Page 91 of Twisted Minds

“Thank you.” He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. “I think I’m cold.”

“Can’t even tell.” Noah beams at him. We bet more cookies and play a few more rounds. It’s oddly fun. Even when Hunter is stripped down to his boxers and I have the jealous need to super glue his boxers to his body. That’s mine . . . all fucking mine. Really hypocritical, since I lost my pants and boxers and I’m now sitting in Hunter’s oversized hoodie that thankfully covers my lower half just enough.

“So, when are you opening?” Hunter asks. My attention gets pulled from the game and I look at Sawyer.

“I’m aiming for next year. There’s a ton of legal shit I need to finalize. Health inspections. The menu. There’s so much, but I have the time now and I can’t wait. I feel like the possibilities are endless.” After the insurance money came through, Sawyer’s mother used it to fix any damage the fire caused, but she didn’t want to run a restaurant again. Sawyer explained she’s getting older, and she actually loves catering for people. It’s more flexible, and the money is better. So instead, she gave the store to her son.

“Are you looking for name suggestions?”

“No—”

“Sweet Cakes would be cute.”

“No.”

“Cake Eater—” Hunter’s phone rings, startling us all. Noah grabs it before Hunter can, answering it. “Hellooooo,” Noah sing-songs.

“No! Give it back!” Hunter hisses.

Ignoring him, Noah swivels in the chair, his bare ass squeaking against the metal seat. “Hunter is busy but I can take a message.” Hunter puts his head in his hands. “You sound hot.” He covers the phone. “How hot is he Hunter? Scale of one to literally nothing is off limits.”

“Noah!” he hisses.

Noah frowns, abruptly dropping his mouth open. “Um, I think I’d need to see a picture first. In the where? Your attitude is not as cute as you may be.” Glaring, Noah hands the phone to Hunter who gets up and walks away from us. Sawyer puts his cards down, clearly done playing.

“Hunter’s going to choke you out one day.”

Noah’s red lips spread into a grin. “I have immunity as your best friend.”

“You don’t even have immunity with me.”

“His roommate’s a real dick, huh?”

Yeah, even after a year Jamie still hates my guts. Wish I could say the feeling isn’t mutual, only it is very, very mutual. While he hates me, and that’s probably never going to stop, I do have to say that overall he’s gotten better. He’s way more self-sufficient and Hunter doesn’t have to be at the house all the time now. A lot of the time he spends the night at my dorm, and during our winter break we decided I’d spend a week at his house before I took him home to meet my parents.

I watch Hunter come back, scooping up his pants and pulling them on. I grab my shirt, slipping it over my body, then look at Noah. “What?”

“Get your clothes on, we’re done.”

“The breeze is nice.” He shrugs.

“My windows are shut.” Sawyer cleans up the cards. We all get dressed and I look at Noah and feel guilty. I feel so bad for him. Hunter explained Noah’s situation to Sawyer; it’s the only reason he agreed to this insanity. I know this game is kind of outrageous, but I also know he’s doing anything to delay what comes after we’re finished. He leaves tomorrow morning.

“You alright?”

Noah swipes his black jeans off the ground, slipping them on followed by my Venom Edge hoodie that’s more tatter than fabric at this point. I never asked him for it back; he can keep it for his collection. “I’m fine.” I let it be, squeezing his shoulder.

“Call me every day, alright?” Noah just nods, taking the cards from Sawyer. “Maybe we can hang out for a bit.” That makes Noah smile.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve had twenty years of practice. I’ll survive the winter break. With any luck Daddy dearest will be way too busy with work to pay any attention to me. “Come on, let’s go. I know you two want to bang.”

“Noah,” I sigh. Whatever. We help Sawyer clean up. He takes the chairs we all used and puts them in the back. We still have to take Noah home, then go back to Hunter’s and grab our bags. Tonight, we’re going away—just us two. No roommates, no best friends. Just us and the lake house Jamie’s mother owns . . . for the whole weekend. Hunter refused to let me pay for something closer.

“If you need any help over the break, you better ask me.” Hunter pulls Sawyer in for a tight hug. “It’s actually happening.”

“I can’t believe it, honestly. It feels unreal.”

“And you have all of us to help. With anything you need.”

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