Page 38 of Fractured Dreams

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Eden sat cross-legged on the bed in Tex’s guestroom as he finished packing. Noah was due back in half an hour, and Tex wanted to be ready to go. She gave him a small smile as he did up the zip on his bag, and he reached for her hand, pulling her toward him and burying his nose in her hair.

“I fucking hate this,” he grumbled.

She nodded against his chest and huffed a small laugh. “Yeah, it’s not going to be quite the same watching Noah shovel my food into his mouth across the dinner table.”

He laughed. “Much better watching me shovel your food into my mouth?”

“Much better watching you do anything.”

She smiled up at him and he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before leaning down to press his lips against hers. “We’ll let Noah settle back in and then we’ll tell him, okay,” he said after he pulled back.

Eden sighed. “What if he has a meltdown?”

“We’ll figure it out. But I’m gonna head out now, ’cause I want to kiss you when I leave, and I won’t be able to do that with Noah here.”

She nodded, and he turned to pick up his bag, leading her downstairs by the hand. When they got to the front door, he dropped his bag one more time, turned toward her, cupped her face in his hands and brought his lips down on hers.

The kiss started off slow and sweet, his tongue easing into her mouth, stroking hers, but as always it soon became demanding as he tilted her head to allow him better access. Eden’s heart beat hard, her arms going around him, fingers digging into the muscles of his back. She didn’t want him to go, she wanted to stay in their little bubble, wrapped up in him. To go from seeing him every day, sleeping with him every night, waking next to him every morning, to having to find excuses to see him, was going to be so difficult. The telltale burn behind her eyes made her squeeze her eyelids together to stop the tears welling up. It’s just until you tell Noah, then you’ll be able to see each other all the time, she told herself.

Until you leave for Portland, that is.

She broke the kiss, heart pounding. He cupped her chin, feathered his lips against hers one more time, then sighed. “Well, tell Noah welcome back from me, okay? I’ll be around soon to catch up with him, so I’ll see you then. And I’ll think of a reason to get you alone again.”

“Okay.” She tried hard to keep her voice steady, not wanting to let him know how upset she really was. If she was this sad after being together for such a short time, how was she going to feel when she had to leave for six months? And what if… What if it all went wrong when they told Noah? Would Tex want to keep going if it threatened his friendship? His band? Was she only setting herself up for more heartbreak?

She wasn’t sure, and that scared her.

When Noah’s car rolled up half an hour later, Eden was at the door waiting for him. Even though she already missed Tex, she had missed Noah too, and she was happy to see him.

When he climbed out of the car, she was surprised by the shadow in his normally clear blue eyes and a tension in his jaw she wasn’t used to seeing. It generally took a lot to upset Noah, and Eden wondered what had happened to cause it.

Still, when he saw her, he smiled, the tension disappearing. “Hey short stuff. How’s it going?”

She smiled back. “Great. How was the tour?”

That shadow flickered in his eyes again, but all he said was, “It went really well. Zac smashed it; the crowds were great. We had fun. Where’s Tex?”

Eden flushed and hoped Noah didn’t notice. “He, uh, he had to head off earlier, but I think he’s planning on dropping around soon to see how it all went.”

“Okay. I hope he did a good job of looking after my favorite sister.”

She rolled her eyes. “He did a great job looking after youronlysister.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear. Now, how about we get inside, and you can make me dinner while I tell you about how awesome I was on tour?”

“Wow, I can’t wait,” she said, dryly.

They walked back into the house, and Noah spent the next hour telling Eden all about how well Zac and the other two band members had done, how strange it was starting small again with Crossfire after performing stadium tours with Fractured, and how he’d missed her cooking and wouldn’t know what to do with himself when she left for Portland. And all the while, Eden watched the shadow flicker across his eyes, and the muscle tic in his cheek whenever he stopped for breath. As if only by talking could he forget about whatever was bothering him.

Eventually, she stopped him, touching the back of his hand. “Noah, is everything okay?”

He raised his brows. “Of course, why do you ask?”

“You seem a little tense—not yourself.”

“I’m fine. It’s always an adjustment getting back after being on tour, that’s all. I could do with a drink though. “He got up and went and grabbed a beer from the fridge, sitting back down and taking several long swallows, downing almost half the bottle in one go.

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