Page 63 of Catching My Dreams

“I didn’t make him yell,” she argued, her brows drawn together in outrage. “That was all you and Asher.”

“Semantics.”

She huffed. “Don’t throw around linguistic terminology to try and throw me under the bus, Warner. I’m perfectly innocent.”

Noah had to press his lips together to contain his laugh. “Then we’d better go clear your name before they start throwing stones.”

Ella scowled. “You’re hilarious.”

“I like to think so, but thanks for confirming it for me, Montgomery.”

She blinked at him, looking entirely unimpressed. “I have no words.”

“Finally,” he said, feigning a relieved sigh. “Let’s hope it lasts.”

“I was wrong,” she replied. “I have several: ass, jerk, pig, jackass, asshat, swine. Shall I continue?”

“Nope, I think that covers it.” He placed his hand on her back and started guiding her back to the house. “Are you ready to meet the scariest teenager alive and the somewhat scary woman who spawned her?”

Ella stopped in her tracks. “What? No.”

“Don’t worry,” he said, pushing her forward. “They’re delightful.”

Olivia, as it turned out, was in one of her less scary moods. Probably because her boyfriend Drew was there with her, and she didn’t want to scare him off with her ability to eviscerate a person with a single look or cutting word. Noah wasn’t a fan of Drew, who was a year older than his half-sister and had always seemed a bit too cocky, but at least he seemed to soften the hard edges of her teenage angst and rage.

Olivia greeted Ella with a hesitant smile and a quiet, “Hey”, and when Ella was distracted by a warm welcome from Edith, she tipped her head toward her and sent Noah a thumbs up.

“How did you manage to trick her into going out with you?” she asked in a whisper when Ella was dragged to the fridge by Edith to get a drink. “She’s way out of your league.”

“Thanks,” he drawled. “I appreciate your loyalty.”

Olivia snickered. “I’m just saying. She’s a definite ten, and you’re a six at best.”

“A six? Are you blind?”

“No,” she replied deadpan. “Are you?”

“I certainly wish I were whenever I have to look at your ugly face.”

Olivia gasped, and flicked his forehead like the incredibly mature sixteen-year old she was. “Drew and I will be in the dining room. If you decided to leave before dinner, I wouldn’t complain.” With that, she spun on her heel and dragged her boyfriend out of the crowded kitchen.

“Love you too, Livvy,” he called after her.

“She still being a brat?” Chris asked, joining Noah behind the kitchen island.

He nodded. “I can’t wait for her to grow out of her annoying teenage phase.”

“Something tells me Liv is going to be just as much of a hard-ass in two years as she is now.”

Noah sighed. “As long as she doesn’t still use her supervillain powers to shred my poor ego to pieces.”

Chris snorted. “Someone has to do it.”

“Do they, though? Do they really?”

“I think dating Ella was the wrong call to make if you have a delicate sense of self,” Chris pointed out. “She’s not going to stroke your ego and call you pretty just because you’re her boyfriend now.”

Noah looked at the woman in question, smiling when he saw her chatting with Edith like they’d known each other for years. “Yeah, I know. She called me a swine a few minutes ago.” And she’d also promised she was there to stay a few minutes before that.

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