Page 40 of Treacherous

"I don’t give a damn what you believe anymore, Thorn," Noah spat before turning his back on me. "That's the truth."

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"He's looking at you again," Hope chirped as she bumped her shoulder against mine. "He's been watching you all class," she added with a smirk before blowing a bubble with her gum.

"Stop saying that," I snapped as I reached up and stabbed her bubble with my pen.

We were sitting in English class on Monday morning and I knew Noah was staring across the room at me. He had been burning evil lasers at the side of my face for most of the class. I couldn’t blame him. Not after what happened on Thanksgiving…

"I'm serious, Hope. Just pretend you don't see him." I wasn't feeling quite as brave around Noah as before – and last weekend's events made me even more uncomfortable around him.

Thanksgiving night, after swiping a bottle of Uncle Max's vodka, I'd gotten as drunk as a skunk and had been pumped with Dutch-courage.

Having already made one poor decision that night, I had then decided – along with an equally drunk, equally pumped Hope – in my idiotic state of debauchery to take revenge on the neighbors for their crimes against me.

Our first mistake had been egging their house.

Our second had been throwing the flour balls.

Our third mistake had been getting caught.

Screw it, I regretted nothing. Ouronlymistake was getting caught...

We'd stumbled back to the sanctuary of my house the second Ellie opened the front door, laughing our asses off, and we had then proceeded to finish off the bottle of vodka.

Of course, Ellie didn't go down without a fight and had sent the big guns after us. But I swear, I truly hadn't known it was Noah at the front door banging and neither had Hope when she tossed the dish of water out my bedroom window and onto his head.

I still cringed when I thought of how I flung the front door open and tossed that bag of flour in his face. And how close I'd come to peeing my pants when Noah punched the wooden panel of my front door –a millimeter from my face...

Ellie had definitely stepped up her game though. When I opened my locker this morning I'd been verbally assaulted by Ellie and her gaggle of geese. Now I was no wimp, but when you have eight girls crowding you, taunting you and taking your physical appearance apart, it kind of sucks the fun right out of a person's day.

And that was only Ellie.

I could only imagine what sick and twisted payback Noah had lined up for me…

"Me stopping saying it won't stop him doing it," Hope taunted.

"I thought you said he was bad news," I snapped. "Keep my distance?"

"Pssh, who am I to tell you what to do." Grinning, she leaned closer to me and whispered in my ear. "So Ash was in the bathroom earlier and overheard Ellie talking with her friends."

"I'm listening," I told her, leaning closer.

Hope chuckled. "So, I think I know why little miss up-her-own-ass has it in for you so bad."

Cupping her hand around my ear Hope whispered, "According to Ellie, Noah has a soft spot for a certain blonde Irish girl next door."

My eyes widened and I turned my face to gape at Hope.

"He hates me," I spluttered. "I broke his car…."He kissed me…"He threatened my life…"And I bit him…"He told me he's going to hurt me, Hope."And then I kicked him in the balls and bit him some more…I shook my head in denial. "If that's a soft spot I wouldn't like to see how he treats his enemies."

"Think about it, Teegs," Hope said excitedly. "It would explain why Ellie-the-serpent has been more venomous than usual – she's always been crazy jealous of anyone Noah's been with. It wouldalsoexplain why Noah hasn't retaliated on you for destroying his car."

Shrugging Hope added, "Well you did do a number on him, babe. Cam said it's gonna cost three grand minimum to fix. And there's the small matter of you covering him with flour."

I gaped at her. "You helped me do that."

Hope shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm a Carter."

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