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“Don’t be stupid. As much as you do. And God. Fucking Noah. He’s a problem.”

“I know.” He went back to sliding his fingers through my hair. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Fuck that, Lee. I mean it. I know you and I know your tone. You’re talking to me like, yeah, yeah, I’ll get on that when we both know you’re never going to get on that. Noah’s telling your secret, and it’s not like you have more bad stuff to tell, but still. Not cool. Also, the fire. That fire was Noah. Jesus.” The couch moved underneath me.

“Hey,” Lee reprimanded.

“Sorry, but holy shit, Lee. Holy shit. It was Noah last year. It was Noah both times, wasn’t it? The boiler and then the football field. Your boy got you kicked out of school.”

Lee just sighed, sounding so defeated. “It seems like, yeah.”

“Fuck him. I mean it. I don’t care if he’s here right now and listening to us. Fuck. Him. You can’t play on our hockey team anymore. You can’t even play at our rink anymore. I fucking despise that guy⁠—”

“He’s my best friend,” Lee snapped.

“Is?” Cassian noted.

“Was. Was, but he’s still with me. That means he hasn’t fully left me and…” He went back to tracing his fingers through my hair, sounding so sad. It tore at me, and I rolled a little to my back, opening my eyes. He was watching me, like he knew I’d been awake the whole time.

I spoke to Cassian, softly, but I never looked away from Lee. “They have a bond. Him and Noah.” To Lee, whose fingers paused again, I said, “I could see it tonight. It’s dark, but it’s strong. You’re still linked to him.” To Cassian, “Whether he knew it or not, he’s felt that bond this whole time and getting rid of Noah will probably feel like he’s losing a piece of himself.”

And then to Noah, who appeared at some point, but was sitting calmly, composed, on the couch across from us, I said, “I don’t know how to harm you, but if you do anything to hurt Lee, Cassian, or myself, I won’t just hurt you. I will destroy you.”

Noah’s eyes widened before he poofed, vanishing.

The three of us sat there for a beat, quiet, until Cassian’s stomach rumbled.

“You ate an entire pizza by yourself.”

He grinned, slapping a hand on his stomach. “I’m a growing boy. Also…” His eyes cast to the couch.

“He’s gone.”

He slumped back on the couch. “Oh good.” He glanced at his phone. “My parentals are usually chill about me out on a Saturday night, but they’ve got a limit. I’m going to leave in an hour, but uh. That gives us an hour.” He wiggled his eyebrows, grinning. “How about some more three-way making out?”

Lee flashed him a grin. “Shit just rolls off your back, huh?”

“Generally. I’m a hockey player. We don’t get time to throw a fit and think and feel and figure out plays in a game. We play and then we win. I’m hoping we can do some more winning.”

Laughing, I sat up, grabbed a hold of Cassian’s shirt and hauled him to me.

I shut him up with my mouth.

13

Cassian collapsed on top of me.

He’d just come, with his dick out.

My leggings were pulled down, but they were still on.

A hand might’ve been down there. Or two.

Lee was panting sitting at my head, his cock in his hand.

We were all sweaty and we all needed to clean up, but it’d been fun.

Also, my shirt was still on. It was pulled down. My bra was tossed to the other side of the room. Noah showed up at one point and I threatened non-bodily harm if he didn’t get his ghostly ass out of there in point two seconds.