Page 42 of It Was Always You

His door was shut, but light was coming from the gap underneath. Did I dare sneak out of my room? My dad was a really light sleeper, but I thought he used a sound machine at night to add white noise, so he could sleep better.

But did he turn that on before or after he got in his bed for the night?

I didn't know.

I shut the door to my room again and texted Noah.

Me:How good are you at slipping through dark houses unnoticed?

Noah:I only got caught 1 of the 4 times I robbed a house. So pretty good.

I laughed and it came out all shaky with my nerves. This was about the wrongest time to be joking.

Me:Meet me at the back door.

I checked outside my room again, slowly opening my door and bracing myself in case it decided to creak. It squeaked when I got it five-sixths of the way open. I froze and listened for movement in my dad's room. When I didn't hear a sound, I tiptoed down the hall.

By the time I made it to the back door I was sweating. I slowly undid the deadbolt. The chain on the door would be a little trickier. My dad had placed it clear at the top when we were little since Easton had been an escape artist back in the day. I stood on my very tippy toes, pretending like I hadn't quit ballet after only a few weeks when I was five, and eventually got the chain to slip out. I gripped the handle with my clammy hand and opened the door as quietly as I could.

Noah filled the threshold two seconds later, startling me with his huge form.

I threw my hand to my chest and gasped. "Just jump right out at me, why don't ya?" I whispered, stepping back to let him in.

"Just trying to be fast." He removed his shoes from his feet before stepping the rest of the way inside.

I wouldn't have even thought to remove my shoes, which had me wondering if maybe he hadn't been joking earlier about robbing houses. He had said something to Ashlyn about no one pressing charges a couple of months ago. Was that because he'd actually stolen things?

I shook those thoughts away. No. This was Noah. He didn't do things like that. He may have a chip on his shoulder, but he wasn't a criminal.

At least I was ninety-five percent sure he wasn't in trouble with the law.

I shut the door after him and did up the deadbolt. I was standing on my toes to lock the chain when Noah stepped right behind me, his torso brushing against my back as his fingers took the chain from mine and easily slipped it into the lock.

I almost had a heart attack at his unexpected closeness and had to work hard to hold in my shriek.

Once the door was secured, we slipped down the hall and past my dad's room. I wanted to cheer when I saw no light coming from under his door.

His sound machine was on.

I'm not doing anything bad. I'm not doing anything bad.I told myself as I shut my bedroom door behind us.I'm just helping Noah out.

I ran my thumb along my promise ring. It was stillthere. And there was no way it was going anywhere. I had nothing to worry about.

And if Noah even tried to lay a hand on me while we were in here, I would kick him.

I made quick work of showing Noah to my closet.

"Just grab as many blankets as you think you'll need to be comfortable." I pointed to the stack of quilts my grandma had made me through the years. They were on the top shelf, so I'd usually have to use one of my step-stools to get to them, but Noah easily pulled three of them down.

He turned to look at me expectantly. "You said something about an air mattress."

Right. Air mattress.

I looked around my large walk-in closet. I frowned when I didn't see it in the corner. Had my dad or Easton taken it out of here?

I rummaged through the pile of dirty laundry on the floor, wishing I'd cleaned my room instead of pacing anxiously after texting Noah, but the air mattress was nowhere to be found.

I whipped myself up and turned to face Noah, the blood rushing out of my face because I'd stood too quickly. I stumbled backward, feeling lightheaded.

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