Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
I hurry outside into the pouring rain. They couldn’t have gotten that far.
The rain showers over me as I run out into the street, seeing the red taillights of Cora’s Lexus shining against the rain-soaked pavement as they disappear down the road.
“Shit,” I mutter, coming to a stop in the middle of the street, my face falling into my hands, feeling the tears stinging my eyes.
“Zo,” Noah says, striding up the street behind me. I turn, taking in the way the rain makes his dark, unruly hair stick to his face, and his dark clothes somehow look even darker. “What are you doing? She’s not worth it. She’s thrown herself at me countless times over the past few weeks, knowing damn well how it would hurt you. She doesn’t give a shit about you, Zo, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why the hell you should give a damn about her.”
“Noah,” I cry, my voice breaking as he reaches me and pulls me into the warmth of his arms. I bury my face against his chest, and his chin rests against the top of my head. “She was there for me when I needed her,” I tell him, letting him hear the depth of my despair. “She was the one who held me up when I couldn’t run to you. Without her . . . I was in a really dark place. I owe her my life.”
He remains silent, but I know he understands what I’m saying, and a part of me wonders if he went through the exact same thing. Only, he didn’t have someone holding him up. He had to break through the darkness all on his own.
Wiping the tears from my eyes, I pull back and look up at him, not daring to tell him just how much my heart is breaking. “Will you take me home?”
“Yeah, Zozo,” he says, pulling me right into his side and nodding up the street. “Come on.” And with that, we make our way through the pouring rain, the sound of the party roaring behind us as the thunder claps loudly through the Arizona sky.
29
Noah
Liam talks shit beside me, but I don’t hear a word he says. My mind is locked on Zoey. Every last bastard at Lucas’s party on Friday night saw me race out of his house after Zoey, saw me in the street pulling her into my arms and holding her like I’d never let her go, and all day, I’ve been questioned about it. And I know Zoey has too.
The shit I’ve heard people say, making comments about her not being good enough for me, comments that she’s just trying to ride my dick until she can claim a payday when I reach the NFL, that she’s nothing but trash. Fuck, every last thing I have heard has had me ready to fucking snap.
All of this shit has come down on her shoulders simply because I can’t seem to keep away from her at school. If I were any other guy, Zoey would be free to talk to me. We’d have a chance at a real relationship, and nobody would give a shit, but because I come with a reputation, people suddenly think they get to have an opinion. And most of them are based solely on jealousy. Not to mention the shit Tarni has been saying about her all day. Add that to the bullshit Shannan started at the beginning of the semester, and things haven’t been looking great for Zoey.
She deserves better. At the start of all this drama, she fought back, but now she’s tired of fighting and allowing it to slowly kill her, and the more I watch her walking around the school with her head down, the more I want to break.
Zoey James was not meant to hide, she was born to fucking shine, and I’ll be damned if the assholes at this school try to dull that glow a second longer.
Liam is saying something, and when he nudges my arm, it’s clear he asked a question, but my attention is across the room as Zoey strides into the cafeteria. Her gaze sweeps toward me, just as it always does when she walks into a room, and I give her an encouraging smile, more than happy to get out of here if she wants to eat somewhere else, but her gaze flickers back to her usual table.
She pauses by the door as if trying to gather the courage to walk across the room, and when she looks at me again, I give her an encouraging nod, letting her know that she’s got this despite my thoughts on the situation. If I had my way, she would have gotten rid of her years ago, but Zoey wants this, so I’ll give her whatever support she needs.