"How did Noah do with this mission?" Val inquired. They were standing in the surveillance room, the one with all of the cameras, the one room where she could easily get distracted by following Noah around from screen to screen. Right now he was heading up the stairs, no doubt to get ready for a night drinking. Bleh.
"He did fine. Why?"
"I ask because he's been all over the place since you got back." Val's statement got Shay's full attention. "I assigned this mission as a sort of test, since I knew it would assess his emotional stability."
"How so?" Shay's mind flashed back to earlier, memories of his turmoil making her heart pull at the strings.
"He went to juvie at age sixteen for beating up one of his foster parents. It was the father, and reports have said that the man beat up his wife but he never went to jail for it cause she didn't press charges. So Noah took matters into his own hands." Val reported.
Shay's eyes went wide as she processed this. It all made sense, but she wished she had known. Noah never spoke one word about his past and she always just assumed it was because it was too hard to talk about. Now, she knew she was right. "Oh shit."
"So be honest, do you think he's stable enough to go on a more dangerous mission?"
Shay hesitated with her lips slightly parted. Did she say yes and possibly risk the success of their next mission? Did she say no and get Noah benched, thus pissing him off more? Maybe, just maybe, she could be the one thing that stabilized him as she did today. Though, if Val was correct, she was also the reason he was falling apart in the first place.
"Yes." The affirmation was out of her mouth before she could fully decide, but once it was out, she didn't take it back.
"Ok, great. Take the next couple of days to rest and train and I'll have another mission for you soon." Val said with a smile. She was ushering Shay back out to the living room when Shay stopped.
"Oh, did you find anything out about the tracker?" Shay wondered with hopeful eyes. Val had taken an x-ray a couple of days ago and had been analyzing it, but so far Shay had forgotten to ask for an update. And since Val hadn't offered one up on her own, she had to assume it wasn't going to be good news.
Val's frown proved Shay's suspicions. "Unfortunately, the device in your arm is very sensitive. I don't know what exactly it tracks, maybe body temperature, maybe moisture, maybe both, but I do know that as soon as it is exposed to air, it will go off."
"Oh. Ok."
Val put a hand on Shay's arm for comfort. "Hey, I'll keep looking. We'll figure out a way out of this, you just have to keep playing along until we do. You can do that, right?"
Shay nodded. She had another meeting with Alec set up for the next day, actually.
"Ok, great. Now go hang out with Summer."
Shay stepped through the large door to an empty great room with dim lights. Hearing commotion upstairs, her feet led her in that direction, one step after another of unenthused movement. Noah's bedroom was closed so she went into hers, making a beeline for the bathroom since she was feeling nosy.
Noah was standing over his sink with a razor in his hand, dressed in dark jeans and a black faux leather jacket. He was cleaning up the thick stubble that had adorned his face, leaving his skin free and clear. While she did prefer the scruffy look, he didn't look any less attractive in her eyes. If anything, the idea of him dressing up to impress girls made her want him even more.
"What are you and Summer doing tonight?" Noah asked. Shay had only taken in his appearance for a second before stepping in front of her own sink, making a show of washing her face so it didn't look like she was just there for him.
"No idea."
"Well I hope you two have fun." Shay looked up at him and saw the tilted smile before he turned and left, his face now smooth. Heart heavy in her chest, she dried off her face before changing into sweats and making the trek to Summer's room on the other end of the hallway. Her door was open, revealing a room with light blue walls and band posters covering a decent portion of the available space. She had a beige carpet and a bed with grey sheets, and Shay stood awkwardly in the door as Summer was setting something up on her TV.
"Hey, come in." She greeted. "Make yourself comfortable."
Shay had never been in here before. Never even looked inside, either. Now, she was on her way to the bed, setting up pillows against the headboard before sitting cross legged on top of the green comforter.
"I thought we could watch some movies." Summer's TV was sitting on the dresser across from the bed, a big flat screen with a soundbar in front of it. After grabbing the remote, she sat next to Shay on the bed.
"Did you have anything in mind?" Shay asked.
"Something badass."
In the end, they picked Resident Evil cause come on, no one is more badass than Milla Jovovich. Summer brought over a bag of chocolate and they started the movie silently, neither of them comfortable with each other's presence enough to talk like girls do.
"I figured a movie like this would help get your mind off of him." Summer said as the opening sequence began. Her black hair tied up in a messy bun, she looked at Shay with mischievous green eyes as Shay feigned ignorance.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Shay claimed with a shrug.
Summer shot her a half smile. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."
Shay doubted that. In fact, she was sure it wasn't a secret anymore, or maybe hadn't ever been. She was in love with Noah and everyone knew it, maybe even him.
****
Once upon a time, Noah went to Paddy O'connells three times a week. When Shay was gone, that number increased to about five. Jon Wu was usually his wingman, both of them chatting up women until both of them almost always went home with one. Not to their house of course, but to theirs.
Since Shay came back, his interest in the bar decreased to almost nothing. He was reminded of his disinterest almost as soon as he sat on one of the barstools, whiskey sour in hand and wanting nothing more than to be home.
"Who pissed in your cereal?" James asked from behind the bar. Holding a beer glass in one hand and a rag in the other, his eyes were glaring at Noah as he cleaned.
"My man's got a crush. Isn't that right, Noah?" Jon teased from the barstool next to him. Noah's response was a growl before he took another sip of his third drink.
"Ah, so that's why you haven't been by." James said.
"I've just been busy." Noah defended himself.
"Busy, right." Jon replied. "Well perk up so the girls stop thinking I'm babysitting a depressed asshole."
"Fuck you, Wu."
"Get a girl to do it and we'll be all good here." Jon wiggled his eyebrows in another attempt to get Noah into it. Moving the straws out of the way, Noah tossed back his drink before asking for another. An adios motherfucker, cause he was about ready to say adios to this night.
"That's the spirit. Now I'm gonna get some girls over here and you're gonna smile, right?" Jon confirmed. Noah nodded before taking a tip of his new beverage, finally feeling some warmth in his otherwise cold body.
Noah watched from his perch as Jon brought over two blonde girls, each of them heavily made-up but not bad looking. In fact, blonde had been his preference in the past. Both were wearing tight clothing that allowed him a good view of their cleavage and round asses. Their facial features were similar to each other, both with button noses and thin lips, and Noah got the impression they were sisters. Standing at five feet five inches with wavy hair that hung past their breasts, they were in front of him before he could find a way to escape.
"Heather, Lynn, this is Noah. He's having a bad day so I hope one of you will be able to cheer him up." Jon encouraged.
Heather, the one not currently attached to Jon's hip, slithered her way over to him. "Nice to meet you, Noah."
"You too."
"Whatcha drinkin?"
"An adios. Want one?" He offered. When Heather nodded, Noah signaled to James who immediately started making another. Then it was in her hands, and she was standing so close he could smell her perfume. Some floral shit that he decided not to like.
"So what do you do for work?" Heather asked. Noah glanced at Jon and saw he was wrapped up in his own conversation with Lynn, both of them still standing close but engaged in some conversation about a TV show he'd never heard of. Game of Thrones or something like that.
"I'm a personal trainer." Noah always used the same cover when in a bar trying to pick up girls. It was a foolproof way to attract them, and he had the body for it. It was a win-win.
"Oh, that's awesome." Heather swooned as she put a hand around his biceps. "I can tell you really take care of yourself."
It was then that Noah decided no amount of drinks was going to make this better. He wanted Shay. He wanted her smell, her eyes, her hands around him. Not some random girl. Shrugging out of Heather's grasp, Noah stood up and knocked back his drink. "Listen, I think you're pretty but I'm not interested. Have a good night though, ok?"
He shot Jon an apologetic look before he settled his tab and walked out of the bar. Throwing his hands in the pockets of his jacket, he walked to the car and hopped in.
It was then that he realized he would never be interested in another woman. Shay was the only one he wanted.
Too bad he wasn't gonna do anything about it.