Chapter 3
Three
Noah
“Andie, wait! Andie…”
I rush after her, letting the actual waste of space ruminate in his misery on the floor in front of everyone in the establishment.
He deserves so much worse, but nothing can stop me from running after her, not when I know she’s trying her damnest not to cry.
The second she hears my voice, her steps quicken, and that alone is a pinch to my heart. Yet, I don’t let it deter me from following her.
Catching up to her on the sidewalk, I stand in front of her, halting her attempts to get away from me. I grab her shoulders and pull her towards me so that no passerby crashes into her.
When I look down at her as she stands so close to me, my heart just about thunders with the need to go back and end that motherfucker because how the fuck did he think he could bring her to tears, make her feel anything less than she is.
Her red eyes plead with me to move on from everything that had taken place. “Noah,” she chokes on a sob, her hand coming to cover it as her head drops between her shoulders.
If she says my name like that, I’d fall to my knees right here on the street. “What do you need?” I rasp, my voice hoarse from threatening the piece of shit.
Andie ponders for a minute and tilts her chin to look at me. “Make me forget, Noah,” she whispers, her voice akin to a siren singing the sailor to his ruination.
My heart thunders for an entirely different reason at her words, eyes bouncing between her blue ones—the ones that are usually so full of life, but now, there’s not even a hint of spark in them.
She drops her head again when I don’t respond. Not liking it when her eyes are not on me, I grasp her chin and make her look at me. A gasp falls out of her luscious lips—lips I desperately want to kiss, to taste.
NO, NOAH! She’s your best friend’s little sister.
That’s all she is. That’s all she’ll ever be.
“How?” I say so low, I’m surprised she hears the words.
Her brows pinch together as she thinks that through. Numerous possibilities dance in her eyes, and I wish I were a mind reader, at least when it came to her. Andie opens her mouth to say something, but then closes it, hesitation marring her features.
She gives her head the lightest of shakes and speaks, “I need to get drunk.”
I don’t know why my stomach drops. I’m not sure what I wanted her to say, but somewhere I feel that this wasn’t it.
“Then drunk you shall get.” With a nod, I pull back my hands, and we walk over to the nearest club—side by side, our arms brushing whenever someone walks by close, sending heat rushing through my veins.
I stuff my hands in my pockets, fisting them to resist the urge to touch her. Touching her chin like that was already a step too far.
* * *
Four glasses of scotch later, Andie is wasted.
And with each passing second, it gets harder and harder for me to stick to my seat by the bar and not pummel every guy in this club who’s staring at the stunning yet hammered woman beside me.
I want to gouge out their eyes for looking at her this way.
And that thought alone surprises me, along with what happened at the restaurant.
I’m not a violent guy. I may be the broody kind and keep to myself most of the time.
But never do I wish to harm people the way I did, who I now know is Sean, and every guy in this club with his lecherous eyes on Andie.
“Why do people alwaysssss make fun of my body?” Andie’s slurred words grab my attention, pulling me away from the murderous thoughts for the good of the world, really.
My features soften when I look at her as she tips the glass back and chugs another one down in one go, making me wince. Fuck, her hangover tomorrow is going to be a bitch.
“Why doesn’t anyone laikeeee me?” Her speech is as clear as a toddler’s, and God, I can’t help but find it adorable. Though the question she asks pierces my heart. How the fuck can people make her feel like that?
How can she not see just how gorgeous she is? Only if she knew the thoughts I harbor about her. She’d run for the hills or, more likely, to her brother to have me buried in a ditch somewhere.
Andie hiccups and continues, “No one,” she sniffles, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, “looks at me like they want me.”
Oh, how wrong you are. If you were sober, you’d see how the gazes of men here wish to eat you up. And for some reason, I hate that.
I wish I could throw them out, or I don’t know, smash their heads on the table. I’m not sure the club owner would appreciate it, though. He has clearly tried to make this place appear classy and high-end.
When I look around, all I see are golden and red lights drowning the sea of people, the music so loud that I can hardly hear my own thoughts.
People on the dance floor sway to the rhythm, wanting to forget all about real life. It’s the perfect place for that. I wish it were that easy, though—forgetting about real life.
I go back to staring at the woman in front of me, rambling to herself. Suddenly, her eyes widen, and she animatedly turns to me.
My back straightens, and I lean closer to her so she can hear me over the music. “Everything alright, Andie?”
She vigorously nods her head. “I have an ide—” Her sentence breaks on a hiccup. “Idea,” she finishes, her hand covering her mouth.
I raise my hand and signal the waiter for a glass of water and something for her to eat because she needs something in her stomach to soak up the alcohol.
Sliding my gaze back to her, I tentatively ask, “Okay? What’s that?”
A beaming smile replaces her upset face, and my heart fucking flips, my stomach swooping low. Andie falls over me, her hands on my thighs. If she moves them an inch, she’ll realize what she does to me. So, to stop her, I instantly place my hands over hers.
Her dress bunches low on her chest, giving a peek into her cleavage, and I can’t help but have a look. However, the moment my gaze reaches there, I force my eyes shut.
That’s wrong. She’s your best friend’s little sister.
“Have sex with me!” Andie yells, her mouth a hair’s breadth away from me, laying waste to the reminder I’ve been giving myself just a second ago.
What the actual fuck?
I choke on nothing but air, her words making no logical sense—let’s keep the mechanical on the side for now.
My dick jumps to life at her words, twitching in my pants, getting excited. My hold on her tightens. Fuck, this is bad!
Is it? My mind intervenes.
Goddamn! Focus, Noah!
“What?” I sputter out, my eyes bulging at her. I’ve never been more afraid of the words that might come out of someone’s mouth.
“Have sex with me,” she repeats, slower this time. “Teach me how to do it?”
My eyes narrow, a crease forming between my brows at her words, while she continues to blink as if that will make my condition any better. “What do you mean, teach you?” I look at her lips, her tongue darting out to lick them, and look back at her eyes.
“I’ve never had sex before,” she slurs, her eyelids heavy. “I’m a virgin,” she reveals on the cutest yawn I’ve ever bore witness to.
My heart practically jumps to my throat, thundering at a staccato more violent than that of an actual storm.
An unrecognizable surge of possessiveness rushes through my veins. Her hands in mine, sending electricity rushing through every nerve of my body at the revelation.
“You’re…You’re a virgin?” I stutter, unsure if I should even be asking this.
“Mhmm,” her head lolls forward as she nods.
My throat feels dry as I clear it. “You’ve never…never had sex before?” My tone low, scared that Ezra might pop out of nowhere and pummel me to death, hearing this conversation with Andie.
While I’m fighting myself to practice proper control in her presence and her declaration, she fucking giggles. “That’s what it means, silly.” Her curls fall forward, framing her oval face.
Fuck, she’s cute.
Noah, not the time!
Before I can form an appropriate response, she heaves and pukes all over my clothes. Then her head falls on my shoulder, her ass barely on her own chair, as she snores.
She is…asleep?
She is asleep.
While I’m still here, trying to recover from our conversation. Her demand and divulgence ringing loud in my head. My eyes screw shut, a curse slipping free from my lips now that she’s unconscious. “Fuck.”
What was she thinking, saying those sorts of things to me? Tempting me with the forbidden and asking me to do the sinful.
‘Have sex with me. Teach me how to do it.’
‘I’m a virgin.’