Lahat ng Kabanata ng CRAVING ISABELLA: Kabanata 61 - Kabanata 70

NOAHShe's already late so there's no point driving this way. I'm driving like a maniac, weaving through traffic. But then, the car gets quiet. Too quiet. I glance over, expecting to see her staring out the window or checking her phone.Instead, I find her head lolled back against the headrest. My eyes take in her pale skin. Is she okay? I doubt she is."Minnie?" I call out. She doesn't answer. Her eyelids flutter, and then she just sags. Her head falls back a little further."Minnie!" I reach over, my hand catching the side of her face. She’s cold. "Hey, look at me. Open your eyes."She moans, a tiny, weak sound. "Noah... I feel... dizzy...""I've got you. Just breathe," I say, but I’m already swinging the steering wheel hard to the left. Fuck Leo's diner. Fuck her shift. I’m not taking her to work so she can collapse behind a counter. I pull a sharp U-turn and head back toward the campus clinic. It’s closer than the hospital."Don't shut your eyes, you hear me?" I reach over and gra

HARDINThis is the first time I'll be trying this. It's just a show of force. That's it. Nothing extra. With that mindset, I follow Thierry out to his car. I know what people say about my brother. I know the reputation he's built with his fists in both the fighting grounds and the underground circles, but I'm tired of something. I'm tired of being the 'nice' one while he systematically dismantles my life. If he wants to play dirty by using my girl to get to me, then I'm done playing by the rules."Where are we going?" I ask as he peels out of the driveway."A place you probably shouldn't be seen," Thierry mutters, his eyes fixed on the road. "But you said 'anything,' right? The guys I know... they don't care about the Hawkins name. In fact, they’d probably enjoy taking a big shot like Noah down a peg or two."We drive for twenty minutes, heading toward the industrial district where the streetlights are smashed and the buildings look like hollowed-out ribcages. Thierry pulls up behind

ISABELLALast night, I put my phone on vibration mode. This morning, it's vibrating, rattling the wood of the nightstand. It's fucking drilling into my skull. I groan, my hand fumbling blindly across the surface until I knock over a half-empty glass of water. Finally, I grab the phone, squinting through one eye at the blinding brightness of the screen.CHLOE 💖 is flashing back at me in all caps, the FaceTime UI taking over the screen.I swipe to answer, barely getting the phone to my ear before I’m hit with a shrill... “Isabella, Oh My God!”I wince, the sound piercing through my morning brain fog. I shove the phone closer to my face, trying to muffle the speaker against my cheek. “Chloe... Chloe, shh!”She doesn’t hear me. Or, more likely, she’s just choosing to ignore me.“You're in Chicago!” she screeches. I can see her now, bouncing so hard on her bed. “Like, actual Chicago. With buildings and wind and... you're in a hotel room?"“Yes,” I whisper. My heart starts doing a nervou

NOAHThe wind off Lake Michigan is a physical thing... sharp, smelling of deep water and cold iron. I'm leaning against a wrought-iron railing that's frozen, but I don't move. I'm just watching the woman beside me.She's caught in the middle of a Navy Pier crowd, bodies pressing and shuffling around her, laughter and music vendors calling out deals. Her hair whipped into this wild, dark halo that keeps lashing across her face, strands sticking to her lips, her cheeks. She doesn't even bother fixing it. She doesn't even care. She's staring at a vendor's stall, her cheeks flushed a deep, wind-burnt pink that makes her eyes look bright.She's wearing skinny jeans and my hoodie that falls down her butt. "Look," she calls out. She turns, catching my eye, and jogs over. Her boots make a hollow sound on the wooden boards of the pier. She reaches me and taps my arm. "He said he can carve a bird that actually mimics a cardinal. Do you think it works? Or is he just a really good lip-syncher?"

ISABELLAI sink to the floor, my back against the door. I don't care that it's super cold. I might get sick... hell, I probably will... but I don't care."Noah, please. Just open the door. I don't want to go back when we're fighting. I don't want to leave like this.""Go to sleep," he says, his voice sounding further away, like he's moved to the bed. "You got what you wanted. You're going back to that man in the morning. I'm sure he'll have a great story about how he hurt his hand. Just don't ask him whose face he was trying to break when he did it."The worst thing right now is the way his words sting. I close my eyes tight, trying to visualize Hardin. He’s an athlete. He’s in the middle of the season. He wouldn't risk a career-ending injury unless he was completely out of control. It makes sense. It makes a terrifying amount of sense.I pull my knees to my chest. "If he really did that..." I start. "If he really sent someone after you... Then why didn't you tell me? Why let me sit h