Doubt sits heavy on my chest, but I try to shove it away for her sake as well as the familiar drive to try something crazy and impulsive.
We stop at the kegs where the line is a dozen people deep.
A girl in a butterfly costume passes us. It’s elaborate and beautiful. I peer around, taking in more of the costumes. Almost all the girls are dressed up, but few of the guys are. It has me thinking of Nolan, wondering if he would have worn a costume if I asked. But we don’t go to parties together as couples or to dinner or out to the movies. We do the traditions, but apart from that nearly all our time spent together is at the house—fully platonic when Katie is around and more when she’s not. We’re a secret. I haven’t even told Lanie or Evelyn, only Hannah.
A girl bumps into me. A guy calls me a pretty kitty and nearly touches my boob. It feels like a construction site, rife with risk and potential injury. Nowhere seems safe to stand.
“Rawr,” a guy growls, putting both hands up in the shape of claws, then turns, continuing through the crowd. It’s completely impersonal.
Detached.
Casual.
The word makes me wince as that familiar ache returns for an entirely new reason. I’m getting attached—hell, I’m already attached.
Hannah passes me a glass of warm beer that I drink in two gulps, determined to feed that ache.
Chapter25
Nolan
“How late are we planning to stay?” Palmer asks, looking between me and Corey. We’ve been here for the past hour, discussing options for tomorrow’s game. We’ve begun modifying our plays, allowing them to begin like the plays Peters expects, and then adding slight modifications that can be excused for strong defenders.
“Katie must be home,” Grey says. “Nolan hasn’t bitched once.”
“I don’t understand why you and Hadley don’t just tell her,” Corey says. “It’s not as though you need her permission.”
“They aren’t telling anyone,” Palmer says, taking a bit of cobbler. We rarely get desserts as a snack before game night, but tonight, they served blackberry cobbler that has us all going back for seconds.
Corey furrows his brow. “Why in the hell aren’t you guys telling people?”
“She’s ashamed of him,” Palmer says.
Grey howls out a laugh.
I bench the bar and wipe my brow with a towel. Any other day, I’d flip them both off and give as good as I’m getting, but when it comes to Hadley, I keep the details close to the vest.
Hudson glances at me, a knowing look as though he’s telling me this is my chance to come clean.
“I think we know what we’re doing tomorrow,” I say. “Why don’t we call it a night?”
The others agree, gathering our garbage and the few belongings we’d brought.
“What’s going on with Sadie?” Grey asks. “I haven’t seen her loitering around the dorms all week.”
Corey tries to swallow a laugh and fails, which has all of us turning to look at Palmer.
“Turns out she wanted a little more than a good time,” Palmer admits.
Grey snickers. “If that’s your biggest complaint, then you’re a better man than me.”
Corey laughs. “That wasn’t all. She was planning to get his name tattooed on her chest.”
“No,” Hudson says, wincing. “She didn’t go through with it, right?” He tosses his towel in the laundry.
Palmer shakes his head. “She showed me the pattern the day after Halloween. Apparently, it was the anniversary of the first time we kissed or something and she wanted to surprise me.”
“Dude,” I say, shaking my head.