Page 78 of The Stalker Snafu

“She already put three packets in, which is way too much,” Julian couldn’t resist pointing out. When I frowned, he adjusted his glasses. “Trust me, I’m basically a doctor.”

“You cut off dogs’ balls for a living,” Finn muttered as he stuffed the sugar packets back into his pocket.

I tried not to pout.

“It’s pointless to argue about sugar with the guy who uploaded a video of himself licking Tootsie Pops,” Rafe told Julian like he should’ve known better. “He doesn’t understand the concept of moderation.”

My finger froze midstir while my brain threatened to explode as I gaped at Finn. The video! “Oh my God, that was you? Mr. Two-Hundred Fifty-Two Licks?”

Finn’s lips parted, and he stared back at me. “You saw my video?”

Rafe groaned quietly. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I saw it over the summer after failing the experiment myself,” I told Finn excitedly, hardly believing he was the same guy from the video. I’d only ever seen a close-up of his mouth then. “Your willpower must be insane. How did you manage not to bite into it at all?”

His lips moved, but it took a few attempts before he managed to mumble anything. “I did it in the name of science.”

Adrian snorted, stretching his arms over his head. “That’s bull. It wasn’t for science. Bishop bet him a hundred dollars he’d bite it before getting to the center.”

“Not my smartest bet,” Oliver admitted quietly.

“Fine, so I did it for a hundred dollars,” Finn agreed loudly, making a face at Adrian as his own cheeks heated. Even his ears turned red, and it might be the most adorable thing I’d ever seen. He turned to me with earnest eyes, leaning forward. “Do you know how many Tootsie Pops that can buy? And it ended up helping the science world, too. A neurologist reached out wanting to do a study on me.”

“That was completely unrelated,” Rafe muttered dismissively, drawing a sharp look from Finn.

I could only sit stupefied, trying to wrap my mind around Finn being the Tootsie Pop guy.

“But that’s enough about me. I think you owe us some details, right?” Finn asked, grabbing his beer and settling between me and Rafe on the couch. His gaze fixed on me. “You’re really dating Kincaid? Seriously?”

I twisted my lips. Weren’t they at all concerned about where their friend was? “That’s not important, and we’re getting distracted again. What’s the plan to figure out what’s going on with Noah? What can we do?”

Most of the guys looked at Julian, who checked his phone. I watched him too, until he looked up and focused on me. “No update yet. My text had all the info so far, and now everyone outside of Kincaid has checked in. I’m just waiting to hear back from my contact.”

I raised both brows, not sure whether to be intrigued or suspicious. “Is your contact in the FBI or something?”

He smiled, tapping a finger against his armrest. “Not quite.”

“But what should we do now?” I pushed, inching forward in my seat. “Is there anyone we can call that he might be staying with? Where would he go?”

Julian ran his tongue over his teeth, contemplating. “Right now, all we can do is wait for word from them and not mess things up further.”

I frowned, unimpressed.

“Which means you owe us some details,” Finn said again, facing me with a smile. “Like how you met Kincaid.”

I couldn’t tell if he was actually interested in knowing or just being polite about me dating his friend—but Finn’s curiosity felt genuine.

“Well, it’s a pretty long story,” I hedged, just to be safe. “I don’t want to bore you.”

Plus, I wasn’t exactly ready to admit I was the one responsible for vandalizing Noah’s beautiful pen. That was a private matter.

“Trust me, learning about Kincaid’s love life won’t be boring for any of us.” Adrian grinned. “But let’s skip to the first date. Where’d you guys go?”

I scooted back on the couch, pulling my legs up to get comfortable and huddling closer with my coffee. “We went to a restaurant called Providence. It’s a seafood place.”

A thunk sounded as Oliver’s phone collided with the carpet, and his cheeks flushed a faint red as he bent to retrieve it. He gaped at me, not bothering to hide his disbelief. “He took you to Providence?”

“Yes?” I answered cautiously, a little weirded out by his surprise.