***

I rolled over, stretching my arms out. It felt good to wake up my muscles this way, and God only knew I needed to wake them up.

I patted around the mattress feeling for Noah. He wasn’t in the bed with me, so I rubbed my eyes and rolled over. Sitting up slowly, I listened for any indication that Noah was in the house.

There was nothing.

Not even a shuffle.

I reached out toward the nightstand and grabbed my phone. The time showed almost nine, and I frowned at the new message icon. There were three unread texts, so I clicked the notification. The first was from my mom, and there was more than one.

MOM: Where r u?????

MOM: Reagan, answer ur phone

MOM: Why aren’t u replying????

MOM: Why aren’t u home????

MOM: What’s going on???

MOM: WHERE R U???????

Whoops. I should have told her I wasn’t coming home. I tapped out a quick reply and told her I’d spent the night at Noah’s and I was sorry for not calling.

Living at home was not working for me.

The next message was from Halley.

HALLEY: Where the fuck are you? Your mom showed up at my house at six a.m. absolutely hysterical. I almost called her an ambulance.

I grimaced and hit reply.

ME: Stayed at Noah’s and forgot to tell her. Sorry.

I sent it and opened the other message—it was from Noah, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I read it.

NOAH: At work. Didn’t want to wake you. Left you the spare key by the kitchen sink so you can lock up if you leave.

NOAH: Not that you have to leave. I finish at one if you want to stay at mine.

NOAH: There’s some female shit in the bathroom from when my mom visited last month. Shampoo and shit. I left you towels just in case.

I smiled. I wasn’t going to stay, but I appreciated the offer. I had to get home to get my ass whooped by my mom for giving her a heart attack. But I would take him up on that shower.

ME: Thanks! My mom is pissed at me for not telling her I was staying out, so I need to go home. Do you want me to hide the key?

My phone beeped that the battery was almost dead. I grimaced and glanced around the room, my eyes falling on a cord on the other side of the bed. I launched myself over with a silent prayer that it would fit my phone and just about peed with happiness when I saw that it did.

I plugged it in and left it on Noah’s pillow before I went in search of his bathroom. It was weird walking around his house totally naked, so I grabbed my boobs with my arm and ran to the nearest door.

It was, thankfully, the bathroom.

I closed the door in case Poosh came up—I didn’t know if she could get her little legs up the stairs, and anyway, I didn’t know if she was a voyeur or not.