The door swings open again, and finally, my boys walk through, looking just as perplexed as they did when they left. That couldn’t be good. Nate’s eyes lock on mine and he crosses the cafeteria towards my table as Jesse breaks off to sit with the boys. I resist getting up and running toward him and do my best to wait patiently.
He drops down beside me and leans forward on his elbows. “Anything?” I question, with hope.
He shakes his head. “Nothing,” he says. “I mean, I found out some things about my father that I could probably do without ever knowing, but nothing big enough to have caused this much drama.”
“Damn,” I sigh as I lean against him and rest my head against his shoulder. “What kind of things?”
He scoffs as he wraps an arm around me. “Things that I’m not prepared to tell you.”
“Things like a membership to an exclusive Russian sex website?” I murmur quietly beside him.
Nate’s eyes widen as he turns to me. “How’d you know that?” he demands.
I grin as I look up at him. “I guess our dads are more alike than we thought.”
“Shit,” he grunts. “Really?”
“Yeah,” I scoff. “How’d you think I ended up with an R8?” Understanding flashes in his eyes. “Speaking of cars,” I continue. “Have you figured out what you’re going to do with yours?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “Not really,” he says. “I was thinking of getting a ‘sensible’ car, for the time being, you know, to keep mom happy, but I don’t know what I’ll do with the Camaro.”
“You don’t want to try and rebuild it?” I question.
He shakes his head. “Nah, I think it’s too far gone,” he says before a sparkle hits his eyes, making my stomach clench with how badly I love him. “I might have to start a new project.”
“What kind of project?” I ask as a smile lifts the corners of my lips.
He grins down at me as his eyes light up in excitement. “Mustang GT.”
“Oh, geez,” I laugh. “You’re going to do it matte black, right?”
“Is there any other way?”
I grin up at him as the end of lunch bell rings. “Will I see you this afternoon?” he asks as he pulls me to my feet.
“I’m not sure,” I tell him. “The girls want to go to Carter’s Coffee House and it’s been way too long since I’ve had a caramel latte.”
“Ok,” he laughs as he gives me a gentle kiss, making my stomach rise with butterflies. “I’ll call you.”
With that, he turns and walks away and I watch as a freshman bumps into him before looking up, going ghostly white, and trying his hardest to scramble out of Nate’s way. He walks out the door with his usual bad boy swagger and the girls and I follow behind with my eyes fixed permanently to his perfect ass.
———-
I sit in Carter’s Coffee House welcoming the heavenly aroma of the little shop. I mean, it smells like life in here. It’s incredible. I listen to the way our little overachiever, Brylee, talks mindlessly about her early admissions she sent to both Harvard and Yale and roll my eyes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so happy for her, but this is also the millionth time we’ve heard about it in the past few weeks. She’s a mix of excited and nervous and when that happens, she has a hard time zipping her lips.
The barista comes around with our drinks and we take them with eager hands. I lift my caramel latte to my lips and breath it in before tipping the yummy goodness down my throat. “Yeah, that’s good,” I announce to the table.
“Hell yeah, it is,” Courtney agrees with a moan.
“Hmmm,” Brooke groans.
“Fuck me,” an irritating but lovable voice says from behind me. “It sounds like the big finale of an orgy fuck fest in here.”
“Go away,” I tell Jesse without bothering to turn around.
He leans against the back of my chair and looks over my shoulder at my latte. “What kind of fancy ass drink is that?” he says before diving in and grabbing it. He’s too fast to catch and before I know it, my latte is scalding his throat. “Fuck, that’s hot.”
He slams the cup back down which is when I notice Tyson is here too, though, at least he makes his presence known in a nice way, rather than suggesting we sound like we’re all coming together. Ty pulls up a chair between Courtney and Brylee and happily helps himself to the bowl of hot chips in the middle of the table.
I turn around and narrow my eyes on Jesse. “Is there something you need?” I question, irritated that I didn’t get to enjoy my latte.
“No,” he says with an amused grin. “We were just driving by and saw you guys. Thought we’d say hi.”