Untouchable (Haven Falls 1)

“Well, from the looks of it, Rivers isn’t going to let me get close enough anyway, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Don’t stress about Rivers,” she murmurs, keeping her eyes on the road. “He just doesn’t like change. He’s… protective. But doesn’t matter what he thinks anyway. Noah was the one who brought you in which means you’ve gotten his stamp of approval, and I like you, so as far as I’m concerned, everything’s cool.”

Tully drops me off a few minutes later before disappearing back down the road. I make my way inside and for the first time in eight months, I find myself excited to go to school tomorrow.

I don’t know what’s happening here. I don’t know what to think about Noah or the reason behind his attention, but I do know that for the first time in a long time, someone showed me kindness, and not only that, I think I might even have a friend in Tully.

I’m confused, but it’s a welcome confusion because it means something is finally looking up for me. I just hope this is a good thing and that I’m not making a mistake by letting Noah worm his way into my world. Who knows, come tomorrow, he’ll probably forget all about me.

With a sigh, I head down to my room and drop down onto my bed before pulling out Tully’s Kindle. After searching through it for a while and finding out how the hell it works, I pull up the book version of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ and let the pages take me away while wondering what tomorrow holds.

Chapter 6

I push my way through the door of Miss Jameson’s classroom for my lunchtime detention. Apparently, she was a bit pissed that I’d skipped out on yesterday’s detention and was more than happy to hand me another detention slip the second I walked into homeroom this morning.

I can’t even complain. I’m having a pretty good day.

I haven’t seen or spoken to Noah today, but just having that day with him yesterday was enough to brighten my spirits despite the disgruntled looks I keep getting from Monica, and the hissing that comes from Candice.

I just don’t give a shit. Noah Cage made me feel human again and I’m going to hold onto that feeling for as long as I can because no matter what, those bitchy cows can’t take it away from me.

I give Miss Jameson a beaming smile as I waltz past her and I have to smother a laugh at the way she blanches at me. I don’t think I’ve smiled at a teacher since Kaylah and Jackson up and left. Besides yesterday with Noah and Tully, I doubt I’ve smiled at all.

At this point, I don’t even care if neither one of them talk to me again, I’m just thankful that their kindness was able to shine a little light on the shadows that seem to have taken over my world. Though, it would be nice if it could become a regular occurrence. I mean, I haven’t exactly had much human interaction since… you know. Spending the afternoon with them was refreshing. I’ll even admit that listening to Tully and Rivers bickering was extremely entertaining, despite the lethal death glare I got from him.

I find a seat amongst the handful of other students who managed to land themselves a lunchtime detention and chuckle to myself when I realize that Miss Jameson’s eyes are still cautiously watching me. She looks extremely suspicious and when I glance up and give her another smile, she can’t help but question me. “Is everything alright, Henley?”

For the first time in a long time, I don’t actually lie when I answer this question. “Yes, actually,” I say. “It is.”

She studies me for another brief moment before deciding she must like what she sees and smiles back at me. Miss Jameson is quite young so I wouldn’t put it past her to keep up with the gossip of her students. No doubt she knows all about the drama in my life and from the relief shining through her eyes, I’d dare say she’s happy for me.

After spending the night reading all about Mr. Grey, I can’t help but reach for Tully’s Kindle. As my fingers wrap around the cool tablet, the door swings open.

My mouth drops.

My eyes narrow.

My stomach begins to flutter.

Noah Cage walks in looking as though he’s so damn hot, the ground must melt where he walks. He strides past Miss Jameson’s desk like he’s walked into detention every day of his life, and even she can’t help but roam her eyes quickly over his muscly, tattooed arms.

As he turns to walk up the row of students, his eyes rise from the ground. He scans over the chairs, looking for a place to sit when his eyes connect with mine. Shock registers for a second before a pleased grin etches itself onto his sunkissed face. “Fancy meeting you here,” he says, cutting across the row and kicking out the chair beside me.