The Best Kind of Forever (Riverside Reapers, #1)(54)
Even though the couch isn’t as wide and comfy as his bed, there’s nowhere in the world I’d rather be right now. He lies down with a grimace and makes room for me. I squeeze into the space he’s carved out, gently pressing my back to his chest.
“Thank you,” he mumbles sluggishly, tightening his grip on me ever so slightly.
“For what?”
“For staying.”
Judging by the soft snores vibrating against my spine, I’m pretty sure Hayes has already passed out, so I whisper the last words to myself.
“I’ll always stay.”
Lila plops down on the couch next to me, a bucket of red vines in her arms from some secret candy stash she must have around my house.
“When are you going to tell me who you’ve been talking to?” I whine, seizing a piece of licorice before she gives me one of her Medusa glares.
She crooks an eyebrow. “Who do you think it is?”
I bite the red vine in segments Bugs Bunny-style. “Gage?”
“Too young.”
“Foster?”
“Too cute.”
I snort out a laugh. “Too cute? How can someone be too cute?”
She takes a break from her snacking, which means this is a very serious topic. “You’ve seen him. He looks too innocent. I’d destroy that poor boy.”
Horror gains traction on my face. “Excuse me?”
Lila lobs a red vine at my boobs, disgust splashing across her features. “Not like that, you perv. I’d destroy his brain,” she clarifies. “Maybe turn him into a fuckboy, like some kind of final boss girls have to fight off.”
“I doubt that would happen.”
When I don’t reach for the licorice, she swipes the candy from my lap, biting the end off. “You never know. I have a history of breaking hearts and creating monsters.”
I think back to the long list of exes Lila has, and the fourteen of them that she had to block because they used to camp out on the lawn outside her sorority house. “Okay, maybe you have a point,” I agree.
Blowing air out of my cheeks, I mentally cross out the two rookies of the group. “Is it Kit?”
“Seriously?” Lila exclaims, offended.
“He’s your type.”
“He’s the most egotistical guy I’ve ever met. And that’s saying a lot considering I slept with the entire Omega Psi Phi house.”
Jeez, I didn’t think I was this bad of a guesser. My eyes coast over Lila as she reaches for her glass of Dr. Pepper. I have no idea how that girl stays so fit with all the sugar she consumes.
It’s not Gage, Foster, or Kit. It can’t be Casen because he’s engaged. So that means…
I spring to my feet from the couch, rustling Lila’s entire body as I squeal. “You like Bristol!”
I’m not sure if Lila chokes from the airplane-like turbulence or his name, but streams of brown liquid shoot out her nose, and she doubles over in a coughing fit.
I point at her, doing a little dance. “That’s a yes! I knew it!”
“You did not know it,” she scoffs, wiping her mouth.
“Oh my God, Li. You two would be so good together. Not to mention you’d make insanely attractive babies.”
“Uh-uh. There will be no baby talk. I don’t even know if he likes me back.”
“He’d be stupid not to,” I tell her.
She purses her sangria-colored lips, switching our reality television program to YouTube. “Thanks, Aer-Bear, but I’d much rather focus on that yummy boyfriend of yours than my sad situationship.”
That’s right. Hayes’ interview is today. I told him I’d watch it live. We’ve already been photographed multiple times together, but this is the first time Hayes is actually speaking about our relationship to the press.
I fall back onto my butt. “Fine, but we’re coming back to this.”
Hayes is sitting in a spacious office across from two interviewers, a microphone propped up in front of him, and a neon sign behind him that blares Knights of the Sound Booth. According to Lila, they’re the biggest podcast on the platform.
“Thank you for joining us today, Hayes,” the interviewer with the square-framed glasses says. His name is Deacon, according to the tag on his shirt.
“Thank you for having me.”
He looks a lot better. It’s been a week. The wound on his lip has scabbed over, and the bruising on his face has yellowed.
“You got into quite the predicament last game. Care to comment?”
“Quentin Cadieux was talking shit, so I put him in his place,” he says calmly, though aggravation shackles his words, and there’s something predatory in his eyes that makes my veins frost over.
“And what did he say to rile up the Reapers’ notorious hothead?” the other interviewer asks, a single eyebrow poised. His name is Oliver.
“Let’s just say that he insulted someone I really care about.”
“Mm-hm. And would this ‘someone’ be your new girlfriend by chance?”
Hayes flashes a high-voltage grin before answering, “Aeris Relera is my better half.”
My better half.
My pulse jump-starts and my stomach lurches with a kaleidoscope of butterflies.