Page 67 of Challenge Me

“I don’t think getting grown men to invite sixteen-year-old you into their trucks is a brag.”

“None of them touched me, so it was better than foster care.”

He grunted his agreement. Becoming aware of another presence, I looked over at where Amir stood outside of the bathroom, only halfway into his shirt. From the wideness of his eyes, I assumed he’d heard something he found shocking. I gave him a tight-lipped smile, not interested in some awkward exchange. If dark humor made him uncomfortable, he could deal with that on his own.

“Good shower?” I asked.

He pulled his shirt on the rest of the way. “It was nice. I didn’t do it after the game.”

“Really? I thought you smelled lovely.”

He hummed his acknowledgement before he walked over to the bed. When he sat on the edge of it, the awkwardness of this situation set in.

“He has a sexy voice,” Oli said.

“Shut up. You have your own sexy man, so leave mine alone.”

“You don’t even want yours.”

“Not the point.”

“You’re such a liar. Let me talk to him.”

I snorted. “Why would I do that?”

“Because I want to. Please, Rem?” When I didn’t respond, he made a sound like he was pouting. “Please?”

“No, you can’t talk to him, you manipulative bastard. Listen to your elders.”

Amir stood, and as he came closer, I was torn between staying where I was and getting the hell away from him. The scent of his soap was so strong that I couldn’t escape it, and it might’ve been what kept me frozen in place. And it was what made me too slow to react when he plucked the phone away from me.

“Hey!” I shouted.

He held his finger up to his lips as he brought the phone to his ear. I stood, but he didn’t make a move to give it back.

“Who’s this?” he asked.

I couldn’t hear what Oli said, but Amir’s eyes glazed as he listened. If I knew my best friend as well as I thought I did, he was probably giving him a pep talk about how to deal with my bullshit. The joke was on Amir, though. Nobody could deal with me effectively except for Oli. If he tried, I could always summon more bullshit.

Amir’s eyes landed on me, then moved away. There was a strange set to his lips, which I didn’t know how to interpret.

“I don’t understand what that means.”

“What’s he saying?” I demanded.

He pivoted to avoid me when I tried to go for the phone. “I think so . . . You seem cooler than him. If only you’d been manning the bar that night.”

If there weren’t other people in this apartment, I might’ve considered another high-speed chase. Not that the last one had gone well. Arguably, it had been what got us to this ridiculous back and forth state.

Amir laughed. “No, why? Okay, sure. I’ll check it out . . . Yeah, it was nice to meet you, Oli. I’ll make sure he stays out of trouble.”

I was tempted to roll my eyes, but I refrained. When he ended the call, he tossed the phone to the mattress.

“What did he say?”

He sat on the edge of the bed and stretched one arm behind his neck. “He asked if I’ve seen Attack on Titan.”

“Of course he did.” Hesitantly, I sat beside him but put as much distance between us as I could. “Have you?”