Page 38 of Liberating Love

His voice is quiet. “I know it is.” He clears his throat and—thank god—changes the subject. “Did you hear that Holden and Gavin found a pool table?”

Happy with the safe topic, Ifinallychange out of my clothes and throw on my sweatpants. “Yeah, they texted me about it. They set it up in Holden’s basement I think. Apparently, they’re making everyone play on Sunday.”

“That’s what I heard too. They want to place bets.”

I snort. “They’ve also been over there practicing every night since they bought it on Monday, according to Drix.”

He chuckles, and the sound sends a warmth through me that settles my nerves, so I lay back on my bed with my phone still on speaker on my chest, staring at the ceiling. I need to go back out there and make dinner for my mom, but I take a break for a few minutes. If I close my eyes and listen to his deep, calm voice murmuring about shooting pool, I can almost pretend that he’s here with me, lying in bed with his arms around me.

“Freckles?”

“Hm?”

“You falling asleep over there?” He chuckles softly again.

“Ugh. Yeah… but I gotta go make dinner.” I rub my eyes, yawn, and push up on the bed.

“You good?”

“I’m fine, but I gotta go spend some time with my mom.” I yawn again and walk out of my room without grabbing a shirt.

“Okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

I smile. “Sounds good. I’ll text you before bed.”

“Perfect. Bye, Freckles.”

“Bye.” I hang up and walk over to the couch to kiss the top of my mom’s head. “Hey, Ma. What do you want for dinner? Is spaghetti okay tonight?”

She smiles at me. “That sounds good.” She gestures at her unfinished puzzle. “Will you help me with this one, Noah? I’m having trouble and I can’t find the box to look at the picture.”

I sigh. The box is sitting right by her elbow on the arm of the chair she’s in. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to take her to the doctors sooner than scheduled. “Sure, Mom. I’d love to help after dinner.”

She beams at me, so I pat her hand and walk into the kitchen to cook, but she calls out, “I love you, Aiden.”

That makes me smile wide. “Love you too.”

* * *

“You okay, Jovany?”I ask.

He startles and whips his head around to blink at me. “Huh?”

I can’t help but chuckle. “I asked if you’re okay.”

“Oh, yeah.” He runs his hand through his hair and stares at me for a few seconds before sighing. “Actually, I’m a little worried. That Seth kid called me this morning and sounded a little strange on the phone and ended up hanging up with a ‘Never mind’ thrown my way.”

As I stare at the concern on his face, I say, “If you’re worried for him, why don’t we go check on him?”

“I’m not sure if having two cops show up at his house is a good idea.”

“Can you ask him to meet us somewhere?”

He rubs his face with both hands. “Uh… yeah. Maybe I should.” He pulls out his phone and shoots off a text, then a minute later, he chuckles. “My brother is such an idiot.” There’s a fondness in his voice that makes me grin at him.

“Why?”

“He’s been sending photos of people in our group chat with our dad.”

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