Invisible To Her Bully (Jessa and Noah) novel Chapter 94

Nial

The right mir hat colder than I expected when I prasland through the costed box and brand or chang to everything — the kind of thick, sticky smell that stayed in your chutes long after the party endet shum will pounded from the house, but out here it sounded muffled like it was anderer

I just needed space.

Space to breathe. Space to not look at Jackson’s face or hear Damel’s voice one tone second

But I didn’t make it far.

“Well, Carter!” Daniel’s voice out through the nighn louder than the town dick with a laugh fra anty sat my stomach turning “Didn’t peg you for the type man. No idea you were no fa cuch

–

The laughter that followed wasn’t just his. It came from a few of the offer the it a totes TIET

of me laughter that burned hot under my skin

Something inside me snapped.

Before my brain even caught up, my body was already moving I urned and the distance between u disappeared in a few long strides. Daniel’s grin fatered just as my is commened vain heave

The sound – the sharp crack- echoed louder than the music.

He stumbled back, shock etched all over his face, a band fring to his mout a blood seated down b The crowd went silent. Someone gasped. Another phone came up recording

My hand throbbed, my knuckles already swelling, but I didn’t care.

Jackson froze halfway between us, his expression tom berver isteher and something that amuse NS–7 like respect.

Daniel spat on the ground, eyes wide and glassy. “What the hell mar” he sled we renting somewhere between rage and fear.

I stepped closer, jaw tight, voice low enough that only he and the few closest could hear

“You talk about her like that again,” I said, every word carved from the anger burning through me. “une won’t stop at one punch”

He blinked, but I didn’t wait for an answer.

I turned and walked.

Straight past the staring faces, the whispering crowd, the flashing highs. My hearther wet out the music I felt people’s eyes on me — judgment shock curiosity. None of ʼn munered

18:18 Wed, Oct 15

Chapter 94

Then, through the bhir, I saw her

Jessa

She stood near the porch, halfway hidden in the doorway, Mariah beside her. Her eyes were wide, her face pale under the soft lights. She’d seen it all of it. The punch, the yelling, the way everyone froze.

I slowed for a second, our eyes meeting across the distance.

There was confusion there, worry too. And something else my hand.

something that made my chest ache worse than

1 kept walking, because if I stopped, I didn’t trust myself not to say something I’d regret.

I’d almost made it to the end of the driveway when I heard her voice.

“Noah!”

It wasn’t loud, but it cut through everything.

I stopped, exhaled hard, then turned. She was already weaving through the crowd, her hair catching the light, that Ridgeville blue shirt shimmering with every step.

She caught up to me near the curb, breathless. “What was that?” she asked, her voice shaking slightly. “You just… hit him!”

“He deserved it.” My voice came out harsher than I meant, sharp with leftover adrenaline.

Jessa flinched. “For what? What did he even say?”

I looked away. The last thing I wanted was for her to hear the words Daniel used. But the hurt in her eyes made it impossible to lie.

“He ran his mouth about you.”

Her face fell. “About me?”

I nodded once, jaw tightening.

“What did he say?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said quickly. “He was being an ass. Like always.”

Her hand brushed my arm – just barely, but enough to make me stop. “Noah, tell me.”

The way she said my name

–

soft, pleading–stripped away the last bit of defense I had.

I sighed, rubbed the back of my neck, and said quietly, “He called you a fat chick. Like it was a joke.”

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