“You called her last night apparently drunk out of your mind, said some crazy shit to her, and then hung up. She’s been trying to call you. Said she was worried. When she mentioned she was going to come to your place to check on you, I got a weird feeling that wasn’t a good idea. I’m sure as shit glad I talked her out of it.”
My entire body relaxed, and I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding in.
“Yeah, me too.”
Noelle came back out into the living room, fully dressed. “I put your T-shirt on the guest bed. You might want to wash it if your … if Charlie will be coming over. It smells like my perfume.”
I made a mental note to throw out the T-shirt, while also noting the hint of a smirk grow at the corners of her mouth. Nash noticed it too.
“Do you need a ride home?” Nash angrily asked. “No, I got an Uber.” Facing me, she flashed me a toothy grin. “Hang out another day maybe?”
My hand went to the back of my neck where I attempted to rub the tension away.
“I don’t think so, Noelle.”
When she tried to kiss me goodbye on the cheek, I took a step back. The last thing I wanted to do was send her the wrong signal. I was in this mess because I let her paw me at my own father’s wake.
The moment she walked out the door, Nash faced me.
“Dude, you’ve got to drop whatever it is you have going on with Noelle. Charlie already thinks y’all are an item.”
My brows pulled in. “How do you know that?”
He looked guilty. “I sent her a text yesterday asking her to come hang out with us at the bar.”
The curiosity got the better of me. “What did she say?”
Nash shrugged. “I don’t know. She made some short remark about you having Noelle now.”
“Why in the hell does she think that?” I asked. He knew more than what he was leading on. “Why does she think that, Nash?”
The way his hand pushed through his hair, I was aware he knew more.
“Tell me!” I said between gritted teeth.
“I tried telling her this morning y’all weren’t a thing because she mentioned it in the text. She told me I wasn’t keeping up with your love life very well because she saw y’all leaving a restaurant together.”
I rolled my eyes. “I ran into Noelle there. I met Lily and my mother there.”
The mention of my sister’s name caused Nash to jerk. Narrowing my eyes, I looked at him hard.
“Speaking of my sister, what’s going on with the two of you?”
Nash shifted from one foot to the other, a forlorn look etched on his face.
“Nothing.”
I let out a gruff laugh. “Nothing? I’m not fucking blind. You’ve been with her, am I right?”
My best friend had the good sense not to lie to me.
He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and sighed. “Yes. I wanted more, she clearly didn’t.”
My brows shot up. “Did she only want to be fuck buddies?”
Just saying that made my skin crawl and my body shudder.
“Listen, I wanted to tell you. Lily wouldn’t let me. In the beginning she said we were just having a good time and no one needed to know. I pushed her for more, for a commitment. She didn’t want that. After your dad passed away, she started hooking up with some guy from work. I found out about it last night when I saw his text message come over her phone. She left it when she went to the restroom.”