Cross My Heart

Armor

*Slightly mature content...you have been warned :)

*And enjoy the song that inspired this chapter...Armor by Landon Austin

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JEREMY

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Noah roared, as he slammed me against the classroom wall. "Huh? No. Who do you think you are?" 

His face was inches for mine and his eyes ablaze with anger. His nostrils flared and his brows furrowed.

"Noah! Noah, let go of him!" Sasha tried to reason. "Shit!"

"Say it again. I dare you. Say his name one more time and I'll kill you!"

I didn't struggle against him. His sudden outburst was proof that this deal with Luke was much bigger than I thought. One mention of his name and Beck broke down. I had made small chips in her armor. However, the armor that withstood small hits completely fell apart against the force named Luke. 

"-wouldn't believe the weekend I h-" Alula stopped short as he entered the chemistry classroom. "Woah. What the hell is going on?"

"Al, help me," Sasha said, still trying to pull Noah off of me. 

He just stood there with wide eyes looking between me and Noah and Sasha.

"Al!"

"Yeah," Al said, moving towards us. He took Noah by the arm and Sasha by the other. "Come on, man. Break it up."

Noah didn't move but slightly relaxed his hold on my collar before taking a step back and releasing me. 

"Shit!" Noah yelled, kicking the desk nearest to him. 

"Come on, man," Al said, patting Noah on the shoulder. Noah shrugged him off. "Okay. Okay," he said, backing off. He took a breath then said, "How about we all just calm down, okay?" Bending down towards Sasha he whispered, "What's all this about?" 

Noah ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He turned towards me. 

"How the fuck do you know about Luke?" Anger still laced his voice. 

Sasha lightly held his forearm and looked up to him. Noah's eyes softened and he gestured for her to continue. 

"How...how do you know about Luke?" she asked. "You wouldn't know unless Beck..."

"She...she kinda mentioned him?"

"Like hell she did." Noah took a step towards me. 

"Noah," Sasha pleaded. "I'm talking to him, right? I got this." She turned towards me. "Beck talked about him."

"Well, not exactly. Yesterday, after you guys left to help Darius, Beck and I were at the beach. We had a couple of drinks. Well, I did. We got to talking. I asked her if she was hiding something. She evaded. I insisted and she mentioned something about not being able to forgive herself. And then, I don't know what happened but she kinda...cracked. She started crying. She suddenly couldn't breathe right. I think maybe it was a...panic attack? So, I carried her to the car and on the way she kept saying I'm sorry to someone. Then she mentioned Luke."

"Shit," Noah said. 

"I thought maybe you guys knew something. I mean, what could possibly cause Beck to react that way? I thought maybe it had something to do with this...Luke." 

"You were right," Sasha said to Noah. 

"Right? Right about what?" I asked. 

"Shit," Noah said, again.