Chapter 45
Alex
C harging toward Alex, Ryan wound back his fist and clocked him straight in the jaw. Alex heard Noa shriek before she lunged forward, but he didn’t move. Instead, he let Ryan take another shot.
He deserved it. He’d seen it coming, actually. He’d been lying and sneaking around behind Ryan’s back with his little sister, the sister he’d always acted for first and thought later when it came to protecting.
The next words, though he’d feared them all these years, he did not expect.
‘Like father like son, I guess,’ Ryan spat, utter venom spewing from his tongue.
And hell, if those words didn’t cut Alex deeper than any knife ever could.
Ryan could’ve gutted him, and it would have hurt less.
Alex had no words of defence, though. He could only stand there motionless, still letting the words sink in, both Noa’s from earlier and Ryan’s now.
He reeled at the possibility that he was going to be a dad.
I’m pregnant . She really had said that right?
He didn’t have to question whether he’d heard right for long because the rage pulsing from Ryan said it all.
His shoulders were so tense they were almost touching his ears.
His eyes, usually bright, icy blue like Noa’s, now looked dark cobalt and twitched furiously as he tried and failed to contain his anger.
Alex didn’t blame his friend for lashing out. It wasn’t like he and Noa had given him any reason to suspect they had feelings for each other. And, with Alex’s dating history, he knew what his friend thought.
Fuck.
How had they gotten this so wrong? They thought they were protecting themselves and Ryan by keeping this a secret, but all they had done was feed into the belief Ryan now had that this was something to hide, that Noa was another woman Alex would sleep with and walk away from.
But this time, leaving behind more than just fun memories just like his dad had done to his mum.
How was Ryan to know that this was so much more than that? That Noa was everything to him.
Ryan’s fists pulsed at his sides like he was trying to restrain himself from any further violence.
‘Noa, in the car now!’ he barked, aiming his fury at her now .
His eyes were still locked on Alex, though, even as he pointed at the door he expected Noa to leave through.
‘Ryan, just stop for a second and listen. You’re not being fair,’ Noa whispered, her voice sounding so small as it cracked with the plea.
Alex didn’t want her to plead for him, and hearing it both filled him up and cracked him wide open.
Unfortunately, all it did was fuel Ryan’s rage. Coming out of his daze and seeing the snarl Ryan was giving Noa was enough to make Alex snap. Ryan was angry and acting on that emotion alone. He’d regret it tomorrow, but like hell was Alex about to let him speak to Noa in that way.
‘Do not…’ he growled, taking a step toward him. ‘Talk to her like that.’
‘I told you to take care of her, Alex. I trusted you. I told you she was vulnerable and needed you to look out for her and, as always, you thought with your cock and took advantage of that. But I must be the fool for thinking you’d behave any differently.’
And the hits keep on coming .
That’s okay. Alex could take it if it kept them from being directed at her.
‘So, do not start trying to play the hero and look out for her now. You slept with my sister, damn it!’
Ryan turned away like he couldn’t even look at him. He was almost vibrating with his rage.
Alex looked to Noa, who he could visibly see starting to retreat into her shell, to shrink herself like she had when she first came home, and he would not have it. Not after seeing her bloom into herself.
‘Your sister is a grown woman, Ryan. Treat her that way. I did what you said, followed along to protect her but, guess what? Noa does not need protecting by you, me, or anyone else, for that matter. She is strong and fierce and a force to be reckoned with most of the time. If only you would wake up and see it, then, maybe, you would truly see her. She’s got a sharp tongue, just like you, and makes for the toughest sparring partner.
She’s not weak and does not need to be wrapped up in wool like you seem to think.
When I learnt that, I backed off and watched her come alive out there.
And, turns out, even though she didn’t need me there, she still wanted me, and so I stayed.
Not for you. And not because of your need for protection. But for her. Always for her.’
Ryan stepped back, clearly at a loss for words. His expression morphed into a whole spectrum of emotions—shock, realisation, anger, hurt, resignation. His eyes snapped from Alex to Noa, who now stood there slack-jawed, and Alex wondered if he had said too much. But Ryan needed to hear it.
Maybe, Noa did, too. Because he meant every single word.