Page 21 of Catching My Dreams

“Ella, I’m trying to apologize.”

She shook her head. He was unbelievable.

“So I’m just supposed to believe that after years you really have come to the conclusion that I’m not the selfish bitch you thought I was?” she asked.

“Yes!”

She rolled her eyes, trying her best not to acknowledge the ache in her chest over the fact that he wasn’t denying he’d ever thought she was a selfish bitch. She knew what he thought of her. It shouldn’t have been a surprise.

“Wow,” she drawled. “Thanks for that heartfelt apology, Warner. You really do know how to make a girl feel special.”

“Will you just let me explain?” he asked, the muscles in his jaw working overtime. “I really am sorry.”

“Even if you meant a single word you said, what precisely are you sorry for, Noah? For tricking me into having sex with you? For calling it a mistake afterward? For calling me selfish? For accusing me of not caring about my best friend?”

“I never tricked you into having sex with me.” The words fought through his gritted teeth, each one sounding angrier than the last.

“So you didn’t come to my house that day in order to convince me to use my spiritwalking ability to find Asher?” she asked skeptically.

“No,” he replied quickly. “I mean, maybe that was part of it, but that wasn’t why I was there.”

Ella sighed, tired of whatever game he was playing. “Why were you there then?”

“I had to understand…” He trailed off and shook his head.

“Had to understand what?” she asked, curiosity rising in her despite her best intentions. “Had to understand what, Noah?” she pressed when he grimaced.

“How the girl I used to be friends with could be that selfish.” He said the words like he knew they sounded bad, but that didn’t lessen their impact.

“You’re a real piece of work, Warner. Now, if you’re done insulting me, I have places to be.”

“Just let me explain.”

“I’ve heard enough.” She started turning around, but Noah grabbed her arm. His grip was gentle—surprisingly gentle—but Ella glared and yanked her arm from his hand. “Don’t touch me.”

“Ella, please. Everything I said that day was true. I went there because I wanted—”

“Just stop, Noah,” she seethed. “You might have everyone else fooled, but I know what kind of despicable, manipulative bastard you really are. If I didn’t have to deal with you for Asher’s sake, I would never speak to you again. I want nothing to do with you and your back-handed apologies and your twisted games.”

She poked a finger at his chest, stabbing him with it as she said the last two words, and he backed up a step, his face slack with shock.

“If Asher knows what’s good for him, he’ll drop you like I did back when we were kids. You are scum,” she told him. “Just looking at you makes me feel sick, and I honestly wish you’d disappear from Asher’s life so I never have to see your smug face ever again.”

A look of hurt flashed across his face, but she wasn’t done yet.

“You are everything that’s wrong with the male species, and I just hope your mom never sees you for who you really are. Because if she knew what her son was truly like, it would break her heart. You don’t deserve her. You don’t deserve your dad. And you sure as hell don’t deserve Asher.”

Feeling out of breath and more furious than she’d ever been, Ella spun on her heel and left him there. She got a healthy dose of satisfaction from seeing him struck silent, his lips parted in shock and his eyes no longer sparkling.

She had finally landed a killing blow of her own in the war Noah had started, and it felt exhilarating. Or at least that’s what she tried to tell herself as something that felt suspiciously like guilt pulled at her chest.

7

“That was so much fun,” Riley said after she and Ella had gotten into Ella’s car after a yoga class. “Thanks again for inviting me.” She winced. “Especially after what happened at Krav Maga.”

Ella laughed and started the car. “It’s a pleasure. Just try not to give me another black eye at our next class.”

Her bruise had grown a lovely deep purple over the last three days. She would have made an effort to hide it for poor Riley’s sake if it didn’t hurt so much to scrub makeup off of it, which she’d learned the hard way.

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