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Hilton mimed driving with an imaginary steering wheel.
“Not a chance. I’ve seen you do something that resembles driving, but you drift. You don’t use turn signals. You check your phone. You’re literally the reason we need phone laws.” I shuddered. “It would be wildly irresponsible of me to put you behind a wheel. How did you get your license in the first place?”
“My cousin Christian knew the guy giving the test.” He shrugged and gave me a real grin, but then he groaned and buried his face against the seat for a second.
“Tell me if you need me to pull over, lad,” Tav said, then ruffled his hair.
Hilton yelped and sat up, cowering to protect his hairdo while staring directly into Ellis’s eyes. “To answer your question, no. I went to a private school where all they talked about was Princeton and Harvard and Yale. Maybe Amherst or MIT if your parents didn’t have any pull at the big schools. Vassar if you were into literature and writing and had a trust fund that would never go stale.” He shrugged. “It seemed a bit... much.”
All at once, I felt bad for Hilton. He’d been in the same pressure cooker that had made me, and it sounded like he hadn’t thrived. I leaned forward a bit, tugging against my seat belt. “I’ve learned more about you in the last few days than I did in the last two months.”
He popped out his bottom lip. “Of course. I wanted to impress you before. I have to stay mysterious to do that.” He grinned.
Ellis snickered.
“Yeah, well, for future reference, this Hilton is a lot more personable. I’m pretty sure people would like him better.” I raised my eyebrows at him. “You don’t have to pretend to be some drama queen to get a guy.”
Hilton sniffed. “I’m not pretending. I just reel it in a little around you now.” He shrugged, which had Ellis smothering another laugh behind his palm.
Ellis whirled and smacked my arm as I went to take another sip of my coffee, and I was beginning to suspect he was trying to deprive me of caffeine on purpose.
“Yes?” I mumbled, then quickly slurped from my travel mug.
“The internship is gonna be fun! I’m glad we have a few days for our fall break.” He bounced in his seat like a kid. “Will I get to drive the cars on the ice track again?”
Chuckling, I shook my head. “No, you’ll be doing work around the office. Maybe helping at events. It depends on what’s needed. And I’ll make sure you have the best reference letter possible for whichever schools you’re applying to.”
Hilton scratched at the stubble on his face. I wasn’t sure what was going on there, if he thought maybe a beard would look good on him, but he really didn’t seem to be growing much except some scruff around his jawline.
He grinned. “I texted my brother that I had an internship with Dailey Tires, and he was decent for once.”
“You’ll be fine,” Tav said from behind the steering wheel. “And maybe your brother just wants to see you well on your way.” He sent Hilton a kind smile. My Puffin always had more patience for him and Ellis than I did.
Hilton rolled his eyes. “I don’t need to do anything. Like, nothing at all. I could dance around in a jellyfish costume all day or work on my blowjob skills and it wouldn’t matter either way.”
Tav hummed and scowled as the office came into view, and he swerved over to the drop-off spot in front of the building.
Leaning forward, I brushed a kiss to the side of his neck.
With a shiver, he glanced into the rearview mirror and our gazes met. My blood heated faster than a redlining engine, and I pressed another kiss to the soft skin behind his jaw.
“Why don’t you park the car, and we can all walk up together?” I rubbed my left eye because it started to ache and that just made it worse, but also weirdly helped it feel better.
Tav twisted and knocked my hand away from my eye. “Stop that.”
I snorted. “Or what?”
He shook his head, and I winked at him, which hurt me, but since Tav smiled, it was worth it.
“You take the boys, and I’ll meet you upstairs. Leave your coffee. That’ll be my excuse.”
I dropped my travel mug into the cupholder in the front console, then opened my door. “It’s almost like you don’t work for me.”
“Funny,” Tav said. Although, it sounded like he agreed with my assessment.
The boys laughed.
We strolled into the building, and Ellis’s eyes were huge, as if he couldn’t see enough of the corporate world he was about to enter. Hilton had his attention glued to his phone and literally had his fingers snagged in one of Ellis’s belt loops to keep himself on track. I stole his phone and tucked it into my pocket.
