Chapter 22 #2
I’m just about to reach for my door handle when Noah grabs my arm and turns me, pushing my back against the wall. Pain snaps through me as Noah braces his hands on my shoulders, keeping me effectively pinned. His eyes are wide and desperate as his fingers dig into my skin.
“I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry. I fucked up. Can’t you just forgive me already? You know we have something. Why are you fighting it?” he snaps.
Is he delusional?
Fear stirs inside me, mainly because of how irrationally he’s behaving. I know there’s no room for reason right now, so all I care about is getting away from him.
“Noah, let me go,” I say evenly.
“No!” he snarls, pulling my shoulders towards him, then slamming me against the wall once more.
The wind is stolen from my chest as his grip becomes painful.
“I’m not letting you go! This isn’t the end for us, Courtney. It can’t be. I want to be with you!”
“You’re hurting me,” I say, doing my best to keep my tone even as a tear slips down my cheek.
“Please!” he snaps in my face. “Please say you’ll take me back. I’ll go to the producers and we can switch. Everything can go back to normal. I’ll fix it!” he yammers on as he shakes me once more.
“Noah, stop! Please!” I cry, loud enough to wake someone. God, please, anyone.
“No! Say you want me too and then I can fix this, I can fix it all!” he says.
I shake my head and see that desperation begin to slip as irritation takes over.
Before he can say or do anything else, though, he’s being tackled away from me.
One minute, he has me pinned against the wall, and the next he’s being taken down to the floor, both him and the other person landing on the floor with a thud.
It only takes me a moment to recognize Landon, who begins driving his fist into Noah’s face. Noah attempts to throw a few punches back, but he barely grazes Landon’s face before he’s giving it right back to him.
Fuck.
I try Luna and Shane’s door before I bang on it repeatedly until it finally opens. Shane looks at me, dazed, as I point to the midnight brawl in the hallway.
“Break them up!” I shout.
Several other doors open, and Calvin and Mason come stumbling out of their rooms while Shane slips past me.
It takes both Mason and Shane to haul Landon off Noah, and when they do, he’s like a wild animal, practically gnashing his teeth as he rages against the guys.
Calvin bends down to help Noah up, but he can barely see straight.
His head lolls from side to side, blood pouring from his nose and mouth.
“What the hell is going on?” Mason snarls.
Landon strains against him and Shane once more as he speaks directly to Noah, who’s now on his feet. “If you ever touch her again, I will break every goddamn bone in your body! Do you hear me?”
Noah doesn’t respond, just stumbles a few steps away like he’s afraid of Landon. Clearly, he should be.
Calvin helps Noah back to his room as Angel and Kenzie watch from their doorways. Welp, this is nice and humiliating.
Landon’s chest is still heaving as he watches Noah go, before his eyes come to me. He shrugs the guys off, then starts for me. Shane attempts to grab him once more, but I wave him off, and Landon wastes no time crossing the distance between us.
Once we’re chest to chest, Landon lifts his hand carefully, so slowly I wonder what he’s even doing, before he brushes a stray tear away from my cheek.
“Are you okay?”
I nod.
He frowns before capturing my hands in his and bringing them up to my face. I didn’t even realize I was shaking until he shows me my hands. I guess maybe I am a little shaken up.
“Come on,” he says quietly, slips his hand in mine and leads me back into our room.
I catch Shane’s worried look before the door shuts behind me. Wordlessly, Landon guides me towards the bed before pulling back the sheets and helping me in. He comes round the other side and makes sure to keep a little distance between us as he turns to face me.
“What happened?”
I shake my head, somehow feeling better in the darkened room than I did out there.
“There was a knock at our door, and it was Noah. He said he wanted to talk. He told me how we need to be together, how he fucked up.”
“And what did you say?” he asks stiffly.
“I told him that I knew about him and Savannah before and I wasn’t interested in his bullshit.”
Landon goes quiet for a moment. “Did he hit you?”
“No,” I say. “I don’t think he was trying to hurt me. He just seemed… unhinged.”
Landon makes a scoffing sound that comes out more like a growl, then I feel his hand tentatively reach around me.
I lean up to allow him better access, and it’s all the permission he needs to haul me into his side.
He grabs my thigh with his other hand and pulls it over his legs.
Then his arms flex around me like he wants to hold me tighter, but he’s restraining himself.
“I’m okay,” I say softly.
I don’t know why I say it. Maybe because something in me just feels like he needed to hear that.
Landon rumbles his agreement before his thumb begins gently moving against the bare skin of my arm.
“Thank you,” I say after a few moments. “For coming. For… pulling him away.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” he says after a moment, his voice rumbling an octave lower than normal.
I nod as I attempt to pick out his features in the darkness. “I’ve never seen you so… mad.”
“Is there supposed to be a question attached to that?” he asks, his thumb still moving in that comforting pattern.
I open my mouth to ask him the first thing that comes to my mind, but I think better of it.
“Go to sleep,” he says.
Letting out a heavy breath, I nod and close my eyes. Slowly, I feel my breathing even out, and I’m almost asleep when I feel the softest press of Landon’s lips against the crown of my head before everything goes dark.