THIRTEEN
Noah
I stared at Zach with new eyes, and my chest tightened with apprehension. I hadn’t felt intimidated by his build, but his looks? That was a different story. The man was attractive, and definitely better looking than me. He had one of those sculpted faces with perfect symmetry, the kind women usually lost their shit over.
His hair was short and messy, and he was blond like Charlotte, although his was darker. They matched perfectly in the looks department too. God, what a pair they must have made together.
A foreign sensation stole over me—something I hadn’t ever experienced in all my years in the lifestyle.
Jealousy.
It was a burn that crawled up from my stomach and wanted to escape through my eyes. I hated the feeling almost as much as I hated him.
Charlotte didn’t wait for an invitation. She pushed past him and charged into the apartment, so I followed suit. I didn’t want her too far away, or too close to her ex. There was a collection of liquor bottles on the counter in the kitchen, and a half-empty glass of what looked like whiskey beside it.
The mess of the place made me uncomfortable, so I couldn’t even imagine how bad it was for her. She didn’t show it, though. She sidestepped a pizza box on the floor and moved with purpose into the living room.
Christ, had it looked like this when she’d lived here? No. There was no way. She’d been bothered by my cluttered house the first time she’d come over, but this place was on a whole other level. It wasn’t messy—it was dirty.
“It’s not here,” Zach said. When she ignored him and began to move stuff off the ottoman, his tone turned patronizing. “But feel free to look around.”
She grimaced at the plate of food that had begun to mold and pushed it to the side. “Where’s the tray I had here?”
“What tray?”
He must not have been able to notice it because it was buried under all the junk. She let out a sigh of relief, plucking a purple case from beneath a stack of papers and mail. “Got it.”
He’d claimed her iPad wasn’t here, and he wasn’t thrilled she’d proved him wrong. His eyes narrowed. “Wow. You sure didn’t wait long.”
Did he mean me? Charlotte wrapped her hands around the purple case and marched forward.
The lack of acknowledgement pissed Zach off further, and he stepped in between us. “Why’d you bring your boyfriend along? Trying to make me jealous? Because you know I don’t care.”
“He’s not my—” she started.
But he wasn’t finished. His focus swung my way, so he could scan me from top to bottom. “She’s definitely got a type, huh, bro?”
My fists clenched. I didn’t enjoy the idea that I was anything like this guy. He seemed to be a loser in every sense of the word, and my voice was frosty. “We just came to get her stuff. Now that it’s done, we’re leaving.”
“Great.” His eyes brightened with a thought, and an evil smile dawned on his face. “You been enjoying my sloppy seconds?”
My shoulders stiffened as anger raced through my muscles, and I stepped closer to him. “What the fuck did you just say?”
His expression filled with panic, and he shuffled backward on uneasy feet. How the hell was he legitimately surprised by my reaction? It was like he’d expected me to shrink away or stay quiet, not surge forward.
Just as I’d thought.
This guy was all bark and no bite. When I moved to take another step, Charlotte appeared between us and planted a hand on the center of my chest.
“Let’s go,” she said. “This place is so gross, I don’t want to be here another second.”
The connection of her touch disarmed and diffused me. And she was right; I didn’t want to be here any longer either. I closed my hand on top of hers and led her to the front door.
“That’s right, run away,” he said, sounding like a smug fuck. “It’s what you’re good at.”
His comment slammed into her, and since I had hold of her hand, I felt her jolt. But I laced our fingers together and kept us moving. I considered leading her out into the hallway first, and then shutting the door between us so she couldn’t see me giving him a piece of my mind.
Because he’d hurt her, and I didn’t like that one fucking bit.
Instead, when I reached the threshold of the door, I turned to deliver a cold, victorious smile. “She’s not running away, she’s leveling up.”
Zach gaped at me, lost for words. Then, his tiny brain fired back up and he sneered. “Bet her dad fucking loves you.”
“He does,” I lied.
He seemed like the kind of guy who always had to have the last word, but I moved too quickly. I pulled the door closed behind us and set off down the hallway at a fast clip. Charlotte’s grip tightened in mine, and she kept up with me, step for step.
Maybe we were both running from the last comment he’d lobbed at us.
She let me lead her to the driver’s side of her Yaris, and when we reached it, she turned and leaned against the door. Neither one of us relaxed our hands to let go.
I peered down into her eyes, seeing all the hurt and upset that pooled there. “Don’t let him get under your skin.”
“Too late,” she whispered. “God, I’m a magnet for losers.”
“Are you?” I tugged the corner of my mouth into a half smile. “Because I’m the one who hit on you at the bar.” I wasn’t any good at dealing with emotion, and my go-to move was to deflect. I flattened my free hand to my chest and pretended to be wounded. “You think I’m a loser?”
It was the wrong play. She needed me to be serious right now.
I cleared the discomfort from my throat. “Hey. I’m sorry he was such a dick. Are you okay?”
She pressed her lips together and nodded. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too.” And I truly meant it.
Her gaze dropped to the iPad she held, and then shifted to our clasped hands. It made my heartbeat fall out of rhythm.
“What did he mean about running away?”
The question came from me before I could think better of it, and her expression shuttered. Her shields came up at the same time she tried to drop my hand, but I wouldn’t let go.
Her tone was brusque. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Fair enough.” My head bobbed in a short, understanding nod. I didn’t know why I’d asked, anyway. It wasn’t any of my business. When I released her hand and took a step back, she gave me a sharp, evaluating look.
Whatever she was thinking about, it made me nervous.
“I’ll tell you,” she said reluctantly, “if you’d be willing to do me another favor.”
Even without knowing the specifics, excitement shot through me. She wanted to make a deal—and I lived for making good deals. “What is it?”
She pushed off the car to stand tall. “I want you to take me to the club.”
I already knew the answer, but I asked it anyway. “Which club?”
“The one where you met Patrick and Shannon.”
She was worried I was going to say no, and I had to bite back a smile. Because I was sure this would be the easiest yes I’d ever give. But I took my time anyway, drawing it out like I was weighing the pros and cons.
“All right,” I answered. “On one condition.”
She drew in an anxious breath. “What is it?”
“You give me your keys, and I get to drive us back to my place.”
She blinked back her surprise, then dug a hand into her pocket and produced the keys. She held them up, jingling them, but when I reached out, she pulled back. “Promise me, Noah.”
Like she worried I’d renege on our deal.
Fuck. Was she thinking I was like the man upstairs in the apartment we’d just left? He’d done a number on her, for sure.
I softened my voice. “I promise.”
It must have been convincing enough, because she handed over the keys.
After I banged my knees against the steering wheel while climbing into the driver’s seat, I slid the seat back, repositioned the mirrors, and started the engine. She got into the passenger seat and rested the iPad on her lap, keeping her gaze fixed forward.
I sensed the tension in her and stayed quiet, focusing on the drive. When she was ready, she’d talk, and if she didn’t... that was okay too. I’d take her to Club Eros regardless of how much she wanted to reveal to me.
Eventually, Charlotte straightened in her seat and pulled in a deep, preparing breath.
“I’m a spoiled brat,” she announced.
Um, what? I shot her a questioning glance. Her focus remained on the windshield, her expression not giving anything away.
“That’s what I’ve been told my whole life,” she continued, “but I didn’t believe it until Zach.” Her voice was quiet and sad. “The first time he said it, I’d thought he was teasing me. He would call me a spoiled brat like it was some cute little joke he was letting me in on. Like, we were sharing it together.”
My hand tightened on the steering wheel.
“I don’t know why I ate it up.” Her fingers curled around the edge of the iPad, lifting and closing the case lid repeatedly. “But I did. I fell in love with him, and I fell hard , and I just stopped caring about anything else.” The steady thumps of the case lid closing could barely be heard over the music playing through her car’s speakers. “My parents had given me a million chances already, so when I failed out of Davidson, I panicked. I knew that was it.”
She finally turned in her seat to look at me, and even though I kept my attention on the road, I felt her gaze locked on me.
“So,” her voice lost any power, “I ran. I used the credit card my parents gave me and booked a trip to Hawaii. I told Zach it was an early Christmas present to us from my parents.”
Oh, shit . The thought formed quickly. Was this why she needed money? Why she hadn’t refused when Ardy had pushed for her to clean my place? She needed to pay back her parents.
“I was really fucking stupid, okay? I’d never disappointed my dad before, and I didn’t know how to deal.”
She said it like she wanted to get out in front of whatever judgmental thing she expected me to say, but it was unnecessary. I wasn’t in a position to judge anyone.
Sure, she’d made a huge mistake, but it was impossible not to feel for her, at least a little. I’d worked with Ardy long enough to know he was good guy, who was probably a teddy bear of a man when it came to his daughter.
But I’d also seen him when things hadn’t gone his way.
When he’d been let down or disappointed, he didn’t shy away from letting people know. He could raise his voice and get heated, so I was aware the teddy bear had teeth, and he would flash them if needed.
Had she been terrified to be on the receiving end of that?
Charlotte swiped a hand over her cheek, and that was the only indication I had that tears had begun to roll down her face. She didn’t sniffle, and her voice didn’t quaver.
“When my parents realized what I’d done, they cut off my credit card, and were waiting for me when we got back. He thought Zach had talked me into it, like I was under his spell. My dad promised all could be forgiven, but only as long as I ended it with Zach and came home.” Her tone filled with shame. “But I couldn’t. I was too embarrassed to admit defeat or face what I’d done. I told myself I loved him, and that would be enough.”
Her focus drifted from me and went to the horizon where the sunlight was fading, and the sky filled with orange and pink hues.
“Spoiler alert,” she warned, “it wasn’t. I was cut off, with nowhere to go, and he was forced to take me in. So the first few months we lived together, I did everything right. I tried really hard to be the perfect girlfriend, but it didn’t seem to matter to him. He resented I was there, and every time he called me a spoiled brat, he got a little meaner about it.”
“He’s an asshole,” I snapped.
“Yeah, but... was he wrong? He said I hadn’t worked a day in my life. That I didn’t know what hard work was, but I thought that was bullshit. I worked so fucking hard to keep us together. I should have left him, but it was too late. I was in too deep.”
“Sunk cost fallacy,” I said. “Where you don’t cut your losses and give up on a bad strategy because you’re too heavily invested.”
“Yeah, I guess,” she admitted. “Our relationship ended months before I moved out, and those last few weeks were hell. When I left, Zach just had to throw it in my face that I was running back home. That’s why him saying I’m good at running away got to me.”
I took a long moment to contemplate all of what she’d just told me, and since she’d been so vulnerable, I felt the urge to return the favor. To show her she wasn’t alone in being young and making a mistake. “I ran away, too.”
That got her attention. “You did? When?”
“After high school.”
Her expression turned plain. “Going to college isn’t running away.”
“It is when you do it to get away from your family.” I turned left into my subdivision and followed the road as it wove through the neighborhood. “I could have gone to Davidson, or Western Kentucky, or even UT, but instead I picked the school that’s nine hundred miles away.”
“Why?”
I frowned. “Because my family can be a lot. I love them, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not like the rest of them. I’m more,” I searched for the right word, “independent.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I like my alone time. When I lived here, I felt like they were on top of me, always in my business.” I turned into my driveway, parked in front of the garage, and shifted in my seat to give her my full attention. “My family is totally cool spending every moment together. But for me? I felt like I couldn’t breathe, so I put as much distance between us as I could.” I shut off the engine and handed her the keys. “That makes me sound like an asshole, doesn’t it? Running away because my family likes being with me too much.”
She looked at me like I was being silly. “I’m an only child, so trust me, I get it. My parents mean well, but yeah. Sometimes they can be smothering.” Her gaze drifted away, only to snap back to me with a new thought. “What about now? How’s it been with them since you moved back?”
“It’s not bad. I think they’re making a conscious effort not to come on too strong.”
“That’s good,” she said. “But to be honest, I don’t blame them for wanting to spend time with you.” Her smile was surprisingly shy. “I’m going to let you in on a secret. I feel the same way.”
My pulse jumped, and it came out before I could stop myself. “Yeah, same.”
Her smile grew into a full-blown grin. “So, when are we going to the club?”
Right. I got out my phone and checked my schedule. The club was only open a few nights a week, but I had some space this weekend. “Saturday?”
She didn’t even think about it. “That sounds great.”
An alarm blared inside me, telling me to get out of the car before I did something stupid... like putting my lips on hers. “Okay, I’ll figure out a time,” I reached for the door handle, “and text you the details.”
Charlotte nodded and followed my lead, climbing out of the passenger side. I stood beside her Yaris, holding the driver’s door open for her, and watched her round the back of the car. She didn’t get in though. Instead, she stood at the side, with the car door between us, and I was grateful. I needed the barrier to keep me in line.
“Hey, thanks again for coming with me tonight,” she said softly.
“Of course.” I almost added ‘ anything for a friend ,’ but was wise enough to leave it off, because the thoughts swirling through me were not thoughts a friend should be having.
She hovered there long enough for me to realize she was waiting for something. An invitation, perhaps? I wasn’t going to do that because nothing good could come from it.
Orgasms could come from it.
Yeah, but it wouldn’t be worth the fallout after. I liked my job. And I happened to like Charlotte even more, which was why I didn’t want to hurt her.
If she was disappointed I didn’t ask her to come in, she didn’t show it. She sat in the seat and gazed up at me with a bright smile. “Saturday,” she said. “I can’t wait.”
I nodded and closed the door, unable to say anything, because I worried what would come out of my mouth. She was looking forward to me taking her to the club, but me?
It was concerning how fucking thrilled I was about it.