Page 80 of Cruel Elite (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 3)

I’m fairly positive he won’t be pleased in the least.

I smile at her and walk towards the stairs. Halfway there, Mrs. Boone calls after me. “It’s good to see you, Penny. It’s been a long time.”

I only realize now, with a little distance, that her words are slurred.

She’s drunk.

“It’s good to see you, too, Mrs. Boone.”

I don’t know if she’s telling the truth, but I’m glad to hear it. Noah’s house always felt like home.

I’ve missed it.

* * *

When Noah’s parents were home, the basement was where we hung out. They believed it was public enough that we wouldn’t dare try anything down there.

But boy, were they wrong.

Walking through Noah’s basement is like walking through a museum of my sexual awakening.

Our first time together was up in his bedroom, but everything else happened in the basement.

More than sex, though, we got to know one another down here.

We watched movies, cuddled together on the couch, and talked about the stuff that mattered, while ignoring the stuff that didn’t.

His dad set up a music room for him in the basement, but it was for fun. Someone had to carry on the family legacy at Barber Engineering and pick up the family trade—making exorbitant amounts of money.

Noah wanted to be a musician.

I encouraged Noah to tell his parents the truth about what he wanted. His parents weren’t like my mom. They’d love him no matter what.

But he never did.

He never even played for me. Every time I asked, he was working on a new piece and would “play it for me soon.”

But “soon” never came.

So, when I hear guitar playing coming from under the door of his music room, I don’t open it right away.

I stand outside, silent, listening as the notes filter out to me, muffled slightly by the door, but ringing out true nonetheless.

I’ve always thought it was bullshit when people would say they trulyheardsomeone when they spoke through their art.

But hearing Noah play the guitar—even a song I’ve never heard before—makes me feel like I’m hearing him for the first time.

It’s like studying a painting your entire life, searching for meaning, only to have it flipped upside down once you think you’ve figured it out.

Suddenly, everything seems different.

Noah wants me to think he’s a beast. That he hates me. That he’s determined to break me.

But that’s a lie.

Here, now, I know it’s true.

Noah is the same gentle, sweet person he was before.

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