“You good, Ash?” Spencer asked.
Ryder cleared his throat pointedly. “Yeah, Ash. You good?”
Ash immediately closed his mouth, sending a glare Ryder’s way.
Oh, damn. Trouble in paradise? Maybe Ash was a beast when he was hungry too. Spencer picked up one of the glasses and handed it to him. “I used extra vanilla protein powder. Nice and creamy. Goes down smooth.”
Ash didn’t take the glass, and Spencer was startled by a low, raspy chuckle.
Holy shit, had Ryder justlaughed? Even with all their time hanging this summer, Spencer had never heard it. Ash had claimed it happened, but Spencer had started considering it some kind of urban legend. Like, there were gators in the sewer. That dude with the hook. And Ryder’s laugh.
But Ash was still all flushed and weird, and Ryder wasn’t saying anything.
Spencer frowned at them. “Am I missing something?”
Ryder cocked a dark brow. “Why, is that unusual for you?”
Before he could stop himself, Spencer slammed the rejected smoothie back onto the counter. “Hey, I’m on an academic scholarship, dick. I’m notstupid.”
Now both of Ryder’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. “Did I say you were?”
No, he really hadn’t. Ash and Ryder were both snarky by nature—even if Ryder’s snark was usually a little more hidden—and Spencer was getting defensive for no real reason. That was on him. “Oh. Right. Sorry.” He swept a hand through his hair, hoping the new, bitter edge to his scent was less obvious than he thought. “I get cranky when I’m hungry.”
Ash and Ryder exchanged a wordless glance. The telepathy wasn’t quite as sick this morning as it had been the night before. Well, it was still cool, but something was off, and it was makingSpencer more jittery than usual. Or maybe that was the low blood sugar.
It was just … Spencer was an open book, and it always threw him when other people acted cagey and mysterious. It had gotten him into hot water too many times, taking someone at face value and then learning they had hopes and expectations he’d just been supposed to, like, magically guess for no reason.
He didn’t usually have that problem with these two, but maybe everyone had woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Or couch, as it were.
Eventually Ryder broke his freaky Ash telepathy link and sighed. “We’ve gotta go,” he said brusquely, already turning away, one hand on Ash’s shoulder. “Tell Noah that Ash is looking for him.”
“Oh. Yeah. Will do.” Spencer didn’t bother reminding them that texting was a thing. Ash’s phone was always dead or dying.
Spencer followed them out to the front door. The tips of Ash’s ears were red, but he didn’t turn around again, so Spencer couldn’t see his expression. Maybe he was coming down with something.
It was Ryder who gave Spencer a sardonic little wave at the door, and Spencer couldn’t stop himself from waving back like a dope.
It was a shame Ryder was wearing jeans in the August heat. Not just because he must have been dying a little inside, but because the denim was hiding his thigh tats from the world.
Spencer’s brain had damn near short-circuited when he’d seen Ryder in swim shorts for the first time at the start of summer. Because people called Spencer slutty (and maybe there was something to the accusation), but Spencer had never in his life seen anything sluttier than a shirtless Ryder in swim shorts, his thick, tattoo-covered thighs on full display.
Spencer shut the door behind them with a frown. He supposed even if Ryderhadbeen flashing leg, it wouldn’t have mattered. They’d left within two seconds. And now that he thought of it, Ash—mouthy-ass Ash—hadn’t said a single word the whole time.
What a weird fucking start to the day.
2
ASH
Ash probably should have counted himself lucky that Ryder waited until they were in Noah’s borrowed car before calling him out.
“Should I start worrying about this little crush?”
Ash scoffed, immediately defensive. “Are you talking about my crush or yours?”
His question was met with silence. Typical, typical.
They’d turned on the car for the sake of air-conditioning—August in Phoenix really was the worst—but they hadn’t started moving yet, and Ryder seemed willing to wait him out rather than rising to the bait.