36. Jazz Hands #2
He bends his knees, leaning forward with his jazz hands at the ready.
Three or four kids approach the net with the soccer ball between them.
It’s hard to make out anything from my vantage point, but someone kicks, and the ball sails past his right hand and into the net.
The Lumberjacks cheer as the Saplings walk away defeated.
“It’s ok.” Lexi claps as she jogs onto the field, rounding up her team.
Voices drift across the sidelines from the other team’s bench. “She ought to be banned from coaching with the way she was carrying on with poor Hayden.”
My knuckles blanch around the arms of the chair as I struggle against my barely contained anger.
A second voice says, “Tried to ruin his life. Honestly, Karen. I don’t know how you got through it.”
“It’s a blessing in disguise. Can you imagine? You? A grandmother?”
Shrill laughter pierces the air, and I see red. I’d know that laugh anywhere.
A voice I can’t place chimes in. “And that mother of hers.”
Karen snickers. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
I start to stand and talk myself out of it, but Noah has no such compunction. He’s out of his chair before I can blink, his hands flexing at his sides with each determined stride. He stops just shy of their seats and slips his hands into his pockets.
“Hi, Noah,” a blonde woman says in a flirty tone that only ratchets up my frustration.
He ignores the stranger, laser-focused on his main target. “What are you even doing here, Karen? Last I checked, you don’t have any kids on the team.”
She tosses her hair and looks down her nose at him. “I was just stopping by to see my friends. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Why don’t you pull up a chair?” the flirty blonde bitch says. “We could use some eye candy.”
“Shut up, Cheryl,” Karen mutters.
There’s no talking myself out of it this time. I stand and jog across the grass to catch up with him. Whether I’ll be playing defense or offense is anyone’s guess. Maybe I’ll take a page out of Auggie’s book and distract the bitches with my jazz hands.
“This is low even for you, ” Noah snarls.
“It’s like you never left high school. A bunch of mean girl bullies standing on the sidelines talking shit about a good kid who’s never done anything to any of you.
And you”—he rounds on one of the dark-haired women I now recognize as Melissa Landry—“your daughter was in Clio’s preschool class.
I bet she went home with one of those hand-knit hats and a pair of mittens to match, didn’t she? ”
When she doesn’t answer, he continues. “Yeah. That’s what I fucking thought. Clio is a better person than all of you combined.”
I press my palm to his spine. “It’s ok. Let’s just go.”
He looks at me, his tender expression melting me from the inside out.
“No. I won’t sit by and listen to them talk shit about the people I care about.
” His gaze cuts back to Karen. “You think just because your husband is a cop, you’re invincible.
Money and status don’t mean shit in this town.
Willow Valley was built on kindness and loyalty, both qualities you all seem to be lacking. ”
He points at each of them in turn. “It would’ve been a goddamn privilege for you to be that baby’s grandmother. If Hayden decides to have kids someday, I hope he never honors you with that title. You’re a cunt.”
She scoffs. “Sure. Remind me…where’s that brother of yours again?”
The other women avert their gazes, quietly distancing themselves from the altercation.
I place myself between Karen and Noah, his steady presence at my back giving me the courage to speak.
“I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but you don’t get to speak to people that way.
Noah has done nothing to earn this petty grudge you seem to be hellbent on holding onto.
His brother made a mistake, but that doesn’t have any bearing on Noah as a person.
It doesn’t even define Jonah. I hope you never make a mistake in your life.
If you do, I’ll be right there waiting to throw it in your face. ”
Shock overtakes Karen’s features, but I don’t stick around long enough to find out what she’s going to say next. I grab Noah’s hand and head back the way we came, but Noah has other plans, and he pulls me behind a large oak tree near the parking lot, pinning me against it.
He leans his elbow on the tree above my head and tilts my chin up with his thumb and forefinger. “That was the single sexiest thing you’ve ever done.”
I run my palm down his chest, my lips tipping up at one corner. “Oh? I thought it was that thing I do with my tongue.”
He pinches his eyes shut like he’s in pain. “Fuck, baby. You can’t say shit like that when we’re in public. I’m already hard as a rock.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
“What about Lexi and Auggie?”
“They’ll be fine for a while. I’ll text her and let her know we’re leaving.”
He presses his lips to mine. “We’re taking my bike.”
Crap.
NOAH
With Clio’s thick thighs bracketing my hips and her arms wrapped snugly around my waist, I guide my bike down the narrow side streets, enjoying the feel of her at my back.
It’s so different from the first time she was on my bike, not just because I now know what it’s like to be completely consumed by her, but because I feel lighter this time.
I still have the weight of the world on my shoulders, but being with Clio makes it bearable.
I grab her thigh, taking the curve onto the cross street between the town square and the cliffs. Watching her stand up for me like that… fuck. I was rock hard in seconds. If we hadn’t been in the middle of the park in broad daylight, I would’ve fucked her up against that tree.
I park on the edge of the cliff, pausing to take in the view. Clio climbs off the back, looking windswept and fucking breathtaking. The sky is overcast today, but you wouldn’t know it from the ray of fucking sunshine standing in my line of sight, brightening everything around her.
She has a yellow scarf tied around her hair, and a matching shirt beneath those overalls she loves to wear when she’s working on her art projects. There’s nothing inherently sexy about her outfit, and yet I can’t tear my eyes away. I don’t know how I ever thought this could be temporary.
I plant my feet on the ground, scoot back onto the passenger seat, and pat my lap twice. “Come here.”
She snorts out a laugh. “I’m not sitting on your lap.”
“You had no problem sitting on my face.”
Her cheeks flush an adorable shade of pink. “You’re insufferable.”
“Yet you’re still here.”
She swings one leg over my bike, draping herself across my thighs. Her arms twine behind my neck, and she leans in close. “It’s that thing you do with your tongue.”
“Is that all it takes?”
I’m a confident man, but there’s still a small, insecure part of me that worries she’s only with me for the sex. That what we have is comfortable and familiar, and staying with me is easier than finding someone else.
The sun begins to peek out from behind a cloud, and her eyes catch in the light, robbing me of the ability to think clearly. “You don’t see it, do you?”
“See what?”
“Your value. Your heart. You have the capacity to love so deeply, Noah,” Her fingertips glide into the hair at my nape. “Your heart has been closed off for so long. Maybe you don’t know what it feels like, but I can show you if you’ll let me.”
I wish I could say the words she needs to hear. Wish I could tell her I love her, cast aside all of my fear and uncertainty to set her mind at ease, but I can’t, so I do the next best thing and kiss her.
If she’s right—if I have the capacity to love deeply, I hope I never find it. Love holds far too much power over the people it afflicts, devouring them from the inside until there’s nothing left but pain.
If I could allow myself to love anyone, there would be no one more deserving than Clio. I’m already teetering on the edge. The fall would be effortless if I could only get past my fear of drowning when I reach the bottom.