Why? What changed? What am I missing?
My phone pings in my pocket, all thoughts of Noah and Hyde evaporating when I find a text waiting.
Millie Baby: Avoiding me again? It’s getting old, Eli.
My brows pinch in the middle. It’s lunchtime and she’s the one not here so how am I avoiding her? I type a reply.
Me: What do you mean, baby?
The message barely sends before I’m staring at the screen again, waiting like an idiot for the three little dots to appear.
Dash comes back, plopping down in his seat with a huff. “Alright, spill it. What’s going on with Hyde?”
Fuck if I know. “Elaborate, Dash.”
“Oh, I don’t know. How about that crypticthere’s something I want to talk about, and I need a few drinks to get it outbit last night for starters. Was it about the girl he deep-throated with his tongue?”
Jesus, I don’t need that visual this early in the day. Or ever, for that matter. I open my mouth to answer, but my phone pings again, stealing my attention.
Millie Baby: You skipped your workout.
“Is that Mini?” Dash asks.
My fingers pause mid-reply, eyes cutting to his grin complete with waggling eyebrows.
“What? Why—?”
“Stop stuttering, I’m not fucking blind, Creed. I’ve seen the way you look at her.”
“How is it that you andNoahnoticed but Hyde’s blind?”
He snorts out a laugh. “Bitter about Noah, are we?” he asks, but doesn’t wait for a reply. “Hyde’s so focused on making sure she’s breathing, he doesn’t see anything else.”
“He sees Noah.”
“True, but Noah’s different around Mini, you’re not. He’s softer, more attentive. You’re still...you. Fighting, getting drunk, doing that toxic dance with Zara. Nothing’s changed.” He drops his elbows on the table. “Is that what Hyde wanted to talk about last night? You got thestay away from my sisterspeech?”
I finish the text and send it.
Me: You got up to go running two hours after I left?
“It wasn’t about me,” I tell Dash.
“Okay, Noah, then. He either asked you to hit him or asked what you think about him and Mini together. Which was it?”
The guy’s smarter and more perceptive than we give him credit for. His carefree demeanor fools a lot of people,but I know him like I know my right hand and yet I still underestimate him.
“How much do you know?” I ask.
“Ah-ah. My question first.”
“The later.”
Dash frowns like he didn’t expect that. “Well, well... I guess it makes some sense.”
“My question now,” I prompt.
“Alright, let’s see. You’re both into her.” He bends one finger. “Hyde hasn’t noticed your interest.” Another finger. “But he did notice Noah’s.”
