“What are you giggling about?”
“Nothing, I just didn’t know how that was gonna go, and it was very anticlimactic.”
Damon crunches his chip behind us while I get myself a glass of water and beg my nervous system to be okay with this.
“So,” Mike says, leaning against the counter, taking on a casual tone that instantly puts me on edge. “While you were in class, Damon and I went somewhere.”
I narrow my eyes. “You went somewhere?”
“Mhm,” he says, bouncing on his feet. “We got your stuff from Ryan’s.”
I set the glass down hard. “You what?”
“You know,” he waves a hand like it’s no big deal. “Your laptop, clothes, keys, everything you left. We got it.”
“Mike. You went to Ryan’s.”
“Yep.”
I run my hand through my hair. The thought of Mike, myboyfriend,going to that creep’s room, has my heart pounding and— “Relax, baby. I brought Damon, remember?” Mike gestures at Damon, and right. I didn’t think about that. “He’s big and scary. It was effective, I thought.”
I look over at Damon for confirmation, and he shrugs, evidently having zero problem with going to intimidate my former friend turned stalker. “We didn’t even have to do anything. Ryan opened the door, and as soon as he saw us, he went to get your stuff.”
“But I told him,” Mike continues, setting his glass down and crossing his arms, taking on an air of protectiveness that gets my blood pumping for a different reason entirely. “That if he comes near you again, so much as looks in your general direction, we’ll kick his ass.”
“You told him that.”
“I sure did. And,” he adds, shifting so that he’s standing in front of me, to slide his hand up my chest. “I told him we’re together.”
“Why did you do that?”
“Because I had to. I had to look him in his big, stupid, mean face and tell him that you’re mine and he never had a chance.” He pauses. “It was important to me.”
“It was important to you,” I repeat, gripping on his hips when he reaches up to my neck, looking up at me with big blue eyes, and fuck, he’s pretty.
He uses it against me.
I can’t be mad at him when he’s looking at me like that.
“One of the better moments of my life.” He says, sounding completely satisfied. “You should have seen his face. I would’ve felt bad for him if he wasn’t such an asshole.”
“He’s not wrong,” Damon chimes in. “Dude looked like he was gonna cry.”
I look between the two of them, this absolute menace that I’m in love with and his best friend eating chips, talking about helping Mike intimidate Ryan, and I try to locate a single ounce of frustration, but I can’t.
“You should have told me you were going,” I say, because that’s what I should say.
“You would have said don’t.”
“I would have.”
“Are you mad?” He asks, close enough that our lips are almost touching.
“A little bit.” Not at all.
He grins, brushing his lips over mine before he pulls back, leaving me wanting more. “I’ll find a way to make it up to you, don’t worry.” Staying in my arms, Mike turns around to face Damon. “Okay,” he says. “You can go home now.”
“Excuse me?” He grumbles.
