12. See You Again
Chapter twelve
See You Again
NOAH
“Noah?”
I was lying under Silas’s limp body, trying desperately to regain my composure when I heard it. My mind had to be playing tricks on me, though. Everything was a daze. Everything was sore—but that sort of delicious sore, the kind that liquefied you.
I felt insane.
“Fucked up.”
But I was used to that too.
“Did you hear that?” Silas asked, lifting himself up, his eyes half lidded and his features more relaxed than I’d ever known them to be. He looked like a completely different person.
“Hear...what?” I replied lazily, not really caring to focus my attention on anything other than how good my body felt.
Silas gazed down into my eyes, his piercing greys shimmering as his lips raised into a little smile. He lifted his hand up to brush my hair from my eyes, a gesture that caused me to tense. “Maybe it was nothing.”
“Noah, are you alright?”
The heavy sound of Damian’s footsteps and his uneasy tone came floating up the stairs faster than my sheer panic could set in.
I hadn’t imagined that.
“Get up,” I croaked, placing my hands on Silas’s shoulders and pressing hastily.
God help me, if Damian found us like this…
Silas moved swiftly, seemingly on the verge of speaking but couldn’t quite find the words. “Your brother?” he mouthed.
“Noah?”
Both of our heads jerked towards the sound. Damian was right outside my bedroom door.
“Yes, we need to hurry,” I expressed anxiously, wondering what possessed my brother to come home so early.
I snatched my clothes from the floor and threw them on as fast as I could go.
“Noah, I’m coming in.”
Too little, too late.
I looked from my half clothed form to Silas’s, cursing our bad luck and timing. The reverberating twist of my brother’s hand on the handle was evident. We were screwed.
We stayed completely still as the knob turned. But the door didn’t open.
“Noah, if you don’t answer, I swear to God that this door will be on the floor in three seconds.”
I exhaled my relief. It was locked. I had Silas to thank for that one.
“One–”
“I’m fine!” I called out, attempting to sound annoyed, but my voice rose an octave. I coughed and saw Silas smirk out of the corner of my eyes. The race to dress continued.
“I was in the bathroom. What are you doing home?” I called out. Where the fuck were my boxers?
I could almost feel Damian’s eye roll through the wood. “We forgot some papers, and had to double back. Of course, you didn’t answer my phone calls or respond to the messages to know this. Why is your door locked?” He jiggled the knob like that was going to somehow work to open it faster.
“What? I’m not allowed to shit in privacy?”
There was quiet. “Where is Thorne?”
I stole a glimpse of Silas, watching as he slipped into his coat. His shirt and pants were already straightened and looked normal. I, on the other hand, had only managed to toss on my shirt and boxers, and even then I still looked very guilty. How the hell did he do that so fast?
“He already left,” I dismissed the question without thinking, pulling my pants up around my waist.
“Is that so?” Damian inquired.
Silas halted mid grab for his shoes, shot me a glare, and shook his head.
“Then why is his Rolls Royce still in our driveway?”
Damn.
“Oh it is?” I tried to sound surprised, but internally, I was kicking myself. “That’s weird.”
Silence.
“Okay Noah, I don’t know what you’re up to, but open up the door.”
I ran a hand through my hair, thinking of a way to fix this. Silas crossed the room until we were within breathing space.
“Keep him at the door,” he said in a hushed tone.
I had an urge to ask why, and when Silas headed straight towards my balcony window, I did.
“The hell do you think you’re going to do?” I followed quickly behind him, speaking through clenched teeth.
Silas gestured his head towards the window and I stared at him as if he were sprouting flowers from his face.
“We’re on the third floor, are you crazy?” I hissed.
“Noah.” Damian’s stern tone was growing impatient.
“It was fun, Mr. Hansen,” Silas purred before snaking his arm around my waist, pulling me into him and brushing his lips against mine. His fingers lingered delicately around my throat, squeezing softly. “Maybe, we should do it again. I promise not to make you cry next time.”
He released me with a smile. I blinked, dazed, and took a few steps backward. I observed as he carefully opened the window, and stepped out onto the roof with ease. And then a second later he was gone. A dark angel disappearing on the cusp of sunset.
“Noah! What kinds of games are you playing? Open up this door, now!” Damian boomed, his fist hammering the wood relentlessly.
I flinched and rushed to the door, quickly unlocking it. “I’m coming.”
“What in the world is going on?” Damian asked, glancing over my shoulder into the bedroom.
I leaned nonchalantly against the door frame, occupying his view, and hoping to deter his interest away from coming inside. “Nothing.”
“What are you hiding?” he accused, his suspicion for me unwavering. “I was worried about you. You didn’t answer my calls.”
“I told you already, I was in the bathroom. What more do you need?”
I waited, nervously tapping my foot. I had no idea if he’d buy it or not, nor was I sure how to provide the excuse for Silas’s car.
Damian’s forehead wrinkled quizzically. “Why is your window open?”
Dammit.
“Fresh air.”
Damian glowered at me, his eyes boring down into my soul. He was good at that: psyching others out with his intimidating look. It had succeeded in breaking me many times before, but this time, I held my stature strong, my face emotionless.
“Move,” Damian finally said.
That’s when I broke. “What? Why? This is my room!” I braced against the door frame, unwilling to allow him entry.
”I said,” his face tilted down, angling deeper into my vision. “Move.”
Before I could speak, Damian bulldozed in with enough force to take out a crowd. I was flung into the hallway, and he slammed the door to my own room in my face, locking it behind himself.
All he had to look at was the soiled bed and I was totally fucked. There was nothing I could do or say now.
I slumped against the wall and waited silently in the lonely hall until Damian returned, his dark eyes gleaming angrily.
“Get your ass down stairs. Now.”
SILAS
I eased myself out of the third story window, figuring Noah would close it after me.
Luckily, Noah’s house was layered. Each window and floor had its own ledge that pointed downward to the next floor.
Like my own little tilted staircase to use as I pleased.
I eased to the drop off point, lowering myself, swinging one leg out, then the other, and found a foothold on the narrow ledge.
Steadying myself on the exterior wall, I started to shimmy down. I felt the cool air on my face as I descended. I adjusted my weight from one side to the other, inching downwards while I kept an eye on the ground below.
Soon my feet dropped to the grass with a soft thud.
And I kind of stood there rather than heading straight to my car.
Half of me was pumped with adrenaline, half in shock.
I was euphoric, every nerve beneath the skin tingling.
This must be how a shot of heroin feels, pure ecstasy, straight to the vein.
That’s what I had with Noah beneath me, moaning my name.
Never in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined that I would claim Noah. He’d been the prize I couldn’t win, the treasure I sought out blindly with no intentions of ever securing. He was off limits. He was forbidden.
He was a dream.
And the craziest part was that he didn’t even realize it. How good he was. How imperfectly perfect. How fucking mad he drove me.
Well, maybe he did know that much. He constantly set me on fire.
When I got behind the wheel, I had no idea what to do with myself.
I had driven myself here and knew I needed to get back home.
I looked out into the darkness beginning to fall over Noah’s estate, and I longed to go back to him.
I wanted to be in his bed. I wanted to talk to him.
I hadn’t wanted to leave in such a rush.
I wanted to know why he was in tears.
When I saw those raven eyes brimmed over, my heart stopped beating in my chest. It was the first time I had seen Noah cry.
Off the top of my head, I could recall moments during our childhood of fear, timidity, maybe even anger, but never a time where I witnessed him break down and cry like he did today.
The origin of his tears were a mystery to me, and my body felt constricted, as if tugged by a rope, with the desire to return to his side until I could determine what had caused them.
I loved pain, this much was true. I enjoyed inflicting it. Even on Noah. But nothing could have prepared me for those tears coating his cheeks. The idea that I could have caused him pain past the point of pleasure, pain to the point of mental anguish—that wasn’t something I could handle.
Those tears had my name on them, I knew. He just wasn’t telling me. There was something he was keeping from me, and I doubted I’d ever find out the truth.
I wish I could’ve stayed long enough to ask. To make up for it.
Fucking Damian. Always in the way, literally.
I started my car up and eased out of his driveway.
I took one last look at the window, hoping Noah could work out his lie.
Seeing him try to fabricate a story to protect us made me feel something I didn’t entirely comprehend.
I was gradually realizing that Noah still had a grip on me that I was powerless to escape.
Having sex with him didn’t put out the flames or make the cacophony in my head stop.
It stoked the embers.
I thought that having Noah this way would ease the hunger I had for him.
But it didn’t.
I was a fiend, and I wanted more. It wasn’t enough.
I questioned if it ever would be.