Seventeen
Noa
It was definitely more luxurious than a hotel room.
But the experience I’d just had with his friends made this entire situation awkward.
A hotel room wouldn’t have anyone else waiting there.
We were adults. Why wouldn’t he just let us laugh it off and move on?
Sure, it made me feel like that girl once again, but only for a moment.
I had learned to shove that away—for the most part.
“You’ve got a private bathroom right through there, and I’ll go get your car and bring you your suitcase. You can unpack in the closet right there.”
When he turned back to look at me, I had to take a moment to remind myself that all this man wanted was friendship from me.
I couldn’t let myself continue to feel things for him.
I knew my body was going to react to him, no matter what I told it.
He was gorgeous, sexy, and apparently dangerous.
That still had me reeling a bit, but then it made so much sense that I was accepting it.
I wasn’t freaking out about it. Maybe I would later, and it was too much to process right now, but I doubted it.
“You good?” he asked, concern creasing his brow when I stood there, remaining silent.
I nodded. “Yeah, this is great. Thank you. I’m just tired.”
“I’ll go get your rental. That way, you can bathe, nap, whatever you need. Do you want me to bring you some food, drink?”
“Some water would be good,” I replied.
“I’ll be back soon.”
“Thank you,” I told him as he headed back out the door.
“You’re welcome,” he replied. “Just doing what any friend would do.”
Then he was gone.
My friend.
Sinking down on the edge of the bed, I inwardly groaned.
I was going to be forever friend-zoned by the one guy I’d fantasized about for longer than I could remember.
I wanted him to see me differently so bad that I clung to any morsel in hopes he meant more by it.
Like the having to share me thing he’d said in the hallway.
It was almost sweet, romantic, but that was my imagination turning into more. He hadn’t meant it that way.
Glancing back at the fluffy pillows, I moved over and laid my head down. Exhaustion hit me heavy, and the thought of keeping my eyes open one more second seemed impossible.
When I opened my eyes again, I was staring at a bottle of fancy water and a glass that had some water in it that I was guessing was melted ice. I’d been asleep awhile. The light had been turned off in the room, and no sun was filtering through the curtains, but moonlight was.
Yawning, I stretched and sat up. A cover fell to my waist. I’d been covered up.
Ransom.
Sighing, I stared down at the blanket as if that small gesture meant something. He was my friend. It didn’t mean he wanted to get me naked. Although if he did, would I be able to? The thought of Ransom Carver seeing my body was intimidating.
Reaching over, I picked up the bottle he’d left me and opened it before taking several long swigs.
My mouth was dry, and my stomach growled.
I was hungry. When had I eaten last? I didn’t know.
Had I eaten today? While continuing to drink, I stared at the door.
Did I just go look for the kitchen myself?
Or Ransom? Maybe I should text him. Yeah, that seemed like the best idea.
Me: I’m awake.
I didn’t know what else to say to that. I thought about sending, I’m hungry . But the damage from my youth always made me hesitant about mentioning food or hunger. Maybe I could ask if he wanted me to stay in the room, but then that seemed odd.
Ugh.
I stared down at the phone, waiting for a response, and after several moments of nothing, I decided I would go see if I could find him.
I was pretty sure I could get back to the large room with the television that took up most of the wall.
Someone would most likely be in there. We were adults. I was making this weird.
Shaking it off, I went over to my suitcase he had brought to me, like promised, and opened it up to find my toiletry bag.
I took it into the large white guest bathroom and began to brush my teeth and then my hair.
Once I was done with those things, I decided to change into something more comfortable and pulled out a pair of my favorite joggers and a tank top.
Slipping them on, I took a quick glance at my phone, and still no response from Ransom.
I doubted he was already in bed. It wasn’t that late.
I tucked my phone into my pocket and headed for the door.
Stepping into the hallway, I glanced both ways, seeing no one, and all the other doors were closed.
I turned in the direction we had come from earlier.
Hopefully, this was what he expected me to do when I woke up.
It would be super helpful if he’d answer my text, but I didn’t want to sit and wait since it had been almost twenty minutes.
My stomach growled again, reminding me that I needed food. The thought of that hotel room was really appealing right about now. Hesitantly, I listened for any other sign of life as I made my way through the spacious house.
The first sound I heard was a male voice saying something about a touchdown, and then several voices joined in, along with a shout. Football season. That was why he hadn’t responded. There was a game on the television.
Feeling slightly relieved by that, I picked up my pace to that of a normal one and went in the direction of the noise.
The announcers’ voices got clearer as I approached.
I didn’t try and figure out who was playing because I honestly didn’t care.
Instead, I tried to listen for Ransom’s voice among the others.
Gathe’s stood out. I recognized it from earlier. He was doing most of the talking.
He hadn’t changed much since high school. Being the one to stand on the sidelines of life during that time, I’d observed a lot. Gathe was always happy, talking, laughing. He was also a notorious flirt. Well, he hadn’t flirted with me, but I’d seen him wink at more girls than I could count.
He had always been oddly close with Saylor Rice though.
She’d been Crosby’s, and everyone knew that, but she and Gathe were together as much as she and Crosby were.
I was always confused by that, but never mentioned it to Ransom.
It wasn’t my business. Then when Crosby died and there was another girl pregnant with his baby, I was curious about that too.
I hadn’t realized he and Saylor had broken up, but then my only tie to Madison was Ransom.
When I reached the arched entrance that led into the room with the television—which wouldn’t have even fit into the door of my trailer, growing up—I did a quick scan for Ransom, only to find he wasn’t in there.
Gathe was, along with Forge, and there was an older guy.
I’d guess he was Ransom’s age, but he’d not gone to high school with us.
Either he was someone not inside their families or he was older.
“If you’re texting Oz, tell him to double my money on this one,” Forge told the older guy, who glanced up from his phone and cut his eyes at him. That one look was so similar to Gathe that I was going to take a guess and say that was the older Bowen brother.
“You sure about that? They’re not known for a strong fourth quarter,” the guy replied.
Forge reached for a glass with amber liquid in it and smirked at him. “I got a feeling.”
The other guy rolled his eyes and went back to texting.
“Hey!” Gathe called out.
My gaze swung to him, only to find him locked in on me. He did a slow take over my body, then chuckled.
“Join us.” Then he motioned for me to come into the room. “Sit, watch the game with us. What do you drink? The bar is stocked.”
I wanted to ask where Ransom was, but didn’t. Instead, I stepped into the room and made my way over to the expansive U-shaped sofa.
“Sorry about earlier,” Forge said. “I wouldn’t have said that if I’d known it was you.”
I started to tell him it was okay, but Gathe spoke up. “Dude, that doesn’t make it better.”
Forge winced, and I genuinely felt bad for him.
“It’s fine. We were kids, and the truth was, I needed to drop some weight, my braces made my already ridiculously big lips stick out like a duck, and I had very little social skills.”
He didn’t appear relieved.
“This is Locke,” he told me, nodding his head at the guy I didn’t recognize. “Gathe’s brother.”
My guess had been correct. But then the more I looked at him, the more I noticed similarities. However, unlike Gathe, he was less of a talker, it seemed. He nodded his head at me in greeting, then went back to his phone.
Gathe stood up, and his focus stayed on me. “What would you like to drink? Name it. We even have the girlie shit.”
I opened my mouth to tell him a water was fine when one of the two glass doors that led outside to the far right of the room opened, and Ransom came walking in.
The instant flutter at the sight of him couldn’t be helped, and neither could the smile that began to stretch across my face.
However, the topless brunette behind him squelched all other reactions with a massive lead weight that landed in my gut.
His eyes met mine, and I tried very hard to hold my smile, but I quickly jerked my gaze off him and the view of bare boobs behind him to Gathe.
He was waiting for me to tell him what I wanted. Water didn’t seem like it would help me get through this. It wasn’t like I hadn’t known Ransom slept around with women. I had. There was little I didn’t know about him. But seeing it? Whew, I hadn’t been ready for that.
My throat was tight, and I had to clear it before responding, “Red wine.”
The corners of his mouth curled up slightly. “Merlot, pinot, zinfandel—”
“Cabernet. The bottle of Anakota,” Ransom replied, startling me. I wanted to look at him, but right now, I was still recovering. “I put it to the right of the Shiraz.”