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I smirked, keeping my eyes focused on the screen. “Should’ve been paying attention. But yeah, it’s all good now. You noticed we had…”
“Issues? Yeah. You weren’t subtle about it. But for what it’s worth, I’m glad you’ve sorted them out now. Noah’s a good guy.” The End Game notification flashed up on the screen, and he stood, changing the subject, to my relief. “Anyone want another drink?”
When he’d disappeared from the room, I turned to Kian, needing to get the subject off my annoying housemate. Literallyanythingwould be better than talking about Noah. “How’s things in Alstone?”
He shot me a quick grin. “Much better. I moved into an apartment next to the campus with Carter, did Preston say?”
I knew he’d had issues with his parents, so I wasn’t surprised he’d left home. Carter was Kian’s best friend, and his girlfriend, Raine, attended LSU. Carter and Kian both attended Alstone College, so it made sense that they’d moved in together. “No, he didn’t say, but I’m happy for you, mate.”
“Cheers. Should’ve done it sooner. Ever since Preston…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Whatever. I’m glad to be out of there.”
The question fell from my mouth without thought. “Your parents didn’t take it well when you told them you were bi? Or was it Preston they had a problem with?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t anything to do with Preston.”
“Sorry.” I shouldn’t have even brought it up. He didn’t owe me an explanation.
Slumping back on the sofa, he grunted, “Not like I expected anything else from them. Anyway, that’s one of the many reasons I left. There was shit going on before I even came out to them.”
“You… Sorry. Some people are bastards.”
We lapsed into a bit of an awkward silence before Kian laughed. “Fuck this heavy shit. Play again?”
He restarted the game, and we both focused on the screen. But I couldn’t stop the questions from surfacing. “Tell me to fuck off if you don’t want to talk about it, but you’re bi… What—how does it work for you?” Shaking my head, I groaned under my breath, attempting to gather my thoughts. “No, I don’t mean that. I mean—have you always been into men and women?”
He hummed, taking a minute before he replied. And shooting my character in the head while he was at it too.
“Yeah. Before I got together with Preston, I’d only ever been with girls, but I’d been curious, I guess. I knew I found other guys hot. Just not enough to want to do anything about it until him.”
I mashed the square button on the controller, slashing at his character on-screen, unsure how to reply. What the fuck had possessed me to even start asking him about it in the first place? It was none of my business.
“What about you?”
It took me a second to realise that Kian was asking me a question. “Me? Noooo. I’m straight. Women only.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw his brows fly up, but then he schooled his expression.
“What’s that face for? I’m not gonna be weird around you if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I didn’t think that. I’ve known you long enough to know you’re cool.”
“But—” I didn’t get a chance to ask him anything else because Noah burst back into the room, Preston right behind him.
“My dad got the job!” He was practically vibrating with happiness and relief.
Kian stopped the game, switching back to the menu screen before standing up and crossing over to give him a brief, kind of awkward hug that mostly involved whacking him on the back. How had they managed to become so friendly when Noah had only lived here for about five minutes and Kian didn’t even live here at all? How was it that Kian knew what was happening right now?
A weird feeling that felt disturbingly close to jealousy went through me.
“This calls for a celebratory beer or two. Preston? Wanna get Travis and your other housemate?” Kian grinned at Noah, and I clenched my teeth.
I remained seated. Noah and I definitely weren’t at the hugging stage. Noah glanced over at me, clearly reading my mind because a cocky little smirk appeared on his face. He raised his brows, a challenge in his eyes. “Not gonna give me a congratulatory hug?”
“Fuck you. Fine.” Dropping my controller on the coffee table, I jumped up, giving him the shortest hug possible.
That was the plan, anyway.
His arms came around me, and I couldn’t help stiffening.
