Page 143 of Zero Chance

He glanced at me in surprise, and I instantly felt his muscles relaxing as he covered my fingers with his own.

Across the room, Thane lifted his hands in surrender and said, “Fair enough.Good point.I’ll leave it alone.”He glanced at the popcorn Xander was passing to Alec as the rest of the room waited for Thane to finish talking so they could unpause the movie.

“You guys already eat supper?”he wondered, looking a little disappointed.

“Yeah, but there’s a container of leftovers in the fridge if you want some,” Damien told him.“Just leave enough for Oaklynn.”

“Hey, thanks.Don’t mind if I do.”

As Thane headed toward the kitchen, I shuddered, worried again about Keene and Parker.

But Keene glanced down at me in concern and rubbed my arm, asking, “You cold?”Before I could answer, he snapped his finger and pointed at Alec who’d just restarted the movie.“Yo, Younger.Toss that blanket over here, will ya?”

He did, and Keene reached past my face to catch it before he made a production of flipping it open, draping it over me, and tucking in the corners to keep me warm.But all I could focus on was how much this guy made my ovaries melt.

I set my head on his shoulder, loving this moment; he hummed out a sound of pleasure, pulling me closer and kissing my hair, only to growl in annoyance and lift his hand to flip off someone on the other end of the couches.

I glanced up to see a grinning Xander lowering her phone as if she’d just taken a picture of us.When she winked at me, I rolled my eyes and put my head back in the comfortable nook where it had been.

Thane returned, eating steaming spaghetti from a bowl.“Mmm.This shit is good.Xander must’ve made it.”

As he plopped onto the sofa between Damien and Alec, Keene gaped at him in clear offense.

“Uh, excuseme,” he uttered, pointing at himself.“Waves and I made it, thank you very much.”He pulled me close and kissed my temple.“It wasmynight to cook, not Girl Union’s.”

When Thane lifted his brows in interest and glanced curiously at me, Keene added, “Oh hey.I haven’t introduced you yet, have I?This is Waverly Frank.”Motioning a finger between me and him, he grinned proudly.“She and I are trying out the boyfriend, girlfriend thing.”

Alec paused the movie and spun to gape at him.“You’rewhat?”

Keene blinked at him before slapping his knee.“Oh shit.I forgot to update you.Yeah.As of today—” Glancing at me, he squinted.“What was it, about seven—eight hours ago?”

When I shook my head with no idea how many hours it had been, he waved a dismissive hand and returned his attention to Alec.“Anyway, we decided, what the hell, let’s see what monogamy and dating and all those relationship strings were like for a change.”

“I—I—” Alec gaped at him before Xander looked straight at me and demanded, “Is he serious?You’re, like,dating-dating?”

Keene threw a pillow at her.“I’m serious.”

While Alec darted a dazed look back and forth between Keene and me, murmuring, “Huh,” Xander turned back to me for confirmation.

“Frankie?”

I nodded, confirming it, and Thane leaned forward to lift his fork in cheers.“Well, congratulations,” he said.Smiling in welcome, he sent me a head bob.“I’m Thane, by the way.”

“Oh yeah.”Keene jumped in to point at Thane.“Thane Eisner,” he finished the introduction.“He’s the counselor at South Central now.”Glancing at Thane, he added.“That’s where she went to high school.”

Nodding, I sent Thane a shy smile.“You must’ve filled Miss Qualls’s place,” I realized.“She told me she was retiring after my senior year.”

“Yeah.”Thane nodded with an affectionate smile.“I did take over her role.Such a lovely woman.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, remembering all the times I’d been in her office to hide out when the rest of school had gotten to be too much.

Tilting his head, Thane squinted at me in concentration before saying, “You look familiar.”

I paused a beat, my heart racing, before I admitted, “Oh.Well, I knew Nova.”

Startled to hear his ex’s name, he pulled back in obvious surprise, while the rest of the room went eerily silent.

Keene stroked my arm as if to let me know I hadn’t done anything wrong, so I refocused on Thane and said, “She was really nice to me.”

---