Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
NOAH
He followed her here.
Mike Hunt followed her here. Followed Summer. My Summer.
I warned him about what would happen if he ever came around her again. Whatever happens next—whatever happens when I get my hands on him—he brought it on himself.
Aries, Killian, and I scope out the area around the cabin.
When we returned from the woods, Dad was already snoring like a chainsaw in his room, and Carson had allegedly gone to bed, though we heard him cursing at a game on his phone.
Aries was on the couch with Vee opposite him, mocking her socks.
Now, he returns to where I’m searching underneath the cars.
Mike Hunt doesn’t seem like the type tough enough to deal with gravel against his skin, but I wouldn’t put anything past the bastard.
Aries shakes his head. “Nothing. You sure he followed her here?”
“No, but I need to be sure he didn’t.”
“I think we can confirm.” Killian drops a heavy hand on my shoulder, a bright red line across his cheek. Somehow, he managed to scratch his face in the fifteen seconds he spent searching in the brush. “No one’s out here. We’re in the clear.”
I roll my shoulders, then my neck. I almost wish we had found him out here so I’d have an outlet for the boiling rage.
“He sent her that text to freak her out,” Aries reassures me. “If he was here, we would’ve found a sign. Tire tracks, footprints, something.”
“Yeah. You’re right.” Somehow, that doesn’t dispel the storm brewing inside me. “But I still fucking hate this guy.”
“Understandable. I only met him once, and I hate him.”
Killian squeezes my shoulder. “Nothing’s going to happen to her with all of us here.”
I hobble back toward the cabin, waving off Killian when he tries to support my bad side. Pretty sure my ankle isn’t sprained, but it’s swollen and could use some elevation for the rest of the night.
Worth it. The way Summer rode me in the woods while I was trapped beneath her . . .
That was a fantasy I didn’t know I had until it was happening.
Inside, Carson’s phone has gone silent and Vee has disappeared from the couch. For a second, I almost think disappointment lines Aries’s face when he notices she’s gone.
But the look vanishes almost as quickly as it appeared. “I’m turning in, boys.”
Killian yawns loud enough to wake the dead. “Me too. I’m beat. Make me waffles in the morning, will ya?” He disappears into his room without waiting for my answer.
I sneak into our bedroom, but of course, Summer is perched upright on the bed, wide awake.
She jumps to her feet as soon as the door clicks shut behind me. “Did you find anything?”
I shake my head. “No. I think he was just trying to scare you. He’s not here.”
“Oh, good.” But judging by the way she chews her lip, she’s anything but relieved. “Thank you for checking.”
I close the distance between us, wincing every time I put weight on my bad ankle, but I don’t care.
I need to touch her, hold her. I cradle her soft cheeks in my hands, and she leans into my touch.
“This job is too dangerous, Summer. You can’t do this anymore.
You need to quit. Take some time to focus on your art.
Then maybe you’ll be able to stick with it full-time. ”
She knows I’m right, but she stiffens in my hold. “I . . . I can’t.”
“What? Why not?”
This is the one thing about her I can’t seem to understand. Stalker kink? No problem. But why she refuses to quit a job that’s quite literally putting her in danger when she has another source of income—a side hustle where her true passion lies—remains a mystery to me.
Summer steps back, away from my touch. “I just can’t, Noah. I’m not making enough to pay my bills. Not everyone can pay their rent by playing with dogs and cats all day.”
My spine stiffens, but I know she’s projecting. She loves my job almost as much as I do.
Wait. That actually might work.
I stumble forward and grab her hand. “Work with me then. I could board so many more animals with someone around to help. We could build a kennel for the dogs—”
“No, Noah.” She pulls her hand from my grasp. The absence of her warmth a weighty disappointment in my palm. “I don’t want to . . . depend on you. I want to make my own money. Pay my own bills.”
“What’s so wrong with letting me support you? You could live with me, not pay rent, and the commissions from your art could cover everything else you need. What are you so afraid of?”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, that’s when it dawns on me: This is what has been holding Summer back.
Fear. Fear of depending on someone who might not be around tomorrow, like all of her exes who left when they realized they weren’t man enough for her.
Like her father, who was around one day and gone forever the next.
Fear of depending on her art to pay her bills and failing.
Fear of how that failure may change her relationship with her art or the precarious financial position she could find herself in if it doesn’t work out.
None of it has anything to do with her commission rates, like Hazel suggested, or with me. Relief flows through my limbs. Fear, I can help her overcome.
“I can’t believe I didn’t see it until now. It doesn’t have anything to do with the money. You’re scared. That’s why you didn’t quit after I sent you that commission.”
“What?” Her head jerks in my direction, brown eyes round with shock.
Shit. She wasn’t supposed to find out I made the commission request. But it’s too late now.
I planned to tell her eventually. We’d laugh about it, she’d maybe swat my shoulder playfully, or even better, pull me in for a deep, grateful kiss. Not once did it cross my mind that she might be upset.
“I thought a big commission would make you feel safe enough to follow your dream,” I explain. “But it wasn’t enough. Not the new tablet or the drawing app, not my encouragement or Hazel’s or your mom’s. It doesn’t matter how many people believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself.”
Summer’s nostrils flare, and she’s the one who closes the space between us this time. Even with the daggers her eyes are shooting at me, I can’t help the spike in my blood pressure. Something tells me make-up sex with Summer will rival our night in the woods.
“There’s nothing wrong with my job. I’ve blocked Mike on everything, and I’ve already reported him to Plus One.
They’re banning his account. I changed my address; there’s no way he could find me again.
Like you said, he was just trying to scare me.
I’m not in any real danger. So stop pretending that you wanting me to quit has anything to do with my safety. ”
I recoil like she slapped me. I would’ve much rather she had than try to wrap my head around whatever she’s accusing me of.
“Summer, I’ve told you from the beginning that your safety is what matters most to me.
That’s why I was following you, tracking you.
To keep you safe. To make sure I was protecting you. You said that’s what you wanted.”
She rolls her eyes. “You just hate that I’m still going on fake dates with other men. That’s why you want me to quit. Your ego can’t take it. You’ve literally admitted to me that it makes you jealous.”
Now I am seeing red, but not for the reason she thinks.
“I’m not jealous of any of them.” I step so close to her, she’s forced to crane her neck to meet my gaze.
Her throat bobs, but she’s not backing down.
“I know we share something you’ll never share with anyone else.
I don’t give a fuck about them. What I do care about is your safety, and if you’re in danger, in any way, I have a problem with that. ”
She steps back, forcing me out of her orbit again. I hate this new dance. To my horror, tears threaten to spill down her cheeks. “I don’t need your handouts. I don’t need your pity.”
“What? Summer, what are you talking about?” An ocean of space is growing between us, and I don’t know how to make it stop.
“That commission, Noah.” Her voice is watery. “You only requested it, you only offered to pay me that much, because you knew no one else would. I needed a handout from you because I couldn’t make it on my own.”
“Hey, that’s not even close to why I did it.
” I try to condense the gap between us, but when she retreats again, I halt and hold up my hands.
If she doesn’t want me near her, I’ll keep my distance.
Even if it breaks me. “I believe in you, Summer. That’s why I’ve been telling you since day one to take the leap.
Follow your dream. And when I saw your art?
I never doubted you for a second. You’re incredible.
I wish you could see that as clearly as I do. ”
She sniffles, swiping at her cheeks with both hands before she grabs her suitcase from behind the bed. Already packed.
My stomach drops to my feet.
“Summer, where—”
“You got what you wanted,” she murmurs. Her eyes dart to the wall like she’s worried someone might’ve overheard our argument. Too late. I’m sure everyone under this roof is listening right outside the room. “We convinced your family that you’ve moved on. Now you can be single in peace.”
No. No, no, no.
She heads for the door behind me. I can’t let her go, but I also can’t hold her here against her will. The key part of her stalking kink is the consensual part.
So if she chooses to leave me, if she chooses to walk out that door . . . I can’t stop her. No matter how desperately I long to.
Her fingertips graze the copper of the bullet shell around my neck, and a lump lodges in my throat. “I’m sorry for . . . everything.”
“Don’t be. You don’t have anything to be sorry for. This doesn’t need to end.” My last plea to make her see reason. “I want to be with you, Summer.”
My declaration doesn’t stop her. She reaches for the handle, and my hand lands on hers. Her chest heaves. She’s trying to hold back more tears. Breaking her own heart almost as much as mine.
“Why did you pack that bag?” I whisper, heart splintering. “You were already planning to leave me before I walked through the door.”
She shakes her head quickly. “I packed my bag so that if Michael really had followed me here, I could keep you and your family safe.”
“So why are you leaving now?”
A tear slides down her cheek, and this time, she doesn’t bother swiping it away. “Because I don’t want to face your family in the morning when you tell them we broke up.”
My hand squeezes hers. One final plea to stay. “We don’t need to. We can figure this out. If you really want to stay at your job, I’ll support your decision. I just want you to be safe. And happy. We don’t need to break up.”
Summer opens the bedroom door and doesn’t look back. “We already did.”