I go to speak, but Noah cuts me off. “Not one that’s any of your business.”
“What’s with the hostility, Jones? I’m just being nice.”
“There’s nothing nice about you, Bane,” Noah hisses through clenched teeth.
“Tori Walker, right?” The guy to his right asks, and I nod.
“I served with your brother, Harry, in Afghanistan with Noah. Good guy.” I stay silent, only offering him a warm smile at the mention of my brother.
A dark chuckle leaves Bane’s lips. “Wait a sec, so if you are Tori Walker, that means you’re Scotty’s girl?” He points at me, his tone accusatory, and I say nothing. I just wilt under his stare and want to run.
“And what, now you are fucking her?” he snorts.
Noah tenses under my grip on his shirt, and I tug him back when he tries to move.
“Well, talk about keeping it in the military family, sweetheart. You got room for any more soldiers between those legs of yours.”
Noah’s fist connects with Bane’s jaw before he even finishes his sentence, causing him to crumple to the ground.
“Noah,” I scream as his boot connects with Bane’s ribs.
“You want to say that again fuck face, huh?”
He kicks him again, and Bane groans. The other two guys have the sense to step back as I pull at Noah’s arm.
“Stop it, Noah, please. He’s not worth it,” I plead, my words coming out on a strangled breath. Thankfully, Noah stops, his body heaving with anger.
“If you ever talk to her or about her like that again, I’ll fucking kill you. You got that?”
Bane curls into a ball, coughs, and nods his head slowly.
“I didn’t hear you,” Noah snarls. I haven’t seen this side of him before, and maybe it should scare me, but it doesn’t. Noah will always protect the people he cares about.
“I understand,” he wheezes.
“Good,” Noah says, giving him one last kick in the legs before taking my hand and opening up my side of the truck. I climbinside and stare blankly through the windscreen. Noah climbs in too, pulling me into a tight hug.
“I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry, baby. What he said, it ain’t right. He’s wrong, you know that, right?”
“Yes.”
But truthfully, Bane just said everything that I have been thinking for years. Is this how it will be: the judgment, the stares in the grocery store, the whispers behind my back? Me being branded a slut who lets soldiers take turns riding her. I hate this town, but sadly, I want the man who resides in it.
I need to be stronger than the noise, but what if I can’t? Where does that leave us?
Chapter Forty-Seven
Tori
I stare mindlessly down at the salad I’m chopping, repeating the words Bane said in my head.
Wow, you’re really keeping it in the military family, huh?
Is there space between your legs for another soldier?
Between his comments and Kara’s judgmental looks, they confirmed everything I feared. People will judge our relationship, will judge me for hopping into bed with Trent’s best friend, despite how long it’s been.
Noah comes up behind, slides his hands around my waist, and nestles his face into my neck.
