Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
NOAH
Ileave the arena with Harley, dodging the mass of students and heading towards my car. We come to as many of Logan’s games as we can, making sure that there’s always at least one of us in the crowd cheering him on even though he probably doesn’t care.
I’m not actually sure why he’s even on the team still, since he sees it at more of an obligation than anything else. It’s not as though his life is different and that he’s at a school where he needs to play for a scholarship or something. He has no need whatsoever to be on the team, yet he is.
Harley and Cole don’t care much about hockey, but they love our friend enough to endure it, especially when they get to see Logan lose his shit on the ice. That’s always a fun sight to see.
We came separately, so I give him a nod, the area too loud and busy to try and speak to him. I know he won’t hear me, but he’ll understand that I’ll meet him at home.
The closer I get to my car, the more an ominous feeling fills me and once I see a note sticking to the windscreen, secured by one of the wipers, I know why.
What the fuck.
I pull out the paper and unfold it. The words written on the page has a foreboding feeling filling me.
What will your best friend think about you fucking his little sister?
I glance around again, trying to see if anyone is watching me but it’s so busy outside of the arena that they could have slipped away unnoticed. Hell, they could have left it there three hours ago when I first got here and be long gone by now.
Why would someone leave a note like this? Gracie and mine’s relationship is significant to literally one person. Everyone else wouldn’t care if we got together, only her brother.
I shove the note in my pocket, since there’s nothing that can be done about it right now and it’s probably just Logan fucking with me.
That’s the only reasonable explanation there is, since there’s no way anyone could know about what’s been going on between Gracie and me.
Only… this really isn’t something that Logan would do.
Maybe it’s someone who lives in Gracie’s building. They could have seen me coming and going from her place and put two and two together.
I’m sure it’s nothing, really.
In fact, I’m sure nothing will come of it altogether. Whoever left the note has no evidence and probably only left it there to fuck with me.
It’ll be fine.
It has to be.
Once I get inside my car, I sigh and lean my head against the headrest, thankful to be done with people for the day.
I haven’t seen Gracie today. We’ve both been busy with classes in the lead up to winter break and my skin itches with the need to reach out and see how she is and what she’s doing.
I know that she’s no doubt safely tucked up in her dorm, since she’s not the type to want to go out and party often. It’s honestly a miracle that her friends managed to drag her out that night at the club and thank fuck they did, because we wouldn’t be where we are now if they didn’t.
I pull out my burner phone, opting to text her from this phone, knowing that she won’t reply.
I’ll call her from my actual phone once I get home and have a real conversation with her, at least that way I’ll be able to hear any uncertainty in her voice.
From the way the note was worded, it seems that whoever left it was only leaving a message for me, and I don’t think they’d leave anything like that for Gracie.
Besides, even if they did, she’d probably just think it was about her and me, not her and the masked stalker.
I haven’t visited her in the mask lately, knowing that I need to take a step back from the deception now that I’m finally with her.
Dating her? Seeing her? I don’t know, I just know that she is finally mine in some sense of the word and I don’t want to lose her, and I’d sure as hell lose everything I’ve worked so hard for if she found out the truth.
I quickly type out a message telling her I can’t stop thinking about her before throwing the phone in the cup holder and turning on the car.
Only, rather than the usual silence, my burner phone dings with a message.
That’s… odd.
The only person who has that number is Gracie, but Gracie never replies to the messages I send her from that phone.
I quickly swipe up the cell, brows furrowing as I read the text from the lock screen.
My Gracie
I can’t stop thinking about you either.
What the fuck?
My heart thunders in my chest I stare down at the screen before unlocking it and my thumb flies across the screen to reply. Has she somehow got the numbers confused? Did she see the text and automatically assume that it was me texting her without reading the caller ID?
You can’t, huh?
She must have been waiting for a response, because the text bubble with three dots pops up straight away to tell me that she’s replying.
My Gracie
I really can’t.
Oh yeah? I’ve still been watching you, love. I know that you’ve been going out with your brother’s friend.
I want to make sure she actually knows who she’s texting, since this is completely out of the ordinary and there’s no way the message won’t clue her in to who she’s actually messaging.
My Gracie
So?
So? Fucking so?
Rage bubbles up inside of me. She’s been dating me, and yet she’s texting with some other guy who she doesn’t even know. Granted, that guy is me, but she doesn’t know that. He could be anyone, and she’s telling him that she can’t stop thinking about him?
I thought we were in a good place, but clearly, I was wrong if she’s still thinking about anyone else but me.
But she is thinking about me.
I shake my head, my mind a jumbled mess of confusion, anger, and jealousy.
Jesus Christ, I’m jealous of myself.
But I can’t help it, I can’t stop feeling the madness that’s trying to take over that she would do this to me.
This day really is fucking with me.
What are you doing with that guy when it’s me you really want?
I hold my breath as it shows that she’s typing, more than a little apprehensive of what her reply will be.
My Gracie
Who says I can’t want you both?
That mollifies me a little, since it’s me that she wants in my entirety, but I still can’t help but be a little hurt that she would do this to her poor, unsuspecting friend turned lover, Noah.
I throw the phone, still more than a little agitated before picking up my usual phone and sending a quick text to Harley letting him know I’ll be home later than expected.
I put the car in drive with only one destination in mind: Gracie.
Iknock gently on the door, even though all I really want to do is let myself in, pin her to the bed and demand to know what the fuck is going on.
It takes a moment, but the door slowly opens to reveal Gracie, wearing fuzzy pajamas with a pencil in hand and a look of confusion on her face.
“Hey,” I say, my temper calming a little at the sight of her.
“Hey,” she says and frowns a little. “Did we have plans tonight?”
I shake my head, a slight smile on my face, thankful that she doesn’t seem to be acting strange, proving that she didn’t get a note or anything like I did. “We didn’t, but I was on my way home from Logan’s game and wanted to see how you were doing.” I shrug, attempting to appear nonchalant.
Gracie used to come to Logan’s games with us in high school, but not so much now that we’re in college. She doesn’t like the crowds, since too many people stress her out, so she only really comes to the more important games.
A wide smile lights up her face, leaving me a little breathless as she opens the door fully and invites me inside. I follow her to the little lounge area, where she sits down on the sofa, and it’s only after a closer look that I realize what she was doing.
She has a sketch pad resting on the coffee table with pencil’s scattered around it, and what I see on the page has my blood heating.
“What’s that?” I ask and nod towards the book, even though I know exactly what it is, but she doesn’t know that.
Because right there on the page is a drawing of me. Only, it’s not a portrait of me normally. No, she’s drawn me wearing the mask. I guess she really was telling the truth in the messages she sent, and that has a myriad of emotions whirling around inside me.
“Huh?” she asks, blinking up at me before her eyes go to the drawing. “Oh, it’s just something I saw somewhere, and inspiration struck, I guess.”
Yeah, I bet.
I move closer to get a better look at it.
Fuck, she really is talented.
“It’s amazing,” I murmur. “You really should think about switching majors. A business degree would be wasted on you, little one.”
She shoots me a shy smile and delicately shrugs one shoulder. “Maybe.”
“There’s no maybe about it, Gracie. You’re incredibly talented. Just think about it, yeah? Cole and I will be fine at the company if you decide to take a different path.”
Her eyes widen, but she remains silent and nods once. I know that she’ll think more deeply about it, she’s been thinking about it forever, and hopefully my words of encouragement will give her the push she needs to take that step.
I grin and take a seat on the sofa beside her. “You don’t mind me turning up here, do you?”
She rolls her eyes. “Just so long as you’re quiet while I draw, you can do whatever you like.”
“Perfect,” I say with a smile before picking up the TV remote and put a movie on with the sound off, content to sit here and covertly stare at her while she draws a version of me that she doesn’t actually know is me.
I’m still jealous of myself in some fucked up twist of fate, but at least I get to sit beside her as I stew on my feelings and thoughts filled with who could have been the one to leave me the note.