Oh, really? My cock twitched as a predatory smile spread across my face. I could work with that.
“What?” Cassie asked, narrowing her eyes at me even though I hadn’t said a damn word… yet.
“Being out of quarters isn’t the same as not having anything to bet,” I pointed out as I pulled Noah a little tighter against me so he’d stop falling over already, then wrapped my arm around him to keep him where he belonged. I locked my eyes on Cassie, multitasking like a boss. “Come on now, what else you got?”
“Sounds like the game just got more interesting,” one of the seniors murmured.
Cassie’s forehead crinkled in confusion as she looked around the table for a minute, then her eyes went wide. “You guys arenottalking me into playing strip poker.”
Oh, she thought we weren’t? That was cute. But before I could make a case for that idea—a fucking stellar one, as far as I was concerned—Cassie’s friend chimed in.
“I’m all out of quarters, too,” the girl said, blinking chocolate-brown eyes at me that kinda reminded me of Noah’s. Not as pretty, though, since his were flat-out ridiculous.
“So fold,” Cassie said to her friend.
“I don’t want to.” The chick shook her head, nibbled her lip for a moment, then blurted, “AndIdon’t mind changing the game to strip poker, if you guys—”
“No, Mel,” Cassie interrupted, cutting her off… also, showing more spunk than I personally found attractive in someone I’d been thinking of getting naked with. I mean, to each their own, but since the world was filled with all kinds of folks who liked different strokes, I figured there was nothing wrong with preferring to hook up with the kind of chick who’d do exactly what I told her to, no questions asked, and like it.
Or, you know, beg for it. That worked for me, too.
I grinned, my cock swelling even more at that thought… which, given what a beast it was, meant I had to reach down and adjust before my jeans choked the damn life out of it. And I didn’t mean choke it in the fun way. But back to the idea of someone begging for my cock. Just sayin’, I was definitely down with that… probably wasn’t gonna turn out to be Cassie at this point, though. Not with the way she crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at me as she announced to the table at large, “We arenottaking our clothes off.”
Not quite sure who she thought that “we” included, since her friend Mel definitely looked down with the idea.
I grinned, but then got distracted when Noah let out a big sigh.
“’Sup, bro?” I asked, forgetting about the girls for a moment.Sure, I was a horndog, but my dick could always wait if Noah needed something.
He turned those big eyes of his on me—definitely prettier than Mel’s, like I’d already noted, even if that was a weird thing to think about another guy—and waved a hand at the empty spot on the table in front of him.
“I’m all out of quarters, too, G,” he said, sounding all forlorn and shit, as if all the beer he’d had tonight had suddenly muddled his brain and made him forget that I’d always have his back. And quarters? That was an easy fix.
“Here,” I said, sliding a pile of mine over without bothering to count them. He could have as many as he needed. Noah wasn’t just my best friend, he was basically my other half. As far as I was concerned, what was mine was his. Besides, I kicked ass at poker. It wasn’t like I couldn’t get more.
“Oh,” Noah said, his dimples starting to show as he slow-blinked down at the quarters I’d just gifted him, then looked up and exhaled warm, Noah-scented beer breath all over me. “Thanks, G.”
Seriously, how could I not want to share with this guy? His eyes were all shiny and bright now, and he was looking at me like I was God’s fucking gift or something, just for spotting him some change.
“You’re so fucking drunk, bro,” I said, grinning at him and making a mental note to get some damn aspirin in him when we got back to our dorm room later. Not gonna lie, though, I didn’t hate it.
Nah, not the fact that he was so loaded, since I wasn’t a dick—
Well, hold up. Correction: I was absolutely a dick… but never to Noah. I’d sooner chug Drano. He was my ride or die, and all that worshipful adoration he was currently shining at me? That right there was why. That shit wasn’t even about him being drunk; it was just how my boywas.
And fuck if I’d ever want that—or anything else about him—to change.
Once or twice over the years I’d heard some asshole make the mistake of thinking Noah had flaws, but nope. I mean, yeah, he was adorably awkward sometimes and kinda clumsy even when he wasn’t falling over drunk like this… and okay, he could be a bouncy little goofball who had trouble staying focused… and true, it was a stone-cold fact that he got as jittery as an Energizer Bunny on crack under any form of pressure and turned into a total drama queen when he was anxious, but all that shit was just what made himNoah. As far as I was concerned, Noah, by definition, was goddamn perfect just the way he was.
I bit back a grin as he dragged his eyes off me and back to the cards in his hand. Perfect… but still shit at poker.
He started to push the big-ass pile of quarters I’d just given him toward the center of the table—even though I was ninety-nine percent sure he hadn’t been able to focus on his cards when he’d looked at them and a hundred percent sure he wouldn’t know what to do with them even if he had—when Cassie suddenly decided to butt in to our business for no apparent reason.
“Hey,” she said, flapping a hand at my boy to get his attention. “You can’t bet with Gage’s money, Noah.”
“Um, I can’t?” he asked, hesitating.
“’Course you can,” I said, shooting a couple daggers at her with my eyes.
