Noah (46 page)

She answered on the second ring. “Hey,”

“Hey, Roni.”

“You don’t have to leave, Noah. That’s not why I texted you. You just asked me to let you know when I was home.”

“Yeah, I know. But I’
ll
still be out of here soon. I just wanted to ask you something real quick.”
He glanced up at his friends. They were all staring at him. He almost laughed. “Did you run into
Kratz
this week?” His laughing mood took a dive when she didn’t respond. “Roni?”

“Yeah, I did. A few times actually.”

That literally jolted him. He actually sat up straight in reaction. “A few times?”

“I was gonna tell you but I was waiting for after your fight and then this morning I got the call about Nellie.”

His stomach
recoile
d. “Tell me
what
?”

“About the few times I got together with him after work.”

Noah didn’t even care anymore that his friends would see him go bat
-
shit crazy if she said she’d done anything
else
with the guy. He felt like the biggest fucking idiot.
He was about to ask her why the hell she’d gotten together with dick when he heard
Kratz
’s
voice loud and clear in the background.

Noah heard her tell him she’d be with him in a sec. He squeezed the phone feeling the adrenaline rush he usually felt
only
in the ring when he was about to take someone down.
“Are you with him now?”

“He stopped by again,” she said her voice hushed now. “But—”

“He’s at the house with you now?” Noah was on his feet in an instant, his heart racing as he stalked to his bike
,
each stride longer than the last
.

“Yes
,
but he won’t be here long.”

“What the fuck does he want?” He jumped on his bike but before she could respond he asked what he really wanted to know. “Do you still have feelings for this guy, Roni?”

“No!”

“You still want him coming over like this?”

She exhaled loudly. “No
.
”

“Good, I’m on my way.” He hung up on her and put his helmet on.

Abel and the guys were already in his truck as he raced his bike
past it and
down the street.
For years in high school he’d had visions of beating the shit out of
Kratz
. Who knew he’
d
ever actually get the chance to
follow through
. 
 

~*~

More concerned about the fact that Noah could have no way of knowing
that
Derek carried a gun, Veronica was not about to wait and see if
he’d
be provoked into
us
ing
it.

“You gotta go,” she said as she rushed into the front room where Derek now sat.

“Wh
y
? What happened?”

“I’ll explain later, Derek, but right now you have to go
.
” She opened
t
he screen door and held it open for him.

Derek stood up but didn’t budge. He stared at Veronica concerned. “What’s the matter with you?”

“Nothing!” Her heart beat faster with every second
t
hat passed and Derek was still in her house.

He finally took a few steps toward her but
obviously
didn’t
share
her urgency to leave. “Veronica, look at you. You’re a mess. Let me guess
.
T
hat was
Noah
and he’s on his way home. What? Are you not allowed to have anyone here
or is it just me he doesn’t want here
?”

Veronica didn’t know why he was pretending he hadn’t already figured it all out. She was surprised he hadn’t pointed out the glow she’d w
o
rn all day from her morning with Noah. He was
that
good at picking up on the tiniest things.  

“Derek
,
if you know already
,
why do you want trouble?”

“
You can’t be se
rious about this
.
You and that kid?”

“He’s not a kid.”

“You called him that yourself when you first told me about your new roommate.
”
You wanna tell me what’s changed since then?
” His eyebrow lifted slowly, he already knew the answer to that one
,
too. “
He’s still the same age isn’t he?”

Veronica took a deep breath and held her ground. “I think you already know that
and you know what? It’s none of your business. You need to leave now, Derek. I’m serious
.
I don’t want any problems.”

He didn’t move and her heart nearly gave out when she saw Noah’s bike pull into the driveway
and
Abel’s truck pull up behind it. Noah pulled off his helmet and jumped off his bike. Veronica
closed the screen door behind her and rushed to
me
e
t him at the stairs.

“He still here?” Noah asked.

“Yes
,
but he’s leaving.”

The guys got out of the truck but stayed near it keeping an eye out. 

“Where is he?” Noah demanded.

“I’m right here, Noah.” Derek
opened the screen door and stepped out onto the porch
. “You got something to say to me?”

Veronica held Noah’s big arm and she looked him in the eyes pleading. “Just let him leave, Noah. Please.”

“Don’t worry about it, Roni. I’ll leave peacefully.
But I’d seriously think about what we talked about the other day
.”

“What was that?” Noah asked, to Veronica’s disappointment giving in to Derek’s obvious baiting.

“Oh, I just filled her in on a few things I thought she should know.” Derek said walking past them down the stairs.

Noah scoffed
turning around to face Derek now that he’d walked past him
. “About me? Like she’d believe your bullshit.”

“I don’t need to make anything up, Noah. We both know you have a colorful enough past. Maybe even present.” Derek glanced back at Veronica. “And I’d say she’s understandably concerned.”

Noah turned back to Veronica
. Infuriatingly
,
it appeared Derek’s attempts to rattle Noah had worked. She could see it in his questioning eyes.

“Not concerned,” she explained. “Curious.”

“About what?”

Now that the guys saw Derek on his way to his car they
remained unmoved near
Abel’s truck
,
giving them their privacy. “Let
’
s go inside,” she reached out for him.

Noah flinched back.
“No first answer the question. What bullshit lies has he been feeding you? And while you’re at it you wanna explain why you got together several times with your fucking ex this week and didn’t mention this to me?”

Abel turned on his truck and he waved as he pulled out of the driveway. Veronica barely lifted her hand to wave back. Noah didn’t even bother his eyes were back on Veronica and they were on fire now.

“I was confused.”

“About what?”

“I saw the text from Rita on Sunday and I didn’t know what to think.”

His expression softened t
in
iest
bit
. “
Y
ou
should’ve asked.”

“Yeah, well I didn’t okay? I
thought
maybe it was time I gave my social life a boost and decided to take him up on his offer.”

His eyes shot open. “Really and what offer would that be?”

“That we have dinner after work.”

“And what else
?
”

“That’s it. We had dinner twice and then Thursday, I wasn’t going to meet with him but he showed up at the park where I told him I’d be taking pictures.”

“So what did this guy you
claime
d you wanted nothing more to do with tell you about me that has you
so
concerned?”

She could see he was getting worked up again. “I said curious not concerned.”

He crossed his arms in front of him. “Alright so what is it?”

“He said you dropped out of school and went MIA when you got a girl pregnant.” She prayed Derek was wrong about this. She really hoped Noah wouldn’t have it in him to do something like that.  Holding her breath she waited for his response trying desperately to pick up a hint of what he was thinking but his expression had gone blank.   

The fact that Roni would believe such a thing about him spoke volumes.
It was so like
Kratz
to make his past sound worse than it really was but the kicker was Roni was so ready to believe him.

“
So let me
see if I got this straight. This asshole comes back out of nowhere after walking
out
on you when your mother was dying, knowing
he’d be leaving you
all alone. Supposedly you’re not interested in his ass anymore even though months after you and him were through you still ha
d
those fucking pictures up
?
”

The more he thought about it the heavier his chest felt. He wasn’t sure what hurt more
—
the fact that she’d lied or that she’d bought this crock from a guy who obviously hadn’t given a shit about her.

“You tell me you wan
t
nothing to do with him but the moment you decide you need to
broaden
your social life, he’s the first one you
fucking
call?” He knew his words were harsher than he’d ever spoken to her but he couldn’t help it. It hurt like hell to find out she obviously did care enough about this guy to buy into
this guy
s horseshit version of the truth
—
the truth
about
him
—even after what
the asshole had
done to her. “What other bullshit did he tell you about me?”

She shrugged looking ready to cry but she wasn’t denying any of it.

“Tell me!”

“That you did drugs or drug trafficking.”
Noah laughed but stopped when she asked. “Did you?”

She couldn’t possibly be serious. “What do you think?”

The answer to that was in her uncertain eyes
. She believed that,
too
. “Wow,” he said taking a few steps back. “I had no idea I’d made such an insignificant impression on you, that you would think
so
little of me.”

“I don’t—”

“I’m a fucking orphan, Roni!
Or did you forget?
” He’d never felt so ready to explode in his life. Not even on his way there when he
could think of nothing else than getting there and ripping
Kratz
apart.
He was just
pissed
then and
he’d been
incensed
with jealousy. What he was feeling now was much worse. He hurt like he’d never hurt before.

“I know first hand what it’s like to be discarded by family. That’s why I don’t turn my back on friends or people I care about. That’s
him
.”
He jabbed a finger in the air in the direction the fucker had driven away in. “
He
does that shit
,
not me. But apparently that doesn’t count for anything where you’re concerned right? Because you’re so ready to believe something like that about
me
just because
he
told you
so
.”