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I snort and shake my head, taking another swig of beer.
“You can deny it all you want, but she was different to the rest. The way you looked at her was…” His lips curl into a half smile. “She’s a cool chick.”
“Yep.” I accentuate thepand finish off the can, crumpling it in my fist before chucking it over my shoulder. It clatters on the kitchen floor, and Liam rolls his eyes, standing up to throw it away.
“You don’t have to do that, man. I’ll get it later.”
But he ignores me, placing it in the recycling box with the other empty cans before walking back to me.
I wrestle another can out of the plastic yoke and am poised to open it when Liam’s fingers curl over mine. “You sure you want to do that?”
With a derisive snort, I yank my hand out of his grasp. “Yes. I’m sure.”
He winces and I pause, closing my eyes and not wanting to think about how many times he saw his dad get wasted and then violent.
“I just want a little bit of numb,” I mumble.
“Yeah, I get it.” He sits down with a sigh but then gives me a closed-mouth smile.
“You don’t have to keep me company.”
“I know.” He shrugs and stays put anyway.
I eye him up, popping the can and gulping back a few more mouthfuls.
“Any chance you can work out this thing with Mikayla? Whatever it is?”
My lips curl into a deep frown as I shake my head. “Nah. It’s over. It…” I let out a cynical laugh. “It never even really began, so I don’t know why I’m feeling so fucking sorry for myself.”
He tips his head, his smile sad as he picks at a speck on the counter.
I sigh, figuring he deserves to know why I’m saying this shit. Opening my mouth, I’m about to bag a bunch of sorority bitches when a key in the door stops me. We both pause, listening to the front door creaking open and the shuffle of feet.
“Hello?” Liam calls into the entranceway.
The can of beer is poised halfway to my mouth as I wait for whoever just walked in to show his face. It better not be fucking Jason.
Shit, we need to stop handing out keys to this place.
I tense, my jaw clenching until Baxter appears, his face bunched with confusion as he scratches the back of his head.
“Where’ve you been?” Liam kind of laughs out the words.
Baxter’s not a late-night party man. He’s quiet, studious… a bit of a mystery, if I’m honest, but a damn good goalie.
“I pulled a late one at the library.”
“I didn’t know it was open this late.” Liam frowns.
“It’s not.” He shrugs. “After I was done, I decided to take a walk to clear my head before going back to my car.”
I nod, sharing a quick grin with Liam. Baxter’s hair is now standing on end, his face still puckered with this weird frown.
“You good, man?” I ask him.
“Yeah, I just, uh”—he points at me—“saw your girl.”
I tense. “I don’t have a girl.”
