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“Hey,” she said.
“What? You can dish it out but can't take it?” I teased.
She grabbed my waist, pinning me against her close enough to kiss but not leaning in to do so. “I’m not the one who needed that.”
I laughed. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”
Sage walked, forcing me to do the same. My back met the wall, laughter fading in exchange for a surprised gasp.
“How sorry?” She raised a brow.
“I-I can’t get into this now.” Damnit, I wanted to. Instead, I resisted, and I wiggled out of her embrace. “I need to get you out of here.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Because that’s my family on the other side of that door. And you and I…”
“What?”
“Clearly had sex last night.”
Sage’s shoulders relaxed. “Oh. That.”
“Oh. That,” I mimicked and jumped when the banging got louder, paired with my phone vibrating in my pocket.
“Noah, we’re adults. They’re adults. It’ll be fine,” she promised. “Unless…you think it’s too early for a meeting.”
I frowned. Did I? I wasn’t the type of person to wait for the perfect time to introduce my family to my girlfriends. Actually, I’d been prone to do the opposite, because I wasn’t good at keeping good things to myself. Sage was hands down a good thing.
“I don’t want you to feel like you have to.” I stopped buzzing around for a second to stand in front of her.
Sage smiled. “No, not a chance. I’d love to meet the people who raised my nemesis. They’re key in my research to take you down. Gotta start on the inside.”
“I knew all the cuddling and sex was a ploy.”
She kissed me. “Keep your enemies close.”
“Alright, you can stay.” I took a deep breath. “But I have to warn you…they talk a lot and have a lot of opinions.”
“Good thing I’ve been sitting next to you for months now. I’ve had enough practice.”
I laughed dryly. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.”
With one final look in the mirror at the top of my stairs, I went down to open the door for my—understandably—annoyed family. Liana shoved a plastic case of birthday cookies into my chest.
“Jeez, Noah.” She pushed past me. “If you’re going to take a million years to open the door, you could at least clean off your walkway. We’re standing in dust and mosquitos.”
“Contrary to popular belief, I don’t control the mosquitos,” I called after her.
“Happy birthday, sweetheart.” Dad kissed my forehead and offered me a large pink bag. “You using that lock I got you?”
Before I could answer, he’d brushed past me too, taking note of the creak in the stairs and a water-damaged spot on the wall.
“Oh, this isn’t a good sign,” he said, noting a crack at the base of the staircase. “I can get Jimmy down here to look at that.”
“Don’t call Jimmy!” Liana yelled from upstairs. “He doesn’t work for this place. Call it into the complex. It’s their job to keep this shitty place up to code. Also, who is this girl, Noah?”
My cheeks burned for Sage, who, to her credit, answered in a calm, polite tone.
