Pushing the Limits (16 page)

NOAH

“Stop sulking already. If you would have screwed her when you first met her, like I told you to, you wouldn’t be twisted like a damn pretzel.” Beth slammed her tray on the lunch table.

I pushed my pizza away and leaned back in the chair. So far, Echo had done little more than make fleeting eye contact with me today. Just like she’d said, she’d gone back to her life and, in theory, I’d gone back to mine. Problem? I didn’t like mine, not without her.

Isaiah placed his tray on the other side of me. “Let him be, Beth. Sometimes you can’t help who you fall for.” Words of wisdom from the guy who ignored his feelings for Beth.

Beth scowled as she stabbed a fork into her chicken patty. She kept her hair in her face to hide the bruises the makeup couldn’t cover. “What’s eating you, Isaiah? You’ve been brooding almost as bad as Noah. Please don’t tell me you’ve fallen for some unreachable, stupid girl, too.”

Isaiah changed the subject. “So, Beth, I heard Mrs. Collins called you into her office.”

“What for?” I asked. Mrs. Collins messing with one of us was enough.

“I’m assuming one of my teachers turned me in when they noticed the bruises. I told her I fell down the steps at my dad’s house.” She winked at Isaiah and the two laughed at their shared joke. Neither of them had any clue who their fathers were.

My heart quickened when I caught a flash of red entering the lunchroom. At the corner door farthest from me, Echo paused and performed a quick scan. She held her books tight to her chest, sleeves clutched in her hands. Our eyes met. Her green eyes melted and she gave me that beautiful siren smile. My lips quirked and I motioned for her to come over to the table. What the hell was I doing?

Beth had evidently become a mind reader. “What the hell are you doing?”

While watching Echo’s eyes widen, I quickly turned to Isaiah. “Would you like to work on a 1965 Corvette?”

“Do I want a million bucks? Hell, yeah.”

“Got plans after school?” I asked. Echo glanced over to her lunch table and then back to me.
Come on, my little siren. Come to me
.

“We haven’t skipped in a while,” said Isaiah.

“I’m game,” said Beth. “And I don’t need the excuse of a car to skip.”

“No skipping.” I kept my eyes locked on Echo’s. She shifted from one foot to another. She needed a reason to come. I picked up my calculus book and showed her the cover. She exhaled enough that a couple of curls moved with her breath. Finally, my nymph approached.

“Hey.” She spoke so softly I had to strain to hear her. Her eyes flickered from me to Beth to Isaiah, then back to me.

“Want to sit?” I asked, knowing the answer. By standing next to my table, she was breaking a hundred of her stuck-up little friends’ social rules.

“No, my
friends
are expecting me.” She emphasized the word before purposely glancing over to the table of girls who stared at our interaction.
Score one, Echo
. I’d messed Saturday night up so badly she didn’t even consider us friends. Beth smiled and tauntingly waved at Echo’s table of gal pals. Echo cringed externally while I inwardly flinched.

“What do you need, Noah?” She stared at Beth while she asked and then let her eyes narrow on me.

“This is Isaiah.”

She raised both eyebrows. “Okay.”

“He’s going to look at Aires’ car after school. We can study at your house while he assesses what needs to be done.”

Her face brightened. “For real?”

“What’s for real?” asked a familiar voice. Dammit—the overgrown ape. Just when I’d started to manipulate Echo back into my corner, her loser boyfriend swooped in and draped an arm around her shoulder.

Echo continued to beam. “Isaiah’s going to look at Aires’ car for me.”

The corners of my mouth turned up as Luke’s turned down.

“When?” he asked.

“Today. After school,” answered Isaiah. He shifted in his chair to let Luke have a good look at him, earrings, tattoos and all his punked-out glory.

“Echo!” called one of her friends.

She glanced behind her, then rifled through her backpack.
“I’ll be leaving after lunch for an appointment and won’t be back, but after school will totally work.”

Echo bent over and scribbled her phone number on a napkin. Her shirt dipped, exposing a hint of her cleavage. The glare I gave Isaiah warned him off from looking and the smile I sent Echo’s ape boyfriend when she slid the napkin to me made the ape’s fist curl.

“My phone will be off,” said Echo. “But text me your number so I can give you directions. See you guys after school.” She took a step, but Luke didn’t follow. “You coming?”

“I’m going to grab something to eat first.”

Echo bit her bottom lip and stole a look at me before walking away. So I hadn’t screwed everything completely up. I had at least one more shot at Echo.

A chair scraped against the floor and Luke took a seat at our table.

“What is the deal with you popular people? Can’t you leave the losers alone?” mumbled Beth.

Luke ignored her. “We played basketball against each other freshman year.”

Both Beth’s and Isaiah’s heads snapped toward me. I never discussed my pre–foster care life. I folded my arms across my chest. “Yeah. We did.”

“I defended you and you kicked my ass. Your team won.”

He brought up that game like it was yesterday. For me, it was eons ago. Those memories belonged to a boy who died alongside his parents in a house fire.

When I didn’t respond he continued, “You won that day, but you ain’t winning now. She’s mine. Not yours. Are we clear, amigo?”

I chuckled. “Way I hear it, Echo’s fair game. If you’re not man
enough to keep her satisfied, well …” I held my hands out to let my reputation speak for itself.

Luke sprang from his seat, face flushed red. “You go near her and I’ll beat the shit out of you.”

Homecoming king probably never fought a day in his life. His body shook. I stayed seated, knowing my calmness would scare him more. “Bring it. I’ll kick your ass like I did in basketball. Only this time, no referee is going to save you.”

Luke slammed his chair into our table and stalked away. Beth and Isaiah broke out into laughter. I joined them until I noticed the horror on Echo’s face. Before I could move, she sprinted from the lunchroom. Dammit.

ECHO LIVED IN ONE OF THOSE nice neighborhoods. Not the rich fancy kind, but the ones with large trees in the front yard, amateur but nice landscaping, two-story brick fronts and porches with swings. I used to live in a place like this—before. I bet it looked real pretty in the spring. Probably smelled like daffodils and roses—like my house used to. Now, all I could smell was dirt and cold. February sucked.

The two-car garage door opened when we shut our car doors. Echo had parked her Dodge Neon on a narrow strip of concrete next to the house, leaving the red Corvette as the only car in the garage. From the driver’s side, one of Echo’s jean-clad legs dangled.

“I’ve got a hard-on just looking at her, man,” said Isaiah as we strolled up the drive.

“You’re ate up,” I replied, hoping he meant the car, not Echo. I’d hate to throw down with someone I considered family.

Beth squeezed between me and Isaiah. “Sick in the head, more like it.”

“Both. Jesus, are those the original fenders?” Isaiah slid his hand over the body of the car.

I walked into the garage and into a bubble of warmth. A heater hung from the rafters, along with several shop lights. The moment the three of us entered, the garage door closed behind us. Wooden tool benches lined the left and back walls. Tools hung on pegboards. Pictures of cars and people littered the cabinents.

“Maybe you’d keep a girl if you touched her like that.” Beth leaned against a bench.

Isaiah smirked while inspecting the pinstriping. “I meet a girl that could purr like this kitten, I’d caress her all night.”

“Are you guys high?” Echo’s voice drifted from the car. The hoarse catch in her tone swiped a claw at my heart.

Beth scowled in my direction. “Unfortunately, no. Your goody-two-shoes attitude is rubbing off on my boy.” I’d hear Beth complain for days over this. But she, Isaiah and I were more than loser stoners and I wanted to prove that to Echo.

She stayed in the driver’s seat and had yet to show her face. I kept my focus on the car, pretending I had the slightest clue what the hell Isaiah mumbled about. One shot. That’s what I’d bought myself. If I screwed today up, I’d be watching ape boy living life with Echo. Everything inside me wound tight. Shit. I was nervous over a girl.

Isaiah continued to slide his hand up the car toward the hood, mumbling incoherent nonsense. He threw out words like fenders, chrome, body and slants. “Can I take her to second base?” Isaiah’s eyes flickered into the car and then immediately to me. He tilted his head toward Echo before running his hand under the hood, waiting for her to pop it open.

Hell. Isaiah had never won awards for being observant. My stunt with Luke must have pissed her off. I wandered up to the
driver’s side to translate for my dumb-ass best friend. “He wants you to pop the hood.”

Echo held a photo album in her lap, with her fingers touching an image. She had that lost look again. The same one she’d worn last semester when she walked into class seconds before the bell rang, pretending no one else existed. Only now I realized that she wasn’t pretending. In this moment, Echo lived in her own little world.

She’d said she had an appointment, but mentioned nothing else. Did something go wrong? I crouched next to her, lowering my voice so only she could hear my concern. “Echo.”

Awakening from her dreamworld, she took a deep breath. “Yeah. The hood.”

She slid her hand under the console and pulled the lever. Isaiah’s eyes sparkled when the latch released with a pop and the door to his magical world opened. “Beth, you’ve got to see this.”

“Your car obsession is unnatural.” She acted like she didn’t care, but Beth pushed off the bench toward Isaiah. “How on earth do you get girls to screw you?”

“Come on, you know the words
big block V-8
make your panties wet.”

“Oh, baby,” Beth said dryly. “Take me now.”

Echo checked out my eyes. “Are you sure you guys aren’t high?”

Several sarcastic comments entered my mind, but I reminded myself—one shot. “This is your house and I wouldn’t disrespect you like that.”

The right side of her mouth turned up. “Thanks.” She closed the album. “You ready to delve into the world of physics?”

I glanced around the garage. “Where?”

“I typically study in here.”

“You’re kidding.” The serious look in her green eyes told me she wasn’t, as did her backpack sitting on the passenger side. “You know, most people use tables and chairs.”

Echo shrugged, taking her physics book out of her pack and then placing the pack on the floor next to me. She lowered her voice. “Most people don’t have scars running up their arms or go to ‘strongly encouraged by Child Protective Services’ therapy once a week either. Are we studying or not?”

I opened the door to the passenger side and took a seat. Taped to the dashboard was a picture of Echo with her arms wrapped around a taller guy with brown hair. Appeared Beth had left out a boyfriend in her history of Echo lesson. Imagine that—a stoner who forgot something. “Who’s that?”

A soft smile touched her lips, but not her eyes. Those eyes held so much pain that I felt a knife slash through my gut. “That’s my brother, Aires. It’s our last picture together.” Her hand absently stroked the album in her lap.

Isaiah and Beth were bantering back and forth, giving our conversation some privacy. “You’re lucky. Everything that meant a thing to me burnt up in the fire. Everything but my brothers. I don’t have a single picture of my parents. Sometimes I’m terrified I’m going to forget what they looked like.” And the sound of their voices. My father’s deep laughter and my mom’s hearty giggles. The fragrance of my mom’s perfume when she got ready for work. The smell of my dad’s aftershave. The sound of them cheering from the stands when I made a shot. God, I missed them.

I had no idea I’d traveled into my own universe until Echo’s cold fingers squeezed mine. “Want to do normal?”

And my heart clenched in pain and joy at the same time. I
missed my parents beyond words and this beautiful nymph understood. “I’m all over normal.” I opened my physics book.

THE SLAMMING OF THE HOOD startled me and Echo. We’d spent two hours reviewing for our physics test. If I didn’t pass the son of a bitch tomorrow, I’d never pass a test.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say Isaiah was on the best trip of his life with that crazy smile on his face. “I know how to get her going.”

Echo brightened to the level of supernova. “Really?” She dropped her physics book and hopped out of the car.

I fought the urge to stand behind Echo and wrap my arms around her as she bounced in front of Isaiah in delight. For a second, it appeared Isaiah would join in the happy dance. “Just a few parts, minor really. I’ll find them at the junkyard. It’ll take me some time and probably cost up to two hundred.”

Echo’s eyes widened and my heart sank. She didn’t have the money. How much could she make tutoring a loser like me? I had the money. I saved every dime to move into my own place after graduation and rescue my brothers. I could loan it to her and we could increase our tutoring sessions until she made enough to pay me back. “Echo …”

She threw herself at Isaiah, tackling him in a hug. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Do you need the money now or later? I’ve got cash, if that’s okay.”

Isaiah paled and stared at me with his arms held out to his sides. “I swear to God, I’m not touching her, man.”

“Yeah, but she’s touching you.” The dark shadows in Beth’s eyes prompted me to take action.

Oblivious to the black-haired threat behind her, Echo released Isaiah, glowing as if Jesus had appeared and turned water into
wine. A pang of jealousy nagged at my gut. To keep Beth from tearing Echo to pieces, I stepped between the two. “Told you I could help.” Shitty of me to attempt to take the credit, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to be her champion.