It takes nearly an hour to get to my dad's, no thanks to traffic, and the amount due on the taxi screen, well, it’s giving me hives.
“Alright, miss, that’s $178.49,” the man says, and I swallow hard, smiling at him.
“I just need to grab my purse from inside,” I say, and he looks at me skeptically. I smile, climb out, and rush toward the house. The door opens as I get near, and I sigh in relief to see my dad.
“Rose?” he questions with concern, his eyes taking in my features.
I clear my throat and whisper, “I never ask you for anything, Dad.” He nods, and I tilt my head to the cab. “I only have $100, and that’s at home in a jar. Could you, uh, pay the cab fare?”
His eyes widen but he doesn’t hesitate to go to the cab and pay, and my body relaxes, and I walk inside.
I notice my bags still near the front door where I left them, and tears build again. I don’t want to take Diego from my father; they’ve forged a bond, but I need to go home.
“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” my dad asks.
I don’t look at him but nod. “It’s for the best, Dad. I don’t belong in his world anymore.”
“Rose, he loves you,” my dad protests, and I turn and look at him, tears trailing my cheeks.
“I know,” I sob, “and I love him so much. I have never stopped, but his life is different now. I don’t belong, and there’s just too much hurt between us.”
My dad rushes my way and takes me in his arms, and I cry for everything that I’ve lost, all because Noah didn’t fight for us.
I know I could fight now, but I think defeat has always been in the cards.
After I cried my heart out, my dad helps me get Diego ready while discussing how to arrange visitation for Noah and Diego, before he takes us to the train station with a promise to see him soon and to keep in contact.
We leave Kingstonville while I vow never to open my heart to someone again. Noah will always own it, and that’s something I have to live with, but he and I were through when he walked away.
I need to focus on myself and our son, and I have to get myself ready for when Noah finds someone else, because he will; after what I saw, it’s only a matter of time.
It’s not like I’m his only anymore anyway….
twenty-one
Noah
I reluctantly walkinto the green room despite everything telling me to turn back around and carry Rose outta here, sort our past out, and get everything off our chests.
Seeing her wear my shirt from prom, watching us from the stage side with pride and tears in her eyes…
Fuck me, it’s everything. It’s what I needed all along, what I’ve been missing, what I needed to truly enjoy what we do, to get the true thrill of it.
It was her, it’s always been her.
Fuck, then that hug, her legs wrapped around me again…. I never wanted to let her go, and it fucking killed me that she cried, but I knew she needed to be here, to hear my words, to see that she’s all I thought about since we met six years ago.
She brought the blood back into my cold, dead heart….
“Hey, shit dude, you’re Noah Scott…” some skinny guy with bright ginger hair says from beside me, and I give him a tight smile, shaking his outstretched hand.
He gasps, shocked that I actually shook his hand, and I say, “Yeah, it’s good to meet you, man. You got some paper, I’ll give you my autograph.”
His mouth opens in shock, and he freezes before one of his friends shoves him, and hands me four pieces of paper.
I hold in my snort and sign them all before taking pictures with the guys. I walk to where Joel is waving me over to some fans near the table full of food and drink, but before I get even two steps toward them, lips that are not my girl’s press against mine, a body knocking into me hard, shocking the shit outta me. Funnily enough, this has never happened to me before.
I shove her away hard, causing her to stumble as Barnett snaps, “What the fuck?” and everyone quiets, looking our way.