He sighs, hooking his thumbs in his vest. Shoots me a look like I’m being purposefully combative. “Look, I’m sorry about that stuff with Forkerro, okay? I didn’t mean to offend you. I’ll give it a rest.”
“I’d prefer if we didn’t speak about him at all anymore,” I tell him plainly. “He is none of your business, so we don’t have to discuss my relationship with him.”
“I’m just looking out for you.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I say, a bite in my voice. I meet his eyes, showing him how serious I am. “I have my girls for that. I have my own wit and brains. I don’t need you to micromanage the men in my life, Noah. You aren’t my father.”
Not that I had one of those, either, and I did just fine.
Noah’s jaw pulses. “I think I have more credibility at vetting out assholes than your friends do.”
Wrong.
Women can sniff out a bad man much easier than a man ever could, even if he’s a cop. It’s a survival instinct. A background check isn’t always enough to identify a bad apple. Experience with bad apples is what gives women that talent.
I stare at him. He’s unbelievable. “Is that all?”
“Dolly,” he practically whines, and it takes everything in me not to cringe. “He’s going to hurt you. He’s not the right person for you and everyone in the damn city can see it. The things people say about you online? You want that life?”
“Noah,” I warn him. I don’t look at what people say about me online.
“He’s a serial abuser.”
I snap forward and grab his arm. That’s enough. I amdone.
I drag him through the ER doors, a few feet down the hallway to the closest room, and I haul him inside, slamming the door closed behind us. He looks shocked at the fury in my expression, stunned that I finally snapped.
But I will never let someone use that word flippantly. I will never let someone push that title on someone who doesn’t deserve it.
“I’ll say this plainly for you, since you don’t seem to get it,” I seethe. “This friendship, or whatever this is, is over. I appreciate the flowers, Noah, but I don’t appreciate your inability to respect my boundaries. You abuse your power as a police officerandas somebody who used to make me feel safe. I want to be with Carter, so I am going to be with Carter.Understood?”
Noah’s eyes flash, jaw ticking. “Abuse my power, huh? You weren’t complaining when you needed intel about that psychopath’s assault charges. You weren’t complaining when I showed up here with coffees for you three foryearswhen I’d swing by.”
“I apologize,” I say, dropping my hands. “I shouldn’t have asked you for that.”
That’s all I can offer for the past. I have a bit more say in the future.
“He’s a bad man.”
“You don’t know him,” I remind him. “I do. He’s one of the greatest people I have ever met. If you’re threatened by him, that’s not his problem. That’s yours.”
That strikes a nerve. Noah’s eyes narrow. “Threatened by him? You think I’m scared of a six-three goon on skates?”
“I don’t know what your issue is,” I admit. “All I know is that you’re a dog with a bone and you won’t let it go.”
“Threatened,” he repeats, letting out a sarcastic laugh. “That man is worth less than the fucking dirt on the bottom of my shoe, Dolly. He has a bit of money. That’s it. Nice on the eyes, too. Other than that, he’s nothing. Hehasnothing.If he didn’t pick up a stick when he was a kid, he’d benothing.”
I glare up at him, my blood boiling in my veins now. I am so sick of people reducing Carter to something he is not. Not giving him credit for who heis.What makes him the man I…
“He would be whatever the hell he wanted to be, because he’s Carter fucking Forkerro, Noah. He plays because he’sgood, not because it’s the only thing he can do. He is so much more than you’re trying to paint him out to be. He will never benothing,no matter how badly you want him to be.”
“Bullshit. He’s?—”
I think it’s the spit that hits my face when he cusses. Or maybe it’s the way his face scrunches up, like he’s about to say something unforgivable about the man who kept me together in the thick of my grief. Either way, something inside me snaps, and I do the one thing that I shouldn’t.
I pull back and slap Noah across the face. Hard.
He blinks, his head snapping to the side.
