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Chapter 10.

"Since when...did Alyssa Marie Dalton ever wear makeup?" I quizzed loudly, making my best friend jolt to an abrupt stop. I raised an eyebrow at her.

This was bad. Very bad.

Her large doe eyes were surrounded by a border of long thick eyelashes lengthened by mascara so they stood out even more against her pasty complexion, perfected by a flawless sheet of concealer and foundation, her lips were lightly coated in rose tinted lip gloss and her hair fell over her shoulders in immaculate curls. She was almost unrecognisable compared to the usual wild carefree Alyssa. A false Alyssa.

The shy grin plastered on her face was all I needed as an answer - her extra effort was for none other than the tall, sickeningly smug male now strolling up behind her.

I didn't like it.

Alyssa always changed when she was around him.

He was living poison.

Josh snaked an arm around her waist as he flashed me an eerie smile that didn't reach his murky blue eyes half covered by black curls and I visibly grimaced, causing Alyssa to give me a cautioning look. I took a slow deep breath to keep myself civil. That man whore always brought out the worst in me and boy did he know it.

"I wanted a change." Alyssa responded casually...too casual.

I wasn't buying any of it.

I resisted the urge to voice my thoughts and instead pushed myself to smile. "You look lovely." I complimented her.

"It's nice to see a girl who makes the effort." Josh grinned at me, a sly glint in his eye before kissing Alyssa lightly. I ignored his obvious dig at me but my blood practically bubbled beneath my skin as I watched them together. Pink tinted Alyssa's cheeks, clearly embarrassed by the public show of affection and she cleared her throat, and gestured to Noah, who was staring at Josh expectantly.

"This is my boyfriend Josh." she introduced proudly, causing Josh to shoot me a haughty grin and I tensed up as I struggled not to punch him. "And this is Noah, he works with Lou."

"Hey." Noah smiled warmly, but his ash coloured eyes were cool and distant, informing me that I wasn't the only one who knew how much of a slimy creep Josh really was.

"Hi." Josh acknowledged him before turning on Alyssa. "Are we still going to your house?"

I frowned.

"I thought we were going to the cinema?" I questioned, my eyes flickering between Alyssa and Josh warily.

Josh looked at me distastefully, like I'd just announced I had eaten vomit for breakfast.

"No." he stated slowly, his voice low and firm, almost threatening. "It's too expensive, we can just hang out at Lyssa's."

I glanced at Alyssa, who was stood beside Josh in silence. As always, she wasn't going to say anything. Before I could even say anything to do with how much of a control freak he was, Noah spoke up.

"You're probably right. I'll drive, if you want?" he offered lightly, his tanned features beaming warmly, contradicting the coldness of his eyes.

Josh grinned, obviously pleased he'd gotten his own way, despite my obvious objection, and nodded. "Yeah, that's great, thanks."

"No problem." Noah smiled, glancing at me. I forced myself to mirror his expression and we all made our way to his car.

We weren't even two steps towards it before Alyssa yanked my arm back, making Josh turn around with a frown but she waved her hand at him to continue walking on with Noah. I sighed, knowing what she was going to say.