Chapter Twenty-Seven
Noah
I woke to the sound of birds chirping in the tree next to my window, which was quickly followed by an insistent pounding on my front door. Maybe Iris had decided to come by this weekend, after all.
Fully alert, I pushed back the blankets from my legs, and hurried down the hallway to unlock the door. I slouched in disappointment when Hunter smiled brightly at me from the front step. His eyes dipped down at the bulge in my boxers
“Try not to look too happy to see me,” he said, wryly. “I love you, man, but I think you’re a little too excited to see me.”
I rested my forehead on the doorframe as I willed myself to cool down.
“I didn’t think it was you,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
He held up a fishing pole and tackle box. “Remember what we planned this weekend? Fishing at the lake ring a bell with you?”
“Oh, right.” A relieved breath left me when I thought of how close that would’ve been if Iris had shown up for the weekend. Hunter was smart enough to put things like that together, and he would’ve figured it out instantly if she had been in my bed.
“Let me get my shit together so we can go. Come in.”
“Who were you expecting?” He set his fishing pole and tackle box on the front porch before closing the door behind him.
I shrugged my shoulders casually. “No one, man. I just forget you were coming, that’s all. Let me get dressed.”
Hunter waited in the living room as I got ready and grabbed my phone from where it was charging. No missed calls or texts, but I’d expected that. I had called earlier, and Iris wasn’t the clingy type, from what I gathered. She liked her space just as much as I did. It made her even more appealing in a lot of aspects.
We drove an hour outside of Provo to a spot that Hunter boasted had good fishing, despite me pointing out that all the fish would taste like salt. The tension in my shoulders from dealing with Miles and tutoring students lifted the second we arrived at the lake. Nothing but blue sky stretched out across the water, and warm sunlight sparkled off the surface.
I let out a relieved sigh when I sank down in a chair after casting out my pole and setting it in a hole in the ground.
“If I could live by a lake for the rest of my life, I would,” I said, closing my eyes against the warm sunlight.
“Pretty sure that we promised ourselves a farm next to a pond when we were older,” Hunter said, lounging right next to me. He tossed me a beer from the cooler. “It’s funny how shit like that seemed so important years ago. Now, look at how different our lives are. Not what either one of us would’ve expected.”
“No,” I agreed, shaking my head. “I never expected to be here in Utah sitting next to your ugly face.”
He laughed. “Right. I’m always the ugly one in this relationship.”
“I can’t alter the truth, bud. That’s just how it is.”
A few minutes of contented silence passed between us. Finally, Hunter broke it by popping open another beer. He tossed the empty can in a little trash bag between us.
“How is everything going at PHU? I haven’t spoken to you in a few weeks.”
“Fine,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders. I didn’t want the subject to venture over to me being “too popular” with the female students. I went straight to the subject that was starting to irritate me. “The dean keeps trying to get me to help out with the rugby team there by telling the team that I might help out.”
“Why is that a bad thing?”
“It’s not a bad thing. I just don’t have the time everyone thinks I have for it. That chapter of my life closed over a year ago.”
“Not all of it was your fault,” Hunter said angrily. “That guy was out to end your career. I still don’t agree with you not pushing him getting kicked out of the sport like you were pushed out.”
Irritation swept over me. I opened my eyes to look at Hunter seated next to me in his chair with a beer in hand.
“Nothing would reverse the damage to my knee,” I said. “Let him live with that shit hanging over his head. I have enough hanging over mine.”
“Still-”
“Drop it, Hunter,” I snapped, tossing my empty beer can into the garbage bag. “I don’t want to spend my afternoon talking about the past. It’s said, and it’s done. Nothing will ever change it.”
“All right.” He held up his hands in surrender. “How is everything else going there?”
I settled back in my chair. “Fine. Everything else is fine.”
“Just fine?” he asked skeptically. “I have a hard time believing that coming from you.”
“Why?”
“Because the last time we talked about PHU, you hinted at having a pretty girl in your class. ”
Of course he was going to bring that up. Should have kept my damn mouth shut.
I avoided Hunter’s gaze when I opened up another beer. “It’s like you said: you can’t sleep with students there.” My throat tightened as I said it. “I’ve apparently become too popular with the students. I was warned.”
“Just be careful, man,” Hunter said, taking a long pull from his beer. “I’ve heard stories about that dean firing teachers on the spot for rumors. He’s obsessed with maintaining his authority on campus, but I think he’s more worried about the community looking at him.”
“His ego is bigger than his package,” I agreed, reeling in my line a bit more. “I’ve noticed he tends to collect teachers who are famous in one way or another.”
“And, how did he end up with you again?”
Hunter laughed when I reached over to punch him in the shoulder roughly. A grin spread across my lips despite how badly my stomach twisted.
We watched the afternoon melt away some of the snow on the lakeside before packing up when the warmth of the sun faded away. Hunter insisted on stopping at a local bar on the outskirts of town to grab a few more beers.
“Are you sure?” I asked as he led me inside the tiny bar jam packed with people. “I don’t want you to get into trouble with your wife.”
“She isn’t home right now, so don’t worry about it.”
Hunter didn’t turn around to look at me as he said it, but I could see the tension in his shoulders and neck. He continued straight up to the bar to order a beer. I took a seat next to him on a bar stool and ordered one, as well.
“The fishing trip wasn’t about fishing,” I commented, taking in my friend’s stiff posture. “What’s going on at home? Where’s your wife?”
“Beats me,” he said.
I arched an eyebrow at his testy tone. “Okay. Now, I know something is going on if you don’t want to face her. You two are glued at the hip, and it’s nauseating at times.”
“We just had a fight is all.”
“About?”
Hunter took a long pull from his beer. Sighing in aggravation, he rubbed at the back of his neck. “About her going back to work. She found out how far behind I am in at the shop and took a job without asking me.”
I frowned in confusion. “I don’t see how that led to a fight.”
“It led to a fight because I promised her the world.” His head dropped down. “And, I can’t give it to her, apparently. I’m a fucking mess because I was an idiot in college.”
“You’re not a mess,” I said, grabbing him by the shoulder. I squeezed tightly to get his attention. “Look, your wife loves you, and isn’t that what marriage is all about? Helping each other out when the other one needs it?”
“I suppose.” The corner of Hunter’s lips twitched up into an amused smile. “I’m surprised to hear marriage advice coming from you.”
“It’s not advice,” I said. “That’s just how I view it.”
“Right. So, when are you planning to find someone and take your own advice?”
I traced the rim of the bottle in front of me. Marriage had never been a thought in my head since my parents’ divorce. What was the point if you ended up leaving someone after a few years? I thought.
“I don’t know. I doubt that I will ever get married. I’m not the greatest person alive, either.”
A hand touched my knee. I looked over to find a busty blonde with red-rimmed eyes smiling at me. Red lipstick stained her front two teeth, and she smelled of cigarette smoke and sugar.
“Hi sexy,” she said, leaning into me. “Would you like to have a drink with me and my girls?”
I looked her up and down with a grimace. The frayed jean skirt she wore barely reached her upper thigh, and her breasts threatened to spill out of the tank top she wore.
“No thanks,” I said. “I’m here with my buddy.”
She pouted when I lifted her hand from my knee. “Are you sure? You look like you know your way about a bedroom.”
“I’m sure. Thanks.”
I turned to look back at Hunter, whose eyes were wide with surprise. “What?” I snapped, ignoring the irritated huff from the woman beside me before she stomped away back to her friends. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Are you sure that you aren’t seeing someone?” he asked, quizzically. “I’ve never seen you turn down an easy lay in the years that I’ve known you.”
I rolled my eyes at the comment while I took a long swig of beer to shake off the feeling of the blonde’s hand on my knee. I didn’t want Hunter to see that he was right because I never did turn down an easy and drunk lay. I just didn’t want it from her.
I wanted it from Iris.