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I was tired of coming home from my neighbors’ every night frustrated beyond belief. I needed an outlet that wasn’t them and hope speared through my veins at the possibility of finding it tonight.

Finally, I sat up on my knees and grabbed the still vibrating wand from the foot of my bed, turning it off before I sat on the side.

Reaching over on my nightstand, I grabbed my phone and thumbed through my notifications until I found the group chat I was looking for.

Me:

Raincheck for dinner tonight. I have plans

Right away, Noah thumbed-up the message, but said nothing else. Greyson reacted with a question mark then called me.

I watched the phone ring for a good ten seconds, hoping he would resort to a voice note in the group chat because I was still laying here, naked as the day I was born, mad about a self-love session gone wrong. But when he didn’t hang up, I sucked in a breath and answered.

“Yea?”

“Hello to you, too, True.”

I cleared my throat and imagined him pushing his glasses up on his nose, something he liked to do when he was thinking, or frustrated, or about to say something too bossy for me to take seriously.

“Can I help you?”

“Did something happen with you and Noah today?”

Today? It was only 10AM. Early by my own standards, but I hadn’t seen anyone yet, not even my reflection in the mirror.

“No, why would you think something happened?”

“He’s been acting weird since he got here and I just wanted to check in. He’s never like this.”

“Like what?”

“He’s avoiding me. When I found him in the hall earlier, he wouldn’t make eye contact and barely opened his mouth to say anything.”

I chewed the inside of my cheek, trying to choose my words wisely. “Maybe something happened with his parents and he’s trying to process it?”

“He told you about his parents?” Greyson followed up, surprise evident in his tone.

“Yea, last week. Maybe something new happened.”

Greyson was silent before he hummed lowly. “Maybe. But that wouldn’t make sense. He talks to me about everything. I don’t know why he’s been so cagey lately.”

My heart cracked a little at the hurt in his voice. His usually strong tenor was unsure and guarded.

I could sympathize with both of them.

Noah was probably beating himself up internally. And Greyson was feeling shut out, not knowing how to help his friend.

“I’m sorry, Grey. I don’t know what happened.”

“It’s fine.” He exhaled and the rough sound sent tingles down my spine. How were his sighs arousing me more than my damn vibrator? I blinked the thought away and tuned in in time to hear him say, “We’ll miss you tonight. I gotta go.”

“Bye, Greyson.”

Then I stood up and stretched before grabbing my silk robe from the bed post and got ready to start my day, hoping it would end better than it’d began.

Something was wrong with Noah.

I was under no illusion that he needed to be under my supervision all day to know he was doing his job, but the few times we’d crossed paths today, something had been off.