“Oh my god, stop. You’re going to kill me,” he said, but he was obviously happy.
Once we were back in the truck, he carefully set the penguin upright between us.
“Are you actually naming it Black-and-Whitey?” I asked, and he laughed, shaking his head.
“Nah. I think Tuxy is a good name. Like a tuxedo, you know?”
“Sounds good to me,” I said, once again navigating the somewhat irritating parking garage. I was glad I didn’t have to use one of these things every day for work. “So there’s some pretty nice places around here to eat. Did you have anything in mind?”
“You want to take me out somewhere nice?” He asked, sounding surprised.
“Well, if you want.” I hadn’t known it would be a big deal or anything.
“Um, honestly?” He started. “I hope this doesn’t sound lame or ungrateful or anything but I kind of just like hanging out with you, so… I don’t really need to go anywhere fancy. We can just eat in the truck for all I care.”
“Ungrateful?” I asked, snorting out a little laugh. “No. You’re just odd.”
“That’s fine,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t mind being odd.”
If he didn’t want anything fancy, that was fine with me. I’d never been that kind of guy, anyway. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he pulled out an insulin pen from the pocket-sized mini-cooler thing he carried around, quickly going through the injection process and then putting everything away.
When we pulled up to the drive-thru speaker, Jordy told me he’d had a big lunch, so he wasn’t that hungry, he’d just eat some of whatever I got. Typical.
It was a Saturday night, so it was pretty busy, but once I got the food I pulled into one of the only spots I could find. There were teenagers in cars on either side of us, like it was some big hangout spot. Annoying. But I just rolled up the windows to block them out.
“Relax,” Jordy suggested, grinning a little at my obvious irritation.
“I’m bad at relaxing,” I reminded him, taking a giant bite of the barbecue bacon burger I’d ordered.
He smirked, swiping one of my fries. “You seemed pretty relaxed this morning, when we were driving here.”
Staring at him wryly for a few seconds, I cocked an eyebrow. “You are very, very mistaken about that.”
He laughed, again looking way too pleased with himself. If I ignored all the issues that made it impossible for us to be together, he was the easiest person in the world to be around.
When I’d finished eating and he’d finished picking at my food, we decided we’d had enough excitement for one night and were ready to head back to the room and relax. Not that I was convinced I’d be able to relax being trapped in a bed with him. But that was a bridge I’d have to cross then.
Stuffing all the wrappers and cardboard fry boxes into the paper bag, he balled it up and headed over to the big trash can near the side of the building. I hated having trash littering my truck, so I appreciated the gesture. Tapping my fingers to the beat of the lame pop music he still had playing on my radio, which I would absolutely never admit was starting to grow on me, I watched him as he walked over.
My eyes narrowed as he stopped, looking around like he’d heard someone call his name. A guy with broad shoulders and dark, curly hair jogged up to him. When the hair on my arms pricked up, my muscles twitching, I knew he was an alpha.
But unlike with that asshole Andrew at that party, Jordy’s body language was totally comfortable, even friendly. He looked surprised to see the guy, like he knew him from somewhere. I slapped down the volume knob on the radio and wrenched open my door a crack so I could try and hear their conversation, but there was too much noise from the people around us.
I hated the feeling coursing through me, making me grit my teeth and clench my jaw. Separating him from someone who wasobviously harassing him and making him uncomfortable was one thing, but this clean-cut guy with the friendly mannerisms was obviously no threat.
Still, after about another minute of them chatting, I couldn’t stop myself from stepping out of my truck. As I walked over, I could hear Jordy laughing.
“Everything okay?” I asked as I approached, even though it was more than obvious that it was.
“Oh!” Jordy looked surprised as he turned around to see me, like he’d forgotten he was there with me. “Sorry, we got caught up talking about OU,” he apologized.
To support Jordy’s statement, the guy pointed to his sweatshirt, which had the logo of the school on the front. “Cougar life,” he stated proudly, referencing their mascot. “Are you going there too?” He asked me.
“No.”
Of course I wasn’t going to their uppity college, full of future politicians and lawyers. I couldn’t even hack it in community college in my own hometown.
“Oh,” he answered, probably surprised by the flatness in my tone.
