“Trust me. You don’t need to worry. Everything will be fine. Noah and I are just letting off some steam. We need to get this out of our systems so we can all move on.” That was the lie I continued to tell myself as well. After what happened with the two of us today, I wasn’t sure I would ever purge that man from my system.
The weight of their heavy stares made me uncomfortable. Going to the pantry, I grabbed a bag of pretzels and a protein bar. I needed to vacate this situation now.
On my way out of the kitchen, Stray called after me, “Are you in love with him?”
I froze in my tracks. Slowly, I turned back to face him. “Why would you think that?”
He crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his head to one side. “Because I know what it looks like when love starts out as hate. How it makes both people crazy until they can’t take it anymore. Lines are crossed. Things happen. If you can’t admit it to us, can you at least admit it to yourself?”
Suddenly feeling like I was on trial, I laughed off his commentary. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll be downstairs.”
Even though I casually walked out of the kitchen, I still felt like I was fleeing. That feeling was confirmed when I heard Auryn say, “Pretty sure you just hit the nail on the head with that one, Stray.”
Bullshit. It was all bullshit. They didn’t know anything about the situation with Noah and me. Not really. There may have been a lot of feelings going on here but love was not one of them.
When I got downstairs, I dropped my snacks on the couch in the small living room area outside my bedroom. Then I slipped into the bathroom to clean myself up. One look at myself in the mirror and I knew why they had the reaction they did.
My face was a mess of fresh bruises. Blood stained my chin from Noah cutting open my lip. At some point during our heavy makeout he must have sucked on my neck without me realizing that he was going to mark me. There was no convincing anyone that the hickey on my neck was anything else. Goddammit.
Stripping off my clothes, I got into a hot shower. There was something about being in the shower that made everything outside the closed bathroom door cease to exist. My own little time capsule.
I scrubbed down from head to toe, washing away Noah’s scent. As the water hit me, a burst of his aroma filled my nostrils, taunting me as I washed it away. I wondered if he’d made it home yet. Was he washing me away too?
After I emerged from the shower, I slipped on a pair of sweatpants and a white T-shirt before collapsing onto the couch in my living room. I flicked the TV on, not caring what played, only trying to fill the silence. I took a huge bite of my protein bar before my phone caught my eye from where it laid on the small coffee table.
There was a text notification. A message from Noah. The devil himself.
It will be a shame to kill you since you have such a phenomenal cock.
I smiled to myself. He sure was a bold motherfucker. I continued to eat my protein bar while I pondered my reply. For a moment I was tempted to send him a dick pic but didn’t want to be that guy.
You made a satisfactory outlet for my current frustrations. I look forward to seeing what you do next.
As I hit send on my message, I frowned. I should have said something more clever. Tossing the protein bar wrapper on the coffee table, I snatched up the bag of pretzels and stuffed a fewinto my mouth. I should probably order something for dinner. Auryn’s burrito was pretty good. Maybe something like that.
A few minutes later my phone vibrated with a return message from Noah.Do your friends know you were balls deep inside me today?
This asshole was a real troublemaker. Instead of answering right away, I switched over to my preferred food delivery app and placed an order for a burrito. Once that was done, I opened Noah’s message again, silently staring at it.
Then I typed my reply.Some of them do. Does Damon know I was balls deep inside you today? I can’t imagine he would like that very much. Sometimes I wonder about you two.
I almost laughed when Noah replied almost immediately.Damon could never handle me. Not the way you do, prince. He knows how bad I want to kill you. That’s all that really matters.
He was right about that. That was all that mattered. In the end, none of this other shit would mean a damn thing.
I thought about the guys upstairs asking me if I was in love with this fucking dick. How could I possibly love someone like Noah? The man got under my skin like nobody else ever had. He knew how to push my buttons and drive me crazy with little effort. The right snarky remark or arrogant smirk was enough to set me off when it came to him.
Love had no place here.
I stared at his last message for a long time, contemplating whether or not I should reply. When my food arrived, I decided it was better to leave him on read. He didn’t deserve a reply.
To guarantee that I wouldn’t hear from him again tonight, I blocked his number.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
NOAH
That son of a bitch left me on read? Wow. I knew he was a dick. When Dom didn’t reply, I tossed my phone onto my bed. Fuck him then.
