Say You Swear

“Well, the sister we could do without.”

“Cameron!” I hiss.

“I just said what we were both thinking.”

My asshole best friend clearly interprets my wordless What the hell expression and feeds me with her own that screams you know you agree while waving her hand dismissively.

This bitch winks at me.

I’m going to kill her.

“Don’t mind her,” Brady says, then points at Mase. “I think she’s got some pink puff goin’ on.”

Noah’s brows pull in. “Pink puff?”

Oh god, no. Please don’t—

“Yeah.” Brady shrugs as if his nonsense should make total sense. “You know, we get sucked in, tight as fuck, achy ass blue balls and they get swollen, sensitive as hell, pink puffs.”

I bury my face in my hands.

I love my little group to death, but holy what the hell?!

Mason chuckles and I don’t have to look at Cameron to know she’s nodding in agreement.

“Who’s all here?” Chase wonders, his tone cordial for the first time since Noah showed up.

“Nick and Jarrod and my buddy who wasn’t at camp, Trey Donovan.”

My head snaps up, eyes locking with Cam.

“He’s on the team, defensive lineman.”

“Didn’t think camp was optional,” Brady jokes, making Noah smile.

“Trust me, it’s not, but he’s a senior this year, missed the draft last year, so he’s got a little wiggle room. He was invited to a pro day in—”

“Tampa,” Cam and I blurt out at the same time, causing everyone’s head to jerk in our direction.

“Yeah, actually…” he draws out.

“Holy shit…” Cam whispers, slowly looking to me. Her smile finally grows and then she’s squeezing my arms. “Holy shit!” She beams. “So much for never seeing him again!”

“How do you two—” Noah cuts off mid-thought and a slow grin tips those lips of his. He stares at me for a beat before his eyes fall to his feet. “Butterflies?” He glances up.

“Aw,” Cam gushes. “He told you about us?”

“What the hell is going on?” Chase asks.

“That’s exactly what I wanna know,” Mason snaps.

“I knew it!” Brady yells.

Cam and I freeze, our wide eyes locked on each other in a moment of panic.

Oops.

“Knew what, damn it?” Mason growls, his eyes flying around the group.

“You two,” Brady accuses, pointing at me and Cam. “Took off the minute we left for camp.” He crosses his arms over his chest, frowning.

“What?!” both Mason and Chase shout, each taking half a step forward.

I gape at Brady. “How do you always do that?”

Noah lifts his hands. “Hey, I didn’t mean to—”

“No, Noah, this isn’t your fault.” Cameron glares. “These assholes try to keep us on a tight leash without the benefits, if you know what I mean. So, yeah, shitheads, we did. We went on vacation without you. Me and my bestie flew free for three whole weeks in St. Petersburg.” She puts her hands on her hips, refusing to feel bad about it. “We met some amazing people, including Trey Donavan, who’s apparently your new teammate, and we had a fan-fucking-tastic time.”

“Son of a bitch!” Mason shouts, lifting his arms just to slap them back down against his sides. “And Mom went for this? Dad?”

I lift a shoulder. “Paul was there for work,” I tell him about Cameron’s dad. “We checked in with him, stayed in a room next to his.”

Mason’s glare doesn’t budge, but his body loses a hint of tension.

It gives him comfort to know we weren’t out there alone, or, well, without him, but not enough to keep him from being pissed off. He’ll call our parents later and feed them every reason in the book why they should never allow that again, but it will fall on deaf ears. Finally. We’re eighteen now. They’ll advise, but my parents aren’t the controlling type. Where Mason gets it from, I don’t know. My dad says he was the same when he was young and that Mase will grow out of it, but I’m not so sure about that.

“All right, let’s put a pause on this, huh?” Brady pats Noah’s shoulder, holding on to Mason’s and taking him with him as he walks away, Chase right behind them. “Noah, we’re the dock property at the end. See you at seven. All of you.”

Cameron sighs, offering Noah a small wave before she too heads to the house.

I stare after them until they reach our back deck, and then turn to face Noah.

“Sorry about that. It’s nothing personal against Trey. It’s just, well…” I let out a defeated sigh, glancing toward the house again. “God, it’s a lot of things, I guess.”

Noah meets my gaze, nodding as if he understands.

Weird thing, I get the sense he does.

“Cam can be complicated on the calmest of days.” I laugh lightly, rubbing my arms with my hands to rid myself of the chill making its way across my skin. “She’s into my brother, but he’s, I don’t even know.”

I peek up at Noah, expecting a bored expression or for him to be searching for a way to get back to his friends, but instead, I find Noah’s ocean eyes staring intently, his head tilted as if he’s interested in what I have to say, even though it has nothing to do with him.