Page 69 of Forever Relentless

“You have a lot of rules.” His hands were in his pockets, but he didn’t look unsure. He looked relaxed, confident, and delicious. No. Deviant. That’s what he was. Not delicious.

“Go away.” I turned and walked away from him.

“What if I want coffee?” he asked as he came alongside me.

“You don’t.” I would not glare at him.

He chuckled.

I turned and glared at him.

He met my glare with a look of amusement.

I might punch him. I have a far worse temper than my brother ever had before everything that happened. Now, Mason was just a burning ball of anger.

Thinking of my brother reminded me why I was here and why walking alongside this man-child was a bad idea.

I stopped walking. “You were right earlier. This college is a cesspool of misinformation. Add social media to the mix, and well, I don’t need to draw you a picture, right?”

Noah frowned. “I think you lost me.”

“Nope, you’re still right here,” I quipped, but before I could see if he got my joke, I looked around. “We’re out in the open. It’s not a big deal if it’s an odd occurrence. I’m in marketing, after all, but let’s not draw too much attention to the fact that we’ve had a few conversations.”

“You think by walking beside you, people are going to assume we’re fu—”

“Let’s not spell it out, okay?” I resumed my march to the coffee shop.

“I don’t have that reputation,” he told me quietly as he fell back into step beside me.

And he didn’t. I’d never heard a whisper of him with anyone. Nothing here — I’d checked the socials of his old school too.

“That’s not the point,” I murmured.

“Um, yeah, I think for what you’re trying to insinuate, it really is.”

I stopped walking again and closed my eyes, counting to ten. “Stop walking beside me. Stop talking to me. Stop looking at me.”

“No.”

My mouth dropped, and he gave a small shrug.

“I wanted to ask you something. You should be professional and listen to my question.”

“I don’t want to be professional.”

His brows rose. “Well, you achieved that,” he muttered as he looked over my head. “Would you prefer it if I made an appointment?”

“An appointment?” I couldn’t keep up with this guy, which was pissing me off even more. “Just ask me.”

Noah nodded. “I think the best thing for any of us on the team is to make sure we can’t be like . . .” he hesitated. “Well, you know who, and we make sure that the fans of the game — of us — are invested in us. Offseason or no.”

I blinked. “Okay?”

“Well, Dante doesn’t really have to try,” he said gruffly. “Dust has a bit of a bad reputation, but I think that’s why he’s so popular, right?”

I nodded. “And?”

“Well, I was looking at Moore’s, and it’s impressive.”