I leaned against the door frame. Half of me in the shadowed gymnasium. The other half of me in the lighted hallway.
Idiot. I was an idiot. I blinked several times to keep any tears at bay and hugged myself. My heart should hurt, but it didn’t. Because I’d never invested my heart into this second chance with Luke. I’d poured in an ample amount of hope, but I’d never put my heart on the line. My soul ached from disappointment. I’d tried normal and I’d failed. Me … a failure.
Unlike the ACT, I couldn’t retake this part of my life and erase an unpleasant score. There was no blank canvas to start a new painting or sketch pad for a fresh drawing. My mother had failed me and my arms guaranteed I would always fail.
“I told you that you deserved better.”
My heart lifted at the sound of that deep, mischievous voice. “Noah?”
Like a thief, he drifted from the shadows in a white button-down shirt, black tie loosened to the third button, blue jeans and black army boots. His dark brown hair fell casually over his eyes. “Echo, you look …” He let his eyes wander down my body and then slowly back up. A wicked grin spread across his face. “Appetizing.”
I laughed out loud, causing several lowerclassmen passing by to gawk. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t care. “Like chicken wing appetizing or succulent hamburger appetizing?”
His chuckle tickled my insides. Noah stepped closer, definitely invading my personal space. “Appetizing as in your boyfriend’s a moron to leave you alone.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” And never would be.
“Good. Because I was going to ask you to dance.”
As if on cue, another slow song started. Noah didn’t offer me his hand to take me to the dance floor. Instead, right there between the entrance of the gym and the locker room, he wrapped both of his arms around my waist and pulled me close. God, he felt good—warm, solid. I slid my arms to his neck, letting my gloved fingers skim his skin.
“I thought you didn’t do dances.”
Noah held me close enough to see those chocolate-brown eyes. “I don’t. And, this afternoon, I had no intention of coming here.” He swallowed. “This dance seemed so damn important to you. And you … you’re important to me.” He stopped swaying from side to side and looked away from me. My heart beat so loudly he had to hear it, if not feel it through my chest.
“Echo, I can’t tell you what’s going to happen because I don’t know. I don’t hold hands in the hallway or sit at anyone else’s lunch table. But I swear … on my brothers that you’ll never be a joke to me and you’ll be much more than a girl in the backseat of my car.”
The proximity of his body to mine made voicing the thousands of emotions raging inside of me impossible. My fingers drifted from his neck to his head. I clutched his hair and guided his head to mine. I couldn’t tell him, but I could show him.
“Get away from my girl, Hutchins.”
In lion-fast movements, Noah maneuvered us into the hallway and placed me behind him. He stood between me and Luke. “She’s not yours.”
Luke’s face reddened and he fisted his hands. Stephen, Chad and a few other guys stumbled out of the locker room. Their laughter faded the moment they noticed Luke, Noah and then me. Crap.
My now-ex stared straight at me. “Come here, Echo.”
“We should talk. In the gym. ” And get the heck out of here. Back where lots and lots of teachers hovered to prevent scenes like this. I inched toward the gym, but neither Noah nor Luke moved.
Stephen stepped beside Luke. “It’s not cool to be up on another man’s girl.”
Hello? Did anyone hear me? Recap—I needed to talk to Luke and we were all going to go into the gym so we could be monitored by adults. I wrapped my fingers around Noah’s hand and tugged gently. “Noah.”
He squeezed back before pulling away. “Why don’t you go on in? I’ll be there in a few.”
“Um, no. Not without everyone else.”
Luke took a drunken step toward Noah. “Yeah, go, Echo.”
This was not happening. Luke didn’t stop his advance. In fact, he picked up speed and slammed into Noah. The two of them crashed into the wall. “No!”
Luke punched Noah in the jaw. Blood trickled from Noah’s lip as he drove his fist into Luke’s stomach and pushed him away.
“Come on, man,” Noah said, wiping the blood from his lip. “You don’t want to do this.”
“I warned you to stay away from her,” Luke yelled as he rammed into Noah again.
Prepared this time, Noah punched Luke in the gut and pushed him to the ground.
“Stay down, Manning,” he hissed.
Luke staggered up, staring at Noah. I raced toward them. This had to stop. Only I was a little too late. Luke launched himself at Noah at the same exact moment I stepped between them. Cement hit my stomach. I lost the ability to breathe, followed by massive amounts of pain.
“Echo!” multiple voices yelled from various parts of the hallway.
My stomach hurt way too much to move, open my eyes or speak. Oh, God. Absolutely no air entered my body. I forced my mouth open and fought to suck in oxygen. Nope, nothing. One more time … yes. Not much, just a little, but it was air … regardless of how much it hurt. The cold floor touched one of my cheeks and my hair touched the other. Crap. It had taken me an hour to get all of my hair in that clip. Dear Lord, I think I broke something, like my liver.
“Jesus … Jesus, I hurt her,” Luke mumbled from close by.
“Get away from her, asshole,” Noah barked. Warm fingers touched my face, brushing back my hair. He lowered his voice. “Echo? Are you okay?”
Those warm fingers left my face and then covered my hand. I focused all of my energy on exerting pressure onto Noah’s. He applied pressure back. “I’ve got you. I promise.”
“What’s going on out here?”
I moaned, not from the pain, but due to the person who entered the hallway—Mrs. Collins. “Echo? Echo!” Heels clicked rapidly toward me. Another hand, colder and delicate, touched my face. I forced my eyes open and blinked the double vision away.