With Every Heartbeat (Forbidden Men #4)(22)

But still...my stung pride continued to smart as I killed the engine. What was worse than realizing my girlfriend thought so lowly of me was that Zoey was there to witness it.

I cast her a quick glance as we got out of the car. She darted an apologetic smile to me before looking away, and I wondered what she was so sorry about. She’d actually defended me. Or maybe she was trying to apologize for Cora’s sake, since Cora obviously had no idea what she was putting me through.

I shook my head. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to let a careless slight get me down.

Straightening my spine, I followed the girls to the front entrance where Noel and his sister met us at the door. He paused to hold it open and let us go in first, and I couldn’t help but frown at the way Cora tittered and thanked him for his courtesy. I didn’t like knowing she’d placed one of my friends on a higher pedestal than she’d placed me.

“Aspen and my brothers are on their way too,” Noel told me as I was the last to enter. “Hope you don’t mind.”

I shook my head. “Not at all. That’s fine with me.”

As Caroline dragged Zoey in first, Cora caught my arm and murmured into my ear. “Who’s Aspen?”

I froze, not certain how to answer. In respect to Noel, I hadn’t told Cora about his and Aspen’s relationship. I wasn’t sure if he wanted it spread around. But if he didn’t mind eating here with her in public, with Cora present, I guess it was okay to tell her now.

But instead of going into details, I just said, “She’s Noel’s girlfriend.”

Cora frowned slightly. “I didn’t know he was seeing anyone.”

I nodded and grasped her hand to escort her to our seats, only to pause when I caught sight of Ten already sitting at two tables that had been pushed together.

“Hey,” he called with a big grin, waving us over. “What a surprise to see you guys. You all want to sit with me? There’s plenty of room.”

Noel slowed to a stop, scowling, but Caroline merely steered Zoey toward him. So Cora and I headed that way too.

Cora’s eyes narrowed as they settled on my roommate. “You didn’t tell me he was going to be here.”

It bothered me that Ten and Cora so openly did not get along. Even from the very beginning, when I first started dating her, he refused to be polite to her, and she’d been just as eager to hiss and spit at him. He never, not even once, let her stay overnight at our place.

I knew women usually got off on a bad foot with him, but he’d at least been decent to all our friends’ girlfriends. Why couldn’t he have attempted civility with Cora?

Noel reluctantly joined us, but I think he hated the seating arrangement. Caroline ended up directly next to Ten. He smiled at her as she sat, and then he went and politely nodded to Zoey, telling her it was nice to see her again. Then, instead of calling Cora a dirty name, which he usually did, he simply ignored her.

Yeah, it was strange when he was on his best behavior. Kind of gave me the willies, so I could only imagine what it did to Noel.

I was unnerved to end up sitting on the other side of Zoey. My elbow accidently brushed past hers as I sat, which somehow made that mysterious smell of hers invade my nostrils. They flared, trying to figure it out until Cora sat beside me, and her vanilla perfume drowned it out.

The waitress came and took drink requests, but Noel told her we were waiting for three more to join us before we ordered our meals.

Noel and Ten started discussing the first upcoming game of the season and trying to decide how much of a challenge it was going to be to win when Cora gasped and clutched my arm.

“Oh my God. Isn’t that the teacher who was fired last semester for having sex with a student?”

As I squeezed her hand in warning under the table, Noel swung his head her way and narrowed his eyes. “What did you just say?”

Crap. I definitely should’ve warned Cora, but she hadn’t taken any of Aspen’s classes last year; I didn’t think she’d even know who Aspen was.

But she did. She pointed. “Look. She’s right there.”

We all twisted in our seats to look, even though I’m sure most of us knew exactly who we’d see. And sure enough, Aspen had just entered the pizza parlor with Noel’s two younger brothers, Colton and Brandt.

“Cor—” I started, hoping to quiet her, but she just kept talking. “Did you not see the naked picture of her that baseball player was showing everyone on his phone last night?”

I winced and lifted my hand to stop her, but Noel was already slowly turning around to pierce Cora with a hard stare. “What picture?”

She started to answer, but I quickly put my hand over her mouth, muffling her.

Noel swiveled his attention to me. “Hamilton?” His voice was low and deadly.

I glanced toward Ten, not sure what to say.

“Don’t worry about it.” Ten patted Noel’s shoulder in way too nonchalant of a way. “We took care of damage control.”

“Damage control?” Noel swiped Ten’s hand off him and stood up, fisting his hands down at his sides. “What the f*ck, man? Someone’s spreading around pictures of my woman and you don’t feel the need to tell me? Whose phone was it on? Was it the same picture the coach posted on the locker room wall or was it a new one?” When no one responded, he kicked the table leg. “Damn it. Somebody answer me.”