5. Noah
Chapter five
Noah
Ugly yet delicious.
This is nice, sitting here with Veronica, enjoying a meal where we all talk, laugh, and joke around.
There are no sexual comments or innuendos, just actual, genuine conversations.
We’ve never had this with all three of us together.
I think this might help us gain some points with her.
She seems happy rather than annoyed to be around us.
“Here you go,” Gabe says as he passes the smoothie over to Veronica.
She picks it up and inspects it with a strange look on her face. She brings it up to her nose for a sniff test and instantly wrinkles it up, then lets out a breath and takes a sip. Gabe and I watch her intently, waiting for a sign of whether or not she likes it.
She swallows and licks her lips. “Okay, wow. This is actually really good. How can something so ugly be so delicious?”
I groan and throw my head back, fully knowing I’ll never hear the end of this.
“See! I fucking told you it was good!” Gabe points a finger in my face, then fist bumps Veronica. She smiles with a giggle and bumps her fist against his.
These smiles and laughs are different than the ones she usually presents us with when we’re the whole gang together. I’m not saying those are all fake, but these ones seem to come from deep down, like even if she tried to hide them, she couldn’t.
She clears her throat after another sip of her drink. “Actually, since I have both of you here. There’s something I’d like for us to discuss.”
I turn on the barstool to face her, and Gabe leans over the counter. “We’re listening.” What could she possibly need to talk to us about?
“So, I know you need me for cleaning, which is perfectly fine. I was just wondering if you were expecting other things from me as well.” She looks at us both, expecting an answer.
Where the hell is this conversation going? I know we’ve always tried to get with Veronica. But she can’t really be offering it that easily… can she?
Gabe peers at me, clearly thinking the same thing as I am, then looks back at her before asking, “Like?”
“Well, I don’t know, like groceries or dry cleaning? Maybe some errands you guys don’t have time to do with your packed schedule?” Ah, that makes more sense.
I clear my throat. “I think those are things we would appreciate if you’re offering. We usually order our things online and get them delivered. But sometimes we forget and have to run out and grab stuff or crash someone’s house for food.”
“Usually Burkley’s,” Gabe adds in. “Same goes for our dry cleaning. We end up forgetting and have to rush the day before to find somewhere that will do our suits quickly.”
“Or we beg Morgan behind her husband’s back, and she adds them in with his,” I tell her.
Her brows are raised and eyes wide. “Wow, you two really are boys,” she murmurs.
“Okay, no more depending on Morgan. We’re going to turn you into men.
If I have to make charts to keep everything up to date, I will.
” She nods before going on. “I’m going to need a detailed list of your schedules.
For food, I want a list of things you like and don’t like. ”
“That might be a little complicated, Gabe can be very picky with the ingredients and all that,” I inform her.
It’s why I stopped doing the groceries and let him take over. Getting yelled at because I bought the wrong brand of noodles is not something I ever planned to experience. From my wife, yes. But my best friend? No.
“That’s okay, I was up all night looking into that, and there’s actually this app that exists that can be put on your phone, where you add whatever you want to it, with precision.
I’ll sync all of our devices together; then I’ll be able to see your requests and have everything delivered.
Here, pass me your phones. I’ll set it up right now. ”
We hand over our devices, and she quickly taps away at Gabe’s first, passing it back, then doing the same to mine, although it takes her a few extra seconds. “There, all set. I also added my number into your phone and texted myself,” she tells me.
“I think it would be good to have each other’s numbers if we have any last-minute information that needs to be passed around. Gabe, I already know you have my number, thanks to the shirtless picture you sent me last month.” She narrows her eyes at him.
He passes his hand through his hair and gives her an abashed chuckle. “Yeah… sorry about that.” Definitely not one of Gabe’s finest moments. He thought it was appropriate and funny to send all the women in our group a picture of himself basically naked at four in the morning.
“Mhmm.” She gives him a disappointed look.
“Anyway, for the dry cleaning, I’ll think of a system for us that works best to have everything ready on time.
I was also going to offer working every other day.
So, one week, four days, the next, three.
Since you two seem to be quite… disorganized.
At least until you have a better handle on keeping things in an appropriate state. ”
That’s her polite way of saying we’re slobs. Veronica doesn’t usually sugarcoat things, so I appreciate the effort. Although I do like her unfiltered mouth.
“That seems like a good plan. We wanted to sound reasonable with three days a week. But if we could have you here every day, we would.” I smile, no hidden meaning behind it. I just love having her in our presence, but we don’t want to overwork her either.
“Okay then! I’m going to head out and buy some things that I need for here. I’ll be here when you two get back from your training.” She stands from her seat with one hand placed on the island. “Gabe, thank you for breakfast. It was delicious. Noah, take a shower. You stink.”
Gabe and I bellow with laughter. There’s our feisty girl. She goes to leave, but I jump up from my stool and grab her elbow. She inhales sharply, staring down at my hand. I drop it quickly and take a step back.
“Sorry,” I say as she nods in response. “Here, for anything you have to buy. Don’t worry about the price.” I fish out my wallet and hand her one of my credit cards.
She takes it and turns it over in her hands. “Thank you.” She smiles and spins on her heels, walking to the elevator.
I return to my plate, finishing off the last few pieces of my frittata.
I stand once more and turn to leave but think better of it.
I grab my plate and mug, gulping down the rest of my coffee as I walk over to the sink and deposit the dishes inside.
See? Already an improvement. I didn’t leave it on the counter.
“I’m going to take a shower, then we should head out for practice.”
“Wait!” Gabe calls as I turn to leave. “There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
I face him, taking a few steps closer, and lean against the counter with my arms crossed at my chest. “What is it?”
He looks past my shoulder, toward the direction Veronica left, then back into my eyes, and with the look he gives me, I know whatever he’s about to say is serious. “Something’s going on with Ronnie,” he says in a hushed voice just in case she still may be here.
“What do you mean?” I frown.
“She received a text or something earlier, and it freaked her out. Enough to give her a small panic attack.”
My interest peaks instantly. “Did you see it? The text. What did she say?”
“No, I was more focused on trying to calm her down. I didn’t think of looking. And she didn’t say anything. Once she snapped out of it, she claimed she just got dizzy. Like I would buy that shit.” He scoffs with an angry look.
I nod and mull over his words. “It’s not the first time she has gotten one. Yesterday at Ford’s, she received two messages over dinner. They were strange numbers, like those you’d expect from a burner phone. She didn’t open them, but she looked spooked and paled just seeing them pop up.”
“What do you think it could be?” Gabe asks, a sense of worry lacing his tone.
I shrug. “A stalker maybe? I really have no clue. It could be a lot of things.”
“Well, whatever it is, she should tell us about it if it’s affecting her that badly. I’m sure we could help in some way.”
“Does Veronica look like the kind of girl who talks about her life openly? And do you really think she would come to us if she had a problem, out of everyone?” I give him a ‘you should know better’ look.
“Okay, so we ask the guys. Maybe they’ve heard something through their wives. And if not, then we get Ronnie to trust us enough until she tells us,” he delivers his plan.
I mean, it’s a pretty good plan. Although getting her to trust us enough to divulge her secrets might take a while.
“Yeah, okay. Let’s ask the guys first, then we can move on to plan B and what exactly that would require.
” I push off the counter and walk out of the kitchen. “Jumping in the shower now. Get ready.”
“Ooh, you want me to join you?” he teases childishly, but it still pulls a smile out of me.
“Fuck off.”
I finish my last set on the bench press and sit up, wiping my forehead with my towel. I then stand from the bench, wipe it down, and head over to where Burkley and Hayes sit while taking a small break from their workout. A minute later, Ellis and Ford join us.
“Ellis, not your best work today. What’s up?” Silas leans in to get a better look at Gabe.
He’s a good team captain; I get why he got the position. And there’s no doubt when he retires, Clay will be taking his spot if he’s still playing. Those two are always attentive to every player and helping out.
“Just a rough night and an extra workout earlier.” Gabe shrugs.
“Jesus, I’m too old to be working out twice a day,” Clay murmurs as he stretches out his shoulders.
“What’s the matter? Age catching up to you, old man?” Greyson chuckles.
“Shut up, doofus. You’re only two years younger than I am.” Clay furrows his brow in his direction.
Silas laughs at their exchange for a moment but then grows serious and turns his attention back to Gabe. “Rough night or wild night?”