Page 19 of Trust Me

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him look at me. “Have you told your parents?”

My nose wrinkled. “Not that it’s official, no. I’m worried they’ll think it’s a bad idea.”

“So what?”

It was hard not to laugh. “You don’t care what your parents have to say about your decisions?”

“Not really. If I think it’s a smart move, it doesn’t matter. Do you not think it’s a smart move?”

“I don’t know yet, honestly. I’m not a fan of uncertainty.”

“I get that. But if anything goes wrong, you can sleep on my floor.”

With a smile, I tucked my chin to keep the rain off of my face. “You’d let me?”

“Sure, but not for long. I’ll get tired of stepping on you at night.”

“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

He took a long pull from his dab pen and gave me a stern look that felt out of place on him. “Be positive,” he said after a minute. “Oli seems like a good guy.”

“He’s kind of weird.”

“We’re all weird. Grow up and get over it.”

Shaking my head, I kicked a rock on the sidewalk. “You’re the weirdest of us all, man.”

He flipped me off, then passed me the pen. Just as I started to hit it, the sky decided to open up, releasing a mighty downpour. Swearing, I broke into a run.

“Come on,” I called, looking over my shoulder at Tilian, who was spinning in a circle with his arms out. “Crazy bastard.”

“Rude. I was going to buy you coffee.”

“Did I say crazy bastard? I meant . . . adorable little gremlin.”

“Gremlin?” He scoffed.

Slinging my arm over his shoulders, I pulled him in close, tightening it around his neck so he couldn’t squirm free. “Like a cursed little Labubu.”

“Fuck you,” he gritted out as he tried to pull away.

Releasing him, I stepped to the side to dodge one of his sharp elbows. I was about to make another comment, probably even more likely to incur his wrath, when I saw a commotion up ahead.

Two men were facing away from us, but it was clear that they were fighting. The shorter one got the guy in a headlock and yanked him backward to destabilize his footing. Unbalanced, the one in front managed to spin them around and—

“Is that Oli?” Tilian asked.

I took off, recognizing that he was already in a bad spot.

“Hey!” Tilian shouted, outpacing me. It annoyed me that people were just walking by, as if a man wasn’t being fucking mugged in broad daylight.

Noticing we were headed for them, the guy released Oliver. I reached for him, not wanting him to get away, but another hand snapped out, locking around my arm. With more strength than I expected, Oliver spun me to the side, then grabbed my other bicep. His grip was firm, his green eyes intense.

“What are you—” I started.

“Don’t,” he said. Before I could respond, he let me go and turned away.

Tilian gave me a curious look, but I just shrugged as I watched Oliver walk over to his attacker. He said something I couldn’t make out, then opened his wallet. After passing him some cash, he offered him a bright smile and nodded toward the other side of the street.