“You were there last night?” I’m not positive, but I think I recall him. Several parts of last night are a blur, including the memory of seeing him.
He nods. “Only at the end. We didn’t know. We…” He shakes his head. “You called Nolan.”
Of course, I did.
“And we came and got you guys,” he says.
I nod, trying to swallow what’s left of my frayed pride. “Thanks.” I turn to Corey, vaguely recalling him as well. “I appreciate you guys coming and helping.”
Corey’s jaw is tight, a muscle bulging as he shakes his head. “Don’t thank us. We shouldn’t have had to come.”
“Still, I appreciate that you did.”
Palmer loses a breath and wraps his arms around my shoulder. “How’d you guys get here?”
I point at the parking lot. “I drove.”
He nods. “Let’s get you out of here in case there’s a backdraft.”
On our ride home, I fill Katie in on what I can remember from the previous night: the terrible pumpkin cookies Ethan offered us, and how I’d felt fine for at least an hour, and never considered the cookie could have been what caused me to feel so loopy until Nolan confirmed I’d had an edible.
Katie’s not quite as shocked as I am that Ethan turned out to be a creep. Maybe I’m not as shocked as I want to be, either.
“I feel like a terrible judge of character,” I admit to Katie.
She shakes her head. “This was all him. Don’t carry an ounce of his guilt.”
Grey and Hudson are in the kitchen with Nolan, a bag of breakfast sandwiches between them.
“Where’d you guys go?” Nolan asks. His gaze tracks down Katie’s pajamas and then our matching bare feet.
“We just had to do something,” I say, feeling the blunt edge of my lie, cutting into my chest.
Nolan lowers his brow, as though, recognizing the falsehood, I sow too easily.
“We’ll talk about it later, after your game,” I tell him.
“Want a breakfast sandwich?” he asks, reaching into the bag.
My stomach is tight, and the hollow space in my chest is agape, my hands trembling, the waning adrenaline no doubt the cause.
“We’re going to breakfast,” Katie interjects, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Carsen accidentally grabbed my phone last night, and we had to go grab it from his car, but we’re going to get ready and go to breakfast with Hannah.”
Nolan swallows, his unease visible as his eyes jog to mine. Again, I recognize a silent plea to tell me what in the hell is going on and why we’re acting so weird.
“They’re looking for us,” Hudson says, reading a text. I wonder if it’s the green light from Corey or Palmer. He pushes to his feet, and the others follow.
“I’m going to take a quick shower,” Katie says, heading for the stairs.
Hudson and Grey gather the garbage and discard it into the trash before looking back at Nolan expectantly.
“Give me a couple of minutes,” Nolan says.
Hudson glances at me and nods. Once again, I have no idea what his expression conveys. I don’t know any of them well enough to even pretend to know.
When the front door closes behind them, Nolan studies me for a long minute. “How are you feeling?”
That fire that danced in my veins, sparks, reminding me of the last hour. “Better.” It’s the truth. I do feel better.