Had he?
I glanced at Dustin, who was looking at me, and he didn’t look called out. I blushed, and when I turned away, I saw Savannah try to hide her smile.
Yeah, I wasn’t unpacking my relationship with Dustin Slater right now.
“Noah!” I yelled. “Ass out here.”
A few moments later, he stepped out of his room.
“Slater? On the door,” I ordered. I marched into the center of the room, dragging the quarterback with me by his arm. “Here.” I pointed at the spot on the floor, ignoring his loud protests. “Noah!” I pointed at the spot beside me. “Here.”
Neither moved.
“Oh my God, both of you, just remember you’readults.”
Noah came over. I stepped out from between them and turned to face them. “You’re both letting this get out of control.” I glared at them both. “Savannah woke Noah up by screaming in his ear and scared him. He reacted. He reacted in a way most of us wouldn’t, but he apologized. Immediately. He was so distraught! The poor guy almost cried. Savannah, theonlyperson who needed to, forgave him the moment he hit her. You know why? Itwas an accident.”
I jabbed Dante in the chest. “You, you stupid man-child, reacted to your girlfriend getting hurt. It’s natural. You lashed out because you were scared, and you reacted. Exactly what Noah did.”
I turned to Noah and pointed at his chest. “You, you stupid man-child, had a scare and reacted, then realized you hurt her. You felt like shit, you apologized, but you reacted to the situation as it presented itself to you. You didn’t need this one here—” I pointed at Dante again — “to lash out at you. You’re hurt he would think you would willingly hurt Savvy. Who, as we all know, is your favorite.”
“Why am I not his favorite?”
“Not the time, Slater,” I barked, not looking at him. “You two. You’re both idiots, you both overreacted, and now you’re just being stubborn mules. Hug it out and move on.”
I waited.
“I will kick your ass, both of you.”
“My money’s on Hadley to win,” Savannah told them. “Who’s going to bet against her?”
Dante smirked. “Not me.” He turned to Noah. “I shouldn’t have hit you.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.” He looked uncomfortable. “I’m not making this a thing, because this isn’t a thing. Okay. I do not talk about it, because it rarely bothers me. And if you ask me, I will ignore you.” He gave us each a stern stare. “I had a... period in my teens when my sleeping situation wasn’t permanent.”
“What does that mean?” Savvy asked. “Foster care?”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that sleep wasn’t always guaranteed to be peaceful. Some nights I needed to be ready to defend myself.” He glanced at Savvy. “It really was the worst way you could have woken me up.”
“I’m so sorry, Noah.” She came forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, and he hugged her back.
I turned to look at Dante, who hadn’t moved or said anything. He was looking at Noah with an expression I couldn’t entirely read, not surprise exactly, but he did look like a piece of something had just clicked into place.
I waited. I looked over my shoulder at Savannah, who looked a little disappointed that her man was saying nothing.
I glanced at Dustin when I heard the rustling and saw he was eating a bag of chips.
“Where did you get those?”
He pointed at my bag. “You.”
And somehow it was Slater who broke the tension.
Chapter 34
Hadley
“Tell me again why I had to come?”