I’d never seen a guy more glued to his phone. The whole consulting business was new to me, but Noah skipped class, excused himself in the middle of a date, and claimed something had “come up” more times than I could count on both hands and half of my toes.
Part of me was convinced I was the other woman. I’d never been to his place, and he’d only stayed overnight at my dorm once—by complete accident after I’d mistakenly drugged him. He didn’t have a ring, but it wasn’t like that’d never happened before. I’d never met any of his so-called friends, and he even had the go-to alibi of “business trips.” All signs were pointing toward Emma Fox being crowned Most Ignorant Side Chick of the Year at the next student award ceremony.
Which was why I decided to double down andinsistthat we take the party back to Noah’s place after we spent Saturday afternoon underneath our tree on the quad. After an hour of flipping through Music Theory flash cards for the midterm, Noah switched to a crossword puzzle while I tried and failed to learn how to juggle.
“Ready to head back to your dorm?” Noah asked. He folded up the completed puzzle and tucked it into his messenger bag. I didn’t need to sneak a peek to know the entire puzzle was done inpenand there was nothing scratched out.
Overachiever.
I cleared my throat as I collected the fallen apples I’d failed to catch and stuffed them into my bag. “Actually, I was thinking instead of cramming into my tiny, little dorm room tonight for a movie, maybe we could go over to your place instead?”
I watched out of the corner of my eye as Noah’s hands froze on his bag.
“You have a kitchen, right?” I asked, going for nonchalance as I pretended to flick a nonexistent ladybug off my backpack. “We could make dinner ourselves and then watch a movie?”
Noah nodded—slower than I would’ve appreciated, but still.
“That sounds…” He trailed off and flattened a hand over the charcoal tie he’d worn today, before nodding again—somehow even slower this time. “Yes, that should work.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. He didn’t say no. That was a good sign. Maybe there wasn’t a hidden family after all.
I grinned as Noah got to his feet. “Great. I’m excited to see your place. Also—no pressure—but I’m expecting to see an Aurora Ipsilon pen shrine or two. Or maybe a whole room filled with pens in display cases.”
Noah chuckled, holding out his hand, which I readily grabbed as we started off toward the student parking lot. “Sadly, my place is severely lacking in any sort of shrines or museum-ready exhibits.”
I sighed while swinging our linked hands. “That’s a shame.”
“I’m parked over by the gym.” Noah nodded toward the parking lot. “Did you want another coffee before we leave?”
I shook my head, not leaving any room for temptation. I was already buzzing enough from the anticipation of going to Noah’s place that I was a little wary of adding more caffeine to the mix. Wouldn’t want to embarrass myself.
Besides, if we stopped by the cart now, Noah would probably find some way to pay for it himself—which didn’t do anything to ease the guilt of how slowly I’d been saving up money to repay him for the pen fiasco. I was convinced Noah and Scott had some sort of shifty agreement when it came to coffee payments; I just couldn’t prove it.
Yet.
My main theory was that Noah was somehow threatening or blackmailing Scott. I tried my best to assure Scott it was safe to confide in me whenever Noah was absent, but the coffee cart boy simply laughed in my face whenever I tried to gently coax a confession out of him.
When we reached the familiar black Audi, Noah beat me to the passenger door as usual, and we reenacted the dance of me trying and failing to gracefully take a seat before he closed the door. I let out a sigh and tossed my bag to the floor before buckling up as he got in.
As he started the car, Noah pulled out his phone, and there was no way I imagined the tension that blanketed the small space as he typed a message.
“Checking in with a roommate?”I asked lightly, going for casual as I tapped my fingers against my thighs. “Or maybe your… wife?”
Noah shot me an unimpressed look.
“Just trying to lighten the mood,” I muttered. I flattened both hands against my skirt and looked out the window.
It was a ten-minute drive from campus, and traffic wasn’t too bad. I didn’t know where I’d expected Noah to live, but it certainly wasn’t the small street of modest duplexes he pulled into.
He parked in one of the driveways, and I followed him up the walkway to the left side of a one-story Spanish-style duplex—doing a double take at the landscaping wrapping around to his side yard. A row of wooden planters stuck out like a sore thumb behind a short hedge. “You have a garden?”
“It’s mostly vegetables and other basics. My friend takes care of those, actually,” Noah said. “He’s got a green thumb but lives in an apartment. Not much space for gardening.”
Afriend.
I snuck a glance up at him. “Is his name Julian, by chance?”
One corner of his lips curved into a smile. “It’s Adrian.”
