Page 69 of No Place Like Home

At that, I stopped and turned my attention toward her.

“Although you should probably go home and change. I’d doubt she wants a reminder of the bad sex she just had.”

I glared.

“It wasn’t bad sex,” I said as I opened the door.

Freya laughed. “Dude, she had to sneak out of her own house because she didn’t want to disappoint you.”

I was about to flip her off, but then I thought about Jess and how she must be feeling, and I wouldn’t say I liked that at all.

“We didn’t have sex,” I lied. “I wouldn’t play Jess like that. Shit happened, and things got heavy, but she’s my friend, okay?”

Freya didn’t seem like she believed me, but if you knew Jess, it wasn’t something you’d think she would do. So hopefully if they went back to thinking that nothing happened, Jess would feel a bit better.

* * *

Once showered and changed,I stopped by the diner and hoped my earlier reply was convincing enough. I’d never lied about sex—hell, most of my love life was in the tabloids—so there was no reason to start now, and I hoped that worked in my favor.

My mouth watered when I smelled the coffee brewing. I’d take Emma’s coffee any day over Starbucks.

I felt people’s eyes on me, but it wasn’t like before. They all knew I’d been back and that I had been drinking myself to death, so it was a shock to see me sober.

I raised my hand in greeting at the people who were looking at me, feeling somewhat embarrassed that I let myself fall as I did.

Emma noticed me first, and she looked at me while she took her order. I walked past the people and made my way back. I grabbed a cup, making an iced macchiato was like riding a bike.

I grabbed my milk with ice, then poured myself the espresso with an extra shot because I knew I would need it today, and then once I had a sip, I turned around. I was glad most of the people were at work, so I didn’t have much of an audience.

“Where can I find Jess?” I directed my question at Emma.

Her brows scrunched. “She’s at work. So you can’t go bother her right now.”

And I felt like an idiot for not putting it together sooner. Was I that dense? I looked at the clock, and I knew it was a long time until class ended, but lunch break was soon.

“I’ll be back,” I told them as I made another drink.

“I feel like the tabloids wouldloveto see this,” Freya mocked.

It was no secret I was a barista. Everything about me was known, and it was my party trick with girls. I could whip up their coffee at home better than most coffee shops.

After I was done, I left, and out of habit, I turned to look at the blackboard.

Better an oops than a what if.

See? Like I said, human nature, and the board was backing me up.

The school hadn’t changed at all. A sense of nostalgia hit me. I remembered running around with my friends and playing ball. It seemed like a lifetime ago. I stayed outside my car until the sound of laughter filled the air, and I knew the kids had gone on break.

You had to love small towns.

The door opened as soon as I pulled it. There was no camera, no guard at the door, this place was safe, and I get why people didn’t want it to grow too much because then this place would stop being magical.

I remembered where everything was. With ease, I found the main office, and the secretary did a double-take when she saw me.

“Q, honey, is that you?”

I smiled at her. “You haven’t aged a bit, Lynn.”

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