering— “you might not want to tease me like before.”
“Oh yeah, and why is that?”
Noah holds in a laugh and his eyes lift over his screen. In the next second, a very familiar voice shouts from somewhere, “That better be my sister you’re smiling at, dick.”
I drop back on my bed with a laugh and a dramatic eye roll. “Of course, he’s your roommate.”
“He’s playing most of the first quarter tomorrow, so I wanted to try and run over some more things with him without everyone else around.”
I fly up, my mouth agape. “He’s starting?”
Noah grins. “Yeah. We’ve got a game plan we think will trip them up, so we’re running with it.”
“My brother is starting in a college game tomorrow?!” I jump
to my feet, running for Cameron’s room and stubbing my toe on the way.
“Owe, shit!” I laugh, pounding on her door, barging in a second later.
She tears her headphones off her head, her eyes wide in panic.
“Mason’s starting tomorrow!”
“What!” She jumps up, fumbling and falling to the floor, but pops up instantly.
“I know!”
We squeal, hugging.
“Ah shit, you told her, didn’t you?” Mason’s voice fills the line, and I quickly look back to my screen in time to see his head pop up beside Noah’s.
“Holy shit!” I smile, stomping my feet.
“I know.” A proud chuckle slips from him.
Tears find my eyes and a playful glare blankets his face. “Knock it off.”
We laugh, and I inhale deeply.
“Oh my god, Mase. You’re going to rock it.”
“Love you, girls.” He beams.
“Love you.”
Mase disappears and I squeal at Noah, whose soft eyes are glued on mine.
“I’ll let you go to sleep now,” he says quietly.
“After this news? Yeah, right! I’m going to try and reach my parents. I think it’s daytime in Germany, but I failed history twice, so I could be wrong.”
Noah chuckles, letting me know, “I might not be reachable tomorrow.”
“Game face, I know the drill by now.” I bite my lips. “Kill it out there, Romeo.”
“For you I will.”
My smile is slow. “Nineties R and B, I like.”
Noah’s grin is downright lethal, and I want to jump through the screen. “Bye, beautiful.”
With a quick wave to the screen, I hang up.
Tomorrow, my brother will reach yet another goal he set out to accomplish, and I couldn’t be prouder.
I know he’s earned it; I know he’s more than good enough, but I can’t help but think Noah helped present him with the opportunity to get to start, and Mason made it his bitch.
Say You Swear Page 26