Page 38 of Too Safe

“The Nest?” I question. I still don’t know where his room is.

“There’s a door at the end of the hall on the second floor. It has a set of stairs that’ll take you up.”

I follow him up the steps that lead to the house.

“I take it you don’t like parties?” Come to think of it, I don’t remember seeing him last weekend.

He shakes his head, checking his phone. Then he stashes it and turns back to me.

“Parties. People. Noise. Unpredictability.” He runs a hand through his hair and sighs. He really does look tired. It makes sense—it was an intense game, and he wasonthe entire time. Even if he doesn’t wear a uniform or play on the field, Kylian’s role on the team is critical.

I have the sudden and inexplicable urge to hug him. Instead, I wrap my arms around myself and shift from one foot to the other.

“Okay. Well, good night, then, I guess.”

I internally cringe at my awkwardness. What is wrong with me? The guy’s nice to me for a few hours, and now I want nothing more than to follow him upstairs and cuddle with him in his bed. Cuddle or maybe—

“Joey!”

When I spin around, Hunter is tearing up the stairs toward me in a full sprint. I turn back just long enough to catch Kylian’s gaze.

“Good night, Jo.” And just like that, he’s gone.

I don’t have time to overthink our last interaction because Hunter practically tackles me in a bear hug. “We won!” she exclaims, jumping up and down. “We won, we won, we won!”

Her enthusiasm is contagious. The dozen or so people making their way up the stairs toward the house break out into a chant, hooting and hollering and carrying on with the same type of energy they had at the stadium.

If this is any indication, tonight’s party is going to be wild.

“You weren’t even at the game,” I chide as she squeezes me tighter.

“I know,” she whines. “I’m so mad I had to miss it. But I’ll be at the next one. I promise. Now you need to promise me something.”

She pulls back and searches my face, her expression suddenly serious, pointed, in complete juxtaposition to the joy and excitement radiating off her a moment ago.

“Don’t go dark on me like that again, okay?”

I gulp past the prickle of shame. After my run-in with the guys at work on Thursday, I talked to Hunter. But then I landed in this weird twilight-zone existence, and I still haven’t come up with a way to explain my new living arrangements. So yeah, I guess I did go dark on her. It was an extra shitty move on my part after what she shared with me last week. About how her mom ditched her without any real explanation or justification.

God. I’m an awful friend.

“Joey. Seriously.” She cups the side of my face and pulls me close until our foreheads touch. “I was really worried. I got all worked up wondering if I upset you or wasn’t as supportive as I should have been on Thursday when—”

“Hunter, no.” I cut her off before she can blame herself for any of my behavior. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Not at all.”

Her expression softens in response, loosening the vise around my heart just a little.

I try my best to give her a reassuring smile. “I’m not used to anyone caring enough to check in or even notice if they don’t hear from me for a few days.”

The only adults who have ever cared about my whereabouts did not have my best intentions at heart.

“Okay. As long as you swear—”

“I swear,” I tell her sincerely.

The moment is broken when a big, dumb-looking jock lumbers past us and shouts, “Hell yeah! Looks like we’re gonna get to the girl-on-girl action early tonight!” Then he chants, “Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!”

I hit him with my most bored expression, noting his Lake Chapel U football shirt and his still-wet, freshly showered hair. Figures this douche would be on the team. I make a mental note to ask Kylian for his name before planting both hands on my hips and giving him a long once-over.

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