Noah (The Mitchell/Healy Family #1)(50)
Author: Jennifer Foor

My parents started walking out of the bedroom. “Dinner will be ready in about a half hour. Gram’s eatin’ with us, so make sure you both show up. She’s been worried about both of you.”

“She knew where I was,” I blurted out.

My dad got this look on his face like he wasn’t surprised. “Figures.”

“What about my face?” Bells asked.

“What about it?” I joked.

She rolled her eyes and looked to my mom for a serious answer. “Just come to dinner. Get some ice on that cheek from now until then. You shouldn’t be that swollen still.”

“Thanks, Aunt Van.”

She winked and kissed her on the other side of her face. “You’re welcome, honey.” Then my mom turned towards me. “Put a shirt on before you come over. I think your sister is having company.”

“Like a guy? Addy?”

My mom smiled. “No, Christian.”

She may as well have kicked me in the balls, and I think she saw it on my face.

“Noah, behave. I’m not kidding. She deserves to have a boyfriend. She’s in college.”

“He better be a gentleman, that’s all I’m goin’ to say.”

My dad patted my shoulder and walked out the door. I knew he was smiling, probably thinking the same damn thing I was.

Once my parents were gone I turned to look at Bells. She was laughing as she reached into the freezer and pulled out a bag of peas that looked to be ten years old. “You’re ridiculous. One day she’s goin’ to get married. What will you do then?”

“I’ll kill him and bury him in the woods before I let that happen.” I clenched my jaw. Even the thought of a guy touching my sister made my skin crawl.

Bells shoved me. “You big dummy. She’s an adult. You don’t see anyone killing all the woman you’ve slept with.”

“She’s sleepin’ with him?”

Bells hunched over laughing so hard at me. “Oh my god. Listen to you.”

I got ready to say something, but knew I’d be sounding like an overprotective brother, so I walked back to my bathroom and closed the door. The hot water felt good falling down over my face once I climbed in the shower. Not only was I trying to keep my composure about my sister possibly having sex, Bells moving in, and my parents being too nice to not notice, my mind kept reverting back to Shalan. I couldn’t remember ever feeling so bad about walking away from a woman that I hardly knew. It was driving me crazy.

I climbed out with no real resolve to my feelings. Knowing that nothing was going to help me besides seeing her again, I wrapped a towel around my waist and located my cell phone. After plopping down on my bed, I dialed the hotel and asked to be connected with her room.

It rang four times, and I was just about to hang up when I heard that voice I longed to hear.

“Hello?”

At first I couldn’t talk. I swore she’d hang up.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

“It’s me,” was all I could manage to get out.

“Noah?” The line got quiet. Had she hung up on me?

“You still there?”

“What do you want?”

“How did it go today?”

“Like you care?” I could tell she didn’t want to talk to me.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t stay. I swear I can explain.”

“Don’t. Just don’t bother, Noah. It’s probably for the best anyway. Everything happens for a reason, right?”

When she said that I knew there was nothing I could say to her to convince her that I was truly sorry. If circumstances were different I’d be lying in that bed next to her, promising to see the music thing through. “Yeah. You’re right.”

“You’re lucky you caught me here. I get my place tomorrow, courtesy of the management company. They’re going to put me up while they prepare me for the first few months. I signed this temporary thing today insuring that I won’t sign with anyone else.”

“Do you need a lawyer? I’ve got a good one in New York.”

“No. I don’t need anything from you, Noah. Though I appreciate all you’ve done, I plan on paying you back once I start receiving checks.”

“You don’t need to. It was my pleasure.”

“No. I’m paying you back, otherwise I’ll feel like you paid me to be with you. I can’t live like that. The sooner I owe you nothing, the better.”

“Don’t say that, Shalan. You and I both know that ain’t what happened.” Yes, I’d gotten mad and accused her of becoming a whore to make money. I never should have said it, but I was pissed off and it just came out. Unfortunately, women never forget the bad things guys say. They only forget about all the compliments that we give them. “You obviously made your choice and went back home, so clearly I meant little to you. All I asked was for you to accompany me. How hard would that have been?”

“You don’t understand. Somethin’ happened. I had to go home.”

“It was a few hours of your time. You promised. I’ve never told anyone things that I told you. I should have never trusted someone that I just met.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Darlin’, I -.”

“Don’t you dare darlin’ me, Noah. I’m not your darlin’, or anything else. We had a good time together, and then you went home. Leave it at that, so we can both move on and forget it ever happened. Okay?”

“That’s how you want it to be? You want to pretend you never met me?”

“Yes. Get it through your damn head. It was a fling and now it’s over. It’s like you said, we were just two adults that enjoyed each other’s company. It was never anything more. I heard you the first time, Noah. Stop trying to convince me otherwise. I’ve got to go. My cab will be here any minute. Have a good life, ranch boy.”

“Shalan, wait.”

I heard the phone hang up, and knew that was her goodbye. I’d blown it, and there wasn’t anything I could do to make things right. We lived two different lives. It wouldn’t have worked anyway, so I needed to get over it and move on.

Bells stood in the doorway. “Hey. Was that the girl?”

“It was.”

“That bad?”

I ran my hands over my face. “Yup. Another one bites the dust.”

“You’re doomed with women, Noah. Just face it.” She smiled. “So anyway, your sister just text me. She said there’s no way she’s bringin’ a guy home for dinner when you’re around, so you can chill out about that at least.”