Page 79 of Chasing Infinity

“Afraid the ghosts were going to get me?” I tease him, unsettled by the truth in my statement.

He makes a face. “More like you’d run into someone you wouldn’t want to run into during the witching hour.”

I know immediately he’s talking about Noah and his buddies. I consider telling him about what happened with Noah just moments ago, but I don’t get the chance to.

“Tapping out already, Sullivan? The night’s barely begun,” Noah sneers, sauntering up to us. Rose is in his wake, scowling hard at him. She turns her head and shoots me a glare as soon as they reach us. I narrow my eyes at her, confused. What the heck did I do to her?

“Just tired of your games, McCoy,” Charlie counters back, squaring his shoulders towards Noah. My friend takes a few steps closer, so Grace and I are slightly behind him.

Noah notices this and raises a mocking eyebrow at me. “Nice guard dog. Where’s the other one? Off to get his rabies shot? I did notice he was foaming at the mouth a little yesterday.” He pauses and raises his eyebrows as if he’s had an epiphany. “Nope, no, that was just because Parks was in his vicinity, wasn’t it?”

“Noah,” Rose grumbles at her boyfriend. He barely glances at her over his shoulder before his attention is on the three of us again.

“Well, go on then. If you want to leave the fun, help yourself.” Noah drapes his arm over Rose’s shoulders, and the couple turns to walk away. As he’s leaving, he turns towards me once more, his eyes still narrowed but the malice not meeting the rest of his features. Though it’s dark, I can still see the silver-blue hue of his eyes as they travel over my body. He presses his lips into a thin line. A confused expression crosses his face for brief moment before he turns away from me completely.

Charlie leads us to where we stashed our bicycles, riding with us the whole way home to ensure we make it back safely. I can’t help but smile to myself at Noah calling Charlie our guard dog. Though he said it with negative connotations, it wasn’t far off from the truth. Out of our little friend group, Charlie is always the one looking out for everyone else.

We ride in silence, the three of us stewing over our last encounter with Noah. The cool air helps me clear my head so I can think about the events of the evening with a little more clarity. I got to see a side of Noah I never knew existed before tonight. The image of his eyes going soft when I nearly had a panic attack will forever be ingrained in my mind.

It was weird, but in a good way. Usually, Noah has an edge, sharp as a serrated knife, but tonight? No, tonight, I think I might have gotten a view of the real Noah McCoy underneath all the armor. Nice looked good on him, and I wish he would display that side of him more often.

As we ride home, I let my imagination run wild and think of how different my life might look if Noah catered to the good instead of the bad, as he did more often than not.

Chapter 21

Noah

Noah - Age 15

“Ow! Hey, watch it,” I exclaim as I run face-first into another student walking through the hallways. To be fair, I was looking down at my science binder, trying to find the lab assignment I’m supposed to work on today. Still, that fact doesn’t make me any less irritated. When I look up, I see Charlie Sullivan bending down to pick up all the papers he dropped from our collision. I scowl down at him, and he glares back at me.

“You were the one who wasn’t watching where they were walking. Maybe if you could get your head out of your ass for two seconds.”

I raise my eyebrows at Sullivan’s abrupt comeback and snap my binder shut. “Wow, look who’s finally decided to grow a pair. Feeling brave enough to stand up to me now, Sully?”

Sullivan stands up now to face me. We’re both around the same height now. I may have an inch on him, but not much more. He scrutinizes me with his green eyes. “I don’t need to stand up to you. You’re not worth the energy.”

“Remember who you’re talking to, Sully,” I sneer at him. “I’m the son of the future mayor of this town.”

“And?” he prompts me. “I’m the son of the sheriff. As I have been literally since I was born. Are we really going to waste time doing this?”

“As a matter of fact, your father will be answering to Mayor McCoy soon,” I rib Charlie, ignoring his question. To my extreme irritation, his face remains expressionless, as if he’s bored. I take another stab. “Will the honorable sheriff of Willow Heights be able to handle taking orders from someone as sophisticated as my father?”

“Are you finished?”

I hesitate. Usually, Charlie would’ve taken the bait by now, but he is really over this conversation. I grip my green binder to my chest and glare at him. He looks off down the hallway and then sighs tiredly before turning back at me.

“My father told me that the problem with people who hunt for power is that they’re never satisfied. Nothing will ever be able to make them happy. There will always be something more and something bigger that they will strive for. And the biggest problem? They don’t care who they have to destroy to get it.”

“What’s your point, Sullivan?” I growl at him.

“Just something you might want to keep in mind. If your father is one of those people, you might want to stay on his good side.” He turns to walk away but thinks of something else and faces me again. “Don’t worry about my father. I think he knows how to handle a bully like Declan McCoy. Just like I know how to handle the younger version.”

“You say that now,” I spit at him.

Sullivan shrugs. “I guess only time will tell. But us common folks of Willow Heights won’t be the only ones affected by your father getting a higher rank. Just a thought. I’ll be interested to see what side you choose when all is said and done. Don’t pick the wrong one, McCoy.”

Anger boils in my gut, and I fight back the urge to punch Charlie Sullivan across his stupid smug face. “Get out of my sight, Sullivan. I’m done talking to you.”

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