Chapter 15 Noah
Noah
It’s been two days since our Vegas wedding, and things haven’t been so honeymoon-y as you would think.
Don’t get me wrong, we were doing great for about two minutes.
Then we got into a big fight on our way back, and we haven’t talked since.
I keep waiting for him to reach out because what exactly am I going to say if I call first?
‘Hey remember I married you to save both our asses for the crime YOU committed, and you kind of owe me, so you need to be the bigger person and forgive me for being a complete ass to you on our way back from Vegas?’ I mean, I could say that.
I’m not sure it will be received well; no, I’m pretty sure it won’t be at all, actually.
In fact, I don’t even need to think about it to know Leo is still pretty mad at me.
“Who died?” Rachel jokes as she exits the salon.
“What?” I ask, confused, and she laughs. I was so deep inside my head that I didn’t notice the salon has officially closed and Rachel is now locking the door.
“Buddy, you look like we are going to a funeral, not the bookstore. Are you okay? Weren’t your two days with Leo what you expected?
” That’s an understatement. My two days with Leo were a fucking mess, and, on the plus side of a bad situation, I am also now legally bound to the man.
I can’t even complain about it because it was my fucking idea.
Great idea. So fucking great. I should get a prize for it.
Well, I will get a prize for it. It will be in the form of divorce papers.
“I am just tired.” I lie.
“Well, if he is anything like his friend, you are probably better off.” Kai still hasn’t reached out, and Rachel is not a fan.
I am surprised she hasn’t burst into his house or the bar yet.
She seems to be handling the situation in a very calm way, which makes me worry.
Chaotic unhinged Rachel is scary, but calm Rachel is scarier.
Because calm Rachel can switch to angry Rachel at any moment, and angry Rachel doesn’t handle rejection well.
She doesn’t handle anything well. She is probably going to murder the man, and we will have another body to hide.
Maybe Logan will be up for the job. I am sure he isn’t a big fan of Kai either.
He didn’t seem to be a fan of Leo that much, but he still helped, so maybe I don’t know shit.
“Let’s go get you a book,” I say and wrap my arm around her shoulders; she curls to my side, and I kiss the top of her head. “You know I missed you, right?”
She smiles, looking up at me. “You are my best friend; it would be weird if you didn’t.
” Shut up, Rachel, and let me love you. It’s not always you find a best friend like you.
I’m trying to appreciate your smartass, and you are making it difficult.
I don’t say it out loud, though. Because she is indeed the best friend a man can ask for, and I don’t need that compliment going straight to her ego.
A BOOKSTORE TRIP, THREE hours and a bottle of wine later, and we are sitting in Rachel’s living room.
Our usual routine, except the fact that instead of reading my book I am replaying in my mind the way Leo fucked me against the very same spot I am sitting right now.
And when I went to the kitchen to get more wine, I got a vivid flashback of Leo bending me over the table.
I wonder if he will ever let me top him, because I would love to feel what he is feeling, dominating me like that.
I adjust in my seat because the constant flashbacks of being railed in every possible way in my friend’s house are messing with my body.
“Do you think he is ghosting me?” Rachel mumbles, and I realize she isn’t reading either.
“Who?” I pretend to play dumb, but she could also be talking about Alex too, and that wouldn’t go so well.
It’s not like I can tell her, “Hey, Rach, the guy isn’t ghosting you because me and my boyfriend or husband or whatever he is, kind of killed him, but don’t worry I am sure he would have called if he was alive. ”
“Kai.” She says with a low voice. An admission that stings more than the fact this guy hasn’t called her in what seems like forever. In reality, it’s just five days or so, but in those five days, a lot has happened, and right now it kind of feels like forever.
“He isn’t ghosting you, Rach. He is probably dealing with something.” She considers my response, checking her phone in the meantime, and I know this look all too well. She is tormenting herself. Rachel and rejection were never friends, not that I can blame her. Who likes being rejected?
“Maybe I scared him off.” She is definitely tormenting herself.
“Oh, honey, no, you didn’t scare the unhinged biker who actually started stalking you after you kidnapped him.
If anything, you two are a damn match made in heaven.
” She laughs, and it’s a glimpse of her usual self.
That’s my friend shining through the shade of self-loathing, draped on her like a cape.
“Come on now, isn’t this nice?” I say as I take a sip of wine. “We have wine, books, and no bikers tied in your bedroom. Like old times.” I joke, trying to lighten the mood.
“Yeah, yeah fucking fantastic.” She murmurs.
I smirk. “And you know what’s best about tonight?”
“No bikers?” She responds with a question that sounds more like she wants to rip my heart out and feed it to me. I am pretty sure Leo might want to do that too. They can team up, kill Noah as a group activity, maybe it will bring Kai back to Rachel’s life.
“No bikers!” I chirp happily, ignoring the fact that my friend is probably plotting my murder in her head.
It’s fine. She is a sweetheart. She would never actually kill me.
Rachel is just... who the fuck am I trying to kid?
This woman is insane. She probably will kill me and get away with it one of these days, or kill Kai and have me bury the body.
At least I know the right people to dispose of the body.
I am sure Logan won’t mind if he gets a call in the middle of the night to help us dispose of Kai in a shallow grave.
“That’s it. No one is ghosting me.” She announces breaking the spell of my thoughts. She grabs her keys, basically running out of the house, and I drop my book, running after her.
“Sure, sure.” I say, treating her like an injured animal, afraid I will scare her into a manic episode that will end with mass murder via an axe or something, not that she owns an axe.
As far as I know, she doesn’t, but I wouldn’t put it past her to get one in the middle of the night.
“Where are we going, though?” I ask hesitantly.
“To the bar.” She announces and unlocks her car. She opens her door and slips into the driver’s seat but seems to have second thoughts.
“No, we are not.” I say as I slowly take her keys and help her out of the car. She thinks for a second, sizing the car, me, and herself.
“You are right, you are driving; I am too drunk to drive.” She gives me her keys, and at this point, I swear I need to find a new friend. This one is clearly going to be locked up in a psychiatric facility soon.
“How about we talk about it first?” I try to argue, but she pushes me in the damn car and closes the fucking door as if I am a kid, and she just secured me in my booster seat, but I am not a kid, and I am not secured in the back seat like a good boy.
I am a half-drunk grown man in the driver’s seat.
I hate driving, and even though I am a decent driver, I doubt I can drive half-drunk.
I am forced to obey at her will, and I start the car, even though I disagree with everything that is happening right now.
I take out my phone and try to type a message to warn Leo, but I fail because Rachel, in her attempt to show me something in hers, pushes my phone, and it slips from my grip. Fuck.
She mumbles something about the fact that the woman in Kai’s photo is clearly not a friend or a customer, and even though I argue with her about it, I don’t seem to convince her.
So I don’t say anything else; instead, I drive until we are in front of the bar.
I haven’t even managed to park the car when she opens the door and hops out, like a deranged bunny.
I leave it as is and exit as well, running after her.
“Rachel. Don’t make a fucking scene.” I yell as I try to take control of the situation.
Clearly failing. This is far from taking control.
In fact, I am pretty sure I am making the conversation worse just by breathing right now.
“Let’s talk about it. Wait.” I shout, but Rachel is not listening.
My phone rings, and I am glad I grabbed it as I exited the car, because it’s Leo who’s calling.
“What the hell is happening? Why is Rachel outside of the bar?” Leo’s voice comes out frantically through the speaker, and I just try not to make her anger spike while also giving warning to Leo.
“Yes. We are outside, and if I were you, I would take the blonde out the back and hide all sharp objects.” Probably Kai too, but I don’t say this because that’s a damn guarantee of an anger spike from Rachel, and I am not a fool or suicidal.
I am not going to die for Kai. I barely know the guy.
Now, if she tries to kill Leo, I might try to help him.
The word “might” here is the key word, because if they both die, we can go back to our little routine with no boys or romance, except for fictional, and I am kind of tempted to let her kill them just for that.
The moment those two idiots entered our lives, everything went straight to hell.
It’s like we stepped into an alternative reality where everything goes wrong.
Rachel shows me the middle finger before she bursts into the bar, and everyone turns to look at her. “What the hell, Kai? Who the fuck do you think you are, ghosting me like this?”
Kai holds both hands in the air, trying to calm her down, but he isn’t taking this seriously enough. “Calm down, little criminal.” He tells her with that sweet voice of his that won’t get him out of this situation, even though he seems to believe it will.
Leo leads the girl out of the bar, making a joke about Kai’s girlfriend murdering her, and I want to warn him that maybe he shouldn’t make murder jokes, but right now it’s kind of fitting.
Once she is secured in what I assume is either the back room or the back entrance, Leo approaches me and motions me to exit the bar and leave the not so happy couple at their fight.
“We need to talk.” He whispers once we are outside.
“Yes, we do.” I admit.
“No, you don’t understand. Logan said that he was questioned by the cops; he took the blame completely, and they couldn’t find anything else, so he was simply let loose.
His lawyer is fucking beast.” He explains, and for fuck’s sake, can’t we catch a damn break?
I want to ask why we even believe this, because he wouldn’t get away with murder that easily since he already has a criminal record, but I choose not to, because right now, playing with Leo’s anxiety is not a good idea.
I am sure that if we were in trouble, we would have been in a holding cell by now, and we aren’t, so it’s safe to assume we’ll be fine.
“Okay, what now?” I ask instead.
“He said that we shouldn’t meet for a few days and return to our normal routines.” Even Logan is against me. Sure, let’s not meet for a few days. Why don’t we break up while we are at it?
“Did you tell him about the...” I point at my ring finger, which is empty because Rachel only had one skull ring.
“No, I didn’t know if it would help. Besides, it’s only helpful if we’re questioned about it. No one actually needs to know, right?” I guess he has a point; we only got married as a protective measure. It’s not like he would want to be actually married to me. I am not an idiot. I know this much.
I don’t manage to say anything else before Rachel rushes out of the bar, grabs the car keys from my hand, and heads for the driver’s door. “Oh shit. I have to go. I’ll call you.” I say in a rush as I get into the passenger seat.
Leo goes back inside without bothering to even say goodbye, but right now I am more concerned about my best friend having a fucking mental breakdown mid-road to even bother with his attitude.
How the hell did we get into this mess?