This One Moment (Pushing Limits, #1)(17)

“You think her boyfriend will be okay with me staying with her?” he asked, the smirk in his voice directed at me.

I attempted to send Kayla a silent message to go along with my original lie. But since she hadn’t been around for it, that was hopeless.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” she said. “Hailey is as single as you can get.”

Thanks, traitor.

I glared at her, but that was as useful as my mental message. “I don’t need a babysitter,” I grumbled. “And maybe I don’t want a roommate. Maybe I’m happy to live on my own.”

“Well, I’d feel happier if you didn’t live on your own,” Kayla said. “At least for now.”

Nolan crossed his arms and waited for my next volley.

I bit back the urge to tell him that if he was so desperate to stay in Northbridge, he could stay at his parents’ place. I might not be happy with the direction of the conversation, but I would never say anything so callous to Nolan. “He can stay with Brandon.”

Nolan shifted, and the sexy smirk was back. “Can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“His roommate won’t allow it. Has something against rock stars.”

I snorted. Nolan was never the type of person to refer to himself as a rock star, no matter how famous he became. A musician, yes. A singer, yes. A songwriter, absolutely. But never anything as ostentatious as a rock star. His down-to-earth attitude was another reason I loved him. That had never changed, even while he pretended to be someone he wasn’t.

“Then it’s settled,” Kayla said, making herself at home on the only seat in the room. “You can crash in my old room while you’re in town.”





Chapter 9


Nolan


Northbridge had been my home from the day I was born until the day I turned my back on it. Over the years, I’d let my memories of the college town, with its beaches, the lake, and the surrounding deciduous forest, fade away.

The only memories that hadn’t faded with time were of Hailey. And yes, she was just as beautiful and just as goddamn stubborn as I remembered.

The apartment door opened and Kayla gestured for me to enter. I still hadn’t convinced Hailey to let me stay, but I had talked Kayla into letting me help move her stuff to her boyfriend’s apartment. We hadn’t been close before, but right now I needed her to be my ally when it came to Hailey.

“So what’s the deal about Hailey’s ex-boyfriend?” I hoped I sounded like an interested friend, instead of a jealous guy who still had a thing for his best friend.

I walked into the living room and stopped short. The place resembled any other apartment for someone who’d graduated from college two years ago. The forest-green couch had once belonged to Hailey’s parents. The TV hadn’t been theirs; neither had the dark wood coffee table and the matching entertainment center. And the small dinner table, with only two chairs, hadn’t belonged to her parents either. They all looked new. Not expensive, like her parents would’ve bought, but new.

But that wasn’t why I’d stopped short. That came from seeing the old foosball table in a prime location behind the couch. Her parents’ old foosball table.

It was as if I’d never left.

My fingers and muscles twitched at the memory of playing against Hailey. My skin itched at the recollection of sharing about our day, our dreams, our fears while we played the game. Foosball had been our version of therapy.

“I can’t believe she still plays it.” I twisted the white knob. The blue players kicked the air, searching for the ball.

“Technically, she doesn’t.” Kayla walked to the other side of the game, as if getting ready to play against me. That’d be a first. The Kayla I remembered hated the game.

“What do you mean?”

“Once you left, she didn’t have anyone to play against anymore.”

“So why is it here?”

Kayla’s eyebrows raised in her familiar you’ve-gotta-be-kidding-me expression. It had been directed at me more times than I cared to remember. “Why do you think it’s here?”

I shrugged. Hell if I knew.

“Because it reminds Hailey of you.” She ran her fingertip along the side wall of the game, along the smooth dark wood. “You guys were best friends for like forever. She was hurting when you left and never spoke to her again.”

“I had my reasons, but I never meant to hurt her.”

“I know, but you did.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Just don’t do it again, okay?”

As much as I didn’t want to hurt Hailey again, it wasn’t something I could easily avoid. I could only reduce the risk of it happening. “You never answered my question about her ex-boyfriend. What was the deal between them?” That didn’t make me sound like a jealous ass, right?

Kayla cocked her head to the side. “What’s it to you?”

I sighed. She wasn’t making this easy for me. But then, what was new? “Hailey’s still my friend and I still care about her. I get the idea the * hurt her.” I had no idea if it was true or not, but figured Kayla would be more likely to answer my question if I turned him into the evil one.

She studied me for a moment before releasing a heavy breath. “She dated the jerk for two years and he ended up cheating on her. With several girls, apparently. Needless to say, they weren’t too impressed he was jerking them around.” She chuckled. “Rumor has it one keyed his car.”