One day, I’ll be able to put my arm around her the entire time or hold her hand without her questioning things.
I’ll be able to kiss her whenever the need strikes and justbewith her.
But not today.
For now, I just have to focus on being friends with her, getting closer to her, and spending as much time with her as I can.
Which is exactly why I pull her to stop as we’re walking towards the car.
“What’s up?” she asks, a concerned frown on her face.
“How about we go back to my parents place for a while?”
Her eyes widen but she catches her reaction quickly. Whether she thinks it’s weird or not that I’m inviting her back to my place, I don’t know, because she doesn’t say anything. She just gives me a slow nod and a shy smile before heading to the car.
Time for part two of our not-a-date date.
TWENTY-SEVEN
GRACIE
Ishift a little and fidget with my hands as Noah unlocks the door to his parents’ place.
“Are you sure this is okay?” I ask, biting down on my bottom lip as he guides me through the entry way.
I don’t know a whole lot about his parents, so who knows how they’ll react to him being here with me while they’re not home? My parents are laid back and wouldn’t care in the least if I was alone with Noah since they know him so well, but I have a feeling his parents are nothing like mine.
“Am I sure it’s okay to have a friend over to my house?” Noah asks with a snort. “Of course it is, little one.”
I roll my eyes. “Har har. I’m just worried because they’re not here. What will your dad think if he finds out you’re hanging out alone with his business partners daughter?” I ask with a raised brow.
“You want the truth?” he asks, and I nod quickly. “Truth is, he’d probably see it for more than it is and attempt to arrange a damn marriage between us. He’d be so thrilled at the thought of me fucking you that he’d throw a damn party. My parents are nothing like yours, Gracie. Trust me, everything’s fine.”
I know his parents can be a little…different, but would they really try to arrange a marriage for their own son? And I’m going to conveniently ignore the other part of his sentence because… no, just no.
Noah is my brother’s best friend, even if we were in an alternate reality and Ididwant to do that with him, I wouldn’t be able to.
Noah is as close to my brother as I am, and I would never want to wreck their relationship. Or mine and Cole’s.
“I can see you thinking.” He tilts his head towards the sofa and raises his brow. I dutifully take a seat while he heads to the kitchen to get us drinks.
He saunters back in and hands me a bottle of water before taking a seat on the couch beside me. “My parents are… traditional. Your family may be from old money, just like mine, but whereas yours believe in showing affection and spending time with their children, mine do not. My mom believes she should be the dutiful housewife that she was raised by her parents to be, and she believes that my wife should be the same. My dad thinks I should take over the company and marry a woman who will look good to the outside world. He doesn’t care about my thoughts or feelings on the matter, but he did agree to let me choose my own wife, so long as they fit with the image he has in mind.”
My mind stutters to a stop as I take in what he’s telling me. “So, if one day you fall in love with someone who doesn’t fit into stereotype, what will you do?”
He smirks. “That won’t happen, but that’s besides the point. I won’t give him power over my decisions, but it’s easier to just agree with him whenever he gets into it. Ever since I turned eighteen, he’s no longer had anything to do with my finances and honestly, I rarely ever see my parents.” He gestures around the room. “They’re basically retired. My dad hands most of his workoff to his assistant while he waits for me to graduate and they spend their time traveling the world, I have no need to worry about having to see them and avoid the conversation.”
I have so many questions, so many things I want to say but the information he’s hitting me with is scrambling my brain and I’m not even sure where to start or if this is the right time to ask them.
“And that’s why you always spend the holidays at either our place or with one of the guys,” I surmise. It’s not what I really wanted to say, but it was all I could come up with in the moment.
He nods, seemingly unbothered by his parents’ antics and I’m hit with the knowledge that even though I thought I knew Noah, today has shown me that there’s so much more beneath the surface. I told him while we were in the museum that I would find out all of his secrets, but there’s a part of me that’s scared that when I do, I won’t like what I find.
So far, I’ve discovered just how bad Noah has had it at times. I always thought he was carefree and that yeah, his parents were assholes, but I had no idea how bad it was.
Just how much is he hiding under that people pleaser, soft spoken exterior of his?
Not only that, but I had no idea that he was into art. When we pulled up outside of the museum, I figured he’d made a mistake or done it for me, but there was no denying that he knew what he was talking about, especially when he went into the artists background with passion is his words and a smile on his face.
