I was still taken by surprise, though, when we got up to leave and someone suddenly slammed into Noah. It was completely on purpose, but the guy—the blond guy who’d been sneering—backed off, saying in a sarcastic tone, “Whoa, sorry, dude. Didn’t even see you there.”

I saw the muscle in Noah’s jaw jumping.

He shoved the blond guy back—not even hard; it was like a poke more than a shove. “Why don’t you watch where you’re going, huh?”

The guy scoffed, and his two friends had stupid grins on their faces too. “Right, right, sure.”

Noah’s fingers were curling into fists at his side, then flexing out again. I grabbed his arm. “Hey. Come on. Let’s just go. They’re not worth it, Noah.”

The blond guy looked at me, then sneered at Noah again. “So whose girl did you steal this year, Flynn?”

Noah stared scornfully at the blond guy like he would a piece of dirt on his precious motorbike. “Get over yourself.”

He started to walk off, and I was totally shocked for a moment: Noah Flynn, the most badass guy in the entire school, walking away from a fight?

Wow. Maybe he really had changed.

But the blond dude and his friends weren’t having it; the blond guy deliberately stepped into Noah’s path, shoving him again. I looked around, wondering where the hell Lee was when I needed him.

“Come on, now,” Noah said. “You really want to pick a fight in front of a lady?”

The blond guy made as if to shove Noah again to make his point, but Noah sidestepped and the guy lost his balance and went sprawling on his front, spitting sand from his mouth.

Before he got back up or his friends decided to cause more trouble, I took Noah’s hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

He nodded, and followed me down the beach.

I looked back a couple of times, and the blond guy was shaking people off him, storming away. Despite not laying a hand on him, it seemed that Noah had damaged his pride a hell of a lot.

“You think you might’ve made out with his ex-girlfriend last year?” I repeated, stumbling over my own feet somewhat before falling into step with Noah.

“All right, all right. But in my defense, they weren’t together at the time. If you ask me, he’s just an asshole.”

“And you feel the need to pick a fight with every asshole guy you come across? We both know you would’ve if I hadn’t been there.”

Noah tugged me closer, letting go of my hand to wrap his arm round my shoulders. “You really know how to guilt-trip me, don’t you, Elle?”