Page 91 of Echoes of Us

That hit home.

“Noah put you there. You’ve been miserable for most of your college years over Noah. Noah, the same guy you were just flirting with in there. This is the same person that dumped you by leaving a box of your things on his front door.”

“I got it, Ezra.” I was definitely feeling the weight of his words.

“I’m not telling you this to hurt you, Att. You just have a habit of ignoring what’s right in front of you with him. I don’t want to see you go through that again.”

“I know.”

“You can smile at whoever you want, Att, including Noah. Just don’t fall for it again,” he warned.

“He’s not…” I stopped. “I’m not falling for him being charming. I’m not falling at all. I talked to him to let him go, but we got close again, and he was honest. It’s just nice to know I mattered. That it wasn’t because I was disposable to him. It’s nice to know he’s still watching me. It doesn’t mean I’m going to do anything about it.”

“It looked like you were. I’m guessing Noah is thinking the same thing right now. His eyes were glued to you for the rest of the game.”

I clicked my tongue, ignoring how good it felt to hear that. “I heard you, okay?”

He sighed. “You know I have a low tolerance for that guy, but even I can tell he’s changed, and I don’t think you were ever disposable to him, but…”

“But what?”

“He’s still Noah,” he finished.

I thought about that for a while before nodding. I knew what he meant. Seeing me heartbroken for a long time couldn’t have been easy, and now I was smiling back at him. Noah had so much power over me. I honestly thought I was past the worst of it. I thought I might have some power over him too.

Now, I wasn’t sure. It only took a couple of weeks of him looking at me to forget everything he put me through. I wasn’t ready to forgive him for it all.

I wasn’t sure I was ever going to be.

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

BEFORE

Nothing happened that night after we talked. Noah stayed close, as he always did when he slept. I went out for a run, and when I returned, he was in the kitchen. The smell of freshly brewed coffee mingled with the morning light streaming through the windows. As I walked to the shower, I expected him to be sad or angry, showing some sign that he was going through something. But everything seemed calm.

Under the spray of water, I heard the door open. Turning towards the sound, I didn’t hear anything else. I resumed my shower, until his hands found my hips, startling me. “Shit, you scared me.”

Noah wrapped himself around me. His arms tightened around my waist and his lips grazed my back. “Sorry,” he murmured.

I tried to turn to look at him, but he held me firmly, so Istopped. One of his arms let go of my waist, reaching down and grabbing me.

“Oh,” I breathed.

He huffed a quiet sound against my back, his lips still sliding over my skin, leaving a hot trail. “I kept picturing how good you’d look in here.”

I closed my eyes, gasping as his hand started moving up and down over me.

“I wasn’t wrong, but you feel much better,” he continued, and his warm tongue lapped at my skin. He stepped closer. He was hard against me.

I tried to turn around again, but he held on to me. “Let me, Noah.”

He sighed, reluctantly letting go. I turned and reached for the sides of his face, pulling him up towards my lips. Kissing him while the water fell on us felt amazing. The soft, warm touch of his tongue teasing its way past my lips felt so good. I moved back, looking down at his face. He opened his eyes, focusing them on me. They were red again. Alarm shot through me, and he tried to free his face. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, to help him through whatever was happening in his head, and then I remembered. He had asked for this, so he came looking for me.

“I love you.” I watched his face soften before I pressed my lips back on his.

Noah grabbed my neck and pushed close to me. I wrapped my arms around his waist, feeling the strong, steady beat of his heart against mine. I let him lead the kiss, not aiming to slow him down, already resigning myself to missing my first class. He kissed me hungrily, like he was scared I would leave, and I tried to reassure him, running my hands over his back and holding onto him tightly.

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