Noah (9 page)

"You're going to close up for me?"

"Yeah, I guess I will. I was already planning on
being here until close anyway."

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you," she screams,
flying out of her chair before pulling me up with her as she jumps
up and down in excitement. "You don
’
t know how happy you've made me. You don
’
t know how happy you've made my
vagina."

Scrunching my face in disgust I shove her off me. "If
you don't stop talking about your vagina I'm going to take it back
and you'll have to close up yourself."

Lifting one of her hands to her mouth she makes a
motion like she's zipping her mouth shut and then walks over to her
desk to shut everything down as she hums
Ginuwine's
Pony
.

"At midnight shut the phone system down, turn off the
computers and lights, and lock up. It's that easy. Noah will have
one of the bouncers at the bar waiting outside to stay with you
until you're in a cab. He takes security very seriously."

Okay, I'll turn off the phones, shut the computers
down, and lock up–easy.

"Got it. Now go have fun and call me in the morning
so I know you're okay."

Kendall grabs her purse and hands me the keys before
leaning in to give me a peck on the cheek. "Will do.
Thanks
,
doll."

The next half hour passes quickly. I get two more
phone calls, one to ask when Bar Forbidden closes and the other to
book an escort for Saturday night. When it's time to lock
up
,
I shut everything
down and grab my purse, ready to head home and throw my sweats back
on.

I never discussed with Kendall how exactly she was
going to pay me for tonight since she was working
,
too, but I know she'll figure something
out. She wouldn't risk my cover being blown. She knows how
important it is for Noah and Caleb to never find out I work for
Forbidden Desires, Inc.

Forbidden
Desires'
office is on the second floor of the building
across the street from Bar Forbidden. When I step out onto the
outdoor walkway on the second floor and lock up, no bouncer is out
here waiting for me like Kendall said there would be. He could be
running late and I know I should wait for someone, but I'm too
anxious to get home. I can walk myself downstairs to the curb and
hail a taxi all by myself.

The walkway is dark as I hold onto the metal railing
to feel my way. When I reach the stairs
,
I'm able to see the steps in front of me as
they're lit from the streetlights below. When I reach the bottom
and take a step towards the curb two unfamiliar arms grab me from
behind. I try to scream but whoever's behind me is too fast and
covers my mouth with his dirty palm.

I twist and turn, trying to get out of his reach, but
this just makes him angry as he pulls me harder until I'm behind
the stairwell.

I'm going to die. I just know it. I haven't spoken to
my parents in over a week, I'll never get to thank Noah for taking
care of me last night, and I never got to clear things up with
Caleb and tell him I love him.

I try biting down on my assailant
’
s hand but he must have a strong threshold
for pain because he doesn't falter.

Are these going to be the last few moments before I
die?

The large man behind me finally lets go and throws me
down in the dark space behind the stairwell and I take my brief
moment of freedom and scream, "Fire," at the top of my lungs.

Back when I was in school we had a police officer
come in and talk to us all about safety. He never told us why we
should yell fire, but I remembered if I was ever in a dire
situation and needed help that was the magic word.

"You stupid bitch!" he yells. I've angered the
beast.

I continue to yell and he falls on his knees in front
of me. His large frame leans over my petite one and then I feel a
sharp pain in my stomach, and then a crushing pain spreads across
my cheek. My head falls back against the cement floor and throbs
from the impact. My vision begins to blur and I scream out one more
time as my assailant
’
s
hands start to lift the bottom of my skirt up.

Stupid Kendall for making me dress nice tonight. I
bet if I looked like a hung over slob he would have left me
alone.

His hands are on my knees, pushing them to the side,
but then suddenly they're gone. I look up
and all I see is
a blur of punching and
kicking. My attacker and Noah are in an all out fight to the death.
I should get up and help Noah, but I'm paralyzed on the ground, too
traumatized to move and really understand what is happening before
my eyes.

My attacker lands a clean hit to Noah's ribs, but
then Noah decks him with a hard right hook and my attacker falls to
the ground. He's knocked out cold.

I begin to shiver, the fear taking over my body as
reality of what almost happened starts to hit me. I was attacked
tonight and could have been raped.

I feel a hand caress my swollen cheek and I flinch
away, scared that my attacker woke back up, but then I focus and
Noah is crouched in front of me. His light brown eyes expressing
love and concern and I know I have nothing to fear anymore.

"Did he...hurt you?" he asks as he hesitantly lifts
his hand to stroke my injured skin. "Other than your
face
,
are you hurt?"

"Just...my stomach
.”
M
y
voice trembles as I turn and try to sit up. The movement causes my
belly to ache even more. Noah wraps an arm under mine and helps me
up. I wobble on my heels and Noah holds me tighter, making sure I
don't fall over. Noah's scent mixed with his comforting hold is
exactly what I need right now.

"I should take you to the emergency room."

"No, I'm fine. I swear. I'm just a little banged
up."

"A little banged up! That man attacked you. If I
hadn
’
t come when I did
who knows what else he would have done. What are you doing out here
anyway?"

Oh shit. I know I should be worried about a million
other things, like if my cheek bone is broken or if my attacker is
going to wake up before we call the police, but the only thing I'm
worried about is Noah finding out why I'm under the stairwell of
his office building complex.

"It's not important right now."

"Like hell it isn't. I'm going to call 911 and when
the police arrive I need to escort Kendall to a taxi, although,
when she sees you down here she's not going to want to hop in a
cab."

"Kendall? Why are you going to get Kendall?"

"Because I'm short staffed tonight and my bouncer
couldn't leave to escort her out of the office so I came to do it,
and thank God
,
I did. I
would never forgive myself if something happened to you,
shorty."

Fixing my skirt I lift a hand to my cheekbone to
assess the damage. I feel a small cut where the bastard on the
ground broke skin with the force of his punch. I wince as I touch
it because it burns.

Noah is going to be so mad when he finds out
Kendall's not up there. I might as well rip the bandage off and
tell him now before he wastes a trip.

"Umm, Noah." I put my head down and look at my feet
as I slightly pout my lower lip, hoping it does the trick.

He steps in front of me, his black Chucks entering my
line of vision. He's in jeans and one of the shirts his bartenders
usually wear. His palm meets my shoulder and he squeezes gently.
"What's the matter, shorty?"

"Kendall's
not
in
the
office."

"What do you mean? Of course she is. She closed for
me tonight."

"No, no she's not." I pause to swallow and take a
deep breath. Shit's about to get real. Here it goes. "I closed down
the office tonight."

The soft, tender expression on his face as he
comforted me just moments ago is gone. In its place is a very
pissed off Noah.

"You what!" he yells as he drags a hand through his
brown hair. Scowling
,
he
begins to pace the ground in front of me. When he turns right he
stares down at the man on the floor like he wants to kill him, and
when he turns left he's looking straight at me as if he's never met
me before. He goes back and forth, and back and forth, and the
silence in the small area behind the stairwell is starting to feel
suffocating. I need to get out of here. I need some fresh air.

When Noah's back is to me and he's walking in the
direction of my assailant, I walk out from behind the stairwell and
onto the sidewalk. Something about the early hours in the city is
both comforting and terrifying. It's quieter, filled only with the
sounds of passing vehicles, but in the shadows you know bad things
can happen.

Things like what just happened to me tonight.

My chest expands as I take in a deep breath, inhaling
the cold night air, and when I exhale that first breath I
immediately feel better. I continue to suck in as much fresh oxygen
as possible before I'm forced to go back under that stairwell and
talk to Noah.

I hear his voice from behind me and it's calm,
nothing like how he sounded a few moments ago. "You can't just walk
away from me, Skye. This is serious."

"I know, Noah, and we'll talk about it, but right now
I just want to go home. Can I go home?"

"We can't yet."

He pulls out his phone and dials 911. We wait for the
police in silence and when two squad cars and an ambulance arrive,
Noah takes them back to the stairwell where my attacker is still
knocked unconscious. He must have hit him pretty hard.

I give my statement to the police and
thankfully
,
it
wasn
’
t as bad reliving
what happened as I thought it would be. They let me give my
statement right there on the street. I'm not forced to go down to
the station and I have a feeling Noah has something to do with
that. He'd been talking to the cops about how I was still
shaken
up and
want
ed
to go home.

They end up taking my attacker to the hospital with a
police escort to make sure he's okay before bringing him in. Noah
hails a cab for us to take home to the apartment. We ride all the
way to our apartment complex in silence. There really
isn
’
t much to be said
about the attack tonight that hasn't already been said, and there
is no way I want to discuss why I was working in Forbidden Desires'
office tonight. If he's this mad about a few hours in an office,
he'll have a shit fit when I tell him I've actually been working
for him for months.

Noah tips the driver and once we're at my front door
I remember Caleb's not home and I'll be entering an empty
apartment. Just the thought of having to spend the night alone has
me shaking and trembling in fear.

Noah hasn't touched me since the cops arrived at the
scene, but when I feel his arms wrap around me in a hug I sink into
his body, finding the comfort that I long for in his warm embrace.
"Hey, what's wrong?"

Instead of answering I begin to sob and he tightens
his hold around me as I cry into his t-shirt. Mixed with his
regular smell is the scent of smoke and alcohol from the bar, but I
find myself inhaling it because it's a part of Noah. He could smell
like dog shit and I'd still want
to
breathe him in. My sobbing turns into sniffling
and eventually I'm done shedding tears. I lift my head and look up
into his soft, brown eyes. "I don't want to be alone tonight, Noah.
Do you think I could stay with you?"

He stares down at me adoringly and responds, "You
never have to ask, shorty." Turning away from my door we take the
few steps across the hall and Noah unlocks the door to his
apartment.

Chapter Five

I haven
’
t
been in Noah's apartment since he moved in. He's almost always over
at our place, but when I look around his place I wonder why we
don't spend more time here. His apartment is larger than the one
Caleb and I share, but unlike ours, his apartment is one big
studio.

His entire place is laid out in one big room with no
curtains or courtesy screens. His bed sits unmade on the far side
of the room. He has a large flat screen and loveseat in the middle
of the room. It doesn't surprise me that the spot he and Caleb
spend hours in playing video games would be the focal point of the
apartment.

His dog, Kaya, comes running over to us and I crouch
down to greet her.

“Hey, girl." I smile as I pet and scratch her under
her ears just like she likes. In a lot of ways I feel like Caleb
and I share Kaya with Noah. He works crazy hours and occasionally
goes out of town so we dog sit a lot at our place. I love Kaya and
wish I could see her more. She's a great pet.

Kaya's two front legs come up on my knees, wrinkling
my skirt, and I give her kisses before placing her back on the
ground and stand up.

"I guess my Queen bitch missed you."

"I missed her, too. You should leave town again so I
can spend some quality time with her."

Noah's expression grows sad. "I don't have to leave
town for you to spend time with her. You're welcome over here
whenever you want, Skye."

"I know," I say
,
shrugging my shoulders. Noah's never been entirely
closed off with me. I'm not really sure who started building the
wall up between us first, but I'm the one who blocked him out when
things got serious with Caleb. It was better that way. Sometimes it
was just too hard to be around Noah.

Noah crosses his arms over his chest and I can
faintly see evidence of dark chest hair beneath his thin cotton
shirt. "You want something to drink? I've got water."

"Can I have a beer?" I need something a little more
comforting than water tonight to take the edge off.