Page 78 of Arctic Titans of Northwood U: Volume 1

“I’m sick of carrying that baggage around,” Noah admitted. “Even when people don’t know, it’s almost like they can tell. Like they can see I’m somehow…lesser.” He grabbed his glass and took a deep gulp of his beer, then another. Courage filled him as much as the ale. He set his half-empty glass on the bar, then nodded at me bravely. “I’m done being lesser. Now, watch my back.” He spun away from me on the bar stool and began scanning the crowd.

Deciding to keep my ears pitched to his voice, I turned away so I wouldn’t hinder his chances. Nobody wanted to approach a guy who had an annoyed bulldog watching his back. And my annoyance was rising quicker than my mind could understand and keep up.

Something about this felt wrong on a level I hadn’t considered before.

Noah was far too sweet and tender to go into his first time blindly.

“Can I help you?” The brunette was looking at me and I realized I’d been glowering in her general direction.

I softened my edges a little. “Dunno. Can you?”

She scoffed, then returned her attention to her phone, shaking her head while a sneaky smirk touched her lips. “You’re all the same.”

“That’s a big statement,” I said, but the touch of entertainment helped me get Noah off my mind. He was choosing this. A hookup to get it over with. He was ripping it off quickly after worrying about it for way too long. Not that twenty-one was late. We couldn’t all be early bloomers like me. Besides, I knew plenty of downsides to that, too.

It seemed I wasn’t getting Noah off my mind.

“Care to explain?” I asked, leaning a little closer to the girl.

“I’ve been sitting here for less than an hour. Can you guess how many players went through, trying to pick someone up?” She barely moved her gaze from her screen. A slender hand gently swept a lock of hair from her face before she lifted her green gaze at me. What I saw was Noah’s gaze before I remembered he was behind me, looking in the other direction. But the striking resemblance in color and intensity made me wonder if he had a sister he’d never mentioned. I was sure he’d told me about being an only child. Still, it took a moment to put Noah’s eyes out of my mind.

“I dunno,” I told her. “How many?”

“Too many to count,” she said with little interest in pursuing the topic.

“So it was a trick question,” I concluded. “Aside from generalizing, what do you do?”

She chuckled softly, then shook her head. “I study anthropology.”

“Ah, so generalizing should be a cardinal sin in your book,” I accused. “And here you are, sinning like there’s no tomorrow.”

“Hi,” Noah said behind me while the girl pursed her lips to suppress a smile and measured me.

“Hey yourself,” a deep voice replied.

Noah audibly cleared his throat and I could sense his lack of breath. “Hi,” he said again.

The deep-voiced guy laughed and Noah let out a nervous chuckle.

Bullshit, I thought. There’s no way he’s that breathtaking.

“So?” the girl asked me and I realized she’d spoken before but I hadn’t been paying attention.

“Sorry?” I prodded. “I was miles away.”

“I asked what a pious guy like you was doing wearing a goth body in a tavern,” she repeated and I laughed out loud.

“I’m just a wingman here,” I said, thrusting a thumb over my shoulder at Noah but not looking back. “As for the body I’m wearing…” I glanced down at my arms and torso. “Do you like it?”

“Smooth,” she said, deadpan, then cracked a smile.

“Oh, um, physics. Erm. Sorry, yes. I study physics.” Noah’s smile was audible. “Oh, this? I think it’s a pale ale.”

“An American pale ale,” I muttered into my red. It had a very pronounced alcoholic flavor and scent, though it wasn’t the strongest red ale I’d ever had. It did bite on its way down, however. I exhaled.

Thankfully, the girl was picking up her phone again, drifting away from me just as we got going. It freed me to stew in my annoyance and the dirty little act of eavesdropping.

The macho voice asked something I couldn’t hear over the goddamn crowd around us and Noah let out a squeal, then laughed. “I’m game,” he replied. And when glasses clinked, I was certain they were theirs. “And what do you do?”