Though I smiled, it wasn't worn on my face for long. I'd never confessed the truth to my bandmates about the other reason I wanted to win. Mainly because at least one of them would find a way around the 'harm no others' rule and turn Noah into a literal toad, rather than the metaphorical one he was. So, it was my secret to keep for as long as I was able.
Until our paths drew back closer together as the competition progressed, when I'd find it hard to cover up my true feelings for the idiot.
I'd loved that boy. Not the man. The boy. Until he'd changed, and it had been a long time until I'd found out why.
Noah and I had dated in school for a year. He was in the year above me and I’d thought he hung the moon. I had no interest in the self-appointed Kings and Queens of our school and their simpering subjects. I’d recognised what a kind, loyal boy Noah was. We'd met when he joined the school choir.
Being in the choir was more time we could spend together. We made plans for our musical future beyond the choir, and as a duo. I'd fully intended to give him my virginity at sixteen.
But before any of that happened, he'd finished with me. The boy I loved had changed in front of my eyes. Grown in appearance and in confidence. Instead of being the school joke, he'd become popular.
I'd waited, hung on, in the hope he'd change his mind. Because the boy I'd loved wouldn't do that to me. He was too kind. He must have been having a breakdown. He'd come around if I held on.
But finally, partway through my final year, I’d seen him, in an alleyway near the local tattoo parlour, his head in the neck of an older woman with dark red hair. Her face was full of pleasure. I’d turned and run back the way I’d come, tears streaming down my face, as I realised that it was really all over, and Noah was never coming back. Was not going to say he'd made a mistake.
Stacey Williams clearly didn't fit in with his image anymore.
At sixteen I’d given my virginity to Jack Brooks instead, who’d been sniffing round me in forever. A large error in judgement. It's not every day you have to confess to a one-night-stand in front of your parents and two detectives when your one-off crap shag goes missing. He was never found.
It was a long time before I found out the truth about the woman with the long, dark-red hair. A drunken mistake a couple of years ago. I wouldn't let my thoughts go there now. I'd pushed the memories deep inside the locked compartment in my mind.
I shook myself down as if spiders were in my hair. My focus needed to be on this final and in forgetting Noah Granger once and for all.
Once I'd beaten him and taught him a valuable life lesson of course.
That ditching me had been the worst mistake he'd ever made, and one that he'd regret for the rest of his undead life.
And that was a fucking long time.
Noah
Eight years earlier
On my way home after the end of school concert, I found the cool kids waiting for me. Stacey had left for a lift with her parents who'd watched her performance. No such luck for me; my mum had been working late.
"Hey, loser." Jack Brooks, the most popular guy in school swaggered over to me. Dressed in Hugo Boss and wearing D&G shoes, he looked every inch the rich kid, opposite my charity shop threads that ran an inch too high up my ankles and an inch too long at my wrists.
"I dare you to rough him up." One of his posho friends said, and I groaned inwardly because if someone said 'dare' to Jack, he couldn't say no.
He laughed, looking at me like I was scum. "Fucking pansy singing in the choir. Let me give you a hand reaching the high notes." He kicked me in the balls; so hard I dropped to my knees, seeing stars.
When I opened my eyes, it was to see Jack's fist coming towards me. A sucker punch that had darkness descending. The last thing I remembered was being dragged behind some bushes and their laughing as I gave in to unconsciousness.
When I woke up, I was no longer in the bushes. Instead, I found myself lying on a sofa in a house I didn’t recognise. A woman who looked several years older than me sat near me as I came around.
I tried to sit up, but pain had nausea hitting my system and I stayed where I was in case I might pass out again. “W- where am I?” I managed to croak out.
The woman stood up and placed a cushion behind my neck so that I could sit up slightly. As she touched me to help me move, I flinched as her skin was so cold.
“My name is Mya." She said, in a soft, and caring voice. "I discovered you unconscious in the bushes and so I brought you to my home. You have a black eye and some other bruising which would suggest that you were the victim of a beating or mugging.”
It came back to me. The hate from the kids in my school who I’d never done a thing to.
I looked up at my rescuer. At her dark-red hair, her almond shaped hazel eyes, her full pink lips. She was enchantingly beautiful. Even her voice was hypnotic.
“How did you get me back here?” I asked, “and are we far from where you found me?”
“Err, a man passing helped to get you to my car, and no, you’re not far. About five minutes from where I found you. Once you’re okay I can take you home.”
I'd started to think it was a little strange that instead of calling an ambulance, she'd brought me to her house. Plus, she kept looking at me like she was studying me. I hoped it was in an 'I hope he's okay' way, rather than an 'How many pieces will I need to chop him up into to fit him in the freezer' kind of way.
“I think I’m okay now. But I really appreciate what you did for me.” I said politely.
Mya leaned her backside on the sofa arm at the side of my head. “Tell me about these bullies. I may have a proposition for you.”
I wondered if her husband was an ex-wrestler or something and would beat the shit out of Jack Brooks for me.
"Gosh, I'm so sorry. I never asked if you'd like some water. Where are my manners." Mya stood once more. "Look, I know what you're thinking. About how strange it is I brought you here. Let me get you a drink and I'll explain. I promise if you want to go home at any time, you only have to ask. I've not kidnapped you." She laughed and it showed her perfect teeth. Fuck, she was gorgeous. Not all of me was broken I noted as my cock stirred.
"I'd love some water please." I answered.
She patted my arm. "Everything will be okay. I want you to tell me exactly what's been happening when I get back. I can't stand bullies. I was bullied myself in the past and now I've kind of made it my mission to get revenge on as many as possible."
While she got my drink, I reflected on the fact that Mya was not only beautiful, but she seemed to have her heart in the right place, even if she did appear slightly cuckoo.
I’d find out shortly that although her heart was in the right place, it no longer beat.
She passed me my water and sat next to me on the sofa once more and I told her about my life at school. It was so strange. Like I didn't want to tell her everything, but it all came out: about Stacey, about bullies, about the dare that had led to my beating. I know now that she used compulsion on me, but back then I had no clue that Mya Malone was a vampire.
"I'd like to offer you a deal." She said to me. By this time, I was in dire need of painkillers and had half started to wonder why she'd not offered me any.