Page 28 of When the Stars Rise

The trolls are having a field day, and the great debate continues. There are tons of reels and posts comparing me to Everly, and I know I shouldn’t have gone down that rabbit hole. It never leads to anything good.

But if those photos hadn’t come out, would Noah have pretended it never happened?

The more I think about it, the harder the betrayal hits. Red-hot anger bubbles to the surface and threatens to erupt. I glare at the source of my anger. Noah’s eyes are closed, and his face looks peaceful and untroubled, like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

I flick on the lights and give him a shove, interrupting his peaceful slumber. He grunts and shoots me a look. “What the hell? Did you do that on purp—”

I shove him again, trying to push him off the bed, and he gives me a wounded look like he’s the injured party. “What the hell are you doing?"

“How could you?” I shout.

He jumps off the bed and holds up his hands like he’s innocent. “Okay, I see what’s going on here. You had another one of those freaky dreams that get me into trouble—”

I grab my weapon of choice, jump onto the mattress, and smack him with a pillow.

“Whoa. Calm down there, Tinkerbell. Aren’t we a bit old to be having a pillow fight?” He looks amused, and that does it.

A growl erupts from the back of my throat, and I launch myself at his shoulders, trying to knock him down. I don’t know why I ever thought that would work. Before I can process what’s happening, my back hits the mattress, and he pins my wrists to it, caging me in his arms, his face hovering right above mine.

“Let go of me,” I grit out, thrashing on the mattress, trying to break free from his hold. “If you don’t let me go, I’ll knee you in the balls.”

He laughs at my futile attempts. I can’t even lift my knee, let alone get near his balls. Nothing I do could physically harm him.

“You used to love this game,” he says with a smirk as his gaze flits from my eyes to my mouth, where it stays for a beat too long, and I’m suddenly conscious of the weight of his body on top of mine. The heat emanating from his skin. His hard body. God, he’s so hard.Everywhere.

I don’twantto want him, and I don’t want to be reminded of how good this feels, so I shake it off and glare at him. “This isn’t a game.”

The playful gleam in his eye vanishes, and his brow furrows when he realizes I’m serious. “What’s going on, Hales?”

My eyes narrow. “Like you don’t know.”

With a sigh, he releases me and pushes off the mattress, taking the heat of his body with him. He crosses his arms over his chest. He doesn’t look so amused anymore. “Are you still thinking about that kiss?”

What really gets to me is the way he’s acting like this is no big deal. He doesn’t even have the common decency to show remorse for his actions, and that riles me up even more.

I scramble off the bed and stand opposite him. The bed takes up most of the space in this room but the mattress between us serves as a buffer.

“What if I kissed Bodhi?” I throw in his face. “How would you feel about that?”

Noah rubs his hand over his mouth. “Wouldn’t like it much.”

I point to the door. “Go!”

“Come on, Hales.” Instead of leaving, he leans against the wall, crossing one ankle over the other, and gives me that panty-melting smile that made me fall for him in the first place.

Typical Noah, trying to charm his way out of this. He’s one of those guys who was born to lean and look cool doing it.

It takes me back to when we were fifteen. I was walking down the school hallway on the first day of our sophomore year, and Noah was leaning against my locker, looking like James Dean in a white T-shirt and denim.

A gorgeous heartbreaker with more swagger than any fifteen-year-old guy had a right to.

I remember the moment so clearly, how the air crackled with energy, and my heart skipped a beat. Even in a crowded hallway, he was all I could see. His smile. His pouty lips. His messy, perfect, dirty-blond hair. The way his shoulders had gotten broader and his muscles more defined over the summer.

That was the day it hit me. I was in love with my best friend, and I didn’t want other girls looking at him, touching him, or kissing his perfect lips.

“You can’t hold this against me forever,” he says, snapping me out of my reverie.

It’s how he says it—so cool and cavalier, like I’m making a big deal out of nothing that spurs me into action.