Page 55 of The Secret Of Us

I back away from him, getting closer to the wall as if I can blend into it and turn invisible.

“He carried me here,” Izzy tells him.

Luke stalks closer to me, his eyes narrowed.

“Noah, what are your intentions with my daughter?”

Daughter?!

“I… Your… What?” I stutter out at the exact same time that Izzy lets out a groan.

“Oh my god. Noah, ignore him. Luke, leave Noah alone.”

“I can leave if you want me to,” I suggest, looking toward the door and figuring out how quickly I can get to it before Luke takes me down.

“No, stay,” Izzy says. So I do. “Luke is my brother’s best friend and the biggest nuisance in my life.”

“That’s hurtful,” Luke says as he goes back toward her, his hand on his heart.

“How has Isaac put up with you for so long?” She pushes him away as soon as he gets close to her. “He’s just being weird.”

“I still want to know his intentions,” Luke says, pointing his finger at me.

“There are none!” Izzy raises her voice, and the force in it reminds me that this is meant to be fake.

Everything I’ve done for her since I saw her drop to the ground—my heart going with it—wasn’t for show. Not a single thing that’s happened since then has been fake for me.

“Can I tell him?” she asks me, something in her eyes I can’t quite name. All I can do is nod as I swallow the heavy lump in my throat.

Izzy lets out a deep sigh, closing her eyes for a few seconds before she turns back to Luke.

“Ryan wouldn’t leave me alone so Noah’s pretending to be my boyfriend. He carried me here, and now he’s going to help me back to my room. If Jinhee had an accident, you’d do it for her, so he’s doing it for me.”

I try to ignore the fact that she’s left out half the story, that she didn’t tell him that I cleaned the blood off her face and knees, that I wiped her tears away, that I kissed her. But all that is seared into my brain and I don’t think it’ll ever go away.

“And what’s in it for you?” Luke turns his attention to me, his expression softer than it was before.

“People don’t really like me so Izzy thought this arrangement might help with that.”

My throat tightens as I reduce our relationship to what it was originally meant to be—an arrangement to help us out.

It wasn’t meant to be holding her hand when no one’s around, it wasn’t meant to be putting my arm around her and kissing the top of her head when she confides in me. It wasn’t meant to be kissing her jaw, her cheek, because I wanted to soothe her. It wasn’t meant to be a single thing that I’ve been doing.

“Is that what’s been happening during practice?” Luke asks, his eyebrows furrowing as his expression morphs from confusion to concern.

I’m too embarrassed to admit to anything while Izzy’s in the room, but he takes my silence as enough of an answer.

“Leave it with me,” is all he says. Panic fills me at the thought of Luke confronting any of them about this.

“No, it’s fine,” I tell him, my voice coming out louder than I intended. I glance at Izzy for a quick second, but have to look away as soon as I see worry in her eyes. “You don’t have to say anything to them. It’s not a big deal.”

“Noah, if they’re bullying you, then it is a big deal,” Luke says gently.

Is that what’s been happening?

Logically, I know he’s probably right. They’ve been singling me out, spreading rumours about me, taunting me, and Ryan even knocked me down that first day. If I saw all this happening to anyone else, I would say the same thing as Luke. But for some reason, denial still overpowers my brain. That can’t be happening to me.

Luke must see something in my expression because he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose before he speaks again.

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