The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1)(67)

Noah studied my eyes. “And you believe him?”

All of sudden, my throat was dry. “Should I?”

He held my gaze, his hand still on my neck. “Yes. I suppose you should,” he said tonelessly. Noah’s eyes were dark, his expression unreadable.

I knew I should care about his answer. I knew that what Jamie had said meant something—that I was, and had been, a foolish girl who coveted something many girls had coveted and paid for before, and that I would pay soon. I should haul back and smack him, strike a blow for feminism or something or at the very least, get out of the car.

But then his thumb traced my skin and without quite realizing it, I leaned toward him and rested my forehead against his. Noah’s lids dropped at my touch.

“You really should go to the doctor,” was all I could say. I hated myself for it.

His smile was nothing but a turned up corner of mouth. His bottom lip was split. Noah looked at me then, and leaned in closer. His eyes fell on my lips. “I’m busy,” he said in a low voice, pausing, lingering there with mere inches between us until I tilted my face closer to his without meaning to.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I whispered, even though I was the one who would probably get hurt.

Our noses touched, and there was just one perfect, aching moment separating our mouths from each other. “You can’t.”

Someone knocked on the driver’s side window, scaring me senseless. I broke away. Noah closed his eyes for a beat, then rolled down the window.

Daniel and Joseph stood there, Daniel’s face contorted in mock disapproval, while Joseph grinned.

“Sorry to break it up,” Daniel said, looking at me. “Just thought you’d want to know that Mom’s five minutes behind us.”

“What happened to your face?” Joseph asked Noah, clearly impressed.

Noah half-shrugged. “Got in a bit of a row.”

“Cool.”

“You want to come in?” Daniel asked Noah. “Get some ice for that?”

Noah glanced at the clock. “Five minutes?”

“She had to stop at the dry cleaners. You can make it if you hurry.”

We got out of the car and the four of us headed into the house. Joseph unlocked the door and ran to the kitchen, presumably to get ice for Noah’s face. Daniel rifled through the mail on the console table.

“What lucky institution of higher education accepted me today?” he asked, eyes on the envelopes. “Ah, Harvard. That’s nice. And Stanford!” Daniel grabbed my hand and twirled me in a circle.

Noah peered at the pile. “And Northwestern. And NYU. You ought to go to NYU. More diversity. It’s not healthy to have too many geniuses packed into one campus.”

Daniel grinned. “You have a point. But it is nice to have options,” he said, then placed the envelopes back down. He eyed Noah’s cuts appreciatively. “Aiden made them call an ambulance, and insisted on being carried out on a stretcher,” he said to Noah.

“I’d have preferred it if it were a coffin,” Noah said.

“I heard his mother’s calling for your expulsion, too, FYI.”

Noah’s eyes met my brother’s. “The rest of the board will never approve.”

Daniel nodded. “This is true.”

My eyes darted back and forth between them. “What do you two talk about when I’m not around?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Daniel said as he stuffed his keys in his pocket and grabbed his handful of validation. Joseph reappeared holding a Ziploc bag full of ice and handed it to Noah.

“Thanks,” Noah said with a grin. Joseph looked like he won the lottery. “I should go. I’ll see you in a few days?” Noah said to me.

I nodded. “Don’t forget to go to the doctor.”

Noah shot me a look. “Good-bye, Mara,” he said, and strolled off to his car. I narrowed my eyes as I watched him walk away, and closed the door once he was gone.

Daniel’s arms were crossed when I turned inside. I peered at him. “What?”

“You need to go to the doctor,” he said, looking at my arm.

I pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes. “Come on, Daniel.”

“Come on yourself. When was the last time you changed the dressings?”

“A few days ago,” I lied.

“Well, Mom said you have an appointment for a checkup. So, either I take you, or she does.”

“Fine,” I groaned and headed out the door. Daniel followed behind me.

“I heard about Jamie, by the way.”

“You know what really happened?” I asked my brother. He nodded. I stared at my feet. “I can’t believe Anna and Aiden did that to him. And they’re going to get away with it.” I felt a stabbing pain in my hands all of a sudden, and looked down. I’d been clenching my fists so that my nails dug into my palms. I tried to relax. “School is going to be misery without him.”

“At least you have Noah.”

I stared straight ahead. “It’s not like I’ve exceeded my friend quota,” I said quietly.

Daniel started the car and pulled out of the driveway. “I’m sorry I said that to you, you know.”

“It’s fine,” I said, looking out the window.