Chapter 30 #2
Noah manages to sit up, rubbing his head as he grimaces. “It was a surprise for Summer. She’s into that kind of thing.”
Victoria whirls toward me for confirmation, and all I can do is flash her a guilty grimace.
I was so paranoid after everything that happened with Michael, it didn’t even cross my mind that the man Victoria found prowling around my house could possibly be Noah acting out one of my fantasies.
Remorse washes over me. Though it’s not technically my fault that he’s suffering from a potential head injury—that was all Victoria and her shovel—I still feel awful that he’s hurting, especially when it was all in an effort to do something for me.
“Why did I catch you hiding stuff in her yard? Like rope,” Victoria demands. Even though Noah is her brother, I’m the one she’s defending. I was right all along—Victoria is a great friend.
He groans. “It was foreplay.”
Despite the outrageousness of this situation, my thighs clench. Noah was lurking around my property in a mask and hiding rope. What else did he hide? What was he planning to do to me with that rope?
Flashes of Noah chasing me, tying me up, and dragging me back into the house make my knees weak.
Damn. If only Victoria hadn’t shown up at my house, this night could’ve gone very differently. A whole lot better.
“Foreplay?” Victoria’s brows furrow at me.
So much for my newfound friendship with her. And Aries. Now they’ll both think I’m nuts. “It’s true,” I manage.
To my shock, relief washes over Victoria’s face. “All right, next time, you two need to clue me in on your kinks so I don’t kill one of you.”
Not-so-gently, I nudge Victoria out of the way and cradle Noah’s head as tenderly as I can. “Are you in a lot of pain?”
“Not too much. Just a bad headache.” He scans our surroundings. “Were you planning to dump my body out here?”
“No,” Aries blurts at the same time Victoria says, “Yes.”
“Can you help him out?” I ask Aries, who does as requested.
“Sorry, bud,” he murmurs to Noah when he manages to climb out, unsteady on his feet but upright.
“For what?”
“Um. Throwing you in the trunk of your sister’s car?”
Noah rubs at his skull. “Is that why my head hurts? Did you toss me like a sack of potatoes? That’s pretty rude.”
“We thought you were a murderer,” Victoria reminds him.
“Your head hurts because your sister smacked you on the head with a shovel,” Aries says.
Noah gapes at her, and she rolls her eyes. “I was protecting Summer.”
I clear my throat. “While we’re getting everything out in the open”—I take a deep breath, knowing I’ll probably regret this, but I need to be honest because I’m tired of the pretending and the lies—“Noah hired me to be his fake girlfriend. That’s my job.
I’m not an art teacher. I am an artist, but it’s a side hustle.
So when you saw me at the bar with that guy and I told you he was an old friend from school, I lied.
He was a client. But I wasn’t cheating on Noah. I never have, and I never would.”
“Hold on, what?” Victoria’s face turns stony, and though our friendship is recent, I’m sad it’s already slipping through my fingers.
“Please, just let me finish.” I swallow, cheeks burning under everyone’s full attention.
“When you called me tonight to say you saw some guy lurking around my house with a knife, I thought you were talking about one of my former clients. He followed me home from the city one day. Then he tracked down my address and showed up at my apartment. That’s why I moved.
And I got a creepy text from him while we were at the cabin.
So I thought it was him in your trunk. I’m not a runner either,” I blurt, the words spewing out now.
“We’re not training for a marathon. I fucking hate running. ”
“That was obvious. You’re a terrible liar.” Victoria casts a sheepish look at the three of us. “I have a confession too. I may have been the one who followed you out of the city. And sent you that text.”
“You?” Noah half-shouts, then winces and rubs at the back of his head.
Aries pats his shoulder and croons to him like a cowboy to a horse. “Easy there.”
Victoria holds up her hands. “As Summer just admitted, she was spending time with other men under false pretenses. I believe that gave me the right to be suspicious. I was only following her to make sure she wasn’t cheating on you. And in my defense, I was drunk when I sent that text.”
“That explains the poor grammar.” I should’ve known it was Victoria following me home and texting me a vaguely threatening message at a random hour of the night.
She was the most obvious suspect, and it didn’t even occur to me because I was reeling from Michael nearly dragging me out to his car and showing up at my apartment. “You’re all a bunch of stalkers.”
“I’m sorry—” Victoria starts, but I hold up a hand to cut her off.
“I forgive you. You were just being a good sister. A psycho stalker, but a good sister.”
“That sums her up pretty well.” Aries nods in Victoria’s direction.
“So let me get this straight.” She points between me and Noah. “You two were pretending to be in a relationship?”
“At first,” I admit. “But—”
“But now it’s real,” Noah finishes, voice warm as he smiles at me.
Even while his head is aching, even after all I’ve put him through, he can still smile at me like that. Like I’m the only person in the world.
Now it’s real. Present tense. Our relationship isn’t over for him.
I rush to close the distance between us and throw my arms around him, tears stinging.
“I’m so sorry! I was being such an idiot.
” I pull back, hanging onto him and not bothering to wipe the tears away.
“You were right: I was afraid. I was afraid to quit my job and be an artist because what if it didn’t work out?
I was afraid to be with you, to move in with you and depend on you in any way, because what if that didn’t work out either?
It felt so much safer to stick to what worked, to what I knew, and not risk anything.
Because if there wasn’t anything at risk, I couldn’t end up disappointed. Or heartbroken.”
Yet despite all my efforts, I ended up disappointed and heartbroken anyway.
Working a job that didn’t make me happy, relegating a job that did make me happy to the side and never giving it the time it needed to grow to something more sustainable, and breaking up with the most wonderful man I’ve ever known, all out of fear.
Only to end up more miserable than if I’d taken the leap.
And the worst part? I hurt Noah in the process. I’ll never forgive myself for that.
His arms tighten around me, his features serious, gaze burning into mine. He tugs at the bullet hanging from the chain around his neck. “You think I got this because I plan on going anywhere? You’re not risking anything with me, Summer. I’m all in. I love you.”
I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you. The soft, reverent words repeat in my head on a loop. I want to hear him say those three words to me a million more times.
“You’re the only person I want to be with.” His hand cradles my jaw now, thumb brushing comforting strokes over my skin. “And the only way that would ever change is if my sister bashes me over the head with a shovel again and gives me a personality-altering brain injury.”
“Hey! I won’t need to if you stop committing crimes!” Victoria objects.
“Consensual crimes,” Noah corrects her.
Before she can retort, Aries guides her away to give us some privacy.
I slip my fingers around the bullet, warm from his skin, and cradle his cheek. Now that I’m in front of him again, I can’t stop touching him. I hope I never have to. “You’re the only person I want to be with too. I love you, Noah. So much.”
My voice cracks on the final words, and Noah scoops me up into his arms. He kisses me, soft and deep and claiming, and every muscle in my body relaxes. Kissing him is like coming home.
“I never stopped following you, you know,” he murmurs. “I kept an eye on you. Made sure you were safe. I meant it when I said all I want to do is protect you. And make you happy.”
A lump lodges in my throat. In the time I thought we spent apart, we never truly were. Noah was always there, in the background, keeping an eye on me. Waiting to interfere if someone tried to hurt me, ready to help me if I needed it. He was willing to keep loving me from a distance.
“You do. That’s what I want to do for you too.
” I smile through my tears. All I want now is to return the favor.
To do as much for him as he’s done for me.
“No one has ever accepted all of me the way you have. No one has ever loved me like you do. I don’t know what I did to get this lucky, but I’m so glad you drunkenly broke into my apartment that night. ”
His low chuckle vibrates from his chest, warming me to my toes. “So am I. So fucking glad.”
“About that rope you were hiding in my yard. What exactly were you planning to do with me?”
He beams and spins me. “You’ll just have to find out when I get you home.”
Abruptly, Noah sets me down on the pavement, steadying himself with a hand braced on the back of Victoria’s car.
I reach for him. “Noah?”
“All right, no more spinning romantically for you,” Aries calls. “Let’s get you to the hospital, buddy.”