Page 20 of Sweet Temptation

Anna waved my complaint away “You’ll thank me later. Trust me.”

I lowered my head onto the table and groaned again. Not only did I have to handle a broken heart, but now I had to deal with Anna throwing boys at me.

The sound of scraping chairs made me sit up again. The twins were taking a seat at our table and throwing curious looks in my direction.

“Don’t tell me you’ve already given up on the day, Grace,” Sawyer said.

“The day, the week, and maybe the year,” I replied.

He looked sympathetic as he shook his head at me. “Don’t let Noah get you down.”

I shared a smile with him and nodded though following his advice was easier said than done.

“She won’t be down for too long,” Anna piped in. “I’m going to find her a rebound.”

Sawyer started to grin and sat up a little straighter in his chair. “I know this is a very important assignment, so I volunteer as tribute.”

Wes slapped a hand across the back of his brother’s head. “Dude!”

“What?” Sawyer looked baffled. “I’m just being a good friend, and if making out with Isobel will make her feel better, I’m all in.”

Wes cuffed him across the back of the head again and gave me an apologetic smile on behalf of his brother

“Thanks for the offer, Sawyer, but I’m not looking for a rebound—no matter what Anna thinks.”

Sawyer let out a long dramatic sigh and shrugged. “Okay, well, the offer is always there if you need it.”

“Uh, thanks.” I thought he was joking, but he seemed completely serious. It was totally weird to offer to be my rebound, but I actually believed him when he said he was doing it because he wanted to be a good friend. Also, he seemed to have no problem kissing girls and it meaning nothing. He was probably a good rebound option if I wanted one—and I didn’t.

“So, can we talk about something other than my miserable love life?” I said, hoping to change the topic before anyone else could make unhelpful suggestions for boys I should kiss.

“Uh, how about the new car you got?” Cress squealed. With everything that had happened this morning, I’d almost forgotten about the car.

“You got a new car?”

“What’d you get?”

“Can I drive it?”

Wes, Anna, and Sawyer all seemed to be talking at once. They were far more excited than I was about the car, and I worried I was going to sound ungrateful if I didn’t match their enthusiasm.

“Yes, I got a new car. No idea what kind it is. And no, Sawyer, you can’t drive it,” I answered everyone in turn.

“You’re no fun,” Sawyer grumbled.

“How do you not know what it is?” Anna asked.

“My dad just got it for me, and I haven’t seen it yet.” I wasn’t in a rush to go looking for it out in the parking lot. It wasn’t like I planned to drive it.

They all started guessing what type of car it might be, but I stopped listening because Noah entered the cafeteria.

My heart leaped to my throat and lodged itself there, making it impossible to breathe. He usually looked so impossibly handsome, but this morning, he looked like hell—worse even than when I’d seen him on our run. The circles ringing his eyes seemed to have grown darker, and it made me wonder if he was suffering as much as I was with our breakup—not that I should be concerned by that. He’d made this decision for us. This was what he wanted. He shouldn’t get an ounce of sympathy from me.

He didn’t look my way as he walked over to his usual table. He didn’t even try to sneak a glance. He seemed resolute to pretend I didn’t exist, and as much as I didn’t want that to hurt, it did. I’d gotten used to him sending me subtle smiles, to seeing his face light up whenever we were in the same room, and it was painful to know those stolen moments were gone forever.

As if it wasn’t hard enough to see him again, I had to watch as Veronica went bounding over to him. Her whole face brightened as she started chatting to Noah, but he’d turned away so I couldn’t see his response. He’d told me plenty of times he wasn’t interested in Veronica, but it was hard to see him with her after they’d attended the ball together on Saturday night.

I felt a hand at my shoulder. Wes was waiting at my side. “Hey, I was wondering if you could help me with one of our econ problems before classes started for the day?”

---