And just like that, I was completely, utterly, and entirely, His.
Neither of us spoke until we were out of earshot and out of sight of the shocked and awed student body. We were standing next to a bench by the basketball court when Noah stopped, finally letting go of my hand. It felt empty, but I barely had time to process the loss.
“Are you all right?” he asked softly.
I nodded, staring past him. My tongue felt numb.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded again.
“Are you positive?”
I glared at him. “I’m fine,” I said.
“That’s my girl.”
“I am not your girl,” I said, with more venom than I intended.
“Right, then,” Noah said, and looked at me with a curious stare. He raised an eyebrow. “About that.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing.
“You like me,” he finally said. “You like me, like me.” He was trying not to smile.
“No. I hate you,” I said, hoping that saying it would make it so.
“And yet, you draw me.” Noah was still smug, completely undeterred by my declaration.
This was torture; worse somehow than what just happened, even though it was only the two of us. Or because it was only the two of us.
“Why?” he asked.
“Why what?” What could I say? Noah, despite you being an asshole, or maybe because of it, I’d like to rip off your clothes and have your babies. Don’t tell.
“Why everything,” he continued. “Start with why you hate me. And then continue until you get to the part about the drawings.”
“I don’t really hate you,” I said in defeat.
“I know.”
“Then why are you asking?”
“Because I wanted you to admit it,” he said, grinning crookedly.
“Done,” I said, feeling hopeless. “Are we finished?”
“You’re the most ungrateful person alive,” he mused.
“You’re right,” I said, my voice flat. “Thanks for the save. I should go.” I started to walk away.
“Not so fast.” Noah reached for my good wrist. He took it gently and I turned around. My heart was sickeningly aflutter. “We still have a problem.”
I looked at him, uncomprehending. He was still holding my wrist and the contact interfered with my cerebral functioning.
“Everyone thinks we’re together,” Noah said.
Oh. Noah needed a way out. Of course he did; we weren’t, in fact, together. I was just—I don’t know what I was to him. I looked at the ground, digging the toe of my sneaker into the paved walkway like a sullen child while I thought about what to say.
“Tell your friends you dumped me on Monday,” I said finally.
Noah let go of my wrist, and looked genuinely confused. “What?”
“If you tell them that you broke up with me over the weekend, everyone will forget about this eventually. Tell them I was too needy or something,” I said.
Noah arched his eyebrows slightly. “That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
“Fine,” I said, confused myself. “I’ll go along with whatever you want, okay?”
“Sunday.”
“Excuse me?”
“I want Sunday. My parents are having a thing on Saturday, but Sunday I’m free.”
I didn’t understand. “And?”
“And you’re going to spend the day with me.”
That was not what I expected. “I am?” “Yes. You owe me,” he said. And he was right; I did. Noah wouldn’t have had to do anything to make Anna’s dream and my nightmare come true. He could have sat there and shrugged and stared, and it would have been enough to perfect my school-wide humiliation.
But he didn’t. He saved me, and I could not fathom why.
“Is there any point asking what you’re going to make me do on Sunday?”
“Not really.”
Okay. “Is there any point asking what you’re going to do to me?”
He grinned wickedly. “Not really.”
Fabulous. “Does it involve the use of a safe word?”
“That will depend entirely on you.” Noah moved impossibly closer, just inches away. A few freckles disappeared into the scruff on his jaw. “I’ll be gentle,” Noah added. My breath caught in my throat as he looked at me from beneath those lashes, ruining me.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re evil.”
In response, Noah smiled, and raised his finger to gently tap the tip of my nose.
“And you’re mine,” he said, then walked away.
24
AFTER SCHOOL, I FOUND DANIEL WAITING for me at the back gate. He shifted his overloaded backpack to his other shoulder.
“Well, well. If it isn’t the talk of the town.” “News travels fast ‘round these parts?” I asked, but as I did, I noticed quite a bit of staring from other Croyden students as we made our way to his car.
“On the contrary, dear sister. I didn’t hear about the showdown at Tiki Corral until a half an hour after it ended,” he said as we reached the car. “Are we going to talk about it?”
I barked out a laugh as I pulled my car door open and ducked inside. “No.”
Daniel followed in less than a second. “Noah Shaw, huh?”
“I said no.”
“When did that happen?”