Page 96 of One Last Time

I swallowed the feeling back down far more easily this time.

Plus it helped a lot when she said, “He’s not answering my calls or messages either. I’m kind of worried about him.”

“He’s done this before,” I pointed out. “Usually when he’s mad or thinks he’s messed up or something.”

“The Flynn brothers and their need to cool off,” she joked with a roll of her eyes. “He’ll probably be back later, though. I know you said he took off pretty quick yesterday, but he really does want to talk to you. I don’t know aboutwhat,exactly, so you can get that look off your face right now, missy. He’s been tight-lipped with me.” Amanda mimed zipping her lips.

Whether or not he was still “cooling off” or just wanted some space or whatever it was, I felt my gut twist with the knowledge that something was going on. I needed to talk to him. I left Amanda to pack up the kitchen, fetching my keys off the table I’d dropped them on.

“I think I know where he is.”

• • •

I breathed a small sigh of relief when I found Noah’s motorcycle in the parking lot—but it wasn’t a sensation that lasted for long.

I got out of the car and climbed up the hill, following the path Noah had shown me to the spot I knew he liked. Where he’d brought me last summer. Where we’d reallytalkedabout things and kissed beneath a fireworks show.

Where he’d come to mull things over and pull his head out of his ass after race day.

Where he’d come now.

The feeling in my gut twisted a little more. It made my palms prickle and sweat, made my lungs feel tight.

I spotted Noah at the top of the hill. His leather jacket was cast behind him, along with his keys and his phone. He’d changed his clothes since yesterday; he must have gone back home to his parents’ house, like Amanda said. He sat hugging his knees, chin propped on them as he stared out at the view of the city.

He looked so small like that, so vulnerable, and so very not like Noah.

His head twitched at the sound of my arrival.

“Hi,” I said quietly.

There was a beat before he replied, “Hey.”

He unfurled his legs, stretching them out in front of him, his hands planted on either side of his hips. I sat down, mimicking his position, but turned my face toward his.

He needed a shave.

Or, well, maybe he didn’t. The stubble was a good look on him. It made him look more mature, accentuated the squareness of his jaw. I resisted the urge to reach out and run my fingers over it.

Maybe I should’ve let Noah talk first, but with the silence stretching on between us, I couldn’t stand it any longer. And besides, I had something to say, too.

“I wanted to say, you were right about Levi. All of you. You all tried to say something, and I didn’t want to hear it.Notthat that makes up for how you acted on race day or for going behind my back to talk to him about it, but…”

“Yeah,” Noah sighed. “I probably could’ve handled things a little differently.”

I shrugged. Maybe we both could’ve.

“What changed your mind?” he asked.

“He told me he liked me. And, um…he sort of, kind of…kissed me. A little. Like, a peck. Sort of…sort of more like a goodbye than anything else,” I tried to explain, only realizing once I said it aloud that that had beenexactlywhat it had felt like.

If I expected Noah to get angry about it, I was surprised. He just nodded.

I studied him for a few seconds. There was no tension in any of his muscles. No tautness in his expression, nothing but an odd sense of calm about him that I really, really was not used to—especially after telling him that a guy who wasnothim had kissed me.

His calm demeanor only unnerved me. The feeling in my stomach worsened; my heart thudded hard in my chest.

“You’re not gonna say anything? Not even ‘I told you so’?”