Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Noah
Southern California. Alright, I’ve been here, done that. Can we pack this up and go home now? The west coast is nothing but an insane world with endless buildings, endless people, and endless… craziness. Two hours sitting in traffic to go five miles? No thank you.
I glance at the time on my phone for the hundredth time in the last two minutes and then look over at Rex and his latest fling. Beth, the bar troll that’s somehow made it to day three.
Wrapped around one another, Rex and Beth are totally unaware of the looks of disgust people are giving them.
They continue groping one another in a way that I’m surprised doesn’t make them feel uncomfortable.
They’re saying goodbye for what Beth thinks is just until tomorrow, but I know it’s permanent.
Rex never holds a relationship longer than a week, two tops.
I met Rex in college. He’s a born and raised Californian that landed at Ol’ Miss.
Rex was as far from a southerner as you could get and always stuck out in a crowd.
Saying he was from California gave him a lot of attention from the ladies, which he loved.
How we ever became friends, I couldn’t tell you, but somehow, we managed to hit it off and have remained almost inseparable ever since.
He suggested I move out to California with him when he graduated last spring, and I jumped at the idea in order to put some distance between me and my past. A girl that broke my heart and still won’t stop haunting me. Lesson learned. Never break up in a small town. You can’t escape it.
Moving to California sounded like a chance to live in greener pastures, so I signed up to take my senior year of classes online and followed him out west eager to make a fresh new start. I figured a new life, where no one knew my name, was exactly what I needed.
Once we arrived in northern California, I liked the change of scenery.
The hills and country almost felt like home.
We signed a year’s lease, and I started to stretch out and settle into a brand-new world.
However, now my year is almost up, and my time in California is ending.
I haven’t agreed to renew a lease with Rex, and honestly, I can’t wait to pack up and move back home.
I thought I could find some sort of new meaning to life and freedom in the move, but the longer I stayed, the more I regretted it.
With absolutely nothing to keep me here any longer, I decided the California lifestyle, northern or southern, is definitely not for me.
This trip south was Rex’s last attempt at changing my mind.
But actually, all it did was prove he might just be stupider than he looks.
A country boy has no place in a cluster fuck like Los Angeles.
The beach was pretty, but overcrowded. I dream about being home in the beautiful countryside, where I have the space to breathe and think.
Something you can’t do with all the noise and chaos in California.
Trying to find something else to focus my thoughts on besides the two I’m sitting next to, I let my mind wander back to a girl I saw standing on the edge of the pier tonight.
I couldn’t stop staring at her. Hell, on a scale of one to ten, she was off the damn chart.
Even from where I stood on the sand, I was drawn to her.
She looked sad in the most gorgeous of ways.
If that’s even possible. Though, through the ocean’s glare and her apparent sadness, I couldn’t help but be stunned by her beauty.
One look at her and I knew she’s had to have broken a thousand hearts.
At one point, she smiled, and I found it hard to catch my next breath.
She was stunning in the way that everything about her made you want to know her more.
In that brief moment, I found myself wanting to be able to experience everything I could about her.
What she smelled like …
What she talked like …
What her favorite food was …
Did we listen to the same kind of music?
I stared at her for what seemed like forever, and it still wasn’t long enough.
I took in every bit of her I could from the distance between us, trying to commit the moment and her to memory.
I never want to forget her. I couldn’t, even if I tried.
She will haunt my fantasies forever. Why? I don’t know if I will ever know.
Eventually, she ran her fingers through her hair, and shifted her weight on her feet. She released a sad, slow exhale of breath as her thoughts consumed her mind.
God, what I wouldn’t give to be the one she thinks about.
The thought comes out of nowhere and shocks the hell out of me. Shaking my head, I try to refocus. Forget it. Girls like her are usually all sorts of trouble. Heck, any girl is trouble. I’m headed home to Kentucky in two short months, and away from here and her. And that is just the way I want it.
Brought back to the here and now, I watch as my best friend acts like a horny teenager in public and try to think about how he managed to talk me into going for one drink before we hit the road. One drink that Rex has now turned into three—with a few added shots just for the hell of it.
Plastered all over Beth in our corner booth, he is not paying any attention to anyone or anything.
I will no doubt be driving. Which is why I’m sitting in the back corner of some bar on Main Street in a town I can’t wait to get out of and drinking a plain old coke when what I really want is a dark beer.
Glancing up, I make out the girl from the pier sitting at a table nearby and my breath immediately catches. Nervously, I pull my ball cap lower and fidget in my seat. I want to get a better view of her, but have an overwhelming need to hide my stare at the same time.
I must look like an idiot, but heaven help me because I’m helplessly drawn to her.
Looking away for a moment, attempting one last time to force her pull from my mind, she somehow manages to pull me back to her like a fucking magnet.
Like a drooling idiot, a prepubescent teenager who just bumped into their junior high crush, I admire her from afar.
She’s more captivating up close than I could have imagined.
In a damn trance, I watch the way she moves, studying her every gesture.
Never has a woman fascinated me like her before. She’s addictive.
She’s sitting with another girl, who has to be her friend, and two men. That does it. A girl like her is usually never single. I guess I lost out. The fact that I’m even considering mystery girl has me confused. I shake my head, trying to regain some sort of sanity.
Get it together, Noah!
Don’t let one drop-dead beautiful woman make you feel what you’re feeling.
All chicks are the same.
They’ll just take and take until you have nothing left to give—and that’s when they always leave.
Glancing back up, I continue watching and it doesn’t take long before I start to second guess myself.
Maybe the pier girl doesn’t have a boyfriend because annoyance runs over the mystery girl’s face.
The conversation escalates as one of the guys puts his hands on her and backs her into an almost cornered position.
She doesn’t seem to know the man, and it’s obvious she wants nothing to do with him.
Before I can process the emotions running through my mind, I am on my feet and over at their table in an instant. Without hesitation, I grab the girl from the pier and swing her around.
God, she’s gorgeous. I falter slightly as I take her in. Wide blue eyes, startled expression, flushed cheeks … Damn it, I’m in more trouble than I thought.
Wondering what the hell I was thinking, and what I’m about to do next, I pause, swallow hard, and manage to say, “Hey, there you are. I’ve been looking all over for you …
” Without another thought, I pull her into me, and kiss her senselessly.Grabbing her tightly around her slender waist, she crashes into me and I know I will never recover.
From her, from this, she’s priceless.
As my lips savor hers, I collapse into the magnetic force between the two of us. I’ve never felt anything like it. Our connection is undeniable. The spark is consuming.
She never pulls away, and I hope that’s a good sign as I unintentionally deepen our kiss.
It’s too passionate and familiar to be a first. She opens up for me like this isn’t the first time I have tasted her.
Too fueled with desire for a person I don’t know, I have to stop myself from taking it further and doing something stupid.
Like stealing her away somewhere so I can enjoy more of her.
Fuck, this girl tastes like heaven. Sweet as hell.
Perfectly breathtaking. I taste her drink on her tongue, and it makes me crave more.
It makes me need more. Pushing her a little further, I am surprised when her grip tightens around my arm, and she presses into me like she doesn’t want to pull away.
When I can finally force myself to break free from the surprising ecstasy building between the two of us, I am once again drowning in the most beautiful pair of blue eyes.
A pair of blue eyes that are most certainly looking at me now like a deer in headlights.
She’s completely shocked, stunned, and obviously wants an explanation.
It’s sure to be only seconds before her alluring eyes regain their sanity and tell her the smart thing to do is slap me in the face for the stunt I just pulled.
Time to think quickly. Grabbing her arm, I pull her to my side then shoot my hand out to the jerk from a few minutes earlier who was trying to get way further than the first base I just scored.
“Hey, thanks for keeping my girl busy,” I start off, glancing back down at the girl from the pier.
God help me, because just looking into her eyes is the most thrilling thing I have ever experienced.
Her lips are now swollen from our kiss, her eyes are still wide in astonishment.
Looking back at the man in front of us, I say, “I guess you succeeded in showing her what kind of scum hangs out in local bars, and taught me never to leave her waiting.”
My hand is still extended towards him, and I’m not the slightest bit surprised that he never takes it.
I look back at the girl standing next to me, and notice she still hasn’t taken her eyes off me.
The silence thickens. My throat goes dry as I try to find the right words to say.
At any moment this could turn bad. I’m either the smartest guy in the world or the stupidest. And I guess I’m about to find out.
“We should probably be going if we want to make our reservation,” I nervously say to the girl who, not only hasn’t stopped staring at me, but surprisingly also hasn’t stepped away from my grasp.
Finally, after what seems like an endless, nervous minute, she blinks a few times, and then smiles.
Tearing her gaze from mine, she looks back at the man in front of us.
When she speaks, the sound of her voice reaches a place deep inside me, and ignites something I can’t quite put into words.
To hell if I know why, but oddly, it sounds like coming home.
“Of course, dear,” she states sarcastically, batting her eyelashes for extreme emphasis. She clenches my arm hard—any harder and I swear she’ll draw blood. “That is, unless our friend wants to have a drink with us. We don’t want to be rude.”
Her eyes flicker with heat as she glances back my way.
A flush grazes her cheeks, and she seems slightly nervous.
I cock my head to the side and study her.
A sly grin unintentionally graces my face.
So, she’s going to play along. A little shocked and very much relieved, I settle into the possibilities of wherever this might take us.
The three of us look at one another, wondering who will make the next move.
Seconds pass. Then a minute. Right as I begin to swear this was the worst idea I have ever had, the man in front of us breaks our three-way stare.
He waves his hand as if to say “to hell with the both of you.” Mumbling something under his breath, he turns and walks away.
I exhale a nervous breath I didn’t know I was holding as I turn back to the beautiful woman standing at my side.
Random jerk in a bar - 0. Noah - 1.