Chapter Nine Noah #2
“Sorry, man, only a few at a time. You and your friend have to wait.”
I look behind me at Chase, who’s too busy staring down at his phone to pay attention.
“Come on,” I press. “I was having a moment with a girl. Don’t do me dirty.”
The guy looks behind me at Chase. “Hey, you good going with the next group so your friend can find his true love?”
I don’t even get to hear what that smart-ass says because the minute the dude lifts his arm, I tear inside.
Which is decidedly the wrong move because I almost run directly into a mirror and break my nose.
“Shit,” I snap, jerking back to save my face and waiting for a moment to gain my bearings.
My head whips side to side, but everywhere I look, there’s me. Over and over with nothing but darkness surrounding me. Goldie’s laugh in the distance makes me smile as I extend my arms, letting my hands feel out the space.
I feel one mirror, then two, before I find the right pocket so I can slip into the next spot.
“Killer, where you at?” I yell, hearing her laugh again.
I’m slowly making my way through the space, feeling around so I don’t maim myself, chuckling as I do. Chase is excommunicated for thinking this up.
I turn into a new clearing before circling around to get my bearings, but see myself for miles until, bam, I spot her.
I spin, thinking she’s behind me, but she’s gone. So, I spin again, and she’s there.
“What the hell?” I whisper.
She smiles, but it’s not at me. It’s not at anyone.
My head whips around, trying to figure out how I’m seeing her, but just like that, she’s gone again.
“Hey,” I laugh, stepping forward too quickly and hitting the wall. Shit. I’ll be unconscious before I ever get her answer.
I’m reaching out, feeling my way slowly, as something in my periphery grabs my attention, so I turn my head, expecting my girlfriend, but as I do, my face drops.
Because I see Goldie, but I also see . . . wait . . . I blink hard, giving my head a small shake because what I thought I saw isn’t there anymore. It’s just Goldie.
What the fuck? I swear to god, I saw . . . Get your head together, Noah. This is because of the cameras and shit. You’re spooked.
My mouth’s slightly agape as I try and gain my bearings again, feeling my way through the maze of mirrors. But my heart keeps speeding up. It won’t stop, gaining speed each time I get a wisp of her before she disappears again.
Chill, Noah.
The hair on the back of my neck starts standing on end, pricked up around goose bumps. My eyes land on her with each twist and turn I make.
She’s there, and then she isn’t.
There. And not.
My head whips right. What was that?
I’m not sure if I said that out loud as I swallow, rubbing my jaw, as a streak of her snatches my attention left. I reach out instinctively, catching a sliver of dark shadow off to the side.
But then it’s gone.
I feel my chest rising and falling quickly as I move with urgency, tapping the space around me to get through faster. To get to her.
What the fuck is wrong with me? I’m losing it.
No matter how fast I weave through the maze, it feels like I’m too many steps behind her. Each time I round a corner or slip through two spaces, she’s there, then gone.
And so are the flashes of a black boot. Then a navy jacket. A balled fist.
A man. Following her.
I’m gritting my teeth, a deep-set V forming between my eyebrows as I turn left, suddenly in the middle of a larger space, every direction of my reflection prismed.
“Goldie.”
Her image appears in small diamonds next to mine as I spin around, trying to figure out a way to get to her, until I’m frozen in place.
Because next to Goldie’s image is him. The same silhouette from the alley.
I shake my head, trying to make him disappear again. But he doesn’t. He’s unmoving, watching her as she multiplies and divides for me in the mirror.
“Hey,” I say, almost too frozen to speak before repeating myself with more force this time. “Hey.”
The stranger tilts his head sideways. Just enough to tell me he heard me but not enough for me to see his face. His jaw tenses before he moves, disappearing.
Fuck. No, no, no, no.
I’m slipping and bumping into wall after wall, trying to get to her as my pulse races. I feel panicked, glimpsing Goldie laughing, her hair flying around as she makes her way through the maze. Because he’s there. Behind her. Then next to her . . . Is he next to her? I don’t know. I can’t tell.
“Goldie,” I yell.
Her head turns in the prism, a hundred of her looking right at me. She smiles.
I start to yell to her again, but as fast as I see her, she’s gone, and as I step forward, the man appears in the same way.
He reaches inside his jacket before the glint of silver arrests my entire soul and lets a monster inside me take over.
It feels like I’m blacking out as I make my way through the mirrors, completely lost in a haze of fury and fear. I move faster and faster, my breath shuddered, mouth opened.
The only thought in my mind: Kill.
A red exit sign feels like an explosion, or maybe that’s just the force I use to bust through the door. The dark hallway’s lit by the real world on the other side, but I’d see her anywhere. I charge forward, my vision drowning in rage, eyes fixed on the shadow of Goldie against the wall.
Kill.
The motherfucker standing over her turns his head just as I grind out my words.
“Get your fucking hands off my girlfriend.”
He takes a step back but doesn’t say a word. Because he can’t. I’ve wrapped my hand around his throat, pinning him next to her.
I pull her behind me, tightening my grip, staring into his eyes.
“Why’d you follow her through the maze? What the fuck was in your hand?”
He’s sputtering, slapping at my wrist, but I don’t give a shit. I press harder, feeling the force of the pressure all the way up my arm.
I glance back at her. “Did he hurt you?”
She shakes her head quickly, eyes wide, while trying to pull my free arm as Evie and Chase come running.
“Noah. Dude,” Chase yells. “What are you doing? You’re choking him.” His hand taps my veiny forearm rapidly. “Let him go, buddy.”
I’m heaving breaths, shaking my head, blinking so fast that everything around me feels like a movie slowed down to the frames.
He had a knife. He was following her. Kill him.
“Please, Noah.” Goldie?
With my free hand, I frantically reach up, feeling around the inside of his jacket until a sharp crack echoes off the concrete, forcing my eyes to drop.
A silver cell phone lies shattered at my feet.
“Fuck. He’s gonna kill him.” Chase’s voice is closer now and louder. “Let him go, Noah. You made your point.”
I nod a few times, trying to process. It wasn’t a knife . . . It was a cell phone?
She’s okay. It’s okay.
In an instant, I drop my hand and step away, scared of myself. The guy folds over, hands on his knees, sucking in long heaves of breath.
“I’m calling the cops,” he rasps over his scratched throat. “You’re a fucking psycho.”
Goldie slides her hand into mine, yelling back, “Call them, and I’ll tell them how you were harassing me.”
I feel murderous all over again and start to lunge at him again, but Chase pushes his hand on my chest to stop me.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.”
The asshole stands up and scowls at us. “Telling you your tits were nice isn’t harassment. It’s a compliment.”
“Fuck you. And I bet forcing me against the wall is normal too. You’re a pervert,” she shouts back.
“Why the fuck were you following her?” I bellow, pointing a finger at him, still restrained by Chase.
He scoffs, rubbing his neck. “What the hell are you talking about? I never followed her. I work here.”
“Not anymore,” Evie snaps.
Chase is eyeing the guy down just like me as he volleys between us.
“Get the fuck out of here before I choke you again,” I grit out.
He mumbles “Fuck this” under his breath as he stumbles away, but all I can focus on is Goldie.
She wraps her arms around my body, but I don’t even realize I’m hugging her back until I look down.
“Thank you. You’re my hero,” she whispers, and I notice her eyes are shining.
“Are you okay?” My fingers brush her jaw.
She nods. “I am. Thanks to you.”
I say nothing, our eyes fixed as the thought in my head settles into my bones. I would’ve killed him if he’d hurt her.
“I’ll never let anyone hurt you. You’re precious to me . . . Goldie, I—” I pause because the way she’s looking up at me is knocking the wind out of me.
Holy shit. I am incapable of not falling deeply in love with this girl. I couldn’t stop this if I wanted to. I wouldn’t even walk away for self-preservation.
Her hands curl around my jacket as her voice stays intimately quiet. “Hey, you never finished what you were saying before . . . One is you’re my boyfriend, ten is . . .”
My tongue darts out over my lips, ready to say the words. “Ten is you’re falling for me too.”
Those words hang between us as she stares up into my eyes. We’re locked in, neither of us making a move to stop what’s happening.
“Ten,” she whispers quickly and somehow not.
Her burgeoning smile matches mine inch for inch as it all sinks in, but when it does, I cradle her face as I pull my baby into a kiss.
But as much as I want to lose myself like before, this one’s short-lived because our children begin making a scene.
Evie starts fake vomiting as Chase slow claps next to her.
I hate them.
I shift my face to theirs. “If you two are done, I’d like to kiss my girlfriend and take her back to my place.”
“It’s better than jail,” Evie teases as we all make our way off the goddamn attraction.
Chase pats my shoulder, already rebounding from what just happened.
“Mazel, guys. Listen, before you go, though, put in a good word for me with . . .” He motions over his shoulder to Evie.
“I can hear you,” Evie rushes out, making me grin.
I look back at my girl and kiss her again, uncaring of the world around us as we melt into our bubble and let the soundtrack, which is set to a score only two people destined to go from hate to madly in love could create, play loudly in the background.
“You know I’d choke someone for you.”
“You make me want to aspirate the vomit produced in my mouth every time you speak.”
“If you go, I go . . . Let’s Romeo and Juliet this bitch.”
“We just witnessed harassment. Are you that slow of a learner?”
“Cuff me, baby.”