Page 103 of Best Friends for Never

I’m in Noel’s room, in his bed.

It ... it was all just a dream. Or a memory, really.

It was the night Noel asked me to go with him to LA. The night I turned him down. The night we kissed for the first time. The last night I’d see him for a long, long time.

But he isn’t gone. He’s here, next to me, sitting up with theSpider-Mansheet bunched around his waist. His brows are pulled together with concern as sweat rolls down my back.

“Are you okay?” he asks softly, rubbing my back.

I nod. “I—I’m okay.”

“Bad dream?” he guesses.

He doesn’t know the half of it.

“Yeah. Bad dream.”

He frowns. “You were whimpering. It woke me up.”

“I’m sorry.”

He shakes his head. “Don’t be. Just come here.”

He pulls me back down, tucking me against him like he did before. He continues to rub my back soothingly.

We lie like that until sleep begins to nip at me again. I’m almost pulled under its spell, but I fight it, too scared it’ll happen again.

“Sleep,” he says, like he knows what I’m up to. “Sleep, and I’ll protect you, Peter.”

He kisses my forehead, hugging me tighter, ready to fight my demons.

If only he knew what I really needed to be protected from was him.

Chapter Fifteen

Noel

“Put that over there.”

“Here?” I move the vase of peonies to the wrong spot on purpose.

Parker laughs, which is exactly what I was going for.

To say she’s been stressed these last two weeks would be an understatement. I’ve tried to distract her the best I can with kisses and getting her naked as often as possible, but she’s still running on high alert thanks to juggling the theater renovation on her own—with Axel being out of commission—and this damn fundraiser we’re hosting tonight.

It’s Saturday, and we’re in the middle of decorating Bigfoot’s Hideaway for tonight’s second effort to raise funds for the theater reno. We knew going in that the bar-and-bowling-alley combo would require a miracle to make it look suitable for the event, but leave it to Parker to pull it off.

Sure, the dark log cabin–style walls are still lined with photos, mismatched bigfoot paraphernalia, and other random decor, but now it looks downright bright and cheery with all the balloons, flowers, white tablecloths, and signage we’ve hauled in here. Hell, she’s even swapped out the light bulbs to get rid of the yellowish hue this place always seems to have going on.

“Ha ha.” She pokes her tongue out. “You know I mean the table, not the stool. You’re lucky I like you.”

“It’s the sex, isn’t it?”

Her eyes widen, and she glances around the room, which is not as empty as she’d like if I’m going to be talking like that.

“Noel.” She says my name like a curse, poking me with the pen she’s wielding. “Stop it.”

“Why? Afraid someone’s going to get jealous?”

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