The night air clung to Ava like a second skin as she walked beside Noah, their footsteps quiet against the empty sidewalk. Neither of them spoke. The weight of what had happened back in the library pressed down on them, thick and suffocating.
Jasper had offered to walk her home, but Ava had refused. She needed answers, and only Noah could give them.
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. His shoulders were tense, his jaw set tight. He had been silent since they left, but his mind was anything but quiet. She could see it—the war raging beneath his composed exterior.
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.
"Noah." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it cut through the silence like a blade.
He didn't look at her. "Not tonight, Ava."
The way he said it—the exhaustion, the plea—it made something inside her ache.
"But when?" she pushed. "When will you stop running?"
He stopped walking. Just stopped.
Ava turned to face him, her heart pounding.
Noah closed his eyes for a brief moment, like he was bracing himself. When he opened them, they were darker than she had ever seen them.
"I'm not running," he said, his voice low, controlled. "I'm protecting you."
Ava took a step closer. "From what?"
He hesitated. Just for a second. But it was enough.
Liam's words echoed in her head: You can't outrun the past forever.
"Noah," she whispered, searching his face. "What aren't you telling me?"
For the first time, he looked away.
And in that moment, Ava realized something.
Liam hadn't lied.
Noah wasn't telling her everything.