Page 98 of Left on Read

“Ugh.” He buried his face in my neck. “I don’t want to move, but I have a bunch of stuff I still need to do. And you have to get to bed soon.”

“Yeah. Five a.m. comes early.”

He lifted his head, his nose wrinkled. “That’s way too early to be awake.”

“Yeah, I’m not a fan either. I’m a night owl. But my boss decided taking a job on the other side of the city was a good idea, so I have to get up an hour earlier than before if I want to pay my rent.”

“Still gross.”

“Agreed.”

He pecked a kiss against my lips and slid off me.

The loss of his body heat made me shiver. I sat up, not wanting him to see how much I already missed cuddling him.

We pulled on our clothes in silence. When we were dressed, we kind of stood there and stared at each other.

“So, I should go,” I said, hoping to break the awkwardness.

“Yeah.” He bit his lip. “Have a good night.”

“You too.” I closed the distance between us and gave him a soft kiss. “Talk soon?”

He nodded, his eyes bright.

“Bye.”

Turning on my heel, I left his room before I could say something stupid.

16

HAYDEN

I flipped open the lid of my takeout container, expecting a club sandwich and fries. Instead I found rice and chicken skewers.

“Everything okay?” River asked.

“This isn’t what I ordered.”

“It’s not?” River popped the lid on his container. “This isn’t right, either. I think they gave us the wrong order.” He tilted the container toward me so I could see the lasagna and bread in it.

“Did you guys get the right stuff?” River asked Zane and Noah.

Zane nodded, his mouth full and his fork hovering close to his mouth.

“Mine’s good,” Noah looked between us. “That’s weird. They’ve never messed up before.”

“At least this explains the extra fries.” Zane pushed the container toward River. “Here.”

“Should we call or something?” I asked. “See if they can remake ours?”

“We don’t have time.” River made a ‘give it here’ motion with his hand. “But it’s fine. I can fix it.”

I passed him my food and leaned back against the couch as he started transferring things between the containers.

Zane glanced between us, something flashing in his expression.

Even after months of hanging out with Zane and Noah, I still had trouble reading Zane from time to time. I could clock River’s moods and thoughts from a mile away, but Zane was an expert at masking when he wanted, and I still couldn’t get a read on him.

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