Summer

Chapter 52

"I-I'm sorry to bother you, Sophia," Jeremy says. "I was just looking for you. My friend told me he saw you go outside, but if I'm interrupting something then I can just —"

And suddenly, a light bulb goes off in my mind.

"You know what? You're not interrupting anything," I say. I give Noah a devilish smirk as I pass him and he squints at me skeptically.

I make my way over to Jeremy, and grab the back of his head, pulling him into a kiss. I plant my lips onto his so passionately that his hands move down to my waist. Jeremy catches me off-guard when he slips his tongue in, and I move my hands from the back of his head to the sides of his face to make it look even more dramatic.

The kiss lasts longer than I thought it would, and while it doesn't feel bad kissing Jeremy, I'm happy when Noah interrupts.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Noah yells, pulling Jeremy away from me so hard that he almost falls to the ground.

"Hey, back off, man," Jeremy steadies himself and says.

"If I were you, I'd be very quiet," Noah threatens him.

"What are you going to do, tough guy?" Jeremy fuels Noah, using the tips of his hands to push at his shoulders.

My head is spinning, but I know that I've got to get in the middle of this before Noah hurts Jeremy.

"Guys, stop. Please," I insert myself into the situation and say. I try to hold them back from each other, but it doesn't work.

Jeremy swerves his body around me and gets in Noah's face. "What? You think because you screwed half of Charleston every girl wants you? Let me tell you something, she doesn't want you anymore. She's moved on. To bigger and better."

"Seriously, that's enough," I shout, reaching for Jeremy's arm to pull him back.

"Yeah, Noah, enough. She's done with you."

And just like that, Noah charges at Jeremy, pummeling him to the ground. He gets on top of him so that he can easily strike him repeatedly with his fist.

"Noah, stop," I shout, but it's not enough. He keeps going.

I run over to Noah and hook my hands through his shoulders to bring him up. He's breathing heavily and I can feel his muscles contract through the thinness of his shirt as I hold him back. He looks at Jeremy, who's still on the grass, and then to me like I've just betrayed him.

He doesn't even give me a chance to explain, and walks away. I want to run after him, but I know that I need to help Jeremy up first.

"You okay?" I ask as I help bring him to a stand.

"Yeah," he says. "You're not safe with that kid, Sophia."

I don't know how to respond. So, all I do is bite down on my lip and nod before going after the guy who has my heart in the palm of his hands and doesn't even know it.