Page 22 of Sweet Temptation

I frowned as I looked between the two of them. “That’s why you’re still talking to me? Because you think he’ll change his mind? Did he even tell you guys why he broke up with me?”

Luther shrugged. “He just said the two of you could never work because of your families, but I’m a firm believer that love always finds a way.”

“And we’re still talking to you because we like you,” Kaden added with a soft smile.

“Yeah, you can’t get rid of us that easily even if you area LaFleur.” Luther ruffled my hair with his hand, and I swatted it away with a smile.

It was kind of awkward talking about Noah with his friends, but I was somewhat glad we’d cleared the air, and that the boys still wanted to be friends with me despite my father’s surname.

I didn’t believe Noah would ever come around like the boys suggested. And I refused to devote even the smallest crumb of hope to the idea. Hope like that was dangerous, and I’d wasted far too much time hoping Levi would realize his mistake during my last breakup. No, my time was far better served focusing on moving on—no matter what Luther or Kaden said.

Noah didn’tcorner me again that week at school. Not like he had at the garden party or on our run. That didn’t mean it was easy when I saw him. He didn’t speak to me, and yet he was always around. Every meal he was in the dining hall, and it felt like I was constantly passing him in the corridors. Even in the class we shared, he continued to sit behind me. He made every minute of that class a living hell because all I could concentrate on was the feel of his eyes against the back of my neck.

I wanted to pretend he didn’t exist. But Noah was almost impossible to ignore even when he didn’t say a word. It was hardly surprising. Noah had always been difficult to turn a blind eye to even when we hadn’t been dating.

Despite the obvious distance between us, no one else mentioned our breakup to me after I spoke with Luther and Kaden. I’d been so caught up in all the attention I’d received because of my father that it took me a while to realize that no one seemed to be gossiping about the fact Noah and I were over.

I'd told my friends and Noah had told his, but it seemed that was as far as the news had travelled. I did overhear a couple of girls speculating about it in the locker room after PE on Tuesday though.

“Do you think something’s up with Noah and Isobel?” one girl said, drawing my attention.

“Yeah, Noah’s always sending her those dreamy little smiles of his,” another girl replied. “He didn’t even talk to her in class today though, and no one’s seen them together since the ball on Saturday night.”

The girls were standing on the other side of the lockers, so I couldn’t see who was speaking, and their voices weren’t familiar.

“You’d think the fact she’s a LaFleur would only cement the relationship,” the first girl said.

“Really? I heard their families are like total rivals...”

I’d heard enough and quickly grabbed my bag and rushed from the room. It was one thing to know people were gossiping about you, but another thing entirely to have to overhear it.

Cress and Anna were waiting outside the locker room for me, and they frowned when they caught my expression.

“Everything okay?” Cress asked.

I shrugged. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

My friends had been so supportive of me since the breakup, and I really didn’t want to off-load my problems on them again. I should have known people would start to theorize about Noah and I when we weren’t being seen together. And it’s not like the girls had said anything malicious. If anything, they’d simply stated the facts.

“You sure?” Anna asked.

“Positive.”

Those two girls were just the beginning, and as the week wore on, I overheard more and more whispers from people wondering if Noah and I were still together. One girl was even brazen enough to ask me outright.

“What’s the deal with you and Noah?” she said as I made my way to English on Thursday morning.

I cleared my throat. “Excuse me?”

“You and Noah. What’s happening with you two?”

Her friends standing behind her started to giggle, and I folded my arms, clutching my laptop to my chest. The girl looked too young to be in my year, and I got the impression she was asking me just to impress her friends.

“Look, I don’t know you, and my relationship is really none of your business.” I wasn’t trying to avoid the fact Noah and I were over; I just didn’t particularly want to have to talk about it with some kid who was trying to be a smart-ass.

“So, does that mean you’re broken up?” She continued to pry.

“It means I’m late to English.” I walked off before the girl could hound me any further because she looked ready to fire more questions at me. Thankfully, I was right by the classroom, and I escaped inside before she could respond.

---