Page 14 of Sweet Surrender

“Hey,” I breathed out, giving her a quick hug. “Sorry, I got a little lost in my head after my last meeting.” I noticed how she shot a dirty look at a tall, sandy-haired guy on the bike behind mine.

What had I missed? When I arched an eyebrow, silently questioning, she rolled her eyes. Maybe he had wanted the bike she was saving for me.

“A meeting with Noah?” she asked with a giggle. I should’ve known she’d be aware of the whole drama by now. “How’s it looking? Is he completely screwed?”

I smirked, looking her up and down before pulling my hair into a bun. “I’m a little offended that you don’t trust my skills.”

“Girl, we both know you kick ass at what you do. But come on. This is Noah. He’s a goddamn mess.” She still managed to sound fond when she said it, but then she could. She didn’t know him like I did. No one did. I would have rather swallowed my tongue than tell the girls what happened back then. My brother knew, and he’d been smart enough or at least decent enough to keep it to himself in the years since.

“He’ll be fine,” I grunted out, arranging my towel and water bottle before climbing onto the bike. “So long as he stays out of my way and doesn’t shoot his mouth off to the wrong person.”

“It’s such bullshit, knowing somebody could just spread lies that easily.”

“Well, if he wants to run around with the big boys, he has to face the other side of being a big shot.” I caught Aria’s confused gaze from the corner of my eye, and it brought me up short. I sounded as angry as I felt. “That’s why there are people like me in the world to clean up the messes,” I added with a grin I didn’t feel.

The energy in the room shifted when Skye entered, her usual blonde hair pulled back in a slicked ponytail. She clapped her hands once to bring all of us to silence. “Are we ready, people? Let’s do this!” she called out, overflowing with bright, bubbly excitement we all needed to kickstart our motivation. Despite her willowy frame and platinum blonde hair, a major general couldn’t have brought their troops together any more efficiently. If anything, she scared me a little and could definitely kick my ass.

The strangest thought occurred to me as I got comfortable and ready to pedal. There was something close to relief in sitting back and letting somebody else tell me what to do—following the instructor’s commands, turning my brain off for a little while—like I had at the club. The way I would’ve liked to have kept doing if my mystery man hadn’t disappeared on me.

It was never far from my thoughts, the memory of how thrilling it was to let him use me. Never had I come like that before. Like my whole body was an instrument, and he was the master.

My legs pumped, and I leaned over the handlebars, gripping them tight, pushing myself through the warm-up. Each leg rotation was a reminder of how sore I was from last night. I had never taken a dick that big, and he hadn’t been gentle. What did it say about me that I loved it the way I did? That I craved more?

I could see myself getting hooked on the rush, and that was a dangerous thing.

The idea of living without it now that I knew what I’d been missing out on was enough to make my heart sink with disappointment. But who was I kidding? I had no business thinking about that, anyway.

It had been fun, but I didn’t have the first clue as to who exactly had used me. Just the thought of him made my heart flutter, and something told me that had nothing to do with the workout. What a shame I couldn’t find my mystery man again since I would be tense like this for as long as I worked with Noah.

I should’ve asked if I could keep him on retainer. Picturing Noah’s face in my head left me gritting my teeth and pedaling faster, completely focused on working my body until I was too exhausted to give a shit about him.

Like I could out-pedal him somehow.

Like I could run away from the shame that still ate me alive whenever I remembered his nasty little smirk and the empty excuses he gave for breaking my heart.

And I was supposed to help him? There wasn’t enough money in the world to make me want to do it.

But I had to.

And because I had to, I didn’t bother waiting until I returned to the office before making a few calls. I had barely caught my breath before I was on the phone, shaking a few trees and calling in a few favors.

The sooner I got Noah out of the public eye, the sooner this would all be over.

8

NOAH

“This is fucking ridiculous.” I tapped my fingers against my knee, staring out the limousine window. The city went by in a blur, the streets shining, thanks to rain that had fallen steadily throughout the day.

Putting it mildly, the rain matched my mood. I had spent the day dreading this, knowing I’d have to play nice in front of a bunch of fucking hypocrites. All because the woman sitting on the other side of the back seat told me to put on a tux and be on my best behavior.

“That’s right,” Sienna muttered, not looking up from the scrolling she was doing on her phone. The gleaming gold case shone in the lights from the traffic around us, one I had never seen. “Get it all out of your system now. I don’t want you bitching and moaning during the event.”

“Your Wicked Witch impression is getting a little old.” However, she was a hell of a lot hotter than a green-faced witch.

Get it together, fuckface. This isn’t the time.

“So is your whining,” she fired back matter-of-factly. “And I’d like to remind you, if somebody hated you enough to tear you down, this is all your doing.”

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