Page 81 of Sweet Ruin

“I’m glad we could sort that out, newbie,” he said calmly as though nothing unusual had just happened. “Now are you sitting with us?”

“Only because I’m terrified you might sing for me again.”

“Please. You know you loved every moment of it.”

As I settled into my seat, Kaden entered the classroom, squeezing his way through the dispersing crowd by the door. His face lit up with a bright smile as he approached. “You guys made up,” he said, taking his usual seat on the other side of Luther.

“Yes, but I really don’t want to talk about it,” I replied.

“You missed my apology,” Luther said. “It was beautiful.”

“I heard it from halfway down the hallway.” Kaden laughed. “I thought you were joking about the song.”

“Why would I joke about that? Newbie deserved more than just a simpleI’m sorry.Didn’t you, newbie.”

Luther winked at me, and I shook my head as I laughed at him. It felt good to be sitting with the boys again. After the weekend’s events, I wasn’t sure what was coming my way next, but this was one change I could get on board with—so long as Luther never sang for me again.

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

Noah was sitting at the desk right behind mine when I arrived at our business management class later that day. He hadn’t sat there since before Halloween. As I entered the room, he gave me a hopeful smile. I didn’t return the look. I didn’t want to encourage him. But as soon as I sat down, he leaned forward to talk to me.

“We should get together and work on our project soon,” Noah said. I had planned to try to ignore him for the duration of this class, but that wasn’t exactly an option when we had an assignment to complete together.

I turned in my chair to face him. “I thought you wanted us to work on it separately?”

“Maybe I changed my mind.”

“Maybe that doesn’t matter,” I replied. “I’ve already done my part of the assignment anyway.” It was a total lie, but he didn’t need to know that. I was sticking to my plan of keeping as much distance from Noah as possible.

“You haven’t emailed it to me.”

“I’m just putting the finishing touches on it,” I lied again.

“Okay, I guess we’ll just have to get together so you can help me with my part.”

“You don’t need my help.”

“I do. I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“You literally just stole your grandfather’s company out from under him,” I hissed. “I’m sure a business management class project is well within your capabilities.”

He shrugged and smiled at me. “Are you willing to take that chance? What if we fail?”

He knew me far too well, and I grunted reluctantly. “Fine. We can meet in the library on Tuesday night to work on it.”

“It’s a date,” he said.

“It’s not a—”

“Good afternoon, class,” the teacher said, interrupting me as he entered the class.

“It’s not a date,” I finished before turning to the front of the room. I could practically feel Noah grinning behind me. Lily was sitting beside me, and she shot me a confused look. I whispered to her that I’d explain after class.

But when the bell rang, I noticed Noah getting ready to annoy me again, and I made a beeline for the door. I didn’t want him repeating that our study session was a date. Especially not where other people might hear.

Lily must have been super curious about my interaction with Noah because she caught up with me as I was making my way across the courtyard back to the dorms.

“Hey,” she said, sounding slightly out of breath. “You took off after class. Are you okay?”

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