18. Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Noah
" W hat in the hell is wrong with you, Eden?" I demanded as soon as I opened my apartment's door to the woman who was the reason why Stella finally contacted me.
Even after what happened in my office with her father, she never sent me a message. Never said anything to me.
But now, she snapped. I didn't blame her. The pressure on her had been intense. Her father had been an asshole. I had been her worst nightmare. And Eden, apparently, was the icing on the cake.
"What happened?" Eden strolled in like my living room was a fucking catwalk.
"You went to Stella Hunt's place?"
"God, have you seen that condo? Aurora used to live there. Well, she nabbed Gabe Rhodes, so you know she'll never have to live in that kind o—"
"Eden, why did you ask Stella if she and I were sleepin' together? Why would you?"
"Because it's obvious something is going on, that's why," Eden said.
"And how is that any of your goddamn business?"
"Oh, Noah. Can I have a drink before we fight?" She pouted.
I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I needed this woman to understand that we used to be fuck buddies, and now we were not even that.
I poured her a glass of wine and topped my scotch.
She sipped her white wine and smiled. "Noah, darlin', I think it's time for us to make our relationship official. Don't you think?"
I shook my head and downed half my scotch and slammed the glass on the coffee table between us. She was on the couch, settled in like she was in a photo shoot. I was ready to rip my hair out.
"Eden, we don't have a fuckin' relationship."
Her lips pursed. "Don't say hurtful things, Noah. We've known each other for a year. Remember all the times I spent in your apartment in New York? Why Dom was just saying how much fun we all used to have together. And now the gang is here in Savannah."
"Eden, we were fuckin', and that's it."
She drank some more wine. "You don't mean that."
"Yes. I actually do."
"Noah. Think about what you're saying. I'm your ticket into Savannah society and—"
"I'm already in Savannah society. My best friend and lawyer is Royal Legere. My company has landed the biggest infrastructure project Savannah has ever seen. Why would you think I need you?"
I knew Eden was tenacious and ambitious. I used to like that about her, but not when she was gunning for me.
"Come sit next to me, Noah." She patted the couch.
I continued to sit across from her.
"I don't know how many other ways there are to say this to you, Eden. But we don't have a relationship. And as of right now, thanks to how you're behaving, we don't even have a friendship."
"Noah," she exclaimed.
"I'd like for you to go now. And I'd like you to leave Stella Hunt alone. She's got nothing to do with you or me."
Eden rose, her jaw tightened. "That's not quite what I hear from JR."
My eyes narrowed.
"You sure you want to do this, Noah?" she challenged.
"Eden, I'm sorry if I gave you the impression we were more than we were." I didn't know how I could've done that because I'd been cautious with her as I was with all the women I had sex with. All my bedmates knew what we had was casual and I preferred it like that. There were no commitments. The sex was safe, consensual, and not exclusive.
"You're going to regret this, Noah."
"I already do, Eden," I murmured.
She had no business going after Stella. That poor woman had been hurt enough because of me. How dare Eden add to her pain?
"When you come to your senses, Noah, I will take you back," she said haughtily, "but trust me, honey, you'll crawl first, preferably over broken glass."
The woman was nuts, I decided. There was absolutely no other explanation. Why she'd decided to zero in on me as a potential partner, I didn't know. Other men in Savannah would love to marry into the Rutledge family, she could have her pick, and yet, she wanted the one man who was too fucked up to want anyone but the woman he'd ruined.