Pushing the Limits (Pushing the Limits #1)(25)

I clamped my hand over my mouth, to keep both words and vomit from coming out. Noah ended the call and placed the phone back on the other side of the counter. The room tilted and sweat formed between my br**sts. Even my dad believed that if I tried to remember, I’d lose my mind … again.

“Echo?” Noah’s deep, raspy voice hummed inside of me, but I couldn’t look at him.

Pressing my lips together, I shook my head and withdrew into my hair.

“I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

Noah brushed my hair behind my shoulder and tucked a straggling curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins, and why did it have to be now?

“Look at me.”

I met his dark brown eyes. His fingers skimmed the back of my hand. The sensation tickled like a spring breeze yet hit me like a wave rushing from the ocean. His gaze shifted to my covered arms. “You didn’t do that, did you? It was done to you?”

No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked. My entire world collapsed around me as I answered, “Yes.”

NOAH

I leaned against my locker, scanning the students heading to lunch. Isaiah and Beth stood across from me near the side doors, waiting for the hallway to clear. If Echo stopped by her locker before lunch, she had to walk this desolate area to reach the cafeteria. I needed to know if she’d pushed back her appointment. That’s what I told myself. Our plan wouldn’t work if she failed.

Honestly, she put me on edge. She’d refused to make eye contact with me during calculus and fled the room the minute the bell rang. After her admission yesterday, she left the office. One moment, she’d relaxed her warm body next to mine, taking my comfort and strength. Seconds later—gone.

“Are you even listening to me, man?” Isaiah asked. Two blondes walked past us, huddled together. One sneered as she stared at the sleeve of tattoos on Isaiah’s arms. He smirked while appraising their chests.

“Yeah.” No. Something about cars and his jacked-up job at the local auto shop.

“No, you’re not,” said Beth. “You’re looking for Echo Emerson.” She waggled her eyebrows. Part of me regretted asking her for Echo’s background. “Screwed her yet?”

“No.” The look I gave her made football players shit their pants. Beth simply shrugged and rolled her eyes.

She flicked the unlit cigarette she held in her hand, anxiously waiting for the teachers to go into the lunchroom so she could sneak open the side door. “What’s your obsession with her anyhow? Every time that girl comes around you stare at her like you’re the Coyote and she’s the Road Runner. Either f**k her or move on. You and the ex-popular chick will never be homecoming court material.”

We could have been. If life was different, if my parents had never died, if I’d never gotten screwed by the system, if … I shut down the ifs. “She’s my tutor, and she’s helping me out with some stuff. Leave it—and her—alone.”

“Don’t say you haven’t thought about it, man. She’s … How did Beth put it? Oh, she has a rocking body,” Isaiah said.

Beth slid her left hand underneath Isaiah’s elbow and flicked the lighter. Isaiah jumped out of the way, smacking the flames lapping his shirt. “You’re crazy.”

“Damn straight,” she replied.

The hallway finally emptied of students and teachers. Beth opened the side door, poked her head out and lit the cigarette. She took a long draw and blew the smoke out the door. “Maybe you’ve been alone for too long. Whatever happened to that Bella chick?”

“We ain’t living through Bella again. Remember how clingy she got?” said Isaiah.

She flicked the ashes. “Yeah, I forgot. Bella’s off the list. What about Roseanna? She basically ran out the door anytime Isaiah and I came downstairs.”

“I screwed Roseanna, not Noah. He had Rose.”

Our stroll down memory lane reeked like a garbage dump. “I’m not lonely and I don’t need a girl. Drop it, Beth.”

“I don’t mind if you hook up with Echo. Have at it. In fact, I’ll stay the night at my mom’s house and let Isaiah have the bedroom if you need an all-nighter with privacy. But here’s the truth, Noah. Echo might be on the outs since she became a cutter and all, but she’s still a popular chick. She’ll bail on you and treat you like shit in the end.” She took another draw. “There’s only so many times people like us can have our hearts ripped out. She’s a ripper.”

The muscles in the back of my neck knotted. “For the last time, I’m not screwing her or anyone else. But call her a cutter again and I’ll set fire to every single pack of cigarettes you buy.”

Beth laughed. “Jesus, Noah. You’ve got it bad. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“If you two are done, I’d like to get some lunch. Only thing left in the fridge this morning was a slice of bologna and mustard,” Isaiah said.

Beth flicked her cigarette out the door and shut it. “Mustard. I ate the bologna for breakfast.”

SHE NEVER CAME TO LUNCH. Her entire table full of porcelain doll rejects did, but not Echo. I didn’t sweat it, at first. I waited patiently for her to show in physics and then business technology. No show in either class. Echo’s favorite gal pals went out of their way to snub me, though. Each stuck their little china noses in the air while staring in my direction. I simply smiled, aggravating the shit out of them.