004

LEAH

“I—I—” The words wouldn’t line up.

“Look at me,” he said.

Slowly, against every survival instinct demanding I turn and run, I lifted my chin. My gaze traveled up the broad expanse of his chest until my eyes finally met his.

“Enough pretending, Leah.” he said, stepping closer until the heat radiating from his body reached mine.

“Enough acting like we don’t know each other. You wanna talk or something? Just say something Leah. How’s life?”

“This isn’t the right time to talk about this.”

“Then when?” His voice didn’t rise, his jaw tightening as he challenged my avoidance. “When, Leah?”

I glanced past his shoulder and my stomach dropped. A small crowd had already gathered near the lockers, phones half lifted, that particular hush that meant people were watching something they’d repeat later. Of course. I was standing in the middle of a hallway with the school’s golden boy, hockey captain, the guy half the student body had a running crush on, and I’d basically just been rescued by him in front of everyone.

Heat climbed straight up my neck. “People are watching. We shouldn’t make a scene.”

He glanced at the crowd without much interest, then back at me. “I don’t care who’s watching. This isn’t about them.”

I stiffened and tried to step past him. His hand caught mine, gentle, but enough to stop me cold, and he turned me back to face him.

“Leah.” Just my name, quiet and something in the way he said it went straight through the center of my chest.

I swallowed hard, pulling my wrist away from his touch, though the skin where his fingers had rested still burned. "I had better get going," I muttered, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to keep it steady.

“Wait—”

I was already walking. He fell into step beside me anyway, out through the doors, and before I could put any real distance between us his fingers found mine again.

“At least let me drive you home.” he offered, looking down at me with a serious expression.

My eyes nearly popped out of my skull. Absolutely not. There was no way in hell I was going to let him give me a ride. Absolutely not. The horror of the possibility flashed through my mind. If I climbed into his car, he would drive me to the destination we now shared. He would find out that his house was now my house. He would discover that my mother was the new lover his father had brought into their lives. The secret would be blown entirely apart, and I was not prepared to handle the fallout of that bomb detonating today.

I needed to find a way to dodge him, and I needed to find it immediately. My mind raced, grasping at any plausible lie.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” I said quickly.

Asher did not let go. His brow furrowed slightly as he maintained his hold. "You should not worry. I can drop you off right at your house."

“I’m not going home right now. I’m waiting for my friend.” I threw a nervous smile at him and walked off fast, leaving him standing there in the middle of the courtyard like I hadn’t just lied straight to his face.

The courtyard was just as crowded as the hallway had been. Several students had gathered near the entrance, some already holding their phones in their hands, their thumbs flying across the screens. This was about to be so bad. Their voices pitched just low enough to pretend they weren’t talking about me directly.

“What’s going on with them?”

“Are they a thing now?”

“Did you see him grab her hand like that?”

“Isn’t she dating Noah?”

I rolled my eyes hard enough to feel it in my skull and scanned the entrance until I found Emilia standing near the doors, eyes wide, one hand pressed flat against her chest like she’d witnessed a car crash.

She’d seen everything.

“I know, I know, I’ll explain,” I said, grabbing her arm and pulling her along before she could plant her feet and demand answers right there in front of an audience.

"You had better do exactly that," Emilia replied, her tone sharp with confusion as she hurried to keep up with my pace. "Because you have been behaving incredibly strangely since this morning."

I pulled her into the first empty classroom I found and shut the door behind us.

She dropped her bag on a desk and crossed her arms. “Talk.”

I took a breath, and it still didn’t feel like enough air. “Asher. I know him. From before I moved here.”

Emilia’s jaw dropped, and her arms fell to her sides. "Are you kidding me?" she yelled, her voice echoing off the empty desks.

“Keep your voice down.”

“Leah.” She lowered it, but only slightly. “You’ve been sitting next to me in three classes acting like that boy doesn’t exist, and now you’re telling me you know him?”

“We grew up together. Back in New York.” I sat on the edge of a desk, my legs suddenly not interested in holding me up properly. “He’s — he was basically —well like enemy with my brother. That’s why we never talk. Never talked.”

She blinked at me, processing that slower than I expected. “Wait.” Her whole face shifted. “You have a brother?”

I let out a long breath, and it came out shakier than I meant it to. “There’s a lot to explain.”

She pulled out the chair across from me and sat down, folding her hands like she was settling in for something long. “I’ve got all day.”