Page 34 of Catching My Dreams

“Montgomery,” he called out before she could escape into the building and head to the dance room.

So she was Montgomery again. Not Ella. Not El. Fucking Montgomery.

“Don’t have time for a chat right now, Warner,” she said, not even bothering to turn around.

But Noah wouldn’t let her get away that easily. He jogged in front of her, blocking her path with his stupidly tall body. “Did you get my text?”

“Yep.”

“Were you ever going to reply to it?”

“Nope.”

“I’ll see you around, Noah,” Madison said, interrupting them before he could reply to Ella. She placed a hand on Noah’s arm.

Ella’s chest tightened further.

After looking between the two of them with a frown, the blonde gave her ex a shy smile. “I hope your mom gets better soon.”

“Thanks, Madison.” Noah’s tone was gentle, kind. It was the exact opposite of the way he spoke to Ella.

“Hoping she’ll give you a second chance?” Ella asked once it was just her and Noah. The words tasted like ash, and her stomach churned with the sickening mixture of disappointment and pain, but her expression remained blank, cold.

“What?” Noah’s brows drew together. “No.”

“So it’s normal for you to go around hugging your exes?” She’d been aiming for detached amusement, but she just sounded bitter.

His eyes briefly widened in surprise, but then the bastard smirked. “Are you jealous?”

“No.”

“You are,” he argued.

“Why would I be jealous? It’s not like last night meant anything. You’re free to date whoever you want to.”

Noah narrowed his eyes on her, his jaw clenching. “It didn’t mean anything?”

She tugged her gym bag higher on her shoulder, impatient to be done with the conversation. “Right. It was just sex. We fucked, you snuck out, end of story.”

Noah sighed and ran a hand through his hair, messing up the brown strands. “Ella, I wasn’t trying to sneak out. I left early because I wanted to check on my mom.”

A crack formed in the wall of ice she’d erected between them. “Oh.”

He nodded and gestured to the building his ex had disappeared into. “And I was just saying thank you to Madison because I found out she was the one who made a bunch of casseroles for my mom.”

“What?”

“Yeah, my mom told me last night it was someone from college who didn’t want me to know, but when I asked Madison, she confirmed it was her.”

“You think Madison made casseroles for your mom?” Ella’s voice was reedy with disbelief.

His eyebrows lifted. “Is that so hard to believe?”

Ella scoffed. “Hell yes, it’s hard to believe. Madison only does things that benefit herself.”

“Unlike you?”

Even though lines of guilt appeared on Noah’s face seconds after he’d said it, the dry question may as well have been a punch. It hurt more than the black eye Riley had given her.

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