Page 47 of My Kind of Trouble
‘Jesus fuck—’ Marcus cursed as he wiped at his nose and tried to shake himself free of Alex’s grip.
‘Be very careful with those next words,’ Alex snarled.
Noa hadn’t seen this side of him in a long time. Not since they were younger. Not since he’d been abandoned by his dad and been that lonely boy across the street. The realisation hit her with the force of a brick. She’d left him. He’d asked her to stay, not to go on the moped on her own, and she’d chosen to ignore him. Not only that, but she’d chosen to take Marcus over him. She was such an idiot and, now knowing that all she had done was feed into Alex’s deeply embedded fears, she wished she could take it all back. Even if Alex had never expressly said it, Noa knew him well enough to know that he’d been left with abandonment issues after his dad left. She had been so careless with his feelings. His face told her that as he turned to her, and she could see the hurt in his eyes.
‘I warned you, Noa,’ he growled.
She felt like her eyes had doubled in size, and she just gulped down the lump that had formed in her throat. She couldn’t find an appropriate response before he continued.
‘I told you. I told you if you let another one of these men touch what they don’t deserve, then I wouldn’t be responsible for what came next.’
There was so much anger in his tone, but she could still see the hurt and even fear, if she wasn’t mistaken.
‘You’re fucking crazy,’ came from Marcus, whose eyes were wide as he glowered at Alex.
Noa paid him no attention, focussing only on Alex. He really did care for her. Behind the tough guy act and angry bravado, he cared. But this didn’t feel like the way a friend cared for another friend, or like protection for the sake of her brother. This felt deeper. Real. More.
It was that thought that made her move toward him, slowly, as if he was a bomb that she didn’t want to go off. She placed her hands on his, pulling, and slowly removing them from where they still held Marcus against the wall, who just stood there, dazed and a little exasperated, his head whipping between them both.
As Alex’s hands fell away, Marcus mumbled something that sounded like, ‘I am not getting involved in this shit,’ and scurried off.
Alex loomed over her, chest heaving and nose flaring. He looked feral. He was so angry, but she wasn’t scared of him. She did need to defuse the situation, however.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered, trying to pour all her remorse into those words, and grabbing his hands in the hope he would feel it.
They were big compared to hers and she could feel the callouses there from all the days he’d spent putting work in at the bar.
He grabbed the back of her head, pulling her forehead against his so that they were staring right into each other’s eyes, and whispered back, ‘You are so goddamn reckless sometimes, Noa.’
She didn’t know what to say, so she just stayed there, letting him know that she was with him and that she was safe. What had started off as a fun game to mess with Alex had turned into so much more, and she knew her growing feelings were going to catch up with her soon. She felt them in every cell in her body now, every fibre of her being came alive for this man.
‘You drive me crazy. Do you know that?’
Alex’s eyes softened, the anger dissipating, like all he’d needed was to touch her and have her close. She knew she’dbeen reckless, and nothing was probably more so than what she was about to say.
‘Show me,’ she breathed.
‘Show you what, Trouble?’
The pet name that had always gotten under her skin felt more like an endearment now, and it sounded sexy as hell coming from his lips.
‘How crazy I make you.’
She was breathy, and her heartbeat thrummed in her ears. Everything else around them fell away and Noa forgot where they were, forgot they were in public. But then, Alex was reaching behind him to the closest door which, conveniently, must have been his own. That’s how he’d got to her and Marcus so quickly, she realised.
Then she was pulled inside, the door being closed behind her, and she was swallowed by darkness.
Chapter 29
Noa
It took Alex a moment for his eyes to readjust to the darkness of his room, only the light bleeding in from the street lights outside providing any ability to see.
‘Say that again,’ he demanded.
‘Show me.’
Her voice was shaky, and he knew she was trembling, proof that he affected her just as much as she did him.
