Aiden reaches for his hand when Spencer practically flies over his shoulder. “Here you are,” Spencer booms. “Where the fuck have you been all day?”

  “Hey, man,” Aiden grins wide, making me remember his earlier comments about Spencer this morning when he stated that he really isn’t that bad. Though, not quite sure I’ll be buying into that crap. We’ve had one too many run-ins with the guy.

  Spencer instantly pulls Aiden into a tight hug and claps his back a few times. He looks over Aiden’s shoulder and takes in me and Noah before swiftly pulling Aiden away, almost as though he’s trying to steer him away from trouble, keeping him from falling in with the wrong crowd. “Come on, man,” Spencer says. “I’ll introduce you to the team.”

  With that, Aiden lets Spencer pull him away before looking back at me. “Catch ya ‘round, Henley.”

  “Yeah, bye,” I call back before allowing Noah to drag me away.

  “You want to explain what the fuck that was about?”

  “I told you,” I say. “I’m his tour guide for the day. Miss Jamison said it’s either that or attending my two detentions.”

  “Fuck that,” he scoffs. “I would have taken the detentions.”

  “Bullshit. Besides, he’s really not that bad. He’s pretty cool actually. I think we should adopt him.”

  “Are you fucking insane? That guy was two seconds away from bending you over and fucking you right there in the middle of the cafeteria. Didn’t you see the way he was looking at you?”

  “Trust me,” I laugh. “You have nothing to worry about...or maybe you do.”

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

  I let out a sigh. “Don’t worry.”

  Chapter 5

  “Have you ever been with a girl?” Tully asks as her eyes rake greedily over Aiden’s strong, wide chest making me fear for the innocence of my afternoon.

  “Of course, I have,” he tells her. “Where I’m from, if you didn’t get caught with your fingers in the cookie jar, something was wrong with you. I can’t tell you how many chicks I had to fuck while picturing guys just like your brother. I swear, they were all flat as a pancake and done doggy style.”

  “Ewwww,” she laughs as she takes another scoop out of the jar of Nutella and licks it off the spoon. “You don’t find a certain thrill from sinking into a tight, warm pussy and grabbing hold of a good pair of tits?”

  Aiden grins right back at her as I shake my head, unable to believe the conversation that I’m hearing, though, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Tully is always talking about having a token gay friend. She’s been waiting for this day since before I met her.

  “Yeah,” he chuckles, finally showing me that pervy look I’ve been wondering about all day. “What can I say? I like sex. I just prefer fucking dudes.”

  “You and me both,” I tell him before he grins wide and holds his hand up for a high five. Naturally, I can’t pass and our hands collide above Tully’s legs with the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard.

  “How solid are you on that decision?” Tully enquires, probably wondering how big of a challenge it would be to get him in bed.

  “Tully,” I groan, not bothering to look up from my math textbook. “Stop trying to fuck Aiden. He’ll fuck Noah before he ever slips inside you.”

  “Come on,” she laughs. “You know how guys are, especially football players. If he’s going to be my ‘boyfriend’ to cover the fact that he’s gay, the guys are going to ask him all sorts of shit about me. How I fuck, how I feel, how I taste.” She says that last part slowly before slicing her eyes across to him. “Wouldn’t it be more realistic if you actually knew the answers to those questions?”

  “Nice try, babe,” he laughs.

  “Seriously?” she groans, nudging me with her foot, but if you ask me, it was more of a kick. “Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve had sex? I’m just about to grow my virginity back.”

  “What happened to Rocko?” I ask, finally giving her the attention she so clearly is demanding.

  Tully shrugs her shoulders, not too interested in the topic of Rocko. “Eh,” she grunts as Aiden listens intently, wanting to learn as much as he possibly can about his new ‘girlfriend’ in order to make our little plan believable. “He’s still around. He texts every now and then but I think the whole ‘seeing me nearly dead in the hospital’ thing kind of freaked him out. I’m sure once I get off bedrest, he’ll probably come back into the picture.”

  “Sounds like a fucking jerk,” Aiden grumbles, saying what everyone has been thinking but too scared to actually say as a pissed off Tully is not something we need right now.

  “Wait. Hold on,” I say, rewinding and skipping over the fact that Rocko is a pathetic excuse for a boyfriend while secretly hoping he never inserts himself back in her life. I’d prefer she dealt with the heartache of him ditching her than to have him screw her over and really hurt her. “Did you never sleep with Rocko?”

  “No. I’d only had one date with him before Noah demanded we go on that awful camping trip, and then the crash pretty much happened right after that.”

  “Come on,” I say. “The camping trip wasn’t awful. I thought it was good. We got a lot of shit out in the open and everyone was able to move past all the shit.”

  Tully rolls her eyes. “I see how you could say that,” she grumbles. “The spotlight wasn’t on you. You just got to sit back and watch the disaster unfold before you while you toasted fucking marshmallows. I was the one who offered my heart up to the boys like a damn punching bag and watched them stomp all over it.”

  “That is the worst metaphor for what actually happened,” I tell her.

  Tully gives me a sarcastic grin. “I’m surprised you know what a metaphor is.”

  “You’d be surprised what you can learn when you stop spending your afternoons bitching about stupid shit and concentrate on your schoolwork,” I tell her, indicating to the piles of work in front of me that I’ve been trying to get done for the past two hours.

  Aiden gives me a funny look and I snap at him. “What?”

  “I don’t know,” he says. “You’re surprising me. I didn’t have you pegged as a nerd.”

  “I’m not a nerd,” I defend. “The furthest thing from it.”

  He raises a brow in response. “Could have fooled me.”

  Tully laughs. “No, really. She’s only got all this work because she needs to catch up on her grades, otherwise, she can’t graduate and get into college.”

  “Ahh, you see, that sounds right to me.”

  I roll my eyes and drop my face back into my textbook and try to get back on track as Tully and Aiden work on getting to know one another. Before I know it, Tully’s jar of Nutella is practically licked clean and the two of them are curled on her bed watching a movie as I finish off yet another paper.

  “Fuck yeah,” I cheer, throwing myself to my feet. “I thought I was never going to get through that.”

  “Boo. Down in front,” Tully yells out.

  I do my happy dance right in front of their movie, not giving a shit that I’m in the way. Besides, I have a feeling both of the idiots have already seen ‘Transformers’ more than the acceptable amount of times. “Hell yeah. I’m fucking awesome.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Get out of the way.”

  The door of Tully’s room swings open and before I know it, a grinning tatted up bad boy is standing right before me, grinning at me and making my knees go weak. “What are we celebrating?” he questions walking into the room making me wonder when the hell he got home. After all, Anton stole him again this afternoon.

  I go to respond when Noah’s eyes swivel around to check on his sister, just as they always do when he takes in the very built guy lying beside her with his arm tucked firmly around her. “What the fuck is this?” he roars, racing forward and making Aiden spring out of bed, somehow managing not to jostle Tully in the process.

  “Calm down,” Tully groans. “It’s not what you think.”

  “I come home to find some random guy in your bed and you have the nerve to tell me it’s not what I think. His arm was around you. He was two seconds from trying to fuck my girl at lunch and now he’s moving in on my twin fucking sister.”

  “Dude,” Aiden cuts in.

  Noah isn’t having it. “Don’t fucking ‘dude’ me. Who the fuck are you and why are you inserting yourself into our lives? Is this some game Spencer is playing to get at us?”

  Aiden looks momentarily confused but I ignore it. We can deal with that later. Right now, Noah is looking at us in horror and acting as though we’re attempting to replace Rivers in our pack, and that’s simply not the case. We’re just hanging out with a new friend, a friend who’s not a threat to any of us. Well, I guess he’s sort of a threat to Noah if you consider the fact that he probably wants to do unspeakable things to him, things that I simply won’t allow to fly.

  Aiden turns to me before quickly glancing across to Tully, silently begging for help. “Don’t fucking look at them,” Noah spits. “Get the fuck out of here.”

  “Noah. Stop,” Tully yells, sitting up in bed and trying to mask her cringe.

  “Lay your ass back down.”

  I look up at Aiden. “This is never going to work if he doesn’t know the truth.”

  Aiden looks defeated but it’s clear he knows I’m right and gives me a silent nod. “What aren’t you telling me?” Noah continues.

  “It’s ok,” I tell Aiden, ignoring Noah’s insistent questioning. “You can trust him. He might be an ass with a temper, but he’s as loyal as anything.”

  “Agreed,” Tully murmurs.

  “Henley,” Noah snaps, demanding my attention.

  I turn to him with a bit of a scowl. I mean, how dare he come tearing his way in here like some kind of raging bull. “Come on,” I tell him, walking forward and grabbing hold of his hand to pull him out the door. “We’ll go talk.”

  Noah puts on the brakes. “I fucking love you, babe, but you’re crazy if you think I’m about to walk out of this room and leave that motherfucker with my sister.

  “For fuck’s sake,” Tully groans.

  “Noah,” I sigh before shooting Aiden an apologetic look. “He’s not about to fuck Tully. He likes dick maybe more than she does. If anyone is at risk of being fucked by the guy, it’s you. And not to mention, the way you just snapped into badass, over the top alpha mode, you’re probably getting him hard.”

  I have never seen Noah so still in my life. His eyes flick to me, then to Aiden, back to me before quickly darting to Tully. Lastly, he focuses back on Aiden looking a little nervous as he shakes his head. I don’t miss the way his eyes cut down to Aiden’s junk, checking to see if he did, in fact, get him hard, but I have a feeling Aiden has a little more self-control than that. After all, he’s been sharing the locker room with football players for years.

  Noah straightens. “I ain’t into dudes, man.”

  “Yeah,” Aiden scoffs. “No shit, but don’t stress, you’re pretty but you’re not my type.”

  “The fuck?” Noah shrieks, taken back. “What do you mean I’m not your type? I’m everyone’s fucking type. I’m the prettiest motherfucker around.” He holds up his arms, showing off his tatts. “Have you seen these fucking arms?”

  “Sorry, dude,” Aiden shrugs. “You just don’t got it.”

  Noah scoffs. "Now I know you’re lying,” he turns to me with a cocky grin. “I got it, yeah? You can’t resist this.”

  I shrug my shoulders and pretend to consider him, knowing full well that Aiden is lying. I mean, after the way the guy nearly came in his pants at school, he’s definitely into Noah. “You’re alright, I guess.”

  “You fucking guess,” he scoffs.

  I can’t help but laugh as Noah grabs me and hauls me into his arms. “I’ll teach you to fucking lie to me,” he says as my hands take possession of his arms, absolutely loving the way they feel in my hands.

  “I dare you,” I grin.

  His lips come down on mine for the briefest moment before I pull back with a wide smile. “Alright,” I say a little awkwardly. “Now that’s settled and your sister is safe from having her world rocked by the football player, I’ll explain what the hell is going on.” I don’t bother correcting myself. After all, there’s a good chance that Tully’s still going to try to change Aiden’s mind to help clear out the cobwebs growing in her vagina.

  With that, I take Noah’s hand and pull him along behind me before pushing my way into his bedroom. He closes the door behind us before instantly grabbing me and crushing his lips to mine, though, he doesn’t skip a chance to curse me out in the process. “You let me lose my fucking cool at the guy all while you knew he was gay.”

  “Well, it’s not like you gave anyone an opportunity to talk, and if you really must know, I had no intention of telling you at all.” Hurt flashes deep within his burning, green eyes and I continue on. “It’s not my secret to tell. He doesn’t want it getting out because he’s had a bad history with his teams when they know. He was telling us earlier that he got beat up in the locker room after a game because some guy thought he was checking him out and he got booted off another team because the coach was homophobic.”

  “Shit,” Noah curses, scrunching up his face in a cringe. “You know I won’t be telling anyone. I just…I don’t know, I would have liked to know before jumping the gun and losing my cool like that. I think I owe him an apology.”

  “Nah,” I shrug. “He’s fine. I think he has a tough skin. After all, he’d have to being a gay guy who plays football.”

  “True,” he murmurs before sighing. “You don’t know how fucking relieved I was to find out he wasn’t in there trying to talk you guys into some dirty fucking threesome.”

  “Well, don’t be too relieved,” I laugh. “Just because he’s gay doesn’t mean he hasn’t been with girls before.”

  His whole face falls and I break out into laughter. Fucking priceless.

  “What?” Noah grunts.

  “Yeah, I don’t doubt Tully is in there now trying to convince him to go back to his old ways.”

  “Bullshit.”

  I shrug my shoulders as my hands run up those impressive arms of his. “Don’t believe me then, but just remember; I warned you.” He tries to ignore me, but my fun isn’t over yet. “You know, he was just fucking with you, right? You’re more than his type.”

  “Of course, I am,” he says in the same cocky attitude. “What did I say? I’m everyone’s type. I’m the prettiest motherfucker around, remember?”

  I roll my eyes but can’t help the laugh that escapes me. “You better watch out though. I wouldn’t be surprised if Aiden starts offering you a few too many drinks at the next party and tries to convert your innocent little soul. You should have seen him checking you out at lunch today. You’re a tall drink of water and he’s thirsty for a sip.”

  Noah shakes his head. “I’m not about to start fucking dudes when I could be fucking you.”

  “I know,” I grin up at him before he leans in and presses a kiss to my lips.

  “I don’t get it, though. What’s the point of putting so much effort into denying that he was into me? It’s not like I have a problem with it.”

  “I don’t know,” I tell him, “But it couldn’t be easy telling a straight guy that you fancy him knowing you’ll either get laughed at, shut down, or beat up.”

  “True.”

  “Maybe he’s been burned before.”

  Noah studies me for a moment. "You weren’t kidding this afternoon, were you? You really do want to adopt him.”

  “Yeah,” I say. “I get this feeling that life hasn’t exactly been the easiest for him, and don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way trying to replace Rivers, but I feel that Aiden needs us in his life. Besides, he’d be good for me and Tully. It’s always just us and it’s not like it’d kill you to start being friendly to a few people other than us.”

  “Yeah, but…I don’t like being friendly.”

  “Suck it up, big guy.”

  He rolls his eyes and pulls me down onto his bed with him. “So, what’s this big plan?”

  “It’s not exactly a big plan,” I tell him. “But Aiden’s concerned about the team finding out so Tully is going to pretend to be his school girlfriend. You know, they’ll do everything that we do at school, just more ‘G’ rated.”

  Noah stiffens beneath me. “I don’t like it.”

  “You don’t have to like it,” I tell him. “They’re doing it with or without your consent.”

  “You’re so fucking difficult all the time.”

  “And you’re an overprotective asshole all the time, but you don’t see me complaining.”

  “You complain about it every hour of the day,” he deadpans.

  I grin down at him, holding back a laugh. “Shut up and kiss me,” I demand.

  Noah doesn’t waste a second before his lips are on mine, absolutely devouring me. His hands slip inside my jacket before sliding it off my shoulders and letting it fall to the bed.

  Tingles spread all over my skin. I adore this feeling. Next up, he pulls at my shirt and not thirty seconds later, we’re both skin to skin, our bodies pressed against one another, falling in love all over again with the feel of his body on mine.

  Noah rolls us and situates himself between my legs as I hook them around him, using my heels to draw him in. He doesn’t miss the chance to push up inside me, completely filling me and giving me what I’ve been craving from him all day long. Our bodies begin to move and he works me until his lips are crushing down on mine, swallowing the sounds of my screams as I come apart beneath him.

  I lay with Noah in a mess of tangled sheets and limbs. My thigh is up over his hip and his finger draws circles on my sensitive skin as I relax into him, listening to the sound of his heartbeat. This is the fucking life. Nothing will get better than this.

  “I love you,” he murmurs.

  I was wrong. Nothing will get better than that. Hearing those words from Noah is like pure extasy. It’s incredible and has me feeling so freaking alive every damn time. It will never get old. “I love you too,” I tell him, raising my chin to kiss him once again.