I shot him a look. “It’s not jammed. I know it was Vee. She told me to stay away from you.”
I studied him for a reaction, but his face showed no discernible expression. Then, the very slightest flicker of anger. “She did, did she?”
“She said you’re unpredictable.” I shouldn’t have goaded him. I wasn’t sure why I did. Maybe a part of me just wanted him to prove he wasn’t what Vee feared he was. I wanted to him tell me he was a good person, so then I could allow myself to have these feelings multiplying inside of me instead of having to stifle them.
He looked away a moment, dragging a hand through his hair before bringing his stunning eyes back to me. “She might be right, but you can trust me.”
“Why me?”
“Because I planned for everything, but I didn’t plan for you.” Noah scraped his open palm over his stubble. “You wanted to know why I’m here? Well, you can rest assured my reason doesn’t involve you.”
“So … I’m safe but other people aren’t?” I asked, concerned.
“Don’t worry, Estella. They’ve got it coming to them.”
“Who does?”
“Get on the bike,” he repeated, his voice more forceful now.
I stared at him for a long moment, then, without a word, I turned and walked away from him. I was sick of his evasiveness and non-answers. I was a few yards from the school when I heard his engine start up. The noise grew louder, and I realised he was riding slowly along the edge of the path, following me. I gritted my teeth, refusing to acknowledge him and knowing other students were watching us. I hated drawing attention to myself, but Noah had a way of creating a scene.
I arrived at the supermarket and spotted Aoife and Jimmy waiting outside.
“Hey, I just need to run in and grab a few things,” I said. “I’ll only be a minute.”
“No problem, take your time,” Aoife replied. Jimmy gave me his usual silent nod and shy smile. He was one of the quietest, cutest boys ever. Aoife was lucky to have someone like him.
I couldn’t hear Noah’s bike anymore, so I guessed he’d given up following me. I went about my business, heading toward the toiletry aisle, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the plan he mentioned. I knew I was right when I got a funny vibe off him. He had ulterior motives, though I was glad they didn’t involve me. Or was that a lie?
Then again, how could they involve me?
He probably didn’t even know I existed until he arrived back here. Vee had mentioned they hadn’t been in touch in ten years.
I grabbed the cheapest shampoo, conditioner and bodywash I could find, then picked up a packet of discount sanitary towels.
“Maybe one day I won’t even have to look at the prices,” I murmured wistfully to myself.
“If you need money, I can give you some.” Noah’s voice startled me, and I jumped right out of my skin, breath quickening.
“Where the hell did you come from?”
“Here, give me those,” he said, holding his arms out for my items.
I eyed him suspiciously. “Why?”
“So I can pay for them for you.”
“No, thank you. I don’t need any favours from you.”
“Who said it’s a favour? Contrary to what my sister would have you believe, my heart isn’t completely black. I want to help you.”
“Okay, if that’s the truth, I’ll ask again. Why?”
Noah smiled at me like he respected my mistrust of him. “It’s actually a fair trade-off. I need your assistance with a few things.”
“What sort of things?”
“For a start, I need you to deliver some letters.”
“Ever heard of stamps?”
“These particular letters need to be hand delivered.”
“Why?”
Now he grinned, leaning closer as his voice dropped to a whisper. “Because a letter delivered by a stranger’s hand makes more of an impression than one dropped off by your friendly neighbourhood postman.”
I studied him a long moment, the hairs on the back of my neck rising. I was so preoccupied and confused by what he said that I didn’t immediately realise he was plucking the items from my arms. I blinked, embarrassed when I remembered the sanitary towels, but Noah didn’t bat an eyelid.
“Wait, give those back,” I protested, but he didn’t listen, instead taking long strides toward the counter to pay. I hurried to catch up and grimaced when I saw who the cashier was. Mary Crosby was one of the biggest gossips in town. She eyed us both, not saying a word, but I knew she was mentally coming to certain conclusions. Especially when Noah turned his head to me, his hands full, and asked, “Grab my wallet out of my back pocket for me, will you, babe?”
My stomach fluttered at the endearment, while Mary’s eyebrows rose. I reluctantly dug into his pocket, doing my best to retrieve his wallet as quickly as possible. Without thinking, I opened it and saw the top of an ID card in one of the compartments. It had Noah’s picture, but not his name. Instead it said Aleksy Mazur. What the hell? I swiftly closed the wallet and handed it to Noah. Thankfully, he hadn’t seen me look inside. My thoughts ran a mile a minute as I filed away the Eastern European sounding name for further investigation. Was it an alias? A fake identity?