Page 30 of Twisted Minds

“You don’t even know what that means!” Mark slaps him away. “You’re an asshole. We met at a party and just clicked.”

“Babe, you clicked, I settled. There was nothing else to do.”

Mark closes his eyes for a moment, shaking his head. “Anyway, for some reason—probably mental illness—weremained friends. We don’t um . . . We aren’t that kind of friends anymore.”

“Friends now, with very little benefit.” Noah’s eyes flutter in Sawyer’s direction. “I’m available, though, if you’re interested.”

“Oh uh, no thank you.”

“Very intimated. I got it. No problem.” While I haven’t heard Sawyer’s opinion of them yet, I don’t really need it. There is definitely nothing going on.

“Mark, are you excited to watch Hunter play? He’s very good.”

His face pinkens, and I love the adorable shade it turns. “I can’t wait, uh, I don’t know much about hockey, though.”

“It’s easy to pick up the rules. I’ll help,” Sawyer reassures him.

The waitress brings our food over, thank goodness. I’m starving and we don’t have a lot of time left. “Thank you,” I say to her. Mark lifts his burger up, checking for onions, then looks over to Noah’s bowl and frowns. He reaches over, picking the black olives out of his bowl.

“Hey! Get your nasty fingers out of my bowl.”

“I know you can barely even look at them let alone touch them. You forgot to say no olives. Do you want me to leave them on?”

Noah’s lips purse. “No.”

“Then stop being a brat.” Mark picks off the rest of his olives while Noah looks away. We eat, thankfully in near fucking silence, with only mild bickering between the two.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Noah says to Mark, who gets out of the booth to let Noah slide past, then he stops.

“What?”

“Aren’t you coming?”

“Why would I go with you?”

“Girls always go to the bathroom in groups.”

Mark sighs, shaking his head. “I’ll be right back.”

“You spoil him,” I laugh, and Mark gives me the finger with a tiny smile pulling the corner of his lip.

“Wow,” Sawyer finally says. “Just wow.”

“What do you think?”

“Oh, you don’t want my opinion. Believe me.”

“Noah is a lot.” I finish up my food, watching them walk back to our table. “You like Noah?”

“Loaded question.”

“Just be nice, please. No interrogating them at the game.”

Sawyer loops his arm around me, pulling me in and kissing the top of my head. “I’m happy for you. Mark seems really great.” He squeezes my shoulder and a knot of tension I didn’t realize I was carrying loosens and unravels.

He finishes his BLT. “They may have fucked, but they’re definitely not fucking now. Just know that man will be in your life as long as you’re in Mark’s. That is the most fucked-up friendship I’ve ever seen, but whatever it is, the bond is strong. Noah isn’t going anywhere. You have nothing to worry about with them, though.”

“Because of the things Noah said?”

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