Chapter 31
Creed
Hyde hangs his head low over the cafeteria table, massaging his temples in slow circles like he’s trying to squeeze the pain out. He skipped morning classes and, by the look of him, he crawled out of bed no longer than fifteen minutes ago.
His hair’s a mess, sticking up in every direction, and his skin has that pale, sickly tone that betrays he spent last night drinking himself into oblivion.
Dash sits beside him, signature shit-eating grin plastered across his face. Hyde’s suffering is the highlight of his day.
Balancing a tray on one palm, I sling my bag off my shoulder and drop into the chair opposite, sliding his lunch and a glass of electrolytes across the table.
“Eat,” I tell him.
He groans, lifting his head and narrowing his bloodshot eyes. “You’re an asshole, Elias. Why did you let me drink that much?”
“Don’t first-name me just because you can’t handle your liquor, Ward. I told you to slow down.”
He scrunches his nose at the burger and pushes the tray away with one finger. “I’m not hungry.”
I push it right back. “Don’t make me feed you.” Because I’ll accidentally-on-purpose fucking choke you for sending Noah to Millie.
Dash barks out a laugh, spearing a few of Hyde’s fries onto his fork and pointing it between us. “I see your roles have reversed.” He stuffs his mouth with the fries, chewing slowly. “You rarely drink this much during the week, Hyde. What happened?”
I leave the ball in Hyde’s court, knowing he won’t tell Dash shit. I still can’t believe he told me. He’s always believed that if he can ignore something long enough, it’ll eventually stop existing.
He did that with Millie for years. He erased her from his life so thoroughly I thought he was an only child. We all did.
“Nothing happened. I just needed a reset,” he says, his gaze flicking to mine before dropping to his plate.
“Oh-kay but better fix that headache before game night. I don’t care how hungover you are, we’re playing.” Dash looks to me. “You’re coming, too.”
Dash has a sixty-inch flat-screen and a gaming console in his room. That’s where we spent most of our weekends last year, but since Millie came along, Noah’s room’s taken over and Dash is still salty about it.
“Yeah, alright,” I say, without thinking it through.
Noah will be there, and the two of us in one room after what I found out might be too much tension.
Hyde grabs the glass of electrolytes, looking up at me. “You got any painkillers?”
“Not on me. Eat, it’ll help.”
“You’d know,” Dash pipes in, pointing his fork at me again. “Have you seen Noah? He wasn’t in class this morning.”
Hyde’s head snaps up, his hangover momentarily forgotten.
“It’s not like him to oversleep,” he says, then, all too quickly, adds, “What about Millie? Have you seen her?”
My pulse spikes, my hands itching to pull out my phone and text her. Noah better not be in her room or I’ll break my long-established rule and knock out my friend.
Dash cocks an eyebrow at Hyde, eyes flickering my way when he’s not looking.
“Yeah, I saw her with Abby, he says. “Why?”
Hyde’s shoulders slump. “No reason.”
His face gives nothing away, but that gesture is either relief or disappointment and given our conversation last night, I don’t think it’s the fucking former.
He finishes the rest of his meal in silence while Dash doesn’t shut up about some party the post-grad crowd’s throwing this weekend. He stops the word-vomit when a pretty brunette passes our table, and before I blink, he’s across the room, charming her out of her panties.
“What was that?” I ask, drumming my fingers against my coffee cup. “I can’t tell if you’re glad or pissed off that Noah’s missing, but Millie isn’t.”
He looks up at me with bleary eyes. “I’m neither.”
“Neither? You can’t be neither, Hyde. Either you want Noah and Millie to—”
“You told me not to do anything unless I’m worried he’ll hurt her, right?” he cuts in.
I told him I didn’t think he should do shit, but he went and did it anyway.
“So, I’m not doing anything,” he continues and I barely keep from snapping in his face about that text last night. “But I want to know if... if things are happening, so I will be watching. Don’t forget she’s my sister, Creed.”
The sister his friends didn’t know about until she almost died. The off-limits sister that’s suddenly not so off-limits.
“Fuck,” he hisses, massaging his temples again. “I need painkillers. And sleep.” Slowly, like he’s afraid he’ll lose his balance, he gets to his feet. “I’m going back to bed.”
“Yeah, alright.”
He marches away, leaving me alone with my half-empty, lukewarm coffee and buzzing mind.
Nothing makes sense anymore.
Hyde glared at Noah’s arm flung over Millie’s shoulders when they showed up at my fight. He glared whenever Millie was with Noah in the library, playing chess or reading. He complained about how much time they were spending together, and now he sends him into her room late at night?
Why? What changed? What am I missing?
My phone pings in my pocket, all thoughts of Noah and Hyde evaporating when I find a text waiting.
Millie Baby: Avoiding me again? It’s getting old, Eli.
My brows pinch in the middle. It’s lunchtime and she’s the one not here so how am I avoiding her? I type a reply.
Me: What do you mean, baby?
The message barely sends before I’m staring at the screen again, waiting like an idiot for the three little dots to appear.
Dash comes back, plopping down in his seat with a huff. “Alright, spill it. What’s going on with Hyde?”
Fuck if I know. “Elaborate, Dash.”
“Oh, I don’t know. How about that cryptic there’s something I want to talk about, and I need a few drinks to get it out bit last night for starters. Was it about the girl he deep-throated with his tongue?”
Jesus, I don’t need that visual this early in the day. Or ever, for that matter. I open my mouth to answer, but my phone pings again, stealing my attention.
Millie Baby: You skipped your workout.
“Is that Mini?” Dash asks.
My fingers pause mid-reply, eyes cutting to his grin complete with waggling eyebrows.
“What? Why—?”
“Stop stuttering, I’m not fucking blind, Creed. I’ve seen the way you look at her.”
“How is it that you and Noah noticed but Hyde’s blind?”
He snorts out a laugh. “Bitter about Noah, are we?” he asks, but doesn’t wait for a reply. “Hyde’s so focused on making sure she’s breathing, he doesn’t see anything else.”
“He sees Noah.”
“True, but Noah’s different around Mini, you’re not.
He’s softer, more attentive. You’re still.
.. you. Fighting, getting drunk, doing that toxic dance with Zara.
Nothing’s changed.” He drops his elbows on the table.
“Is that what Hyde wanted to talk about last night? You got the stay away from my sister speech?”
I finish the text and send it.
Me: You got up to go running two hours after I left?
“It wasn’t about me,” I tell Dash.
“Okay, Noah, then. He either asked you to hit him or asked what you think about him and Mini together. Which was it?”
The guy’s smarter and more perceptive than we give him credit for. His carefree demeanor fools a lot of people, but I know him like I know my right hand and yet I still underestimate him.
“How much do you know?” I ask.
“Ah-ah. My question first.”
“The later.”
Dash frowns like he didn’t expect that. “Well, well... I guess it makes some sense.”
“My question now,” I prompt.
“Alright, let’s see. You’re both into her.” He bends one finger. “Hyde hasn’t noticed your interest.” Another finger. “But he did notice Noah’s.”
“Yeah, we just fucking established that much.”
“I’m awarding myself points here. Shut up.” He taps his lower lip with his index finger. “What else...? Oh, Hyde stopped glaring at Noah right after your fight with Trevor.”
One more finger goes down and Dash leans forward, eyes cutting left and right, voice dropping to a whisper.
“And I know something happened between you and Mini given her hasty exit when she saw you with Zara.” He pulls back, volume up again. “What was that about?”
This is not the place for this. Too many prying ears, so I get up, signaling Dash to follow. Millie replies when we enter North Wing, heading for the elevators.
Millie Baby: I didn’t sleep.
She was falling asleep in my arms, then stayed awake after I left? My teeth gnash.
Me: Bad girl, baby. You need rest. And I’m not avoiding you, I was sleeping the night off. We should talk. Come over later.
“Zara was a distraction,” I resume my conversation with Dash once we’re in the elevator. “And Hyde... I don’t fucking know what’s going through his head, but that gaming session—”
“No,” he clips before I finish my thought. “You’re not skipping game night, Creed. Forget it.”
“Noah and I in the same room isn’t a good idea, Dash.”
That piques his curiosity. “Okay... why?”
I don’t reply, dropping my eyes back to my phone.
Millie Baby: Okay.
Dash lets out an exasperated breath and cocks an eyebrow when I look back up. “You done sexting? You can’t say shit like that and leave me hanging. What’s with you and Noah?”
The elevator dings and I step out, heading for my room. Dash follows, making it clear I’m not escaping this conversation.
“How many times do I have to ask the same question?” he presses. “Spill it, Creed.”
I shove the door open harder than necessary and head for the fridge. I’ve been pushing the thought of Millie and Noah kissing out of my head all morning.
It wasn’t that difficult, given I was still high on her body, scent, and moans, but now the image resurfaces and another memory barrels into my head.
One that makes this situation ten times fucking worse.
Millie’s reaction to Noah stripping out of his hoodie in the gym. Her cheeks pinked up, eyes dropped to the floor, fingers flexed at her sides like she was searching for purchase...
A cold sweat breaks out along my back.
Was a kiss all that happened or just the only thing Hyde saw?
I asked Millie if Noah touched her. She said he held her while she cried, but that was last night. What about before?
I pull my phone out and send off a question before I can rethink it.
Me: Have you fucked Noah?
That won’t go down well and it’s not what I wanted to talk to her about. Squeezing my neck, I grab a bottle of water, needing something cold in my hand to stop myself hitting the wall.
She reads the message and the three dots start dancing, then stop. The dotted waltz goes on for a while, but no message comes through. Great. What does that mean? Yes or no?
“Earth to Creed,” Dash prompts, elbowing my ribs. “Put the fucking phone down for five minutes and fill me in.”
“Noah kissed Millie,” I clip.
I shouldn’t have told him that. Hyde kept his mouth shut in the cafeteria for a reason. But whatever it may be, fuck it. I’m losing my mind here and need a different perspective.
“He fucking kissed her,” I repeat, the thought of his mouth on hers curling my hands into fists.
Dash hops onto my counter, knocking a glass over with his ass. “When? Today?”
“No,” I huff. “Before my fight with Jasper. Hyde saw them making out in the library. That’s what he told me last night.”
I open a bottle of water and take big gulps like they might drown the unwanted image of one of my best friends kissing the girl I’ve been obsessing over for a year.
Dash exhales slowly. “Oh-kay... so?”
“What do you fucking mean so? He kissed her. I think that matters, don’t you?”
“Her reaction last night matters. If there were something deeper between them, she would’ve run to him instead of straight out of the common room with a sad look on her face, so unless I’m missing something—”
“Her reaction to Noah’s bare chest at the gym. She flushed nice and pink, couldn’t look him in the eyes, and now I wonder if they did more than kiss.”
He studies me, curious expression shifting back to a cunning grin, and he barks out a laugh. “Jesus Christ, I underestimated this. You’re not just casually into her, you’re jealous.”
I don’t answer. Not because he’s not asking a question, but because it’s fucking obvious I’m green from head to toe.
“Hyde sent Noah into her room last night,” I say, watching Dash’s eyes grow wider. “He’s kind of given him his blessing.”
He leans against the cabinets, deep in thought, his eyebrows pulling together. “You know she’s coming to game night, right? And if you want her as much as I think you do—”
“Fine,” I clip. “I’ll be there.”