Page 74 of Forever Relentless

Dustin gave a noncommittal grunt. “We’re twenty years old, Noah. Any one of us could have done this for you. Helped you with it.”

“So you’re saying?”

“You want to bone the sister of the guy we’re not trying to vindicate.” He whistled softly. “It’s going to get messy.”

“No, it won’t.”

“You’re delusional, man. It’s going to be even messier than Dante calling Savvy’s mom and them having a showdown in a shed.”

I gave a grunt. “You definitely missed drama out of your schedule. That is such a sensationalized version of the truth.”

“My girl’s a journalist,” he told me with a wink.

“Your girl kicked you out of bed so she could sleep in peace.” I scored a touchdown through a turnover. I stood up while Dustin was still protesting about the game, or Hadley, I wasn’t sure. “Asking her for help to improve my media is a smart move. It helps me with my visibility. It helps all of us keep tabs on her and her plans.” I clapped his shoulder as I walked past him to my room. “Trust me, Dust. I know what I’m doing.”

“We done?” he asked, looking between me and the TV.

“Yeah, I have to call Tate in five minutes, need a piss first.”

“Oh, okay, I’ll be out here if you want when you’re done.”

I closed the door behind me. I knew I was doing the slow withdrawal, and I couldn’t stop it right now. I’d been missing out on their friendships while they navigated new ground with their girlfriends, and now it seemed I was closing myself in my room rather than chill out and play Madden.

But I didn’t need the third degree about Briar. I knew exactly who she was and why she was here, and it was not to further the lives and experiences of college students in an institution she loathed because of what happened to her brother or their childhood . . . friend?

Was Tiffany a friend? Acquaintance was probably more like it. It didn’t change what happened to her.

“Shut up, Noah.”

I took my own advice.

After my visit to the bathroom, I sat on my bed, back against the headboard, legs stretched out in front of me, and I FaceTimed my brother.

“Hey bro, you good?”

I smiled. Tate was as skinny as a rake and long-limbed to boot. He also had the personality of a forty-year-old man in a teenager’s body. He put the sharp corners in square.

“Still using the term ‘bro?’” I’d tried to tell him before that he couldn’t pull that off. He hadn’t listened.

“I tried it again earlier, and I got high-fived.”

“Were they five? You can tell me. I won’t judge.” He could see I was serious, and he rolled his eyes.

“You’re a dick, Noah.”

“You know it.” I shot him a grin, and he flipped me the finger. “But seriously, you just don’t have the swagger to use ‘bro’ in your vocabulary.” I cleared my throat, changing the subject. “So . . . What’s new? Tell me all about it.”

“Nothing has happened since you checked in with me yesterday,” he said, and I heard the slight edge of resentment.

“Uh-huh, I hear you.” I also didn’t believe him. “That fucker, Bronson, leave you alone today?”

“I’m an adult, Noah—”

“Yes, you are, but you were also being bullied by the prick in high school until I kicked his ass. I will kick Bronson’s ass again if he ever so much as looks at you the wrong way in future. So tell me, little brother. Did the fucker leave you alone? I know you have two classes in the same building as him today, and I know you probably saw him, so humor me.”

Tate dropped his head, shaking it slowly. He leaned back in his chair, the camera shaking slightly as he adjusted it. He’d always been restless in small movements — fingers tapping, knee bouncing — but his eyes were sharp.

“It’s nothing, Noah. He called me a . . . a name. You call me names all the time.”