Chapter 2: The Ghost In The Passenger Seat

NOAH’S POV

The interior of my car usually felt like a sanctuary but as the door slammed shut and Elena Voss scrambled into the passenger seat, the air didn't just change, it vanished.

She looked like a disaster. Her blonde hair was a matted, dark gold mess, plastered to her forehead and neck. Her trench coat was a sodden weight, and she was clutching a laptop bag to her chest like it was the last life vest on the Titanic and she was dripping. Everywhere.

"Geez," I muttered, the word tasting like ash. "You’re getting water everywhere. Do you have any idea how much this interior costs?"

It was a deflection. If I complained about the leather, I didn't have to acknowledge the way my heart had just performed a violent rebellion against my ribs. I hadn't been this close to her in three years. Three years of silence, three years of fueled-up resentment, and three years of convincing myself that I’d forgotten the exact shade of her eyes.

I was a liar.

"Nice to see you too, Noah," she snapped, her voice trembling—partly from the cold, and partly, I hoped, from the same jagged tension vibrating through me. "I’m so sorry my near-death experience is inconveniencing your upholstery. Should I have asked the rain to wait until I found a plastic bag to wrap myself in?"

My grip tightened on the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. I kept my eyes fixed on the windshield, watching the wipers struggle against the rain. "You’re soaking wet, you’re late, and you’re currently ruining a six-figure car. Ethan owes me a massive favour for this."

"Ethan owes you? I’m the one stuck in a car with a guy who has the personality of a cactus," she countered, her movements frantic as she fumbled with the seatbelt. "If I’d known Ethan was sending the campus grinch, I would have walked."

I finally turned my head and I regretted it. Up close, the glow of the dashboard lights mapped out the sharp curve of her jaw and the defiant flare of her nostrils. She looked exhausted, freezing, and infuriatingly beautiful. The girl I’d loved was buried somewhere under that wet coat, but the woman sitting there now was a stranger who held the keys to every secret I’d ever tried to bury.

I reached out, my fingers hovering over the heater. I wanted to leave it cold. I wanted her to feel the chill, to feel even a fraction of the winter she’d left in my chest when she walked away. But her teeth chattered cutting through my resolve. I snarled under my breath and cranked the heater to max.

"Don't get used to it," I growled as the vents began to hiss with warmth. "I just don't want you catching pneumonia on my watch plus Ethan's drama on top of everything else."

"Just drive the damn car, Noah," she snapped.

"Buckle up, then," I replied, shifting the Mercedes into gear. The engine growled as we pulled away from the curb, the tires splashing through a deep puddle that sounded like a wave crashing against the hull.

The silence that followed was suffocating. Every time she shifted, the sound of her wet coat against the leather was like sandpaper on my nerves. She was still shivering, her small frame shaking so hard I could feel it through the center console.

"Gosh, you're pathetic," I muttered.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice defensive.

Without looking at her, I grabbed my spare team jacket from the back seat,the heavy, insulated one with HALE embroidered across the shoulders in Ridgewood gold and shoved it at her chest.

"Put it on," I commanded. "You’re turning blue, and it’s distracting me from the road."

"I don't want your jacket."

"It wasn't a request, Elena. Put it on, or get out. I’m not spending the next ten minutes watching you vibrate like a leaf."

She glared at me, but the cold won. She shed her soaked trench coat and slid into my jacket. It swallowed her, her hands disappearing into the sleeves. The sight of her wearing my name made something dark and possessive flare in my gut. I hated her for still fitting so perfectly in my space.

"You're at the North Dorms, right?" I asked, pulling back onto the road.

"Since when do you care where I live?"

"I don't. I just want you out of my car before the humidity starts growing mold on the ceiling."

"You really haven't changed, have you? Still the same arrogant, self-absorbed Noah Hale. The world still revolves around you and your leather seats."

"And you're still the same Elena," I shot back. "Still playing the victim while you wait for someone else to clean up your mess."

"I am not playing the victim! I was stuck. I called my brother. I didn't ask for YOU!"

"And yet, here we are." I took a sharp turn onto University Avenue. "Fate has a twisted sense of humour, doesn't it? Or maybe it’s just Ethan. He’s too busy making out with some girl in the equipment room to realize he’s throwing his sister to the wolves."

We pulled into the circular drive of the North Dorms. The rain was still coming down. I brought the car to a stop and put it in park, but I didn't unlock the doors.

Elena reached for the handle, then realized it was stuck. She looked at me, a flash of genuine fear crossing her face. "Noah, let me out."

"Three years, Elena," I said, finally looking at her. The air in the car felt like it was charged with static electricity. "Three years, and you think you can just walk back into my life and act like you didn't destroy everything?"

"I didn't destroy anything! You were the one who walked away!" Her voice broke, and for a second, I saw a glimpse of the girl from my past.

I growled, leaning toward her. The scent of her, rain and that damn vanilla was everywhere. "You made your choice. And now, you’re back here, acting like a stranger."

"Because we are strangers, Noah." She reached out, her hand pressing against my chest to keep me back. Her palm was cold but where she touched me felt like I was being branded. "The Noah I knew wouldn't have left me in the rain. The Noah I knew wouldn't be this monster."

"The Noah you knew died three years ago," I whispered.

I reached over her, my arm brushing against her shoulder, and hit the door unlock button.

"Get out, Voss. And keep the jacket. I don't want it back after you've touched it."

She didn't hesitate. She grabbed her bag and shoved the door open. She stepped out into the mud, but before she shut the door, she turned back, my oversized jacket hanging off her shoulders.

"You're right about one thing," she said, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "Fate does have a twisted sense of humour because of all the people who could have rescued me tonight, it had to be the one person I wish I’d never met."

Then she slammed the door.

I watched her run toward the dorm entrance. I sat there for a long time after she left, the engine idling. I told myself I hated her. I told myself I wanted her gone but as I pulled away, all I could think about was that she was still wearing my name on her back, and I was still a fool for letting her keep it.