Page 39 of It Was Always You

Which I hated to admit seemed to be a family trait. I was fake-dating Noah after all just to get a guy's attention.

Man, I was an even bigger loser than I thought.

"I'm not doing it for Mercedes. I'm doing it for myself."

Noah laughed and stood. "Sure you can say that, but we all know what's true. And it's plain to see that you're whipped."

Easton scowled. "I'm not whipped."

"Whatever."

"Well, I'm gonna go to bed." He made ready to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow at school, Noah."

Once he had gone downstairs, I turned to Noah who was packing his things into his backpack.

"Are you leaving then?" I asked.

"Doesn't make much sense for me to stick around now. I've already been here all afternoon."

"But it's cold outside. Don't you want to stay indoors a little longer?"

He put a finger to his lips and quickly glanced around like he was worried someone might overhear us. But my dad was in the other room, probably watching somesporting event on TV. "I can finish reading this chapter in my car. It’ll be okay."

But he'd already said he was running low on cash. And car gas wasn't cheap these days.

"I was gonna go read by the woodstove for a little while before I head to bed. Just come down and get warm before you leave."

He seemed to weigh the pros and cons of leaving now or staying like I suggested. And for some reason, my heart was pounding in my chest, not wanting him to reject me in this little thing.

He grabbed his copy ofPride and Prejudice off the table. "Okay, fine. I'll stay a little longer."

An hour later, when I looked up from my book, Noah was lying down on the reclined sectional with a blanket over his long body—he had fallen asleep.

His head was tilted to the side, his book falling out of his hand, about to drop onto the floor.

I knew my dad would be coming to the top of the stairs soon, to tell Noah it was time to go home like he did every night. But I didn't have the heart to wake him and tell him he had to leave. He didn't have anywhere safe and warm to go to. Just his car, which, yeah, at least it had a heater, but when I thought about how distraught he'd been last night at the game, talking about how cold it was going to get, my stomach felt hollow. He tried to make it seem like it was no big deal spending all night freezingoutside, but it bothered him much more than he wanted me to know.

I studied his face. He looked so peaceful. Like all the worries he'd had etched on his face had disappeared. Would it be such a bad thing to leave him here, and hope my dad didn't notice? I could just go upstairs, turn off the lights, and tell my dad that I'd already taken care of the fire so he wouldn't have a reason to come down and find Noah.

But I knew Noah would be mad at me if I did that. He'd be worried that Easton and my dad would discover his secret.

So I slid out of my seat and knelt on the floor beside him, putting my hand on his arm to give him a gentle shake.

"Noah," I whispered.

He didn't budge.

My chest hurt. This was probably the warmest he'd slept all week.

My dad's footsteps sounded above me.

"Noah," I tried again. This time his eyes fluttered open. He looked disoriented for a moment before his eyes settled on mine.

The corner of his mouth lifted. "Hi."

"Hi." I couldn't keep a huge grin from returning his lazy smile. He was really cute when he was groggy, and his hair... I let my gaze flicker to the messy auburn tendrilsfalling over his forehead. I wanted to run my fingers through it and brush it to the side.

"Is Noah still here?" Dad's voice carried down the stairs.

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