I snorted, and for a single heartbeat, I considered telling him what we did in the house up on the hill, but—no. As much as I trusted my friend, it was bigger than just me. Preston could keep a secret, but I couldn’t risk him slipping up.
I could tell him Mads and I were in an open relationship of sorts, but what if he judged us?
“She is special,” I said.
“How’d you meet?”
“She’s in the house,” I said. “The same mentorship program as me.” I’d felt bad about lying and feeding him the same story Scott had given me, that the Woodsons were mentoring us, but Preston lived next door to Judy Malinger. It felt safer keeping things consistent.
“You live with her?” His smile was incredulous. “Your parents must love that.”
“Yeah, I haven’t mentioned it to them yet.” My tone was dry.
I wondered how long I could keep up the lie with my parents. They were pissed when I told them I’d left the Sig house and moved into the “program” without consulting them first, but they were pleased I didn’t need money for housing.
They had questions, though. They wanted to know how and why I’d applied, and more importantly, where the house was, no doubt so they could keep tabs. It felt like eventually I’d have to ask Nina and Scott for help, either to play pretend for a day and meet my parents, or . . .
I’d need to ask them for a loan.
I only had one year of school left, so it wouldn’t be for an outrageous amount, but doing that was risky. What if it made things weird, or put me under a contract I wasn’t sure I could fulfill?
There was movement behind the window upstairs that caught my eye and disrupted my thoughts. Cassidy was in the living room, talking on her phone as she peered out at the pool, and when she saw me, she gave a friendly wave.
I waved back, somewhat confused. I hadn’t seen Dr. Lowe’s car in the garage when I’d gone out there to grab another round of beers.
“Your dad’s home?” I asked.
“Nope.”
That made no sense. If her boyfriend wasn’t home, but her ex was, why was she here? “Cassidy’s just, what? Hanging out at your house now?”
“Kind of.” His voice was flat. “She moved in at the start of the summer.”
Oh, shit. I swallowed a breath. Cassidy had been with his dad for a while now, so my friend had suspected this was coming, but it still had to be rough.
It’d been hard for me to wrap my head around it when the whole thing went down. I liked Cassidy as a friend, but my loyalty was to Preston, and when she’d started dating his dad, I’d been so pissed. It was fucking messy, and I didn’t know how it could work out, but somehow they’d all learned to deal with it.
“How’s that going?” I asked.
He stared at the ripples in the water and gave an unconvincing shrug. “It’s not bad. I mean, it’s been two years, and he did ask me if it was okay.”
It’d always be awkward, but time had smoothed things over, and once Preston moved out, that would be a huge help.
I was eager to take his mind off it, and I glanced across the lawn, up to the house next door where Troy’s music manager and girlfriend Erika lived. It was where he spent the majority of his time when he was in town, and his tour had just ended.
“Have you seen Troy since he got back?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Not yet, but the three of us need to get together soon. I can’t wait to see his reaction when he finds out hell’s frozen over.”
“What?”
He laid back on his float and got comfortable. “Colin Novak is no longer single.”
After we got out of the pool, Preston and I played Call of Duty for a while, and when I realized what time it was, I said goodbye and headed out the back door. Mads and I had a date in the gym, and I needed to hustle if I wasn’t going to be late.
Today we’d be working on our cores, and afterward I’d try to talk her into showering together. The gym had a box AC unit, but it couldn’t compete with the mid-summer heat. All it did was keep the temperature bearable in the room, so we’d both be sweaty after the workout I had planned.
It was great living close enough to Preston’s that I could walk home, but it sucked I’d have to go by Judy Malinger’s house to do it. She was his neighbor on the other side, and as I came out the gate on the far end of the house, I peered across the lawn to Judy’s place.
There was an older model Ford Fiesta parked on the street in front of her house, with faded paint, a big dent in the bumper, and a Davidson University sticker in the back window. It seemed like the kind of car Judy would despise and find a way to fine for marring her perfect neighborhood—and yet it was parked in front of her fucking house.