Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
NOAH
While Summer is in the shower, I feed Prick, make her bed, and clean her kitchen. A week later, and I’m still spinning about that car she thought was following her.
Who the hell was behind the wheel? Who the hell thinks they can scare her like that?
The plate I’m washing in her sink cracks. “Shit.”
Maybe washing dishes while this pissed isn’t the best idea. I’m trying to make her life easier, not break her shit.
Bang, bang, bang.
I drop the broken plate in the sink. Who the fuck is pounding on her door like that?
In the bathroom, Summer’s shower squeaks off.
“I got it!” I call to her. Whoever the hell is at her door, I don’t want her anywhere near them.
Another clattering knock is enough to make the door rattle. For some reason, my first thought is that it’s the police. What reason could they have for trying to break Summer’s door down?
I yank the door open. Not the police. Not a friend or relative reporting a crisis or a stranger experiencing a medical emergency.
Although he might be about to, depending on how he wants to play this.
Summer’s Plus One date from the other night. The bastard who put his fucking hands on her, who looked ready to drag her out of the restaurant until I interfered.
She wasn’t wrong. Someone really was following her home last week. She didn’t recognize the vehicle, but it must’ve been him.
He’s slumped to one side, reeking of whiskey, his features contorted by fury. If Summer had been here alone when he showed up, I don’t want to know what might’ve happened. If he had managed to break through the door before Aries could get from his apartment to stop him—
I don’t even want to think about it.
When he registers me, his eyes go wide. “You.”
“You,” I growl. “What the hell are you doing here?”
His gaze lands on the bullet shell around my neck before he points past me into Summer’s apartment. God, I hope she stays locked in her bathroom. I don’t want to have to murder a man today. “I came to t-talk to her.”
“Talk?” I shut the door behind me, folding my arms over my chest. “Is that so? You sure you weren’t planning to drag her to your car like the other night?”
A door opens from another apartment. Aries waltzes over in leather pants, motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm. He’s six-two, which might make him a couple of inches shorter than me, but it also makes him a giant to the masses. Even though he’s leaner than me and Killian, he’s still intimidating.
And now that this asshole is surrounded by both of us, he’s about to shit himself.
Funny how fast a guy who shows up at a woman’s apartment to—at best—drunkenly berate her cowers when he’s outnumbered.
“What’s your name?” I ask him.
“M-Michael,” he stammers. Or slurs. Can’t tell if it’s the nerves or inebriation. I hope I’m scaring the shit out of him. “Hunt.”
I bite back a snort. Not the right time to be laughing. “Your name is Mike Hunt?”
Aries attempts to suppress a smirk.
Mike frowns. “It’s Michael.”
“Hmm.” I lean back against Summer’s door, glad she’s staying in her apartment where she’s safe. Though I’m sure she’s armed herself with that infamous knife by now. “I like Mike.”
“Mike Hunt,” Aries clarifies, barely holding back a laugh. “Has a nice ring to it.”
Mike turns, heading back where he came from. Hopefully, he stumbled here or got a ride. If he attempts to get behind the wheel of a car, I’ll have to interfere again, and I really don’t want to keep dealing with this guy.
“Hey, Mike?” I call at his back when he reaches the top of the stairs.
Reluctantly, he faces me. “Yeah?”
“If I ever see you anywhere near her again, I won’t be so nice.”
“Yikes.” Aries winces. “I wouldn’t want to be you, Mike.”
That’s enough to make him scurry down the stairs, stumble to the sidewalk, and disappear.
Aries jerks his thumb in the direction of Mike’s retreating back. “What was that all about?”
Though he’s been like a brother to me most of our lives, I can’t tell Aries how Mike knows Summer. Or how I know he’s a danger to her. Pretty sure Summer and I are taking the secret of our fake relationship to our graves. “Don’t worry about it. I handled it.”
“Ex?”
“Something like that.”
Both of us damn near jump out of our skin when Summer’s door squeals open.
“What the hell is going on out here?” Her narrowed gaze fixes on Aries. “Were you the one banging on my door?”
“Mike Hunt, actually,” I tell her.
Summer pales. “Are you serious? He showed up here? He knows where I live?”
With those last few words, her voice gets so small, so quiet. Afraid.
My hands curl into fists. Yeah, pretty sure any motherfucker who scares her needs to die.
Whoa. Where the hell are these homicidal impulses coming from? I’ve never actually wanted to kill someone before. But Mike Hunt? I’ve already envisioned three different ways I could murder him and hide the body.
Either I’ve read too many of her books, or I’ve been playing the role of her crazy stalker boyfriend for too long. But something tells me Summer won’t complain.
“You should probably think about moving.” Aries grimaces as the words leave his mouth.
He’s right, though. There’s no way Summer can stay here now.
“I’ve been thinking about moving lately myself.
The apartment is decent, but I’m sick of this guy who keeps crashing on my couch every time he gets drunk. ”
“I haven’t done that in months,” I protest. “Since I met Summer.”
“I’ll be fine.” But there’s no sincerity in her voice. She refuses to make eye contact with either of us.
“Will you?” I step closer and tilt her chin up so she meets my gaze. I’ll never get sick of looking at those warm brown eyes. “What happens when I’m not here? When Aries leaves?”
She bites her lip, but she doesn’t argue.
“You’re not safe here anymore.” I can’t help the twinge of desperation underlying my words. Unless she lets me move in, there’s no chance of me being able to keep her safe here, and I can’t do my job from her apartment.
“You’re right.” She sighs, the stress of everything written all over her face. “I’ll start looking for rentals tomorrow.”
“Move in with me.”
She laughs, and my stomach twists at how quickly she dismisses the option. “I’m pretty sure moving in together after a few months is too fast.”
“You’re both adults, and you need a safe place to stay,” Aries challenges. “Who gives a shit what anyone else would think?”
Summer mulls this over, but she doesn’t say anything. She’s still not convinced.
“Besides, Christine is already sending Noah engagement rings,” he adds, and I nod in confirmation. “Might as well move in together to make sure you can stand living with him before marriage.”
“While you make some good points, I just . . . can’t.
It’s too soon. I really appreciate the offer.
” She squeezes my hands. “And I will move. I’ll start looking for another place tonight.
But I need to live alone. When we’re more .
. . certain about where this is going, we can talk about this again. ”
More certain? I’ve never been more certain about anything or anyone in my life.
Summer is the woman for me. I can’t imagine wanting to be with anyone else. Wanting to spend my life with anyone else. I meant it when I said I know she’s the woman I want to marry. I’d look at rings with her tomorrow if that’s what she wanted.
But maybe she doesn’t. Maybe everything I’m certain about with Summer, she’s still questioning. If I’m the man she really wants to be with. If I’m enough.
I can only hope, someday, she decides that I am.
My family hasn’t gathered for a group project since we built the catio, and now I know why. This is hell.
We’re like a bunch of lumbering toddlers sweating under the summer sun, trying to move boxes, bags, and furniture without damaging Summer’s new rental.
Though bigger than the apartment, her new house is a single story and about half the square footage of my place. But I keep that to myself and try not to stew on the fact that she’d rather live here—alone with Prick, paying twice the rent she paid at her apartment—than live with me.
Who am I kidding? I’m stewing on it.
I would give Summer the whole world if she would accept it. But the woman is stubborn. I should’ve known what I was getting myself into when she was wielding that knife inches from my face.
Even with all of the shit she’s been dealing with, she still managed to complete my commission request in record time. My mouth dropped open when she emailed me the final files.
One of my favorites is a scene from a dark fantasy novel on her shelf, an unassuming cabin in the shadow of a giant castle with an enormous dragon nearly blotting out the sky above.
Another is a landscape of a snow-capped mountain, where a man hides in the trees while a woman follows him, unbeknownst to him that she’s the killer he’s in love with.
But my favorite might be the two skeletons locked in an eternal embrace in front of a full moon, him carrying her, her in a wedding dress.
I want to hang every single one of them on my walls. Admire the amount of time, energy, and sheer creative force she poured into every line and stroke.
Beside me, Mom huffs, red-faced, while hauling a suitcase full of nothing but books. I take it from her before she pulls an arm out of its socket. “Why doesn’t Summer move in with you, Noah?”
Silence falls over us. Dad keeps digging in the moving truck for another box to haul inside, but Vee, Killian, and Aries wait for my answer while Summer stiffens and shifts a bag over her shoulder uncomfortably.
I can’t give my mother a good explanation, so I keep my mouth shut. If it were up to me, Summer would be moving into my place right now.
“It’s still early in our relationship.” Summer offers a meek smile. “It’s too soon to live together.”
“According to who?” Mom asks, aghast. “You won’t hear any objections from me.”
“I knew my wife was the one the day I met her,” Dad cuts in.
Before I can jump to Summer’s defense, Vee snaps, “If she’s not ready to move in with him, she’s not ready. They’re adults; they can make their own decisions, and they don’t need you two meddling.”
She shoves a box into Killian’s arms and then Aries’s before shooing them both toward the house.
Summer casts a small, grateful smile in Vee’s direction. Something’s definitely changed between the two of them, but Vee hasn’t completely let go of her suspicion yet. Maybe Summer doesn’t notice it, but I know my sister, and I recognize that skeptical glint in her eyes whenever Summer is around.
“Fine, fine.” Mom waves my sister off. “We’ll be quiet.”
For once, I’m actually grateful to Vee for sticking her nose in my business.
After two hours of Vee barking orders, Dad offering to fix Summer’s perfectly fine furniture, Mom reorganizing everything in the name of energy flow, Aries antagonizing Vee, and Killian cursing every time he stubs his toe or bumps his elbow, Summer orders pizza and beer for everyone. Even beer-is-piss-water Vee partakes.
As grateful as I am for their help, I’m more grateful when they leave Summer and me to relax in her new home. She disappears to change into a casual cotton dress and joins me in her new kitchen.
This is temporary. She’ll only be here until she’s ready to move in with me. Hopefully, that will be sooner rather than later. I’ll do whatever I can to convince her.
She jumps up on the counter, swinging her feet as she drains the last of her bottle of hard cider. “Is it sad to say I miss the apartment because that’s where you trespassed in my home for the first time?”
“Is it sad to say I miss your apartment because that’s where you held me at knifepoint for the first time?”
“We can always do a reenactment.” Her lips curl up in a flirty smile.
Summer spreads her legs, revealing the lack of panties under that dress.
My mouth salivates. Every other thought—of her new living situation, of the uncertain future of our relationship—vacates my head.
“Noah?” She tugs me closer by the bullet shell hanging around my neck. “Want to help me break in the new house?”