With Every Heartbeat(44)

“Vein of love,” she said.

My gaze shot to hers. “Oh, you know the story already.”

She shrugged and smiled apologetically. “I knew that was why that was the wedding ring finger, but I didn’t know it wasn’t true.” Disappointment filled her eyes. “So that finger doesn’t really have a vein that leads directly to the heart? That’s kind of depressing.”

“I know. Sorry.” I shook my head, feeling crappy for destroying a perfectly sweet theory. “I always liked that story of why couples wore their wedding rings on that particular finger, too. But, no, the vein structure in all the fingers is pretty similar.”

“Yeah. That’s too bad.”

I opened my mouth to tell her I hated nothing more than being misled with lies like that, but then I also wanted to restore her faith in romance, except yeah, my mind was blank with something eternally romantic.

Cora saved me from having to come up with a response when she called from her room. “Hey, is Quinn here yet?”

“Yes,” I answered for Zoey. “I’ve been polluting Zoey with more episodes of Pysch.”

Cora grumbled something that sounded vaguely like “Be out in a minute,” and slammed her bedroom door shut. Zoey and I shared a smile. But we both seemed to realize our time together was about up. Setting my notes aside, she smoothed her hands down her legs and let out a breath. “Well, thanks for taking the time to explain all that to me. It makes a lot more sense, now.”

I straightened in surprise. “Really?”

Zoey blushed and ducked her face. “Yeah, I...yeah.”

I was sure I’d only been confusing her more, but if she said it helped, then...cool. I bumped my shoulder into hers. “Actually I was glad for the distraction after practice today.”

She glanced up, her green eyes wide with concern. “Did you get in trouble from your coach for that fight you were in?”

I frowned in confusion. “Fight?”

“You know...” She flailed out a hand. “With that guy you pushed against the wall at the party where—”

“Oh! Right.” I’d forgotten all about that. “No.” I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. “Nothing like that. I’m just worried about Noel. He’s having a hard time, wondering who had that picture of his girlfriend. He’s really ticked at Ten and me for refusing to tell him whose phone it was on. But if we told him—”

“He’d beat up Belcher,” Zoey surmised with a knowing nod.

I glanced at her sharply, stunned. “You know whose phone it was on?”

“Oh! I...” She flushed and stammered a moment. “I hear things.”

Of course she did. She was like me, a watcher and a listener. I nodded slowly. “Right.”

“So...Noel would definitely go after Belcher if he knew?”

“Definitely.” I blew out a breath. “He wanted to storm the entire baseball team today and start taking names. I don’t know what to do for him. I don’t blame him for being upset, but if he did anything to get himself kicked off the team, everything he’s fought so hard to protect would be over.”

Zoey cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean? What has he fought for?”

“I guess you realized at the pizza parlor that Aspen was his—”

“Teacher,” she said with a nod. “Yeah. I caught that part.”

I smiled. “Well, when this one girl who had a thing for Noel found out about their secret relationship, she took some...pictures of them and turned them in to Aspen’s boss.”

Zoey’s eyes widened. “Wow. I’d heard most of that at the pizza parlor, but not the part about the girl who turned them in. Was it really just about revenge, because she wanted Noel and couldn’t get him?”

I nodded, and sympathy filled her gaze.

“Poor Noel. Poor Aspen.”

“I know. But what’s worse, when Noel went to Aspen’s boss and tried to talk him into getting her job back, he ended up making things worse and ticking the professor off until the professor threatened Noel. Now, if Noel does anything to put his football position at risk and lose us the championship this year, they’re going to make Aspen’s termination public and turn her and Noel into a national scandal.”

Zoey shook her head. “That’s so awful. Why would they do that to her?”

“I don’t know. I’ve stopped trying to figure out why some people do cruel things years ago.”

Hugging herself, she began to run her hands up and down her arms. “I can only imagine what Noel’s going through right now, needing to protect his girlfriend by being calm and level-headed, but also wanting to defend her honor. He must be so torn up.”