Chapter Forty-Six
Tori
“Red or white?” I ask, holding up two bottles of wine.
“Red. It will go better with the steak,” Noah says, and I place it into the cart he’s pushing.
It’s my last night in North Carolina, and we have come to the local grocery store to get some supplies for dinner. I fly back tomorrow night, and Noah will be jetting off to god knows where for god knows how long.
The thought makes my stomach churn, but I do my best to suppress the feelings, not wanting my fears and anxiety to ruin our last night. I know we have a big conversation ahead of us tonight, one I am confident will end well, so I want to make everything as special as possible.
We reach the freezer aisle, and I pull out two tubs of ice cream from the drawer. “Vanilla or mint?”
He leans into me, wrapping an arm around my waist. “Whichever flavor is going to taste the best when I lick it off your body later,” he says with a grin.
I can’t contain the laughter that explodes from me. He presses a kiss to my lips, and we are startled by a female voice.
“Noah Jones, is that you?”
We part to see a woman with jet black hair, dressed in a tanned smock dress, pushing a cart with a young boy inside.
“Kara, hi,” Noah says, clearing his throat.
“Haven’t seen you around much. Work keeping you busy?” she asks, but she doesn’t look at Noah; she looks at me with curious eyes.
“Yeah, is Mick away?”
She rolls her eyes. “Isn’t he always?”
Noah puts an arm around me. “Sorry, this is Kara. I work with her husband, Mick. Kara, this is Tori.”
“Nice to meet ya,” she says with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. I feel like I know her, but I can’t place where.
“Have we met before?” I blurt out.
She chuckles. “Not me, but maybe my twin sister? Natalie?”
Recognition hits me, and I smile. “Ah, yes, we used to bartend together on the base.”
Her eyes widen. “Oh, you are that Tori.” Her gaze ping pongs between Noah and me. She lowers her voice. ‘I’m so sorry about your boyfriend. What a terrible thing to have happened. But it seems you moved on just fine.”
There is a bite to her tone, an air of judgment, and I don’t like it.
She knows who I am, who Noah is, and who Trent was, and it’s clear from her face she’s thinking all the things I feared, but I guess that’s the problem with small towns.
People don’t like to move on. But she has no right to judge.
She doesn’t know what we’ve been through and what it took for us to get to this point, so I do my best to let her comment slide.
“We better get going. Good running into you, Kara. Say hi to Mick for me.” Noah doesn’t wait for her reply. He guides me to the checkout.
I stay quiet, replaying the look Kara gave me. It’s a small town, of course people talk. People remember Trent; the whole town and five towns over knew about him and his death. It’s part of the reason I left. I just had to get away from the stares and hushed whispers.
Noah pays, and we head out to the parking lot, loading up the truck in silence. He slams the door shut, and I head to my side, but his fingers wrap around my wrist, and he tugs me towards him.
“Hey, get out of your head, darlin’.”
I let out a sigh. “I’m trying, but the way she looked at…”
He cuts off my words. “Fuck Kara, and anyone else that wants to have an opinion.” He presses his forehead to mine, and I brace my hands against his biceps. “It’s our last night, let’s not let her ruin it.”
“Okay,” I agree, welcoming the chaste kiss he gives me, but before we can part ways, men’s voices filter around us. I look over to see three huge guys, one I recognize, heading toward us.
“I heard you were back in town. It’s been months, Jones. Where have you been hiding?” A guy yells, and there’s a threatening tone to his words.
“Away,” Noah grumbles under his breath.
The tall bald guy in the middle then focuses his attention on me. “And who’s this pretty little thing?”
“Tori,” Noah answers, his tone short.
“And does Tori have a surname?”
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 climb inside 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?