Page 37 of Catching My Dreams

“Speak about Ella again, and you’ll be lucky if you can walk after I’m done with you,” he warned.

“Whatever, man. No chick is worth this shit.” He shook his head before leaving, muttering something about Noah being whipped under his breath.

The man was an idiot. Noah would have undergone a lot worse than a single punch for Ella. Hell, he’d stepped in front of a knife for her, and he didn’t regret it one bit, even after she’d called their night together a mistake.

Probably because he’d deserved it, seeing as he’d done the very same thing to her after the first time they’d had sex.

God, he was such a dick. If Ella had felt half the pain he’d felt after hearing those words, he didn’t deserve her forgiveness.

“What the hell is going on between you and Ella?” Chris asked once the team had returned to their workouts.

“Nothing,” Noah lied.

“Is that why you were defending her honor?” Brady asked with a pointed look.

Noah rubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, okay.”

“You know Asher will kill you if you start something and end up hurting her, right?” Chris asked.

“Yeah,” Noah sighed. “I know.” The only problem was that he already had.

???

Noah poked at his vegetable casserole, wondering how his life had become such a mess. He didn’t exactly long for the days when his feelings for Ella had been completely hidden behind insults and glares, but things were a lot easier then. Simpler. But also worse in so many ways.

“You’re quiet tonight,” his mom noted, her concerned look making Noah feel guilty for stewing in his thoughts rather than focusing on his time with her.

“Sorry. Just been a long day.”

He took a bite of his dinner. It was worlds better than anything he could have made.

“I found out who gave you the food,” he said.

His mom’s eyes widened. “You did?”

“Mhm. I bumped into her today and said thanks.”

“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped in a strange show of relief. “I’m glad. She’s such a sweet girl.”

Noah froze with his fork halfway to his mouth. Something wasn’t right. His mom didn’t hate Madison, but she also didn’t like her. The two of them hadn’t ever gotten along well, and it was one of the many reasons Noah had ended things with the cheerleader.

But who else would have made food for his sick mother and then asked her not to tell Noah about it? Who else wouldn’t want him to know they’d been helping his mom?

And then it hit him.

If there was a prize for being the worst human being alive, Noah would win it. He’d been so incredibly stupid and so disgustingly wrong. He put his fork down, the food that had been so delicious going in feeling like lead in his stomach. “It was Ella, wasn’t it?”

His mom frowned. “Yes.”

“Oh.”

The fact that he hadn’t figured it out sooner was astounding. All the meals had been meat-free, for fuck’s sake, and aside from Madison, Ella was the only vegetarian he knew. Yet it hadn’t even occurred to him that she might have been the one who’d made it.

He was an idiot. An idiot who’d stood there and told her about how his ex had made those meals. An idiot who’d then gone on to imply she was selfish when she’d cast doubt on his assumption.

“Who did you think it was?”

Noah swallowed the bile in his throat. “Madison.”

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