AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But she decided to feign ignorance. Because Sara wanted to have a conversation that Becca wasn’t particularly ready to have.
Maybe if I just ignore her, she’ll go away.Becca almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of the thought. There was no way in hell that Sara would leave until they’d had this conversation.
“Noah’s back.” The sound of his name hither like a gut punch. “But I’m sure you’ve already heard, right?”
Most of the people around her had learned not to say his name out loud a very long time ago. After the first five years without Noah by her side, Becca had taught herself how to hide her emotions and remain neutral in all situations. But she clearly hadn’t mastered her emotions as well as she thought because she winced when Noah’s name fell from Sara’s mouth.
Becca sighed heavily and then did something she very rarely allowed herself to do. She grabbed a small tub and filled it with her favorite ice cream … the toffee chocolate mix.
“I know he’s back.” She filled another tub and handed it to Sara, who very willingly took it. “His mother tracked me down a few days ago and told me he was on his way.”
“And?” Sara looked at Becca with both eyebrows raised.
“And nothing.” She didn’t feel guilty for snapping the words out. “I don’t want to see him. And I am certainly not going to go running to him.”
Sara remained quiet, and Becca knew she had probably hurt her friend’s feelings. She’d feel guilty soon.Oh fucking well. She knows better than to talk about Noah to me.
Her sudden anger was not surprising. In the first five years after Noah left, Becca had been angry all the time. After she learned that her anger was really immense grief, the uncontrollable rage inside her finally calmed.
Noah had been the love of her life. And he left her. She had lost so much time with him. And having spent a lot of the past decade in a drunken haze, she had also lost a lot of timebecauseof him.
And now he was back. And everyone around her was expecting her to go running after him.They should know me better than that by now,Becca thought darkly.
Outwardly, she sighed. “Look, I’m sorry for snapping at you. But I just don’t see the point of talking about Noah. He left my life a long time ago.”
“I know that. But you aren’t fooling anyone by pretending not to care.”
Maybe Sara’s feelings hadn’t been all that hurt after all.
“Trust me,” Becca spoke through gritted teeth. “This is not me pretending.”
“The kind of love you had with Noah?” Sara said. “It doesn’t just die. And it doesn’t just die because you say you’ve moved on.”
Becca rounded on Sara then. Her friend didn’t flinch in front of her anger. Instead, Sara looked at Becca calmly until the sudden burst of anger faded.
“A love like that does die when one of the people involved betrays the other. Now, I don’t want to talk about this any longer.”
“Oh, shit,” Sara said quietly, and Becca stiffened immediately.
There was only one reason why Sara would say those words.He’s just walked into the shop, hasn’t he?
Becca didn’t say the words out loud. Her back was to the door. Sara was looking at her with wide, shocked eyes.
And Becca’s question was answered.
She cleared her throat and turned around. The tension in her neck and shoulders was almost painful, and she balled her hands into fists. Her nails pierced her skin, but she didn’t wince when sparks of pain rippled through her hands.
Noah still looked the same. He hadn’t aged a day since she had last seen him.
“I need to go. Call me later,” Sara said, quickly gulping down the rest of her half-finished tub of ice creamand fleeing the store.
Noah barely looked at Sara. His dark eyes were focused on Becca so intensely that his gaze was burning holes into her body. He hadn’t said anything yet. Instead, he seemed to be examining her closely.
He took a step toward her, and Becca took an instinctive step away from him. She didn’t miss the hurt in his eyes at her movement.
“What do you want?” Becca realized she had forgotten how good he smelled.His scent enveloped her like a warm embrace and made her stomach flip. She shuddered and took another step away from him.
Anger had risen in her again, except now it was accompanied by a wanton lust for Noah. Memories, messy and hazy, flashed across her mind. Memories of Noah’s hands all over her body. Memories of his lips on hers. Memories of him inside her.
