She and Penny have definitely spoken. I’m not an idiot.
“Stop saying that,” she hisses. “Why?”
I fuckinghatethat word.
“Did you fuck him?”
Her eyes widen, but a wave of relief seems to stream through her body. Her arms relax as they fall to her hips. Her shoulders sag a bit. She takes a big, steady breath and dips her chin.
My heart stops in my fucking chest.
She did?
I didn’t believe that part of it. I thought maybe he kissed her, maybe she kissed him back for a second, but…
I’m going to burn this place to the ground.
“Finally,” she says in a whisper. She looks up at me, right into my eyes and shakes her head. “No, I didn’t sleep with him.”
My brow furrows. What? No? It took everything in me not to fucking hit him because of what he said, but I’m trying to be better. I’m trying to be somebody that people want to stay with. Thatshewants to stay with.
“What?”
She shakes her head again, slowly treading toward me. She stops right in front of me, peering up at me through those lashes. “I didn’t sleep with Noah.”
“He—”
“I’m sure he insinuated a lot of things,” she says with a soft nod. I have one hundred questions on the tip of my tongue but they vanish when her palms slide against my jaw. She shakes her head slightly, eyes searching mine. “But no. I wouldn’t do that. We have an agreement, and I plan to abide by it. It’s only you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she says, “but somethingdidhappen. I slapped him.”
I blink. “What?”
She winces, nodding. “Hard, actually.”
Well,that’sa different fucking story.
I bite back a smile, picturing Noah getting his shit rocked by this little rocket in my arms. “That’s my girl.”
“He had a lot to say and I was tired of having to hear it. That’s all it was. His pride must be wounded if he tried to convince you that something different happened.”
I swallow, my tongue wetting my bottom lip because I’m staring at her face, and when I do that, I look at her lips, and when I look at her lips, I want to kiss her.
I knew she wouldn’t have done that to me, but he got in my fucking head. Iknewhe was full of shit, but I still lost my mind over it. I still had to ask, because he’s Noah Peck, and I was mad she wouldn’t adhere to my warnings. She didn’t want to cut him off because he’d been kind to her, even when I begged her to. She’s too loyal to people who don’t deserve it. I’m mad he was still around to put her in that situation, but it’s not her fault.
“I almost broke his jaw.”
Her thumb brushes my cheek. “But you didn’t?”
“I didn’t swing,” I confirm, my voice suddenly thick and gravelly.
“Why not?”
I look at her. Really look at her. And I know the answer. “Because you wouldn’t want me to.”
Because it would hurt her. Because it would disappoint her. Because it might make her look at me differently. Because I want her to trust that I can be the man she wants, and that I can do the things she needs me to do, or in this case, not do.
