Page 61 of Cruel Elite (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 3)

“Because you needed me. I’ll always be here for you.”

His words echo ones he’s said before.

Promises he has made that he hasn’t always kept.

Though, I haven’t kept mine, either.

Noah has been angry with me for years. Angry with me about things I can’t change or control, but still, he has been hurting, and I kept my distance.

I never tried to reach out or make things right. I distanced myself from him, hoping he’d come back eventually.

It was easier to blame him for our falling out and put the onus on him to fix it, but I could have fixed it.

At least, I could have tried.

Noah needed me, whether he’d ever admit it or not, and I stayed away. I broke my word.

“How did you know I needed you?”

Noah smiles, an expression I haven’t seen from him in years, and winks. “Because I made you a promise, Penn. I said I’d always be with you.”

The words feel both comforting and ominous, and I’m too tired to parse them out.

Instead, I close my eyes and sink into the hallucination, clinging to this version of Noah for as long as I can.

Even if it isn’t real.

21

Noah

I look around and realize I’m in the music room in the basement.

It’s like I blacked out and woke up here.

Like I went into autopilot, so my feet carried me down the stairs I never go down.

Into the room I never go to.

To pick up the guitar I never touch.

My brain is still fixated on Penny. How she felt under my fingers, so soft and wet, and fuck, the way she sounded was incredible, those low whimpering moans and how she grinded herself against my hand like if I pulled away she’d come undone completely…

No.

I need to remind myself of something.

I’m not doing this for Penny’s pleasure. I’m not even doing it for my own pleasure.

I’m ruining her life because she ruined mine. Eye for an eye. Simple as that.

But does that mean I can’t enjoy it while it happens…?

Whatever. Fuck the questions swirling in my head.

I need a different kind of release.

My body knew I needed to play music today. To burn off some of the nervous energy in my fingertips.

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