Page 71 of Remember Us This Way

I instantly melt into him, my knees weakening as his strong arms curl around my back, holding me against his chest as he backs me into the wall, just like he had in my closet. His whole body is up against mine, and I still can’t get enough. My every thought fades away and leaves nothing but me and him and the feel of his lips moving against mine.

The electricity burns between us, and I groan as his hand trails down my body, over my hip, and down to the sliver of thigh between the hem of my skirt and my boots. His big hand curls around it, and I instinctively bring my knee up, hooking it around his hip as he presses harder against me. I pull back just an inch, gasping for air, and he doesn’t hesitate, dropping his lips to the base of my throat as my arms lock around his neck, holding him so damn close.

It’s everything I always knew it would be with Noah, like fireworks on the Fourth of July, absolutely breathtaking.

Needing more, I place my hand on his jaw, bringing him back to my lips as fierce hunger throbs through my veins. Then as his hand slips beneath the hem of my cropped tank, the door tears open and a familiar gasp sails through the room.

Ah, fuck.

Noah pulls back, and my head whips around, finding Tarni standing in the doorway, staring at me like a stranger. She whimpers as though she has been physically slapped across the face, her eyes burning with betrayal. “How could you?” she breathes, her voice cracking. “You’re dead to me.”

And with that, she’s gone.

“Shit,” I curse, pulling out of Noah’s arms and heading for the door, only he catches my hand.

“Don’t go after her,” he says, his hand so warm in mine. “She’s been a fucking terrible friend to you. She’s not worth it.”

“I just . . .” I cringe, pulling my hand free. “I have to. I know she’s . . . well, Tarni. But without her, I have no one.”

Hurt flashes in his dark eyes, and he steps closer, his hand falling to my waist. “You have me.”

I shake my head, look up, and meet those eyes I’ve loved all my life. “But I don’t,” I tell him, letting him see the pain in my gaze as the lingering distance between us becomes that much more noticeable. “You are right though. She’s been a terrible friend for way too long, but if I didn’t have her every day at school, I’d be alone, and as much as I wish I could break away from her. I owe her too much.”

“You don’t owe her shit,” he says, but all I can offer is a sad smile. With that, I turn my back and hurry out of the room, desperate to find the one person who stood by me through my three years of agony, the one who somehow managed to pull me out of the darkness.

I feel Noah at my back, following me out, my name on his lips drowned out by the loud music pounding through the house. I look everywhere, checking the drinks table, the billiards room, and even the dance floor to realize that Abby and Cora aren’t here either.

I hurry outside into the pouring rain. They couldn’t have gotten that far.

The rain showers over me as I run out into the street, seeing the red taillights of Cora’s Lexus shining against the rain-soaked pavement as they disappear down the road.

“Shit,” I mutter, coming to a stop in the middle of the street, my face falling into my hands, feeling the tears stinging my eyes.

“Zo,” Noah says, striding up the street behind me. I turn, taking in the way the rain makes his dark, unruly hair stick to his face, and his dark clothes somehow look even darker. “What are you doing? She’s not worth it. She’s thrown herself at me countless times over the past few weeks, knowing damn well how it would hurt you. She doesn’t give a shit about you, Zo, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why the hell you should give a damn about her.”

“Noah,” I cry, my voice breaking as he reaches me and pulls me into the warmth of his arms. I bury my face against his chest, and his chin rests against the top of my head. “She was there for me when I needed her,” I tell him, letting him hear the depth of my despair. “She was the one who held me up when I couldn’t run to you. Without her . . . I was in a really dark place. I owe her my life.”

He remains silent, but I know he understands what I’m saying, and a part of me wonders if he went through the exact same thing. Only, he didn’t have someone holding him up. He had to break through the darkness all on his own.

Wiping the tears from my eyes, I pull back and look up at him, not daring to tell him just how much my heart is breaking. “Will you take me home?”

“Yeah, Zozo,” he says, pulling me right into his side and nodding up the street. “Come on.” And with that, we make our way through the pouring rain, the sound of the party roaring behind us as the thunder claps loudly through the Arizona sky.

29

Noah

Liam talks shit beside me, but I don’t hear a word he says. My mind is locked on Zoey. Every last bastard at Lucas’s party on Friday night saw me race out of his house after Zoey, saw me in the street pulling her into my arms and holding her like I’d never let her go, and all day, I’ve been questioned about it. And I know Zoey has too.

The shit I’ve heard people say, making comments about her not being good enough for me, comments that she’s just trying to ride my dick until she can claim a payday when I reach the NFL, that she’s nothing but trash. Fuck, every last thing I have heard has had me ready to fucking snap.

All of this shit has come down on her shoulders simply because I can’t seem to keep away from her at school. If I were any other guy, Zoey would be free to talk to me. We’d have a chance at a real relationship, and nobody would give a shit, but because I come with a reputation, people suddenly think they get to have an opinion. And most of them are based solely on jealousy. Not to mention the shit Tarni has been saying about her all day. Add that to the bullshit Shannan started at the beginning of the semester, and things haven’t been looking great for Zoey.

She deserves better. At the start of all this drama, she fought back, but now she’s tired of fighting and allowing it to slowly kill her, and the more I watch her walking around the school with her head down, the more I want to break.

Zoey James was not meant to hide, she was born to fucking shine, and I’ll be damned if the assholes at this school try to dull that glow a second longer.

Liam is saying something, and when he nudges my arm, it’s clear he asked a question, but my attention is across the room as Zoey strides into the cafeteria. Her gaze sweeps toward me, just as it always does when she walks into a room, and I give her an encouraging smile, more than happy to get out of here if she wants to eat somewhere else, but her gaze flickers back to her usual table.

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