Chapter 14 Cass
Tires skid against the slushy ground as I stop the SUV outside the gate, then open the driver’s side door before running over to her house.
The lights in the living room are on, which means that she’s home.
I cross the fence, and am about to climb the porch stairs when the front door opens, and out marches an angry Noah.
I sigh and raise my hands in front of me.
“Look, I just wanna talk to her, okay? She didn’t even stop to tell me what happened, Noah.
I’m fucking worried.” The entire drive from the diner to Nia’s place was a dizzying blur.
Fear and confusion rode each of my shoulders, and the possibility that I’d screwed everything up again – yeah, that shit was, and is, right on top of my list of concerns.
Noah glares at me. “Your manager happened, Cass.”
I open and shut my mouth. “What?”
He pushes back his hair. “Do you seriously want me to believe that you don’t know how Arianna, or whatever the fuck your manager’s name is, threatened my baby sister?
That she said she’d ruin my family if Nia didn’t stay away from you?
Do you honestly not know the way that woman treated Nia when she stood up for herself?
Come on, Madden, you can’t be that dense. ”
I stand there looking at him like an immobile piece of shit.
“Amanda did what?” It’s pathetic how helpless I sound. I guess, in a way, it is my fault that my manager is so stupidly cruel. But this…
“That Amanda lady’s got a thing for you, dude,” Noah tells me with disdain.
“She told Nia as much. Said she deserved to be by your side instead of my sister.” He shakes his head.
“This is so messed up. I knew I should have interfered when you started seeing Nia again. I knew I should have separated you two the moment you got your hands on her a second time. But I didn’t have the balls, especially after seeing her so happy about the fact that you were back.
” He wipes a hand over his face and looks at me.
“But what’s done is done, and this…” He points at me, and then at the house.
“It’s over. Whatever you had with her – it’s finished now.
I’m not going to let this get any more painful for her than it already is.
She deserves better than what happened tonight, and you and I both know that. ”
My throat is so tight that I’m scared I might choke, but I swallow and make myself speak. “Please let me see her, man,” I all but beg. “Just for 5 minutes – that’s all I’m asking for.”
“I can’t,” Noah says with a frown. “And I’ll ask you not to put me in a position where I really have to live up to my warning of punching you.
Because I will do it if you force my hand and not leave, Cass.
She’s my family, and I’ll do everything I can to keep her from another heartbreak.
She’s been through a lot over the years.
Just…just please don’t add to her stress.
She doesn’t need that, especially not right now. ”
My jaw tingles as I sniff. “She means everything to me, Noah,” I whisper. “You fucking know that.”
“Do I?” His expression hardens again, and when I don’t respond to him, because I really don’t know how else to make him understand that I’m not lying to him, he scoffs and starts walking backwards.
“Go back to your manager and flashy lifestyle, Madden. It’s the only language you know, and the only thing you’ll ever understand.
Adenbrooke and its simplicity are no longer your forte.
This town – it’s no longer your home.” And with that, he swivels on his feet and marches into the house before shutting the door behind him.