Noah nods as Aiden quickly hurries off. I go to keep walking when Noah’s arm over my shoulder tightens and holds me back. I turn and look up into his eyes, wondering why the hell he hasn’t been celebrating with me. “What’s wrong?” I question.
“Getting into a fight wasn’t part of the plan,” he reminds me. “You were supposed to just put her in her place.”
“I know,” I cringe. “It just sort of happened.”
“Spitfire,” he sighs. “You can’t be doing that shit, not when Tully and Rivers aren’t here for backup. If she even touched a single hair on your pretty head, I would have been forced to take her out myself, and believe me, that shit won’t fly around here.”
“I had it under control,” I argue.
“You sure?” he questions. “Because you deviated from the plan with Monica as well. You’re picking fights every fucking chance you get and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I’m fine,” I tell him.
“Really?” he grunts, not believing me for one second. “I let the Monica thing slide because you’d just found out about your mom, and now this? What’s going on, babe?”
I glance away. “Nothing,” I grumble, unable to meet his eyes. “I’m fine. Just forget it, ok?”
He watches me for a moment and just as he’s about to push the topic, his phone goes off in his pocket. Noah’s eyes remain focused on mine as he digs out his phone, only breaking the stare when he unlocks his phone to read the text. “Fuck,” he says with a cringe. “I have to go. Anton needs me.”
“Are you kidding?”
“Would you prefer I stay and force you to talk about things that you’re clearly not ready to talk about?”
I let out a huff. I don’t want that either. It’s a lose/lose game. Both options suck.
“That’s what I thought,” he murmurs before pulling me in and pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I’ll see you later. Are you coming to my place after school?”
“Yeah,” I grumble. “Love you.”
“Love you too.”
With that, he takes off towards the student parking lot and I dawdle towards the field, sitting in the grass and watching Aiden fuck around with his friends as my mind takes me to places that I really don’t want it to go.
Chapter 12
“Go away,” Tully yells through the door.
I roll my eyes. The cow has been yelling at me through the door for fifteen minutes and my patience is quickly running out. “Either open this fucking door or I’ll knock it down.”
“Go ahead,” she yells. “Knock down the fucking door.”
“Damn it, Tully,” I groan, hating when she calls my bluff, but I’m not about to give up yet. “Don’t think that I won’t.”
“What’s going on?” Aiden says behind me, barging his way down the hallway.
“Nothing,” I snap before turning on him with a raised brow. “Do you know how to remove a door?”
Aiden looks over her door for a quick moment, pressing his lips into a thin line. “Yeah, doesn’t look too hard. I’ll just need a few tools.”
“Noah should have what you need in the garage.”
“Trust me, Noah’s got what I need every day of the fucking week.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Tully yells from the other side of her door before I hear her huffing and grunting as she forces her way out of her bed and across her room. She fiddles with the lock before tearing the door open. “Nobody is knocking down my fucking door and you,” she demands, turning her sharp glare on Aiden. “My brother is a pansy ass bitch and certainly does not have what you need.”
She turns her back on us and stalks back into her room before dropping back onto her bed. “What the hell did Noah do?” I question. I mean, I have the shits with him over the whole Anton thing, but as far as I’m concerned, he’s been a perfect angel to Tully.
I follow her into her room with Aiden hesitating in the doorway, unsure if he wants to risk his life by walking through the door. I look back and roll my eyes, apparently giving him what he needs to come on in. Besides, if he leaves me alone with this monster right now, I’ll kick his ass. Taking down bitches like Monica, Candice, and Alyssa is one thing, but facing off against Tully…nope. No thanks.
Tully grabs her blanket and huffs a few times before glaring at me as if whatever Noah has done is somehow my fault. “He should have known.”
“What? About Rivers leaving?”
“Duh,” she snaps. “What the hell do you think I’m talking about?”
Jesus. This is going to be worse than I thought.
“How could Noah have known that he was going to enlist and disappear like that?” I question, realizing that Aiden doesn’t actually know what we’re talking about, but I’m sure he’ll quickly put the pieces together. “He’s just as surprised and hurt as you are. He lost his best friend and is already hating himself for letting it happen.”