44. Noah
NOAH
NOVEMBER PRESENT DAY
I’ve been lying here with her for what feels like forever. When I pulled out of her, I slid lower down her body between her legs to let my head rest on her lower stomach. We’ve just been enjoying the comfortable silence as she slowly runs her fingers through my hair.
I keep glancing up at her every now and then just to see her eyes still closed and her lips tipped in an adorable smile.
I keep biting the inside of my cheek just to feel the pain, so that I know this is real.
Because, honestly, I’m fucking terrified I’m going to wake up and this will all have just been a dream.
I can hear a phone buzzing somewhere near us, but I don’t want to move. Her fingers stop running through my hair, and I feel her body slightly lift as she looks around the room.
“It’s probably my phone,” I say as I wrap my arm around her waist to hold her down.
“Don’t you want to get it?”
“No.”
“Why not?” she laughs.
“Because the only person I care about, or want to talk to, is right here,” I say as I place a kiss on her lower stomach. I can’t wait for the day I can rest my head on her like this and feel my child kick. Yeah, I’m obsessed with this woman.
The phone goes off again, and I can tell she’s getting irritated by the noise.
“I’ll go get it,” she says as she tries to wiggle out from beneath me.
“No.”
“Noah…”
“Can we please ignore it? It’s a Sunday afternoon. No one calls me on Sunday unless it’s an issue.”
“Hence why you need to answer it,” she pleads.
“No, that’s exactly why I’m ignoring it. There are eight other lawyers on our team, plus my father, Jeremy’s dad, and Jeremy. One of them can handle it.”
“But what if it’s an emergency? What if something’s wrong with your father?” she asks, concerned.
“One could only wish,” I grumble, and she tries to hide her laugh.
“You and he don’t get along, do you?”
“What was your first hint?”
“I…didn’t get along with my father either,” she says softly.
“I’m sorry, Little Rabbit.”
I place another kiss on her stomach before shifting to move my lips further up until I’m covering her body with mine.
“It’s okay. It was a long time ago, and it doesn’t matter anymore. He’s gone.”
“You said your parents died when you were young. What happened?” I ask as I watch her eyes. I want her to know she can tell me anything.
Her eyes flit back and forth between mine, and I can feel the hesitation in her body. She’s nervous. She doesn’t know I already know everything.
“They…”
“Motherfucker. Why aren’t you answering your phone?”
Jeremy’s voice shouting from the front door startles both of us, causing me to shoot up and fall off the couch. My back hits the floor, and my head hits the coffee table.
“Fucking hell,” I groan as I grab the back of my head.
“Dude, what the hell…Jesus fucking Christ, put your dick away,” Jeremy shouts.
My head is pounding, and I swear I see stars. I glance up at Willow, and she thankfully has the blanket pulled over her body and is sitting up on the couch.
“Hi, Willow. Sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude. I’ve just been blowing up his phone for the last half an hour.”
“Why can’t you fucking knock?” I snarl as I reach under the coffee table and grab another blanket from the basket underneath and throw it over my naked body.
“Umm, excuse me, you’re the one who told me that I can come and go as I please. I’ll always have a place here. Remember your words?”
“Not when I have someone here,” I practically shout.
When I remove my hand from the back of my head, there’s a small amount of blood on my fingertips. God Dammit.
“Noah? Are you bleeding?” Willow asks as she moves around the coffee table to kneel next to me.
She thankfully still has the blanket wrapped around her because I swear to God if he saw her body, I’m going to kill him.
“Are you decent now? I do not need to see that again,” Jeremy laughs as he turns back around with one eye peeking through his fingers. “Oh, good, the monster is put away.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you.”
“Can you even stand to catch me?” he laughs.
“Probably not. My head feels like it’s spinning.”
“Well, you’re the one who has a granite coffee table.”
I’m glad he’s finding this so fucking amusing. Willow is moving the hair on the back of my head and makes a slight wincing noise.
“How bad is it?”
“I think you should go to the hospital to get it checked.”
“Seriously? He hit it that hard?” Jeremy gasps as he comes over and sits on the couch.
“Why are you here again?” I ask him as I shift my body and rest my head on Willow’s lap.
“Your father’s been up blowing my phone because you won’t answer yours.”
“I turned off his notifications. I didn’t want to hear from him on the weekend.”
“Well, we just lost one of our biggest cases of the year because the fucker snapped and killed his wife.”
“What?!” I scream, and my head seems to vibrate from the noise.
“The Vallero’s case. Yeah. He fucking lost it and killed her. The neighbor called the cops about a domestic dispute, and they caught him red-handed. Your dad needs us in the office now.”
“That’s not surprising,” I sneer.
It’s then that I can feel her body trembling against me. Fuck. Why the fuck would he blurt that out right here? He knows what she’s been through. I fucking told him everything yesterday.
His eyes lock with mine and slightly widen before glancing back at Willow.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t discuss client cases in front of you yet. Or did you accept the job?” he asks, trying to change the subject.
“No. I haven’t accepted the job yet. Noah, can you take me home?”
“Are you okay?” Jeremy asks.
I can feel Willow tense more. She’s trying to hold back her emotions and keep us from seeing what she’s going through, but I can feel her mind spiraling.
“I’m fine. It’s just getting late, and I have some things I need to get done before tomorrow morning. Plus, I need to prepare for my interview on Tuesday,” she says, forcing a fake laugh.
“Willow, I’m sorry if I said something that upset you.” Jeremy tries to help, but he’s only making it worse.
“No, I’m fine. We’re going to be involved in these kinds of cases all the time, so it’s no big deal. Um, I’m just going to grab my clothes…shit. We never threw them in the dryer.”
“You can borrow mine so that I can get you home.”
“Are you even okay enough to drive, Cuz?” Jeremy asks, holding out a hand for me to take.
“I’m fine.”
“How about I drive you home?” he asks Willow. “Then I’ll take you to the hospital,” he says as he helps me stand.
Once I’m on my feet, I can feel the room slightly tilt. Fucking hell, this is not what I need right now.
“Yes. You definitely need to get it checked. You hit your head really hard, and you're off balance.”
“Fine,” I huff.
I take a step toward the foyer, and it takes everything in me not to throw up from the nausea.
This can’t be happening right now. She needs me.
She’s hurting from the memories resurfacing, and I need to be there for her.
That’s the last thought I have as I lift my foot to go up the steps, and my world goes dark.