Chapter 26
When Noah returned to the room, he looked visibly confused to see me sprawled on the carpeted floor instead, texting away with my legs raised in the air.
"Your bed was making me drowsy," I complained, bringing my legs back on the ground. Noah took off his shirt and pants, taking a seat against the bed.
"What were we talking about?"
"LSATs," I prompted him.
Noah rolled his eyes, "My dad wanted me to take over the Sterling name, you know? And I majorly let him down by taking another profession."
"But if your heart's not in it, you would never make a good lawyer."
Noah laughed bitterly, "I took every mock LSAT paper there is last year. Never scored below a 176."
I only knew this from watching Suits that it was so perfectly close to a perfect score, "Damn. Why not law then?"
"Remember, I told you my mom never fought for my custody?" I nodded, "She never told me, I just found out when I was clearing out some of my dad's old files. She had deleted some incriminating evidence for one of my father's clients, as per his request. And my dad threatened to sue her to the ground if she ever tried to take his bloodline away from him."
I sat up straight, horrified. I mean, I knew William Sterling was a hard asshole anyway, but this was outrageous.
"I had to do anything to get away from that man, the more I worked for him the more I realised how shady his entire history is. I couldn't continue that anymore."
Noah's fists were clenched as he tried to shake off the anger I could see on his face. Feeling a surge of sympathy, I reached out to hold his hand, but he surprised me by pulling me closer, until he was resting his head on my shoulder.
"I hate that all of this was happening right under my nose, but I was too mad to care. I was so absorbed in my hate for her that I never saw him for the monster he was."
"It's not your fault," I comforted him, rubbing small circles on his back. Noah took some time, breathing in deeply before exhaling sharply. His nose was pressed on my shoulder till his breathing calmed down. He sat straighter, pulling me closer to him, "I've never told anyone else about this."
"You can count on me to keep a secret," I kissed his cheek. Seeing him distressed was making my heart sink, so I pressed another kiss on his cheek, glad to see the frown on his face disappear.
Feeling brave, I released my hand from his, shuffling around till I was straddling him. Noah let out an appreciative hum when I hugged him tight, his grip on my waist pulling me closer and closer still as he calmed his anger down slowly. I dropped kisses on his forehead and his nose occasionally when he looked up, whispered sweet nothings to him, rubbed his back. The guilt he felt for his mother was weighing heavily on him, and I could feel the tension roll off of him in waves.
He took a while before he sighed, relaxing his tense muscles, and I could see what a world of difference it made to him. Even small little things like his jaw loosening up showed me just how mad he was; the difference was stark. Hoisting me by the waist, he stood up, moving to the bed, "Enough about sad things, I think I can see my happy ending after all."
My heart was ready to burst. Even if the statement was heavy, and I was sure Noah didn't mean it with the full weight of his words, I was happy, for now. Noah all but threw us on the softness of the bed, making me bounce once before settling in finally into the softness of the sheets. Damn rich people and their silky soft sheets. He was half on top of me, but I didn't mind it at all. His warmth was welcome, his touch was appreciated, his kisses were addictive.
Not even for a second did Noah try to push the limits for what I wanted, his hands stayed firmly over my clothes, only once gently brushing over my chest. "Sorry," he mumbled almost immediately, before returning to kiss my neck, surely leaving enough hickeys that I might have to consider buying more concealers soon. The sheets were a mess as we turned over and over, tangling over between our legs.
When I finally checked the time it was a little past three, and Noah yawned before pulling me back to him, "Good thing we don't have anything to do tomorrow."
"Hm," I sighed appreciatively, snuggling into his warmth, "yeah, that's a good thing."
"I'm not letting you out of this bed, you know?"
I giggled, turning in his grip to face him, "What if I need to pee?"
"I'll carry you," he rolled his eyes, making me laugh. He shut me up with another kiss, and it wasn't long before we both fell asleep like this, in this small niche in the world. Nothing else in the world existed for me, except for Noah in this small bubble.
Morning came with the smell of coffee wafting up my nose, and a soft glow of sunshine streaming through the gauzy curtains. Noah wasn't anywhere to be found when I woke up, so I slipped out from under the sheets, adjusting my shorts as I stood up. Noah's shirt was a bit big on me, so I had to roll the sleeves up to make them stay. Barefooted, I walked to the living room, glad to have found the delectable sight in front of me.
The weights I had seen tucked in a corner in Noah's room were now all across the living room floor, surrounding the beautiful being in the middle, lying on his back. His eyes were focused as he did a strange form of sit ups, where he went diagonally forward instead of straight. I had never tried it, and I had good reason to. If the sweat on his torso and the strain on his brow was anything to go by, this was definitely not an exercise meant for the weak.
"Would my girlfriend care to join?" Noah lay flat on his back to rest, looking straight over at me. His breathing was uneven, but he did a good job hiding it. A stupid grin lit my face, and I walked over to him, carefully avoiding all the equipment around.
"I would love to join my boyfriend, if he knows that I am absolutely shit at this." I kissed his nose before settling next to him.
Noah grinned before tucking his hands under his hips, and I copied the motion. He lifted his legs up straight, stretching them mid air. Looks easy.
Boy, I was wrong.
Twenty seconds in, my thighs were burning, calves dying in protest. There wasn't a sign of discomfort on Noah's face, though. Embarrassed, I let my feet fall through.
"I told you, you don't have the stamina to match me," Noah exerted, putting his feet down in a controlled manner. I blushed, sitting up and hiding my face in my knees.
"Hey!" Noah protested, prying them away, "Don't ever hide that face from me!" He kissed me tenderly, before standing up straight, "we could do something easier."
Noah grabbed a medicine ball for me and another for himself, "You can do squats right?"
I nodded, "What's this for?"
Noah had a smirk on his face as he positioned his feet and extended his hands ahead, the ball resting just between his fingertips. He went down easy and came back up with no difficulty, but I was pretty sure I would die. Still I tried, mimicking his posture and going as low as I could. I wasn't even halfway down as Noah, and he was at least a foot taller than me.
Well, that was embarrassing.
I tried to ignore the burn in my thighs as I went down again, struggling to breathe correctly. Stronger forms of exercise were not my forte. I did one set with him, but gave up when he wanted to do it a second time.
"I can stop, if you want," he offered.
I shook my head, "I'm not going to mess up your routine," I backed away from the equipment, settling on the couch, "And I think I quite like my view from here."
Noah's smile was as bright as the sun outside, before he went down on his hands and knees, pressing his head forward on the ground. He didn't take long to raise himself on his toes, intently focusing on his breathing before his toes left the ground, and he was literally upside down. I gasped in surprise, clapping when his toes were raised straight in the air, and Noah lost his balance, tumbling down with a loud "Oof."
"Shit, I'm so sorry, are you hurt?" I reached over to him, relieved to see him grinning.
"I'm gonna lift you up and you can tell how hurt you get," Noah had a wicked gleam in his eyes. Oh no, there was no way I was going to ever be able to do that.
"I'll hold you, just humor me," he ruffled my hair, motioning me to take my place on the mat. Uncertain, I let Noah guide my hands correctly near my head, before he disappeared from my view. Cold fingers circled around my ankles, "Ready?"
"Okay," I squeaked, not ready at all.
"It'll be fine, I won't hurt you," Noah laughed, slowly encouraging me to push my knees straight and then move them towards my torso. Unfortunately his shirt was big enough that I was seeing into the shirt, at my breasts instead of my toes, so I was walking into this blindly.
"Okay, I'm gonna lift your legs, just stay calm, okay?"
Easier said than done. I exhaled, "Okay calm, I can do calm."
Noah pulled my ankles above the ground, resting them over his shoulders slowly. Panic rose in my throat, but I fought it down. I could trust Noah. At a snail's pace he stood up, taking my legs higher and higher still. Over halfway through, the tee shirt I was wearing started slipping over, revealing the skin of my navel. I heard Noah take in a sharp breath, continuing his movement still, raising my legs higher. True to his word, he was taking most of the pressure, and my hands or head were not dying under my body weight.
Almost vertical, I screamed when the loose material slipped all the way down, gathering over my neck and flashing my bra to Noah. Possibly surprised, he reached down to drop my legs carefully and quickly. My ankles shuddered from impact but that was nothing compared to the burning embarrassment I was feeling. My heartbeat was loud enough to be heard all over the block, letting everyone know how stupid I was.
"Bri..." there was a general curiosity in his eyes, "Have you ever had any surgery?"
For the smallest of seconds I was confused, until I understood what Noah had seen. It was far worse than him accidentally seeing my bra, for sure.
"I was in an accident last year" I managed to sputter out, "drunk driver, scary shit." Not wanting to elaborate further, I stood up, "I need water." Noah followed me to the kitchen, "Is that why you don't drink? Because the other guy was drunk?"
I sighed, trying to keep the memory of that night from coming back to me, "My mom was the drunk driver. We hit a family of three; there was only one survivor."
The guilt of hurting the three on the other side was excruciating, and I couldn't ever live that down. I shouldn't have gone to see Caleb that night. I shouldn't have called my mom to come pick me up, knowing full well that she would be drinking. I could have saved those three people from a miserable, untimely death, if I had just kept my stupid craving for validation to myself.
"So it's just you and your dad now? Do you have any siblings?"
"My dad left when I was a baby. I was born two months early. Spent a lot of time in the NICU; I was so weak. I never had any siblings because my mother couldn't pull herself together after he left. She tried, you know? But I don't know somehow she could never cope with his loss without a bottle and it wasn't easy."
"Good thing you're safe and here with me now," Noah was visibly disturbed so I swallowed the rest of the sordid details, hugging him instead. I could tell him later when he could understand better.
"I'm here, and I'm safe," I reiterated to him, kissing the small of his jaw. Noah didn't seem too convinced, so I kissed his cheek again, slowly moving upwards and standing on my toes so I could better reach his lips. He kissed me rather unenthusiastically, so I sighed, wrapping my arms around him and just resting my head on his chest.
"Noah, I'm here and I'm okay," he only relaxed enough to hug me back although I wasn't too sure how to calm him down. This was exactly why I hated talking about that night. After I had finished my last therapy session, I had spoken little about it to anyone, because people got so sad about it, and I was stuck dealing with their emotions over my own.
"I smell coffee here," I pulled away from him, hoping to distract us from that conversation, "Where is it?"
***
First things first NANDASHREE has started updating her new story Illicit Affairs and it's the kind of story that will leave you begging for more, so go add it in your library! She's got the first give chapters up if you want to start!
Idk I feel this chapter is kind of heavy, so I took three tries to try and get it right. Still idk.
Also, DO NOT FUCKING DRINK AND DRIVE I WILL LITERALLY HAUNT YOU
Please drop a vote and/or comment of you liked the chapter. Happy Monday :)