Page 24 of The Stalker Snafu

My body went slack in relief, and it grew harder to sit up. The Noahs tightened their grips on me, and I winced in thanks. “Thank you. I’m glad we can all agree.”

Both Noahs helped me into the passenger seat of their Audi, and I could only sit here bonelessly as they strapped me in. I felt… strange. Like a pulsating star trapped in a cage. My head hurt, and something warm dripped down my forehead. I belatedly noticed Noah’s shirt had dropped to the floor by my feet.

I didn’t remember it being red.

Left-Noah slid into the driver seat, with Right-Noah following immediately behind, and both held out a handful of napkins toward me. “Put this against your head, Emma. Right on your forehead.”

I watched them dazedly, accepting the napkins and slowly pressing them against something warm and sticky chilling on my forehead.

How strange.

The Noahs whipped out of the parking space faster than the speed of light and zoomed down the street. I wanted to tell them it was illegal for two people to drive at the same time, but I was too tired to bother. Both of them pulled out their phones, speeding up.

“Emma’s hurt. I need you at the duplex,” they barked into their phones, taking a sharp right that had me sliding across the seat until Left-Noah reached out to steady me. “Just you. No one else. Understand?”

A beat of silence passed, and I dazedly watched Right-Noah’s grip tighten on the wheel. “I mean it. Just you. Please hurry. Bring your bag.”

Another pause as my brain morphed into a merry-go-round. I closed my eyes and watched the pretty lights in amazement.

“I’m not sure. Head wound. Probably needs stitches,” one of the Noahs prattled on.

“Stitches?” I echoed in a daze. The napkins felt wetter.

Right-Noah ignored me as his voice grew louder. I cringed further down in the seat; it felt like my head was splitting in half. “I don’t know! I didn’t know if she should be sitting or lying down, but it didn’t look like her neck was hurt.”

My seat was comfortable, and it made the stabbing pain in my head hurt a little less, so I snuggled in more.

“Stay awake, Emma,” one of the Noahs snapped as something hard slapped my thigh. My eyes popped open, seeing Left-Noah’s hand on the gearshift—inches away from my thigh.

Had he just… ?

I spent the rest of the drive staring at Left-Noah in betrayal. He was supposed to be the nice one.

CHAPTER 8

A Vet

Julian Carmichael was pacing the driveway when we arrived at Noah’s place. I’d briefly met the vet student when he crashed a date at Noah’s Spanish-style duplex, and he seemed friendly enough. After overhearing his call with Noah, I was having second thoughts about his quick acceptance of me.

Did he think I was a bad influence?

A touch taller than my boyfriend, Julian had an athletic build underneath his teal scrubs. He wasn’t smiling today, and his deep blue eyes were grim behind rectangular black glasses.

He had his vet bag in hand and a frown matching Right-Noah’s. The passenger door was yanked open before the Noahs could pull to a complete stop, and suddenly Julian was shining a light brighter than the sun into my eyes.

“Hey!” I threw my noodle arms up to block the assault, but he swatted my hands away like errant flies.

“She should be okay to get inside first,” Julian said. A few strands of light brown hair that’d slipped out of his short ponytail fell into his face as he leaned over me. But he wasn’t talking to me, even though he was looking at the wad of napkins I held against my head.

Except I didn’t feel any napkins in my hand anymore. Just air. Whoops.

I belatedly noticed the driver seat was empty when Noah nudged Julian out of the way before crouching beside me. He reached over my lap, undid my seat belt with one hand—which I admittedly found oddly attractive despite the pain—and set me free.

I squinted up at him. Someone was missing. “Where did the other Noah go?”

“What?” Noah looked at his friend. “Do you think she could’ve gotten brain damage?”

“Hard to say without running a scan,” Julian answered skeptically, giving me a once-over. “Her responses to light were good, though. And she seems lucid.”