Page 189 of Defend Me

I liked him more than Ava already.

“Hello, sir, I’m Kai.” He marched right up to Noah and shook his hand like a man on a mission. “I’m not one to speak for my boyfriend, but he’s a little shaken up from breakfast. This is Sen.”

Noah looked from Kai to Sen, who was a little pale, but overall, he seemed better.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” Noah said, offering them a kind smile before he handed them two beers. “Brooks says you’re his favorite friends, so I’m sure you’re equal parts decent people and chaotic.”

Kai laughed. “That’s a good way to put it. Oh, before we do anything else, I should tell you that I was a complete dick to your wife and I’m not even a little bit sorry about it. I can see why Brooks is so fucked up.”

“Dude,” Brooks scolded. “What the fuck?”

“I’m just saying.”

“Oh my god. We should’ve just gone on our vacation.”

“Vacation?” Noah repeated.

“We were supposed to go to Portland,” I replied.

“For the day?”

“For the week.”

He frowned. “Really, Brooks?”

“If I say that Tilian is a compulsive liar, will you believe me?’

I shoved his shoulder, which made him laugh. It was so nice to see him smile again. It had only been a few hours since he was happy, before his mom showed up, but it was agonizing and felt like there was a little less sun in my world.

Brooks sat in a barstool and pulled me closer. I leaned against the inside of his thigh, enjoying the way his fingers stroked the exposed skin above my pelvic bone.

“You should go to Portland,” Noah said.

We both froze and Brooks’ brow furrowed. “What?”

“I don’t like that you were trying to run away because we would be here, but you should take your vacation. It’s spring break and you should spend it how you want.”

“But you’re here for the week.”

“Yeah. I don’t think we’re going to do all those things we had planned. You need this, especially after today.”

“You could come with us,” I suggested. I looked at Brooks, worried he’d be upset, but he nodded.

“You’re here and I want to spend time with you. Have you ever been?”

Noah shook his head. “Never had a reason to.”

“Now you do.”

“Hm. Okay, if you want me to, I’ll drive down on Monday. That gives me the weekend to deal with other things here.”

“We can still stay here?” Kai asked with a sly smile.

“I guess. Don’t go in my room.”

Sen chuckled. “Is that where your infamous coke stash is?”

Noah looked at Brooks in the way you never wanted to see from your dad. He held up a hand and clutched me tighter.

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