Page 139 of Pareidolia

“Would you believe me if I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about?” I turn with what I hope is a charming smile on my face and find Noah staring at me like he’s trying to figure out if he’s seen a ghost.

Finally, he offers me a smile. “You know, I honestly never thought I’d see you again. I should have recognized you before… I kind of thought I did, but you said your name was Aspen, so…”

“It’s a pen name.” At least it isn’t a lie. I’m so tempted to get into my van and gun it out of the driveway before he has a chance to question me further. Instead, I watch warily as he walks across the gravel, only stopping when he’s standing in front of me. “When I left, I kind of wanted to disappear.”

Noah’s dark brown eyes dart across my face. “You did. You and my brother both disappeared at the same time… but you’re back now.”

“I wasn’t sure I wanted to come back,” I confess. I wonder if a lie hedged with the truth will work for me in this situation. “That’s why I didn’t tell you who I was… I didn’t know how long I was going to stay.”

Noah searches my face one more time, and his dark brows dip.

“For a while, people thought you and my brother ran off together.”

Ran off together… saw death together.

It’s not really the same thing, but…

“Rory didn’t come with me.”

“I know,” Noah answers. “He kind of hated you a little.”

That isn’t as shocking as it should be, considering how things ended up. He’d asked me out to that tower because he wanted to hurt me… he just didn’t know that I was more capable of taking care of myself than he could ever have imagined.

“I don’t know why.”

Noah’s expression finally melts into something softer—easier to manipulate—as he rubs the back of his neck nervously… “Uh, he knew I had a crush on you, I think. Small-minded thoughts don’t stop just because you’re family.”

That draws me up short.

In all the time I knew Rory and Noah and their family, I’d never really noticed Noah paying attention to me at all.

Of course, I’d never really noticed how anyone felt about me unless I could use it against them… so…

“I never knew that.”

Noah blushes, and drops his hand to gently knock knuckles against my shoulder.

That brush sends a trill of something through my body. Heat, a streak of tingling desire, gone just as fast as it’s there.

It takes me less than a second to realize it isn’t mine—of course it isn’t mine, I don’t want Noah.

Which means it’s his.

The things beneath my skin squirm, forcing me to pull away before he can feel it. I try to brush off the sudden movement with a nervous laugh when his face falls and something sour goes through the tingling feeling in my chest.

“Sorry… I just…” I have no idea what I’m supposed to say in a situation like this, how I reel in the obvious hurt that’s pulsing through him at my rejection. “I’m not used to people touching me,” I finally whisper, hoping that I’m going for vulnerable and maybe a little sad, even though it sounds like so much bullshit to me. “I’ve kind of been on my own since my parents kicked me out.”

Kicked me out.

It had nothing to do with the fact that I’d killed his brother.

That stinging against my skin fades to an emotion I don’t understand, but judging by the way his brows come together and he frowns… I’d guess…

Sympathy?

“I’m sorry, Alex.”

“Aspen,” I correct him. “Please?”