Page 19 of Alive At Night

“How do you do that?”

She said it like an accusation.

“I can feel those lasers you call eyes on the back of my neck.” I rubbed below my hairline for extra effect. “You wouldn’t believe how difficult it is to get literally anything done.”

Juniper dropped her hand with a sigh of exasperation. “Why haven’t you just requested a different office already?”

“Are you kidding me?” I swiveled around to point to the cityscape outside the window in front of my desk. “And give up this incredible view? Nah.”

“I bet all the offices on this side of the floor have that view, Julian.”

I shrugged and began shuffling papers. If she wanted to avoid telling me why she was staring, then so be it. But I had shit to get done.

“So…I can’t decide what to text Noah.”

There it was.

I slowly turned to face her again. With her hands folded perfectly in her lap, Juniper watched me with an expectant look in her eyes.

“I’m not going to come up with ideas so you can flirt with my friend,” I said flatly.

“Oh, I already have an idea.”

“Excellent.” I clapped my hands on my knees. “Now that’s figured out, I can go back to—”

“But I need your help with it.”

I squeezed my knees in irritation. “No.”

I’d helped my friends with their dating problems before, but this was different. Firstly, Juniper wasnotmyfriend.Secondly, she didn’t even want to date Noah. Hell, she didn’t even know him.

“Just listen,” Juniper said, jumping to her feet and leaning against my desk, making it impossible for me to turn my chair back around. A wave of her sweet-smelling perfume washed over me, clogging my senses. “It’s a win-win situation. You’ll love it.”

I sighed. “I highly doubt that, Violet.”

Did she not realize I hated this entire mess? I hated that I needed her help with Grayson’s case. I hated that I’d given her Noah’s number. And I was definitely going to hate whatever she was about to suggest.

“You love football, don’t you?” She cocked a brow, daring me to deny it as she inched closer.

“Yes,” I said slowly, afraid of what I was agreeing to. There was no point lying, though. We both knew that for a large portion of my life, football was what I woke up every day to do.

And now? Now I was sitting in this cubicle-like office with the one woman who had been annoying me since I hit puberty.

Juniper crossed her arms over her chest, which I realized was directly in my line of vision. She was standing so fucking close that I had to recline in my desk chair to see her face and the mischief brewing there.

“Then I can’t imagine it would be that much of a hassle for you to go with me to the game tonight.” Her bright smile faded by one degree of a sparkle as she added, “And introduce me to your college roommate afterward.”

I immediately started shaking my head. The last thing I needed was to spendmoretime with Juniper St. James. And yeah, I might love an excuse to go to a game, but I could only imagine the horror that would be Juniper at a sporting event.

“Look,” I said, hoping to level with her because I saw that gleam in her eye that I recognized all too well from high school. It never ended well for me. “Noah is a straightforward dude. You’re overthinking this. Just shoot him a text and tell him exactly what you want.”

“You have zero tact, Julian.” Juniper began tapping her foot on the floor, grating my nerves.

“I have plenty of tact. But I also have a solid understanding of my friends.”

“I’ll buy the tickets,” Juniper offered. Her foot sped up its tapping. “You just have to show up.”

I planted my heel and pivoted to place my toes over hers, locking them down. “No.”

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