“Do you need me to talk to Renee?” Sanny leaned across the table.
I blinked, only now registering the genuine concern on their faces. There was no reason for it as far as I knew. The combination of ankle braces and boots had been saving me from a lot of pain, so that was fine. And theirexpressions weren’t touched by that hint of awkwardness I’d expect if they wanted to talk to me about my sex life. “Why would you talk to Renee?”
“Because of all those trolls online,” Sanny said.
“You look a little tired.” Zuri tilted her head, her thick black curls falling sideways. “You’re not doom-scrolling the comment sections all night, are you?”
Oh, shit. Right. I’d been getting bad feedback online. Somehow that had completely slipped my mind over the last few days. Just as I considered why that might be, Noah stepped up to our booth and dropped on to the bench next to me with a vague greeting.
“Noah, would you mind giving us a couple of minutes? We’re in the middle of discussing something with Esra. It’s kind of important,” Sinan said, sounding more like a big brother than he had in weeks. Shit. Were the online comments that bad?
“It’s fine,” I said quickly and motioned for Noah to stay.
I just shot him a quick glance from the corner of my eye. He was the very reason I’d forgotten about the trolls, and why I looked so tired. The show had been exhausting before, but now I was getting an extra workout in every day. Not to mention lying awake, debating whether or not I should just knock on his door to get more than seven minutes. I always ended up slipping my own hand between my legs instead. Keeping this thing perfectly compartmentalized to Ace Ryder’s hideout seemed like the best option. I got all the orgasms without any of the emotional or interpersonal mess of hooking up with your brother’s best friend.
“It really is fine,” I reassured Sanny and Zuri, “I’ve notbeen online much. I don’t care. He’s the one posting thirst traps for likes.” I jerked my thumb at Noah.
“Pointing is impolite,” he said and caught my wrist. He pushed my hand under the table and into my lap, where his fingers dropped from my arm to my leg. He squeezed my thigh and his pinky reached high enough to slip up my shorts. It grazed the sensitive skin where his stubble had left its mark. The audacity. Didn’t he realize that I was compartmentalizing? Blood rushing in my ears, I glared at him, only for him to pull his hand away and reach for the menu without a single glance in my direction.
“Can we pause whatever feud this is for a few minutes, please?” Sinan waved between me and Noah.
Was“feud”the right word to use when you wanted to kill someone by banging their brains out?
Since I could hardly do that here, I held up my hands in mock surrender.
“I’m not doing anything,” Noah said and shrugged. I still caught that little twinkle of mischief in the corner of his eye. Yeah, right.Not doing anythingexcept feeling me up in front of my brother.
“You’re being obnoxious,” I hissed.
“I’m reading the menu.”
“You’ve lived in this place for how long?”
“Twenty-nine years in Wild Fields, five years in Bravetown.”
“And has the menu changed over the last five years? Or are you going to order a glass of water and a cheeseburger? Maybe a single bottle of beer if you’re feeling wild.” I wasn’t sure why I knew his order, but the fact that I did just annoyed me more.
Both Sanny and Zuri sighed in perfect sync, loud enough to interrupt us, their gazes locking. Some silent understanding passed between them. Putting on a bright smile, Zuri pushed out of the booth and waved for me to come with her. “Let’s go get some drinks at the bar.”
Ah. They had formulated a Plan B for their “kind of serious” talk.
I debated staying at the table and letting Zuri get the drinks, but I didn’t trust myself enough next to Noah. My urge to strangle him had turned into a Pavlovian compulsion to wrap my thighs around his neck instead.
While Adriana was getting our order ready for us, Zuri tried again. “I know you’re only here for a few months, but it’s still a lot of pressure to play Annie Lou. If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here, you know?”
“Thank you, Zuri. I appreciate it, but I genuinely haven’t been online in days. I decided to go theignorance is blissroute.”
“Right.” She pursed her lips, clearly not fully content with my answer. “If it really bothered you, or you know… something else bothered you, there’s other people to talk to. Not here, necessarily, but in Nashville. There’s a lot of good people in Nashville. You could make a day of it. See the Parthenon. You like attractions, right?”
I blinked, the gist of her ramble computing slowly. “Are you sending me to therapy?”
“You’ve been through a lot of life changes recently.”
“Ohmygod. Please stop talking.”
“We just thought it might help you figure things out.”
I ran my hand down my face. “Figure what out?”
