“It’s fine,” Dante told her, rubbing her knee. “What’d you make us?” he asked, changing the subject.
Hadley sat down beside me, handing me a plate. “I didn’t know what you liked, so... chicken and rice?”
I nodded, taking it off her. We ate in silence, all of us ignoring the fifth plate of food, and he never came out of his room to get it. When we were finished, we took the plates to the sink and then settled back on the seats.
“Do I ask?” Hadley asked no one and everyone.
“No.” Dante stretched his legs out. “So, where are we on everything?”
Hadley looked at him and then at Savvy, her eyes narrowing slightly. “We know where Tiffany is,” she said quietly. “I think Savvy and I need to go and see if we can find her.”
“Absolutely not,” Dante said firmly. “We’ll all go.”
I looked at him in surprise. “Me?”
“Yes,” Dante confirmed. “You can drive.”
“What about this afternoon?” I asked. “Are we still doing practice?”
“Yes.” Dante looked at the floor, then when he looked up, his eyes flicked to Noah’s shut door once, and then he looked at me. “We go, we set down the marker, this is who we are, we don’t quit. Then if he kicks us out again, well... we take it from there.”
“And Noah?” I asked him.
“Will be with us on the field, like he has been since he got here.”
Right. They spoke some more, and I didn’t really pay attention. This whole Mason Sterling thing was a puzzle and a warning in one. What had happened to him? And whatever had happened to him, how easily could they do that to me? Dante? Noah?
It was scary.
It was really fucking scary.
I was starting to envy Noah in his room with the door locked and probably his headphones on so he couldn’t hear us. Dante tapped my shoulder.
“Are we going to practice tonight?”
I got to my feet. “I am. You?”
He nodded. “I missed my classes today, something else he can bitch about tonight.”
The door to Noah’s room opened, and he stepped out in his sweatpants, a white T-shirt, and a Lions hoodie, carrying his duffel bag. He stopped when he saw us watching him. He pulled out an earbud.
“What? Did the plan change?” He looked between Dante and me.
I shared a look with Dante. Neither of us said anything.
I started walking to my room. “We’re going, I just need my duffel bag,” I told him. I looked over my shoulder. “Peterson, with me.”
“And they say romance is dead,” Hadley muttered, but she followed me, and to me, that was a win.
She closed the door behind her, crossing to me as I grabbed a sweatshirt.
“What happened outside?” she murmured, standing in front of me, looking hesitant. She never looked hesitant. I hated that look on her.
“Outside?”
“Why is Noah shutting himself in his room?”
“Studying.” I reached out for her and pulled her close. “Not everyone was blessed with my good looks and brains.”