Page 81 of Falling for Fury

My little demon.

Shortcake.

It’s always been you.

I love you completely.

All a lie.

Oh yeah. Angry doesn’t even begin to describe the rage I feel. But it’s reduced to a simmer. Like a white flame–all bark and no bite. Because bite requires energy and I’m all out of that.

“Addison?” Hearing my name from that same voice actually in the room jolts me from my thoughts.

“Noah, what are you doing here?” I sit up and see his form in the doorway of my bedroom. The smooth caramel of his voice is a complete contrast to how he looks. Wrecked. I mean, physically, he looks as delicious as always. Pants clinging to the muscles of his legs, his plain T shaping around his sculptured shoulders and that damn backwards cap. His eyes, though, red-rimmed and clouded in dark circles. He looks about as great as I feel, and as much as I should hate the feeling, I don’t. It’s nice to know he is as torn up as I am.

“I needed to see you, shortcake. I couldn’t stay away any longer. I need to just… explain everything.”

That boy loves you. And I mean big-big love. Life-long kind of love. I just want you to always remember that.

I think you should just hear what he has to say, the reasons he kept it secret.

The conversations that have been on a loop in my head this entire week. At war with one another. If Noah loved me so much, how could he have lied and pretended everything was fine so easily? Maybe Iris knew and was giving me some kind of warning about his heart still being mine despite his lies? But how do you lie to someone you love?

But then, after Jessie himself suggested I give Noah a chance to talk, it’s hard to ignore the instinct telling me to just let him explain. I want to trust him. God, do I want to just believe everything he says. It would be easier to just forgive and love him and move on from this. But the pain, the reminder of the hurt and betrayal that I’ve now felt from everyone in my life, is a cute little reminder that I really am alone.

I nod my head slightly at Noah and he strolls across the room to sit on the bed, toeing off his shoes, climbing on and leaning his back against my light grey upholstered headboard, so he is next to me. He looks good here. Like he should have been here all week. The sight of him so close, the warm olive skin against my white sheets, and that scent of his clenches my heart tight, and I drop a tear.

“Oh, Addy.” He reaches a hand and swipes the tear. I can see his heart fighting with his brain as he wants to linger, but withdraws his hand to rest back in his lap. “I’m so sorry I hurt you.”

A wave of feelings I’ve been trying to bury hit me like a tsunami. The way he looks at me, the way I can feel his heart right there. It would be so easy to reach for him, to let the warmth of those chocolate eyes pull me back in and let him wrap me up. I want it so badly to feel him wrapped around me, but I can’t. No, I need to be stronger. Need to bury it deeper.

“You wanted to talk. So tell me then, explain to me what warranted you lying to me. Telling me you loved me, but managing to keep such a secret from me at the same time.”

“At Maplewood, the night you didn’t come to dinner…” Oh, he is jumping straight into this. I readjust myself to cross my legs and face him as he leans back against the headboard, eyes never leaving mine. “I went to the bathroom, and on the way back, I caught the end of a phone call. I could only hear his words, but it was enough.”

“What… what did you hear?”

“It wasn’t until I heard the name of the company that I put it altogether. EcoX Tech is an Energy Company, relatively new but made it big in their first two years and are worth millions. They are the market leader in energy storage and smart grid tech. I only know this because they approached my company for the marketing of a new system they have engineered and are about to release. The security on this new item is so tight they couldn’t give me the details for it, despite my confidentiality and NDA procedures. They wanted to build up the brand and find a way to get their existing material out to a wider audience before releasing the new product. Anyway, Matt’s company was a part of the project and Matt was the lead engineer of it.” Dad hacked Matt’s computer. “I don’t know how Henry managed to find out Matt was holding all the designs or whether he just caught wind of Matt working on something big, whatever the reason, he managed to gamble correctly, because he got it and found the whole folder.” That disgusting piece of dirt. I almost feel bad for ignoring Ava and Matt this week. They’ve been betrayed too, Matt’s privacy and integrity compromised.

“Word of the leak spread when there were whispers of a similar product from another company, the EcoX tech stock was taking a hit as this other company was growing. They got spooked. They put my contract on hold and said that my company and AIM were under investigation as the only two other companies who had been engaged to work with them. That was why I came to Maplewood—Matt and I needed to work out what happened.”

Memories of the deal they celebrated, the work stress Noah had been under, flood back to me.

“I still don’t understand why you couldn’t have told me this. Why you and Matt had to keep the whole thing a secret. You told me all of that just now, and I still don’t know about this fucking product. Why lie?”

“Matt worked out it was your dad. He might be stupid enough to make his password Mia2018 but he has security cameras in his office and the file had a login register. Matt filled me in after we got home, and I panicked. We made a deal with your dad.”

My stomach sinks and my heart lurches in my throat, having no idea how to handle any of this information.

“Matt and I agreed to keep it from all of you if Henry agreed to tell AIM and EcoX what happened. Matt didn’t want to lose his company. I desperately needed to keep this contract to avoid losing everything I worked for. This contract would secure our future. I needed it so badly to work I hadn’t thought about the repercussions. Addy, you have to believe me.”

My blood hums with rage as I run over all the lies over the last few months. The information soaks into my brain, and I try to combat every instinct I have to allow it to control me.

“What about the phone call? What did you hear?”

“He… Addison,” he pleads. I know he doesn’t want to be the one to tell me this. Well, too fucking bad.

“You love me?” His eyes widen and pain shoots through me at the look he gives me.

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