NOAH
The eventual sound of crashing and banging pulls my attention to the stairs. She’s been up there in the bedroom for an hour or so now, and I guess she’s more than annoyed at my last words. Much as I’d like to be immune to that shit, I’m not. It was hard enough pushing the words out of my mouth, let alone looking at her face when I said them. Still, the fact is, she needs to go home – whether I want her to or not.
I stare at my screens some more and try getting lost in other work I’ve got to do. I can’t. I’m as annoyed by the whole fucking situation as she is because she’s inside me now. It’s something I wasn’t prepared for or even interested in, and yet the fact is, she does mean something to me.
Muttering and sniffs nearly make me turn as I hear her coming down the stairs. I don’t. What good is that going to do? There’s no point in talking anymore. Talking will lead to her getting in my head more than she already is, and then that’ll lead to fucking. Which, in the long run, will lead us both down roads we shouldn’t even think about travelling.
I’ve thought about that enough already, and it isn’t doable in any fucking world. Different breeds. Different wants and needs in life. Doesn't matter what I might be feeling or what we could potentially be. What matters is getting her gone.
It isn't until I hear the back door slam that I do move, and the possibility that she might be thinking about running speeds me up. She’s good at that shit, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s not an option anymore. Running means I’ll have to chase her again, and chasing will just infuriate these feelings I've got some more.
By the time I catch up with her by my car, she looks determined as hell about something. Backpack over her shoulders, legs striding out like she’s on a mission.
“Where the fuck are you going?” I call.
She doesn’t answer, not until I get around and in her face to try saying it again.
“Go away, Noah.” She keeps moving, almost barging me with her shoulder. My hand grabs hold of her wrist, swinging her back to me. She rips it out of my hold and glares, that imperious look that all the Brodericks manage, shining back at me. “Don’t touch me.”
“You are not running again, Neve.”
“No, you’re right, I’m not.” Her damn feet start up again. “I’m going to end this.”
“How?”
“Find Lewis,” she snaps. “I’ll say when this is over. And you have no right to tell me what I can and can’t do.”
I grab at her backpack this time, hauling it off her shoulders so I can head back inside. “You’re being fucking dumb,” I snarl, walking away from her. “Get your arse back inside the house before I get pissed off with you.”
She tries ripping the backpack from my grip, her body getting itself nicely riled about my actions. Tough. She’s not going anywhere but home. It’s the right thing to do. For her. For me.
For everyone.
“Give me that back,” she shouts, still wrangling with me.
“No. What are you going to do, Neve? Fight him on your own? Stupid.”
She twists and turns, tugging it some more. “I don’t care. I will if I have to. I’m not going back there until I’m ready and I can prove my innocence!” She shoves me in the back, trying to get her arm through the shoulder strap as she does. “You have no right. NONE! I am done with people manipulating me and-” I grab hold of her arm and heave her off me, my other hand going to her body to stabilise her.
“Calm the fuck down.”
She turns and twists until she’s shrugged me off her again, eyes like fucking daggers this time. “You don’t get to say what I do, Noah. Not now. I thought that …. I don’t know what I thought, but now I know I was mistaken, and I mean nothing to you, and I can’t, and won’t, stay here with you!”
I dump the bag on the floor. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“You lied. You lied, and you made me feel like there was something between us, and there clearly wasn’t, so don’t think you suddenly have some right in what I do or don’t do.”
“I never lied to you. Don’t try using that shit against me.”
“No? What was that in bed then?” I don’t know what it was or has been, and for that reason, I don’t answer. Either way, I didn’t fucking lie. “See? No answer. Liar. It’s sad really.” She pulls in a long breath, looks up the drive rather than at me. “I am going to find Lewis, and then, whenI’mbloody ready, I’ll go back to my family.”
“Don’t be stupid. You can’t. He’s got a fucking gun, Neve.”
“And? So have you,” she says, snatching the bag from the floor. “You’re probably more dangerous than he is, and yet I’ve acted as stupidly with you as I have with him.”
I stare, trying to find something that wants to come out of my mouth to counter the last words from hers. Can’t, though. It’s true, or would be if I wasn’t more interested in her than I’m letting on.
“Put the fucking bag down and think for a minute.”
