“All right, thanks. I appreciate it. Jack, you probably remember my friend, Evan McCreery?”Even though they’d recently attended the same party, I hadn’t seen them interacting face to face.
“Nice to see you again, Sir,” Evan said, putting on the charm as he grinned at Jack.Evan had only met Jack once before Asher’s birthday party, at our high school graduation ceremony, and it had been in passing.
“You, too.” Jack nodded, taking a look around at the cardboard boxes stacked against the dining room wall in front of the dismantled table. He took in the empty walls, his expression a little wistful before he cleared his throat and sent me a direct look. “Right. Let’s get this couch out.”
We got to it, and by the time Dare pulled up, we had all of the furniture loaded onto the truck, along with all the cardboard boxes and totes.
I was just about to head back into the house to double-check we’d loaded everything when Dare parked on the road in front of the house and climbed out of his mom’s SUV. He walked up the driveway, meeting me near the back porch, his brows drawn together in apology.
“Shit, sorry, man. I overslept, didn’t hear the alarm.” It wasn’t like Dare to be late for anything, so I let it slide, clapping him on the back.
“It’s cool. You’re here now. Besides, we weren’t shorthanded.” I grinned, nodding at Harper’s dad as he closed the moving truck’s doors and locked them. “Thanks again for your help, Jack.”
“Any time! Good luck with the move. We’ll see you Sunday night.”
“Of course, we’ll see you then.” Harper had mentioned wanting to have her parents over as soon as possible. She was nervous about their reaction to her decision to move herself and Asher in with me, afraid that they wouldn’t truly support or understand her.
I hadn’t seen much of Caroline since Asher’s birthday party, so I wasn’t sure how she felt about the whole thing—but Jack’s presence alone told me he still supported us. He nodded, said his goodbyes, and started down the road to his house.
When I turned back to look at the guys, they were staring each other down. Evan glared, looking uncharacteristically pissed off, and Dare shook his head solemnly.
“All right.” At the sound of my voice, they both looked at me. “Evan, can you grab us lunch and meet us at the new place?”
“Yeah, I can do that. What do you want?” He directed the question at me, not sparing Dare another look.
“Pizza’s fine. Or subs. I don’t care.”
Dare tossed Evan the keys, and we waited until he pulled away before heading toward the truck.
“So, what really held you up?”
I had a feeling it wasn’t the alarm and gauging by the slightly guilty look in Dare’s eyes, his alarm wasn’tentirelythe reason.
“Overslept.” He shrugged, averting his gaze and breaking away to walk around the back of the truck. We opened the doors at the same time and climbed in.
“How come it feels like you’re hiding something from me?” I asked once we were in the cab of the truck.
He lifted one golden brow at me, tugging the seat belt across his chest. “Fine, you got me. I was at a chick’s house last night and my phone died. I got here as fast as I could when I realized what time it was.”
“An acceptable reason,” I nodded, shoving the key in the ignition. “Although you should have led with that, maybe Evan wouldn’t be so mad at you.” Dare didn’t reply, he just turned his head to look out the window and nodded curtly.
I turned onto the road and slowly accelerated. “Well…”
“Well, what?” He sent me an irritated glare.
“Who’s the girl?” I returned my attention to the road, waiting him out.
“Just a girl.” Dare finally clipped.
“That’sall you’re going to say about it?”
He nodded, his lips curling in a half-smile. “For now.”
Harper
We had officially been in the new house for a week. On Friday evening, I’d come home from work with Asher to a completely unpacked kitchen and Asher’s bedroom set up. Calum, Dare, and Evan had managed to bring over every last LEGO set without breaking a single thing—or if they had, they’d repaired it, and Asher had been none the wiser.
On Saturday, we helped Raina move their things over before dropping off the moving truck. Ellery popped by the new house late Saturday afternoon with a bottle of wine, and we had an unpacking party—literally, and figuratively. Ellery confessed she’d broken things off with Grant and that she felt sad but excited for the possibility of someone new.
