Page 83 of Catching My Dreams

“Just shout if you need anything,” Edith said.

Ella nodded, hoping her impatience wasn’t making her seem ungrateful.

Noah led the way to the pool house, and Ella kept Archie clutched to her chest as they walked through the gate to the backyard and made their way around the covered pool. The Yorkie would probably need to go out soon to do his business, but she wanted to keep him close for as long as possible.

“Here we go,” Noah said, opening the door to her temporary room and letting her go in first.

She walked hesitantly into the space, her eyes flitting over the made bed and the small bookshelf that had messy stacks of books crammed into it and on top of it. Noah closed the door behind him, and Ella wasn’t sure if she felt better or worse being enclosed in the space.

“The bathroom is in there if you want to shower,” he said, needlessly pointing to the only other door in the room. “I’m sure Riley won’t mind if you go through her closet and find some clothes.”

Ella nodded and headed straight for the closet doors. She usually would have gone through another person’s clothes with more reluctance and care, but all she wanted was a clean set of clothes that Brett hadn’t touched.

She put Archie down and picked out a random blue T-shirt and a pair of white cotton shorts.

“I’ll just be a few minutes,” she told Noah before going through to the bathroom and closing the door with shaking hands.

She missed his presence immediately, and when she met her own gaze in the bathroom’s large mirror, she barely managed to bite back a scream. She opened the door within seconds, and Noah met her at the doorway, his eyes dark with worry.

“What’s wrong?” He looked over her shoulder as though expecting to see Brett there.

“I just…” She bit the inside of her cheek as she fought the sting in her eyes. “Could you come in with me?” she managed through her tight throat. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Noah’s shoulders dropped in relief, but his expression remained concerned. “Of course.”

He walked into the bathroom with her, letting Archie in after him, and Ella didn’t care that the glass barrier separating the walk-in shower from the rest of the space was completely transparent. She didn’t care that he could see everything when she stripped and walked under the warm stream of water. She’d never minded having his eyes on her. His gaze was safe. It always had been.

It was the other pair of eyes that had her rushing through the shower. The pair of eyes that she couldn’t be sure was really there.

Noah handed her a towel once she’d finished scrubbing her skin and rinsing the tainted soap from her body. His gaze was gentle on her, but she could see the hatred in them as well. The hatred for what Brett had done. The hatred for her inability to be in the bathroom alone because of the man’s actions. The hatred for her fear and why it was there.

She finished drying herself, and once she’d pulled Riley’s clothes on, Noah wrapped his arms around her. His grip was gentle, soft. Everything that Brett’s hold on her hadn’t been. And Ella sank into him, breathing in the spicy scent of his aftershave and pressing her cheek into his shirt-clad chest.

That’s when the tears started falling, and once they’d begun rolling down her cheeks, Ella couldn’t stop them. She sobbed against Noah’s chest, her breaths becoming ragged and choked. She cried like she hadn’t since the day he’d left her bedroom after the first time they’d slept together.

She cried with her whole body, every limb shaking with her sobs, every inhale too shallow because of her tears, every exhale shaky and too loud.

And Noah held her through it all, his arms never dropping from around her and his lips never ceasing from placing soft kisses on her forehead or from whispering quiet promises. He told her he was right there, that he was never leaving, that he had her, and she took in every word, her mind clutching on to them like the priceless treasures they were.

Eventually, her tears slowed, and with a final hiccup, she released her arms from the tight grip they’d had around his waist. “I’m sorry,” she said, tilting her head up to meet his eyes. “I didn’t mean to cry all over your shirt.”

“I couldn’t care less about the shirt,” he told her. “I only care about you.”

“Even when I have tears and snot running down my face?” she asked, her breathing still too sharp. She focused on her next inhale, trying to get her breathing under control to avoid a panic attack.

He smiled, his hand reaching up to cup her face and his thumb swiping her wet cheek. “Even then,” he assured her.

She sent him a watery smile of her own, and as much as she wanted to stay there in his comforting grip, she stepped out of his arms. There was no box of tissues in the bathroom, but the toilet paper worked just as well to clean herself up.

“The others are probably here,” she said once the only traces of her tears were her puffy eyes and a dull throb in her head.

“They can fend for themselves with my dad and Edith,” Noah replied. “You and I can just stay here.”

“No, it’s okay.” Ella opened the bathroom door, and Archie bolted into the bedroom and jumped onto the bed. “I don’t mind, and I could really use some water anyway.”

Noah followed her into the bedroom and gently placed his hand on her shoulder before she could leave the pool house. She turned to face him, hoping he hadn’t noticed that she’d flinched.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

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