“But let’s stop talking about Spunktrumpet Sutton and start?—”
“Spunktrumpet?” I laugh. “What does that even mean?”
Tobin smirks. “It’s a UK term that I recently discovered, and it means an obnoxious person who can’tshut up. Hence the trumpet part.”
Jed tips his head back, howling with laughter. “Babe, how did you discover that word?”
“I was getting over using fuck nugget as an insult and wanted some fresh material. I love that this one is UK-based, because it makes it rare here, and I can be the sole provider of this insult in Nolan, Colorado.” He lifts his chin, looking all triumphant. “It makes me special.”
Jed leans across me, grabbing Tobin’s face and giving him a deep kiss. “You are special, baby.”
Tobin blushes, and I’m about two seconds away from leaving them to it when Jed senses me squirming between them and pings back like he wasn’t about to devour his boyfriend right on top of me.
“So, Tyrell’s offered to find you the perfect man, huh?”
“Apparently,” I mumble, passing my ice cream to Tobin before I start puking up creamy lava. Seriously, I’ve eaten way too much, and my stomach is hating on me right now.
“I thinkhe’sthe perfect man,” Tobin murmurs, placing the ice cream on the coffee table before glancing at Jed. “For Dani. Don’t you think? The perfect man for our girl, here?”
“Hells yeah. I said that last night, but she didn’t want to hear it.” He points a thumb at me like I’m a crazy person.
I shake my head while Tobin bulges his eyes at me. “Why aren’t you into it? He’s hot, obviously so kind, so why? Why, Dani Hill? Why?”
It’s impossible not to laugh at his exasperation, and I lightly palm his face, turning it away from me. “Stop it. I’m not gonna go out with Atlas’s best friend. That is too weird. Besides, it’s… Tyrell. I mean, I’ve never looked at him that way. He’s just… That will never be an option, okay? He may be good-looking and sweet, but there’s… It’s not like that between us. Never has been. Never will be.”
Resting my hand on Tobin’s shoulder, I use him to pull myself out of the corner and walk around my roommate.
“I’m gonna take a long, hot shower. Try to wash this night off me and then catch myself some sleep.” I walk for the bathroom, calling over my shoulder, “Thanks for the ice cream, roomies.”
“You’re welcome!” Jed replies.
“Still think you’re wrong about the Ty-Man!” Tobin hassles me.
I shake my head, ignoring his comment, because seriously…
Tyrell and me?
Yeah, that can never be a thing.
CHAPTER 10
TYRELL
I drive back to Football Frat, my mind running through a list of guys I know and wondering which ones will be a good fit for Dani.
Her next date needs to be perfect. He might not bethe guy, but she needs to walk away with a smile on her face and the belief that moving on is possible.
Shit, the look on her face. Those tears. They sliced me up. Atlas would have been torn to shreds to see her that way. I’ve got to help her out. For his sake. For hers.
“Would you have taken those pills if you knew, man? If you could have seen into the future? Seen the way she’d suffer?”
I cling to the hope that he wouldn’t have. He was drunk, not thinking straight, being reckless, and no one had been around to check him.
Except he’d been at a crowded party, surrounded by people who supposedly admired him.
“Fuck.” I run a hand through my hair, desperate to shake off these blues and second-guessing my decision to help Dani.
Being around her is unearthing all this past pain, and I can feel myself getting sucked back into that blackness I had to fight so hard to get out of. There was this constant cloud hanging overme—dark and brooding. It suffocated me, made me want to hide away and…
