Be Warned

Roni

"Wow," Derek said as they walked down her porch steps. "I haven't seen that kid in years. I'm surprised he's not in jail."

Veronica turned to him, her arms crossed in front of her. "What makes you say that?"

Derek chuckled. "That kid sat outside my office more than my damn receptionist when he went to Garfield."

She wasn't sure, but it made sense that Derek might have reason to try to discredit Noah. She'd seen his expression when she told him Noah was her roommate. Just the fact that she'd previously mentioned her new roommate was a guy she was sure had already gotten him speculating. His showing up here unannounced today was not on impulse as he'd said it was. Derek did nothing on impulse.

But she decided to bite anyway. "Why was he at your office so often?"

"Typical troublemaker. Did you run a background check on this guy before letting him move in?"

The thought had never even occurred to Veronica. "No, because he's a friend. What do you mean troublemaker? What kind of trouble?"

Derek shrugged, leaning against his car, obviously in no hurry to leave. "Ditching, fighting, drug trafficking, you name it."

"Drug trafficking?"

"Yeah, I'm telling you the kid is trouble with a capital T." He frowned, glancing back at her house. "So what? This guy trains you, and you just invite him to move on in?"

"No." She hesitated, fumbling to find the best wording. "He had issues."

Derek scoffed. "Yeah, I'll bet."

"Issues with his place," Veronica added, the annoyance building by the second. She knew Derek would have something to say about this, and his insistence on referring to Noah as a kid hadn't gone unnoticed either. "The storms did a number on his roof." She wouldn't mention it was the roof over a garage. Derek would love that. "I had the extra bedrooms, so I offered to rent him one."

"Convenient. I'd get the money upfront if I were you."

Roni rolled her eyes. "I gotta go, Derek." She began to walk away.

"Hey listen, Veronica," Derek's condescending tone had suddenly softened, "I'm sorry. I know you said he's your friend. It's just that I'd like to think me and you can still be friends too . . . at least. And I do still care about you, so I can't help but feel a little concerned here. Who knows? Maybe he's changed. It has been a few years. All I'm saying is what I do know about him is no good. So just be careful. Okay?"

Roni turned back to him with a weak smile. "No need to worry. He's a great guy."

As expected, her last comment raised questions. She saw it in his eyes, but he didn't ask. Instead he went on to a topic she'd hoped to avoid at least for now.

"So once you get settled in at work, you think we can get together some time?"

She'd used the excuse of being too busy trying to get back on track with her work schedule to answer or return his calls and texts. It was a lame excuse, and she'd hoped he'd take the hint. She didn't see how getting together with him would work now. Noah would no doubt have issues with it.

Every moment she spent with Noah now, every one of their friendly good night kisses, her need to move things forward with him began to outweigh the feeling that she'd be taking a huge risk. All this time she'd been telling herself that he was too young and would want to be out there playing the field. Yet he was free to do that now, and he spent all his free time with her. That had to count for something.

A smile and a nod was the only response she offered Derek then added, "text me," before walking away.

She'd at least pretend to consider it. She told herself that once she felt completely comfortable being back at work and her life went back to what she considered the norm, she'd take that plunge and next step with Noah. But considering the speed at which their relationship was progressing, that plunge might come a lot sooner than she planned.

One thing was for sure: if she did do this with Noah, she was doing it all the way: no keeping their relationship discreet and keeping it a secret from people like Derek. She'd already seen the disapproval from him, and he only thought Noah was her roommate. She was sure he wouldn't be the only one who would be close-minded about their relationship. Hell, up until very recently, she'd been just as close-minded about the possibility as well. But she didn't care. This was yet another reason why she had to be absolutely sure about it, because once she did this, there'd be no turning back. Their relationship would be out in the open for everybody to know about. Besides, she was certain Noah wouldn't have it any other way.

Until then, she'd hold off giving Derek a solid reason why she couldn't get together with him anymore. Saying her roommate "the trouble making kid" wouldn't like it sounded a little silly. But saying her live-in boyfriend wouldn't like it, held a lot more weight.

As promised, even though the guys had apparently gone through two of the pizzas already, Noah waited for her to eat. It didn't surprise her that he wanted to talk before he ate. The guys were now in the front room still munching on pizza as they watched a football game. Noah leaned against the counter as Roni placed a slice of pizza on a paper plate.

"So Dean Kratz is Derek, huh?"

"Yeah." She glanced up at him as she stuck a pepperoni in her mouth. "Like you said—small world. I'm surprised he remembered you out of all the kids he's dealt with over the years."

She smiled, hoping that would stir up some talk of his troublemaking days. She had to admit she was curious about the drug trafficking comment. Noah was an occasional drinker, if that, and she knew drug use wasn't allowed even in amateur boxing. Noah was verging on the "my body is my temple" type. Though obviously he didn't take it quite that seriously, she just couldn't see him doing or much less trafficking drugs.

Noah ignored her observation completely and got straight to it. "So what'd he want?"