Page 33 of Return To You

I shake my head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t, Dad. I knew this was a mistake.”

That said, I walk upstairs to my room to grab our bags.

I never should have come here—first Noah and now my brother and his wife.

It’s just too much too soon. Maybe I’ll never be able to let go of the hurt from the past, which says a lot about who I will be in the future….

ten

Noah

I rollmy tongue bar along my bottom lip, looking at the house I bought with Rose in mind.

It was my first big paycheck, and all I could think about was buying this house for her, for us, for our future family. But now, she’s gone and has built it with someone else, someone she cheated on me with, and yet I still bought the fucking property.

I gave her my everything for four years, and nearly two years after leaving, she’s still all I can think about.

Seeing her, actually having my eyes on her in person and not through memories and pictures, fuck, I don’t know if I can do this.

Maybe I should sell the place….

As I finish my cigarette, my eyes take in the large, dark gray Victorian mansion with a wraparound porch. It sits on roughly 9,000 square feet of land, and has a high wall and a black gate to keep the unwanted out.

Fuck, I even decorated the inside with the thought of Rose, including buying stables because of how much she loves animals.

Yeah, I should sell it, but first, I need to get my sister out of the fucking place.

The stupid girl tried to throw a party yesterday, but my security caught on by the second carload of people showing up. I should think Gina knows she needs to leave.

Sighing, I stub out my cigarette. I grab my keys and go to open my door, but I pause when my phone rings for the fifth time.

Shaking my head, I reluctantly answer it.

“Not the time, Mom,” I answer.

She clears her throat. “I know we set you up, but you needed to see her, Noah, to talk to her.”

I scoff. “Talk to her? She fucking walked off, not giving me the time of day.”

Mom sighs. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I thought she’d snap, that she’d give you a piece of her mind. I didn’t think she’d walk away.”

“Oh geez, thanks, Mom,” I say sarcastically.

Mom butts in, “I don’t mean it like that, Noah. For nearly two years, I have pleaded her innocence because I know the real truth. I know what your sister and Piper did; I saw it happen; I saw the absolute pain on that girl's face when she realized you left. I-I, Jesus, sweetheart, her father kicked her out.”

I chuckle sarcastically. “And did it not occur to you that there is a reason for that?”

Nearly two years, and my mom’s still defending her after not liking our relationship to begin with.

“Noah there is a reason for it but it’s not what you think.” She sighs. “She’s hurt and has her guard up, sweetheart.”

I snort. “And what? I’m not hurt? I haven’t been suffering?”

“It’s not her who has made a big old career out of your breakup, or who has had several photos in the tabloids with other men, Noah. You even had Piper licking your neck in one photo, another of you whispering in some girl’s ear. You made a life for yourself while she’s struggling to move on.”

Anger hits at the guilt I feel, even though the Piper situation wasn’t my fucking fault, and that I haven’t touched one fucking girl since her—and then fury takes over; someone who used to be a fucking drunk is standing by someone who cheated on me.

“You know what, Mom, it would be nice for you to stand by me just once. She cheated on me, for fucks sake; she’s had someone else’s fucking child,” I snap.

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