Cutting him off before he could even finish, I said, “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Text me the address.”
Ending the call in a hurry, I opened my Uber app and ordered my ride; it would be here in three minutes. That was the perfect amount of time to get out of here without having to explain a thing to Noah.
“I have to go,” I said, keeping my voice as flat as possible, despite the million and one reasons running through my head.
“What happened?” Noah’s voice was laced with concern, and for a moment, I thought about simply telling him about Benny. Telling him my younger brother was in some kind of trouble and needed a ride was a seemingly simple excuse. It wouldn’t lead to more questions.
Exceptit would.
Why was he calling me?
Where were my parents?
What kind of trouble was he in?
Why do you live in a place like this?
Suddenly, everything snowballed in my head, and before I could even get my own pants out of his dryer, I was racing to the end of the driveway and into the car that would take me away from the place that would make me reveal too much.
On a backward glance that I shouldn’thave even taken, I saw Noah standing on his front porch, Katie standing dutifully beside him. He was the perfect image of everything I’d ever want—a home, happy and complete, not at all broken. And yet he was the reminder of everything I wasn’t.
So despite my desire for more of him, I walked away with my heart in my throat and my shoes in his backyard.
