But this is different. Much, much different.
Penny swallows, her pale throat bobbing. "I didn't break any rules. I didn't do anything. Please just let me go."
I shake my head. "Not a fucking chance. Actions have consequences, Penny."
Her lip is trembling now. "You're the one who came and found me. I didn't do anything."
She presses a hand to my chest to push me back.
Bad move.
I wrap my hand around her wrist. In an instant, her arm is pinned above her head and our bodies are pressed together.
Her breath catches. I don't miss the way she leans towards me, rather than away.
Some habits are hard to break.
We haven't been this close in a long time, but her body remembers.
God knows mine does, too.
Shoving my face right in hers, I hiss, "For two years, I've been content to leave you alone. As long as you did the same for me. But you violated that truce. So I'm done keeping my distance. I'm going to be a part of your life again, Penny. But not in a good way. Not in a nice way. I'm going to make you hurt. Make you suffer. And I won't quit until I've ruined you completely."
Silence. The longest silence of her life, I'm sure.
I don't blink. Don't look away.
I want her to see how much I mean what I'm saying.
"Why are you doing this?" she whispers in a tight, choked voice. "What did I do?"
I sigh. My answer is a single word: "Haley."
Caleb had come to me a few weeks ago when Penny's campaign of bullying against Haley was at its worst. He wanted me to try and do something to help her.
"You know Penny," he said. "Tell her to back off."
I used to know Penny. I sure as fuck don't anymore. I shut that door and locked it a long time ago.
I told him he was on his own.
But tonight, I've changed my mind. Caleb is my brother-in-arms, and Haley is his woman. That means protecting her is my responsibility, too.
That's why I'm here.
To tell Penny to stay in her fucking lane.
Or else I'll be forced to intervene in more damaging ways.
Penny's jaw shifts to one side and she clicks her teeth in annoyance. Her breath huffs out, making her chest heave.
When she speaks again, she uses her usual sassy bitch tone. Her Queen Bee voice.
"Why do you care about her? I thought she belonged to Caleb. Is he sharing? Based on the stupid grin he has been wearing and your perpetual frown, I'd guess not. Then again, you've never really been one for smiles."
She's trying to assert control of the situation.
But she's not in charge here. I'm not one of the stupid bimbos she calls friends.
I'm the one calling the shots now.
I ignore her question, mostly because I know it will bother her.
"When shit hit the fan between us, I told you to stay out of my life. Haley's part of my life." Her eyes narrow, but I continue. "Leave her the fuck alone."
I let go of her arm, and Penny spins away from me, brushing her hands down the front of her jeans as though she can erase the memory of our bodies touching.
When she stands tall again, her legs are spread and her arms are crossed, making her cleavage even more noticeable.
But I refuse to be distracted. I keep my eyes locked on hers.
"Is that why I don't hear any rumors about who you're with, Noah? Because you're slumming?"
Her voice sounds desperate, nasally and a bit higher pitched. The same way mothers have a telephone voice, Penny seems to have an I'm being a bitch voice.
"I knew you Golden Boys did everything together, but I didn't know you did everyone together, too."
"No one gives a shit what kind of rumors you try to make up, Penny. Trying harder will only make things worse for you."
Her eyes go molten. "I think you care a lot what people think."
We are only a few feet apart, the dark of the forest pressing in on all sides, making the distance feel simultaneously shorter and longer.
It feels like we are in a black hole, separate from the rest of the universe, being sucked towards one another.
And, fuck, it pisses me off.
I've spent two years purging my life of this bitch and all it takes is one conversation for all that work to be undone.
But what I want from Penny now is different from what I once wanted.
Now, I want to make her suffer.
To make her miserable.
To make her pay.
I want to make her feel the way I feel every time I see her swaying down the hallway, sneering and rude.
The time has come to do unto others as has been done unto me. It may not be the golden rule exactly, but it's this Golden Boy's rule.
"You're right about that, Penny," I say lightly. "I do care. About you especially." I lower my chin and move towards her, biting my lower lip. "You have no idea how much I care."
The cold mask slips. Her eyes are wide, long lashes batting against her flushed cheeks.
"You do?" she asks, confused.
Penny is used to being admired and worshipped. Men bend over backwards for her because she has a body that fits just right in your hands and a mouth that promises unspeakable things without ever saying a word.
So, of course, she thinks I still care about her.
She doesn't know any different.
But, oh, how she's about to learn.
"I care that you're happy," I say, my voice barely above a whisper. "Especially since you shouldn't be."
Her face falls.
"You don't deserve the grace I've extended the last two years by ignoring you," I spit. "All the pain you've caused other people, you deserve to have handed back to you ten-fold."
"I haven't done anything," she stammers. "Noah, you know I didn't do-"
I wave a hand to dismiss her. "I'll see you around. That's a promise." Then I turn and leave.
"Noah!"
My name on her lips is still enough to make me stop in my tracks.
But it isn't enough to change my mind.
Penny has had her fun.
Now, it's time for me to have mine.
3
PENNY
What the actual fuck just happened?
Two years.
Two entire years since Noah Boone has so much as breathed in my direction, and now he storms back into my life, pins me against a tree, and makes threats?
This has got to be a fever dream. Lord knows he still features in them from time to time no matter how hard I fight my subconscious on the matter.
Though, usually, he's younger in my dreams. So am I.
The way we were back when things were different.
In those dreams, we're young. Freshmen. I giggle and he wears a smile, and it's always innocent. Just sitting together and talking. And laughing.
I shake my head in a desperate attempt to clear it. Now is not the time for this.
I left the main party because I needed a minute. A minute to slouch against a tree, stop sucking in my stomach, and, honestly, fix the permanent wedgie my silk thong causes.
Did Noah see me do that?
My face burns with the possibility, but it doesn't matter. If Noah's threat is to be taken seriously, he's going to do a lot worse than tell people he saw me pull my panties out of my ass.
He's played it cool the last few years, but I know what Noah and the Golden Boys are capable of.
Everybody does.
If you cross them, you die.
I kick the cup Noah slapped out of my hands into the bush. I told Anika to bring trash bags, but she spent the afternoon getting a spray tan no one would be able to see in the dark woods and forgot to do it. Classic.
Noah walked off in the opposite direction of the party, but I still catch myself looking for him as I pick my way back through the maze of branches and human bodies.
A couple that clearly started beneath a tree to the right of the path have gyrated their way off the blanket they laid out to the center of the path. I actually have to kick the guy in the ribs to get him to move.
