Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
After that day, we worked things out. I think I feel closer to her now than when we were dating. Is that weird?”
“Nah, I don’t think it is. Sometimes people are just more compatible as friends than as lovers.” His voice drifted off toward the end, as if he realized what he was saying could apply to us.
That made my heart skip a beat. Was he trying to insinuate something? Could this be his way of saying that we were better off as friends than as anything else?
Before I could ask him to elaborate, his phone pinged in his pocket. He took it out and read the message, sending back a quick reply before looking to me with a question in his gaze.
“What happened?” I asked, slowing down in front of a series of glass roses.
“I told Tristan we were around. He’s at Blakes with his brother and wants us to join. You down?”
Blakes was the local gay watering hole, where people went for strong drinks and good music. I hadn’t been in a while but definitely didn’t mind showing up with Noah at my side. Hell, he could have asked me if I wanted to walk into the center of an active volcano with him and I likely would have said yes.
“Let’s do it,” I said, excited to spend the day with the intriguing and smiley man who was quickly capturing more than just my time and attention.
17
NOAH BARNES
Blake’s was a two-story bar filled with rainbow lights and TV screens playing pop divas on a loop. The first floor had a large bar at the center that served as a great place to post up and chat while sipping on a vodka tonic, with small bar-height tables pushed up against the surrounding walls where more groups of friends gathered. There were two competing kickball teams wearing their blue and green shirts, mingling around the tables next to the wide-open window that faced out to the street.
It was a cool spot and one of Tristan’s favorite Sunday hangouts. He greeted us with a wide smile and a warm hug, introducing Jake to his little brother, Malik. He was visiting from Tampa after a brutal breakup, which explained the three empty cups that surrounded his half-full cup of rum and Coke.
“Thanks for the invite,” I said to Tristan as I settled in, holding my drink with two hands. “It’s been a day.”
“Has it?” he asked. “What happened?”
That opened up the floodgates. Jake and I took turns telling the story, starting after we were woken up by the alarm (and hooked up multiple times). Tristan’s and Malik’s faces both dropped in shock once we got to the physical fighting part of the story.
“Damn, man.” Tristan shook his head and lifted his drink. “Cheers to fucking that guy up and hopefully stopping this crazy stalker shit.”
“Cheers to that,” I said enthusiastically, raising my cup and tapping it against the others.
“And you’re sure it was him?” Malik asked. He looked just like his older brother, all shiny white teeth and honey-brown eyes, with short dark hair that was usually kept buzzed down. He had a golden dangling earring and a thin gold necklace that popped against his dark skin. A tattoo of an octopus wrapped around his forearm, appearing to dance along with him as he moved.
Both Jake and I slightly deflated at his question. “No, we’re not,” I answered.
“But he’s our most likely lead,” Jake said, speaking like a detective. “We’ve got his car on camera, twice now, around the same time as when the incidents happened. Plus, Noah and Franky have history, which could lead to a motive. Maybe he’s upset at the feelings Noah made him confront, and repressing them for these past few years maybe twisted him up.”
That got the group nodding their heads in unison. “It does make sense,” Tristan said.
I waved my hands over the table as if I were telling people to stop their bets at a roulette table. “Enough of this spooky shit. Let’s try and have some fun today. Malik, how long are you in town for?”
“Just until tomorrow. I needed to get out of my apartment. Too much shit happened there.”
“Boy troubles?” I asked.
“Major. I found Peter cheating on me. In our own bed, after he told me he was visiting his sick sister. He thought I was out of town and, and—” Malik choked back tears. Tristan put an arm around his brother’s shoulders and pulled him in for a hug.
“It’s alright, Mal. You deserve better than that guy.”
I nodded my agreement, trying to not let my heartbreak for Malik show on my face. I knew how much he loved his boyfriend, and I knew how much pain that inflicted when the love turned into venom injected straight into the veins. It was a toxic feeling that consumed your every thought, made every what-if moment that much larger, that much more pronounced. It was how I felt when Franky and I broke up, the days after finding me locked up in my bedroom and swearing off boys for the rest of my life.