Chapter 19
Noah
I felt better.
I mean, I’d kissed the girl, punched a bag until I felt the burn, and had wings. So why wouldn’t I feel better?
I felt strangely satisfied as I parked Dustin’s car and headed back to the dorm. But inside the dorm, Dust was waiting for me like an angry parent.
“Hey.” I tossed him his key and headed to the fridge. “Appreciate it.”
“You stole my car.”
I grabbed a bottle of water and took one over to him, sitting down beside him.
“Yeah. Probably did.” I flipped the lid of the bottle and took a long pull. “That was maybe a dick move.”
He watched me for a second before he took a drink of his own bottle. “I’ll get you on the insurance,” he grumbled before he hesitated. “You do have a license?”
I let out a huff of laughter. “I do. And you don’t need to do that.”
“Where’d you go?”
“Found a gym in Halston that has a quiet vibe, tried it out.” I didn’t see the point in lying. I left out the part about Briar. I wasn’t sure why.
“Well, I’m glad.”
I squinted at him. “Huh?”
“You stink of sweat. Thought you’d either gone for a run or robbed something. I’m glad it was a gym.”
“Do I look like the kind of guy who robs people?”
Dustin didn’t hide his smile. “Do I need to answer that, considering you stole my car?”
I didn’t have an argument for that. “Very good point.”
We sat on the couch, drinking water and waiting for the other to speak first.
Dustin didn’t disappoint.
“Are you okay, Noah?”
“I’m good.”
He toyed with the lid of his bottle. “I have a little sister who loves drama,” he began carefully. “She’d completely deny that she loved drama, but trust me, the girl thrives on it.”
“You think I like drama?” I gave him a look that told him exactly what I thought of that.
“No. But I think drama might like you.”
I rolled my head on my shoulders, ready to shoot him down, but instead I considered what he said. “I kissed Briar.”
He didn’t overreact; he made a sound that could have very easily been a satisfied ‘knew it,’ but he had the grace not to gloat.
“Good?” he asked casually.
“Yeah.” I took a drink to hide my smile. I wasn’t fooling anyone.
“Her brother can take you,” he warned me.
“Pretty sure she can take me,” I told him, only half-joking.
He didn’t say anything else. Putting his bottle on the floor, he leaned over and flicked on the TV. He handed me a controller.
“Game?”
“Sounds good.”
And neither of us spoke about it again. No lecture. No, ‘what are the repercussions?’ Nothing. I really appreciated that. I don’t know if he knew it, or if he didn’t care. No, that was harsh; he did care. So did Dante.
It’d been a while since I had that. People outside of my family who cared about me, not just what I could do on the field. These guys had been open with me, it was probably time I did the same.
“My brother gets bullied,” I told him carefully. “He thinks he doesn’t, but he does. He thinks now that he’s in college, it’s behind him.”
Dustin hesitated slightly, casting a surprised glance my way, but he didn’t say anything, he just nodded and kept on playing. “Same guy? Or guys?”
“Guy. He’s a dick.” I concentrated on the game. “He bullied him in high school. I kicked his ass. He stopped. But I’m no longer living two streets away.”
“Is there a reason he bullies him, or is he just that guy who’s basically a dick?”
“Tate’s really clever. His head is usually in a book or a video game.” I smirked at the fact that I was playing a video game while sharing. “For a jerk with few brain cells, he’s an easy target.”
“I’m glad you kicked his ass,” Dust said as he scored a touchdown. He leaned back as his player celebrated on screen. “This is what’s been bothering you?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe it’s part of it all.”
He gave a nod and a sigh. “Yeah. I hear that.” He stooped to pick up his water and took a drink. “Where does your brother go to school again?”
“Texas.”
Dust rose his eyebrows. “Long drive.”
My laugh was low. “Done it before.”
“I got air miles.” He gave me a look out of the side of his eyes. “Happy to use them for a good cause.”
I glanced at him as the game started up again. “You’d give me your air miles so I could go kick the ass of my little brother’s bully?”
“Man, for that, I’d come with you.”
I put the controller down. “The mean girl, from the Santo house. She said you were almost a Devil. I thought she meant the team, but then I remembered they’re called Saints. What did she mean?”
Dustin’s grin was wide and full of mischief. “The Santo guys. They’re called Devils. They’re the opposite of saints. They cause chaos — Mayhem they call it. Like they pull pranks and shit on other teams. Or in school.”
“Pranks?” I asked doubtfully. “Gray Santo does not look like he pulls pranks.”
Dustin tipped his head back and laughed loudly. “No, Gray is the more sinister of the three. He leans more toward the chaos. You’re at a party, the lights go out, and if you run, especially if you’re a girl, and they catch you, they have you.”
“That sounds—”
“It’s fun.”
“Illegal.”
Dust shook his head. “Nah, it’s fun. The lights come on, your girl is kissing someone else, fists swing, chaos. In the middle of a pop quiz, a fire drill goes off. Chaos. You know it’s just fun.”
I was reassessing my opinion of the Santo family.
“But hey, their older brother, Onyx. Now he’s a psycho. His kind of Mayhem is more about breaking bones and stuff.”
Been there. Done that. Wasn’t saying it though.
“They sound like they all need therapy,” I said instead.
“Yeah, I guess.” Dust lost his smile. “If I’d stayed in Cardinal, I’d be a Devil.”
“That’s why you left?” I asked curiously.
“Nah. I played football all through high school with them, they’re arrogant on the field because they’re the best.” He looked over his shoulder. “Don’t tell Spence, but Jett will get taken first.”
My eyebrows rose in surprise, and Dustin looked guilty. “You think so?”
He nodded. “That number one Draft pick? Won’t be Dante.”
“He won the championship.”
“Won’t matter.” Dustin finished his bottle of water. “Don’t tell him I said it.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“I didn’t stay in Cardinal.” Dustin blew out a breath. “You have a QB, running back, and a tight end, from the same family, know what I’m saying?”
“You wanted somewhere else to shine?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
We exchanged a look.
“Regret it?” I asked him quietly.
The air was heavy with his silence. He eventually gave a brief nod. “More and more . . . Does that make me a shit person?”
“Nope.” I stood. “It makes you human.” I sniffed my armpit, and because Dust was an athlete like me, he didn’t blink at my hygiene check. “I need another shower. You want to go get a beer?”
Dustin looked between the controller and me. “Yeah.”
Ten minutes later, we were walking to Digby’s. I had a fresh hoodie on, my hair was still wet, and I didn’t care. Dustin and I spoke about routes and plays the whole way there. It was the most relaxed I’d been in weeks.
The bar was busy, considering the time and the fact that it was a weekday. It just made blending easier. I ordered two beers, and then, finding a corner, I handed one to Dustin, and we stood and shot the shit like two guys in college.
He didn’t talk about his girlfriend. I didn’t bring it up again that I kissed a staff member. Neither of us mentioned the name ‘Mason Sterling’ or that the last few weeks had been crap.
Some of our teammates were in the bar, and one by one they drifted over, and soon we were playing pool and laughing at fuckups during training.
It was the most normal night I’d had since the season ended, and I hadn’t realized how badly I needed it until I was standing with a pool cue in my hand, talking shit to Dustin over an easy miss.
The bell above the bar rang, and we looked at each other in surprise, neither of us realizing it was closing time.
Not long after, a group of us were walking back to the dorm building, and failing miserably to keep the noise down as we parted ways for the night, with several ‘don’t sleep in’ warning calls to each other.
Dante was in the living area when we walked in. In his sleep shorts and T-shirt, headphones around his neck, he looked between us and smiled. “Who won?”
“Noah cheats at pool,” Dustin declared loudly. “Did you make tea?” he asked Dante.
“Hot chocolate.” He put his mug down. “My brain was too sluggish, or the book I’m trying to concentrate on is incredibly boring.” He reached for another mug. “You want one?”
Dustin considered it. “No. I had a beer and two sodas. I take any more liquid, and I’ll be up all night.”
Dante lifted the mug a little higher in the air, looking in my direction. “Noah?”
“Hot chocolate puts me to sleep.” I thought about it. “Yeah, I’ll take one. If you don’t mind?”
“Only takes two minutes.”
Dante made me a hot chocolate, and I kicked off my shoes, fighting my yawn.
Dustin went into his room and came back with a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. He leaned against the counter and carried on brushing.
“What are you doing?” I asked him. “You scared you’ll miss something?”
He flipped me the finger, taking the brush out of his mouth. “I’m cleaning my teeth, or I’m going to want a hot chocolate, and I’ve had enough to drink. So I’m resisting temptation.”
“It makes more sense to me why you were single for so long,” I muttered.
Dante laughed, and Dustin gave me a two-finger salute. The microwave pinged, and I dodged Dustin’s kick as I went to get my drink.
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” Dante murmured. “Hey, Dust, if you have time, will you come look at my paper?”
Dustin spat in the sink, rinsed his mouth, and ignored both of our protests about hygiene as he washed out the kitchen sink.
“What’s it on?” he asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Macroeconomics.” Dante looked between us both. “We have that paper due next Friday, and I don’t know. I think I went off on a tangent.”
“Sure.” Dustin waited for him to walk into his room.
I hesitated for a second before I spoke up. “Hey, Dust, can you look at mine too? Not tonight, but—”