Page 88 of It Was Always You

"And what makes you think that?"

"Because he just told me." And the way he'd been kissing me had certainly made those words really believable, too.

Why did my dad have to find us and ruin everything?

Easton sat up straighter. "Don't let yourself get too attached to that thought, okay? I know how Noah is with girls. He loses interest fast."

Sharp pains stabbed at my heart. But I tried to force it away. "He dated Ashlyn for almost a year," I said. A whole year was not losing interest fast.

"Yes, but after her, it was a new girl every week."

I furrowed my brow. "How come I didn't know about this?"

"Because you don't go to our parties. You don't hang out with our crowd." He shrugged like it was obvious.

"I don't believe you. He started this whole fake dating thing because he wanted to get Ravenoff his back."

Easton stared at me like I was missing a screw in my head. "And he only did that because he'd already made out with her at a party and couldn't man up enough to tell her it was just physical. That's how Noah is with girls. That's how all guys are."

No. That couldn't be true. He'd just stopped me from wrapping my legs around him because he didn't want to do that anymore. Easton didn't know what he was talking about.

"You sayallguys are like that? Why are you lumping yourself into that category?" Since when was Easton like ‘all guys’?

He blinked and looked away as if he didn't like my question.

Washe that way?

When he finally turned back to me, he had a tortured look on his face.

What had he done?

"I'm not a saint, Lexi." He sighed heavily and glanced in the direction of Dad's bedroom as if to make sure he wasn't listening. "Haven't you noticed something has been missing on my left hand for a few months now?"

I looked at his ring finger. His purity ring wasn't there. But hadn't he just said that he'd lost it?

"You didn't lose it when we went camping?"

His eyes tightened, and I knew I'd hit a nerve. I didn't want to believe it. Easton couldn't have donethat.

"I really don't want to talk about it with you." He brushed my question away, and I was grateful. I didn't want to know that about him if it was true.

He pressed his lips together and seemed to switch back to the topic at hand. "But like I said, guys are wired differently than girls, and I don't want you to think that things are different with Noah. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"You don't need to worry about me, Easton. I know what I'm doing."

"Don't be so naive, Lexi."

That was the second time I'd been called naive tonight. I hated that word.

"Noah said he didn't do that stuff with Ashlyn."

Easton covered his eyes with his hand for a moment before looking back at me with more annoyance than I felt I deserved. "That's because Ashlyn was special."

Translation: Ashlyn was special, and I would never be.

Tears sprung to my eyes, threatening to topple over. My own brother had pretty much just confirmed my biggest fear in this whole thing. I was not the kind of girl guys went after. I'd just been stupid enough to think Noah might make an exception for me after getting to know me better.

I blinked back tears, not wanting to cry in front of Easton and let him know that his words had hit theirmark. "Thank you for imparting your brotherly wisdom on me." I swallowed down the lump rising in my throat as I stood to leave. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to my room and find out how many cats I'll be allowed to live with when I'm forty and still haven't ever been asked out on a real date."

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