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Noah looked around, his face the picture of calm before his eyes fell back on me, and he spoke without moving his lips. “You’re making a scene, baby. Sit down!”
I looked around and saw the patrons closest to our table watching as surreptitiously as they could, but most were outright staring. Embarrassed, I fell back into my seat and closed my eyes.
“Why didn’t you ask me this in the hotel room?”
“I was hoping we could have a rational conversation and figured being surrounded by people would help.”
“In what universe did you think that was ever going to work? You say you know me, Noah. What would ever give you the idea I would be okay with any of this?”
“It was a stab in the dark. A stupid one, but I had to see where you laid on the whole matter. I was told it was a possibility Macie would ask if she found you attractive and me interesting. I didn’t want you to be surprised by it. I thought bringing it up would stop you from being blindsided.”
“And you honestly believed I would agree if I had a heads up?”
“I thought no harm in asking. Selfishly, seeing you with another woman’s head between—”
I cut him off, holding my palm to him. “Don’t fucking finish that sentence,” I hissed.
“You’re blushing, Strawberry.” Noah templed his fingers and leaned in over his plate, his voice quiet again. “What if it was another man? Do you think that would please you? I could finally get in your—”
“Noah!”
“I know every look you have after five years of studying you, Strawberry.Thatidea excites you. Are you homophobic?”
“What? No.”
I couldn’t understand why he kept pushing this on me. It wasn’t like him to be this thoughtless.
“I think you are a little bit. That’s okay. Not everyone likes to experiment.”
“Fuck you, Noah.”
I rose to my feet, almost tripping on the short train of the dress as I rushed away from the table. I found the restrooms quickly, and as with most things in this kind of society, they were large and lavish with deep seats in a room full of mirrors for women to powder their noses in. I fell into a red velvet barrel chair, and I dropped my head into my hands in pure frustration.
The argument was a strange turn of events between us that I hadn’t seen coming. In all the years I’d known Noah, I’d figured out that he liked to press buttons, but he also understood when to stop, to realize when he’d won. Thisconversation, if it could be called that, had been won when he’d shut me down with the innuendo about the Brazilian wax he’d booked for me that morning. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say he’d figured that out, too.
So, why had he pushed? Why had he continued to make me uncomfortable until my reaction fell from me like rain?
I didn’t understand it, and maybe I never would, but I honestly felt uncomfortable being with him for the first time. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go to the party anymore.
“Babe, I’m sorry,” I heard from the other side of the door. I recognized Noah’s voice as quickly as I could identify my own. “I’m nervous, and I turn into an asshole when I’m like this. You were the closest target. I’m so sorry. You know I wouldn’t ask that of you. I don’t want to ruin our night. I promise I have your back like I always have.”
I held my silence but headed toward the door, grateful that the bathroom was currently devoid of anyone else.
“Strawberry, I love you. Come finish your dinner. Please.”
I pressed my hand to the door like it would give me answers, but it was an inanimate object, devoid of anything but its primary function.
“Amber. Please.”
Unsure and overwhelmed, I went against my instincts and pulled open the door, ignoring the nagging in the back of my head to run as far and fast as I could.
ChapterEleven
Saturday, April 9, 2016
9 - 10pm
Iwasn’t in the mood to go to a party anymore. Noah had apologized when we’d finished dinner. He’d apologized again in the car, twice, but my instincts were still on high alert. Kenzie, Aliya, and Riley had always teased me about this feeling I got and, granted, sometimes nothing came of it, but it had been so long since I’d felt this way, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end the closer we got to the party.
