“I won’t keep secrets,” he promises.
“Ok,” I tell him. “I can live with that.”
“Good,” he sighs before crushing his lips to mine.
I pull back before he can take advantage of me in Tully’s car. “There’s just one thing I don’t understand,” I murmur. “How’d Rivers get involved with him?”
Noah scoffs. “Rivers was involved with him long before I was.”
“What?” I laugh. “Now you’re lying.”
“Nope, scout’s honor,” he says. “How’d you think we became such good friends?”
“School?” I suggest the obvious answer.
“Nope. Anton threw us together on jobs. Who would suspect the two little kids fucking around on their bikes to be drug mules?”
My mouth drops open in shock and I stare at him in wonder. “And all this time I thought you were a good little boy.”
Noah presses up into me. “A good little boy, I am not.”
My lips crush down on his and before I have a chance to rip his shirt from his body, a figure walks out in front of Tully’s Jeep. Noah barks out a laugh and I spin around on his lap to find Rivers standing before us, holding his shoes and missing a sock.
“Gross,” I groan with a laugh as I imagine the kind of hell his missing sock just went through.
“Not a fucking word,” Rivers says, walking around the side of the car and climbing in the back. “If Tully ever gets wind of this, I’m going to fuck you both up.”
Chapter 20
I sit under the boardwalk in the place that used to be mine and Kaylah’s, but lately, it’s just been mine. I squish my toes into the cool sand, loving how smooth it is under here compared to the sand out near the shore that always seems to be littered with crap.
It’s peaceful under here.
No one even comes down here, they prefer to be up the top, on the actual boardwalk. Not me and Kaylah. This was our haven, the place we could come to unwind, and after the crazy week I’ve had, I more than need to unwind. I need to let myself move on and start looking forward to the future.
I can’t help but wonder what happens now. Monica will probably leave, that is if she can convince her parents that it’s the right thing for her, otherwise she’s up shit creek without a paddle. Noah will keep on keeping on with Anton. Rivers too, but hopefully they’re a little smarter about what they do.
Tully and Rivers…who knows?
Me and Noah…well, let’s just hope things keep heading up. Our talk last night helped to make me see a little clearer. He seems to have forgiven me about the Monica thing, not that I believe I was in the wrong, but yeah, maybe I should have let him know that shit was about to go down.
“Hey,” a voice calls, startling me out of my own head. I flick my eyes up and see Tully waking towards me with her shoes in her hand. “I thought I’d find you down here.”
“Really?” I question in surprise.
“Uh huh,” she says as she plonks down into the sand beside me. “Everyone knows you come here.”
“How the hell do they know that? I only ever came here with Kaylah and I didn’t tell anyone.”
Tully shrugs unapologetically. “We were curious and followed you one night,” she admits. “I’ve got to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought you were going home to sulk, but instead you brought us all to the beach.”
“Huh,” I grunt, not sure how I feel about my secret being out of the bag. “Don’t get any ideas,” I tell her. “This is my spot. You can’t start using it whenever the hell you feel like it.”
“Hey, don’t worry about me,” she laughs. “I have my own secret spot.”
“Really? Where?”
Tully scoffs. “Like hell I’d tell you. It’s a secret unlike yours. We’re not all stupid enough not to notice when we’re being followed.”
“Shut up,” I laugh. “But you do realize this means I’ll be following you everywhere you go now.”
“Bullshit. You’re too busy with your tongue down Noah’s throat to realize when I sneak off.”
I grin. She’s probably right. “What are you doing here?” I ask, scooping up a handful of sand and curling my hand around it, watching as the tiny little grains pour out from the bottom of my fist before doing it again.
“Nothing, just thought I’d come and cheer you up.”
“I don’t need cheering up,” I tell her. “Everything is fine.”
“You can’t bullshit a bullshitter,” she tells me. “Something’s up with you and we’re not leaving until I get to the bottom of it.”
“Seriously?” I groan. “Everything is fine. Noah and I were a bit rough, but now we’re good.”
“No, it’s not about Noah,” she tells me, studying me intently. “It’s something else. Start talking.”
I look across to her, hoping a glare would help her to see that I’m all good, but she doesn’t budge, not even a little. “Fine,” I groan. “The Monica thing is still bugging me.”