Page 150 of I Never Stopped Loving You

“Go wait in the car. I'll be there shortly,” Noah whispers in my ear.

Noah kisses me, pulling me back to reality. The cops are there waiting for one of us to talk to them, and that's exactly what Noah is going to do. He is the owner of the house after all.

I climb into the truck and crank up the heat to full blast. I grab one of his jackets off the back seat and wrap it around myself as I turn on the heated seats for both of us.

In the flames' light, I can see Noah talking to the cops. He's gesturing to me then back at the house. Is he telling them who I am? No. He wouldn't risk that.

The cop nods before gesturing his team to move out. One firefighter throws his arms in the air and yells something at Noah before storming away.

Noah nods at the cop and shakes his hand showing him his phone one last time. Probably to prove he is the owner of the home.

I still can't believe he did that for me…I mean, I can after everything he told me tonight, but still this is insane. He truly is my Prince Charming, my knight in shining armor who rescued me.

Jenna’s going to lose her fucking mind.

Maybe it's time I come clean about my past to her. I owe her that much after all these years. She's been there for me through my panic attacks and nightmares without ever questioning why.

Noah walks slowly back to the truck before hopping in and waving one last time to the cops.

“I explained everything. I told him I needed to destroy it to get rid of the memories of losing the people who were like a second family to me. When I told him who I was, he remembered my father, and everything else didn't seem to matter after that. His fire chief wasn't too happy, but it is what it is. I have to pay a fine for doing this without a permit or getting them involved, but that's it.”

“Shit, Noah. I'm so sorry. I didn't even think about…”

“Shh. I knew what the repercussions would be before we did this. I'd rather pay a fine than have you wait one more day to be rid of this place.”

His hand cups the back of my head and he kisses me. My entire body flares to life when he does. A small nip to his lower lip in the same spot I bit earlier has his fingers tangling in my hair and deepening the kiss with a growl.

A knock on the window shatters our moment, and I can feel the irritation radiating off of him. It’s kind of hot. The fire chief from earlier is standing there waiting impatiently for Noah to roll down the window.

“Yes?” Noah says as the window lowers halfway.

“You look familiar,” the chief says as he looks past Noah, directly at me.

He's younger, around our age, so he might have even been someone we went to school with back then, but I don’t remember. My throat feels like there’s a knot forming. I always knew there was a risk of someone recognizing me around here because of how much I look like my mother when she was my age, but I guess I never thought it would happen.

He glances over at the smoldering building then slowly back at me. His eyes widen and his mouth drops open.

“It's you…You’re Wi…”

“Please don’t finish that sentence,” Noah says with a firm, deadly tone.

“But she…”

“I know what it looks like, but I’m asking you to please be discreet about this,” he says, cutting the fire chief off.

He glances back at the house one last time before looking back at me.

“You probably wouldn’t remember me. I was two years older than you. I’m Kyle Bentley. My family and I were your neighbors.”

He gestures back over his shoulder to where his family's farm is.

“You had a dog named Bosco, right?”

He smiles a genuine smile at that, one of the only other expressions besides a scowl I’ve seen on his face all night.

“Yep. Wow. I just can’t believe you’re here. When the sheriff told me his family name, I just had this feeling it was you. I’m so sorry for what happened back then. I’m the one who called the police that night. I had my window open and heard the screams. I’m so fucking sorry, Wi…Miss.”

“It’s okay. There’s nothing anyone could have done. He was crazy.”