Noah (43 page)

Veronica
tried to stay out of the way
. She got the distinct feeling no one else was comfortable with her there
but Noah
. But he
made it clear he wanted her close by. She sat on a stool near the table
where
Noah
sat while Abel wrapped his hands
. The moment
Hector walked in
an
undeniable tension
filled the room. A tension only Noah and maybe Jack were oblivious to. 

He
ctor
gave
Veronica
a nod but it was so unlike the usual playful way he greeted her lately. The warning look Abel gave him wasn’t missed either.
Right then she knew it.
They all knew about Hector seeing her with Derek at the park. Just like her, they were most likely waiting until after the fight to tell Noah because he obviously didn’t know yet.

She
’d
thought about telling him the night she got home from the park. She wanted so badly to ask him about the things Derek had told her
, but telling him about the park would mean
having to come clean about seeing him the two other times that week as well. She knew Noah now well enough to know that wouldn’t go over well and she’d really hoped
she could hold off until after the fight to tell him. Now she was thankful the guys had the same thought, but after their Rita conversation earl
ier
she was
even more
worried
about it now
.

Admitting she’d made a week long decision to distance herself from
Noah
only to come home every night to get even closer to him than she’d ever been before was going to make no sense at all
.
It
did
sound ridiculous even to her. 
She’d explain it the only way she could. That no matter how hard her head tr
ied
to dictate what she should do—get a life that didn’t revolve around
Noah
—her heart and her bod
y’
s reaction when she was around
him
always won out. 

Rational
e
didn’t stand a chance anymore. Her body just gave into what she really wanted every time now. He’d worn her down and at this point even he had to know it. She only hoped he could understand why she’d tried to fight it in the first place. 

Noah finished warming up and the radio broadcaster outside announced it was almost fight time. The crowd started cheering as he riled them up. Veronica stood up, ready to go find her seat ringside where Noah had made sure they’d reserved it for her.

“Wait, Roni.”

Noah was back on the table where Abel had been prepping his
face
with Vaseline. He held out a glove to her and motioned for her to come to him. She did and when she was close enough she saw the Vaseline accentuated the small lump
still
left from the hit he took New Year
’
s eve. She touched
the lump
with her fingers. The one Noah stubbornly refused to have checked out by a doctor
, saying it was normal for the swelling to take time to go away completely in the face.

“Are you su
re it’s okay for you to be fighting with this thing still here?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” He smiled bringing his arm around her waist and pulling her to him. Her heart sped up, because except for the other day when he openly hugged her in the gym, he’d never done this in front of the guys. “Wish me luck?”

“Of course.” She smiled back and then d
id
what she said she was going to do from here on—stop holding back—she leaned in and kissed him deep.

She pulled away slowly and Noah finally let her go as the crowd outside got louder. Noah got off the table and they all walked out together.      
    

The fight started well enough. Noah appeared to be far more focused and in control than the last fight. The crowd was so much bigger
and louder
this time and that seemed to feed Noah’s adrenaline.

Veronica sat at the edge of her seat, her hands going to her face every time Noah’s opponent landed a punch, which to her relief wasn’t often. Noah seemed to be doing most of the landing. Then his opponent slipped in one good one that landed right on the spot Veronica had been worried about.
The lump on the side of his face.

Seeing Noah rocked made the crowd go wild. Everyone was on their feet including Veronica whos
e
heart was at her throat as she watched Noah try to shake it off.

“Get back in this, Noah! Now!” Abel yelled.

Noah did just that
,
landing two good ones back to back. The crowd roared and Noah had his opponent on the ropes. He landed another
solid jab to the guy
’
s
gut
just before the bell rung and the ref stepped in to separate them.

This was definitely a part of Noah’s life that was going to take some time getting used to because God if she wasn’t close to tears already.
Seeing him
being
knocked out
so unexpectedly
on New Year
’
s had been horrifying enough but watching and waiting
knowing
it
could
possibly happen
again
was the worst.

The next round went much better and even after Noah landed a couple that almost took his opponent down, it was beginning to look like the fight might come down to a decision. Th
en
Noah landed a solid one to the guy
’
s jaw and he finally went down seconds before the bell.

Noah was once again declared the winner by way of knock out. The whole thing was bittersweet and Veronica had a feeling this is how it would always be. She watched and while everyone around him smiled and cheered she focused on his expression. Even though he smiled at her and smiled
again
when they held his arm up announcing he was the winner she could see he was in pain.

Once in the locker room he admitted to having a bitch of a headache, but told her not to worry it was normal. Jack gave him some pain killers with codeine and their proposed night out to celebrate was officially postponed. Gio immediately announced he was having a barbeque the next day at his place instead. 

By the time they got home Noah was already feeling drowsy. Veronica thought they might actually skip out on their goodnight kiss, but when they got
to
their bedroom doors Noah pulled her into his. “Stay with me tonight please? I’ll promise I’ll be good.
” He smiled even through a pained grimace. “
Hell, with these pills kicking in now I’ll be lucky to stay awake for even a few more minutes.”

There was no way Veronica was saying no now. If it wasn’t for the pills she probably wouldn’t have s
aid
no to anything else either. After changing into her pajama pants and a t-shirt she climbed in bed with him and he immediately wrapped his arms around her spooning her closely. It felt so perfect she wondered if she’d ever go back to sleeping alone again.

Noah skipped his run the next morning. He was feeling better, the headache was gone but the decision of whether to get out of bed early or stay in bed cuddling with Roni was a no brainer. He turned his internal alarm off and fell back asleep with Roni in his arm
s
.

They slept so soundly it was already close to ten by the time he noticed Roni wasn’t in bed anymore. The
bath
room door opened as he walked into the hallway to investigate where she’d gone. She walked out and smiled.
Just t
he sight of her alone made him breathe in deeply.

He pulled her to him
after
m
e
et
ing
her halfway in the hallway.

“How you feeling?”
s
he asked touching the side of his face softly with her fingers.

“Much better. No more headache.” He pecked her tasting the toothpaste on her lips. “You getting up now?”

“Actually I was thinking
of
getting back in bed.” Her sly smile
with the twinkle in her eyes
made
his heart speed up
.

“I’ll meet you there in two minutes.”
He practically ran to the
bath
room, hearing her giggle behind him. After taking care of business he brushed his teeth and was back in the room in under the two minutes he promised.

She was already in his bed scrolling through her phone when he walked in.

“I can’t wait to upgrade this thing
,” she said setting it on the nightstand next to the bed.

He crawled in next to her slipping his hand over her belly. “When’s your contract up?”

“Next week.” She smiled big.

“Next week?” he asked nuzzling up against her ear
,
making her squirm. “Then you
can
do it already.” He kissed
below her ear bringing his leg over hers.
“
They usually let
you
upgrade
a few months before your contract
’
s up.”

His hand roamed freely around her belly area and made its way up her cotton t-shirt, slowing only as he reached the swell of her breast.
Feeling his heart
pick up a notch
and his own breathing accelerate h
e stopped and looked into her eyes for any objection. One thing was clear, any talk of upgrading phones was the furthest thing from her mind now. She brought her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

He kissed her deeply his hand caressing her breast and she moaned softly against his lips. It was a sound he’d heard several times this past week and he loved it. He was so ready to make love to her it was crazy, but there was one thing he’d been
going nuts
thinking about in case she wasn’t ready for that
just
yet.

“I wanna taste you,” he said in her mouth, stopping when he felt her body freeze. Her wide eyes
go
t even wider when he added, “everywhere.”

Her audible gulp made him smile. “Ha
ve
you
ever
had
an orgasm from oral sex?
”

She shook her head slowly making him smile even bigger. “Good, I’ll be your first.”

Her answer sort of surprised him, especially at her age but then she
had
said
Kratz
had been her only serious relationship and somehow he doubted
at his age
that dick
head
would be into t
hat
. For Noah ever since Tessa
,
it had become his fetish. One he’d perfected over the years.

He worked his way down her neck sucking slightly after kissing her soft skin. “No hickeys,” she said squirming.

Oh
,
there’d be plenty more hickeys coming her way. Putting his mark on her had now become another one of his fetishes. Nothing had been more pleasing than to see his
unmistakable marks on her neck
after their workouts when the makeup she’d used earl
ier
to cover them up had all come off.

He lifted her t-shirt off her, bringing h
is
lips over her breast. Hearing her moan as he sucked her nipple made him hotter than shit and he sucked even harder. He’d finally started to work his way downward when he noticed the mark he left on her breast. Why the hell that turned him on so much he didn’t know, but he felt ready to burst. He kissed the mark one last time before starting his kiss trail down her belly.

Her body trembled when his finger went under the waistband of her soft pajama pants. Pulling down at her hips she lifted her behind to get them off and he had to slow to catch his breath when he saw how clean shaven she was. His breath hitched for a moment when he thought of all the other places he could leave his mark.

S
tart
ing
with her soft inner thigh
he
kiss
ed
and suck
ed
, loving how her body reacted to his tongue, his lips. Slowly he worked his way to her most private of places stopping
again
to catch his breath, try to calm his heart, keep himself from exploding right there.