Page 10 of Breaking the Rules
Noble nodded at the access and closed the space between them. Quietly at first, they walked shoulder to shoulder.
“I’m Noble by the way,” he shared.
“Oh, wow that’s a heavy name.”
Noble groaned softly. “Yeah, it holds some weight I haven’t always had the courage to live up to.”
“Hoping this year is different? Heard turning thirty is some big shit.”
“Yeah, hoping to make my father proud. Be the man my sister and niece need me to be.”
“Sounds like a good resolution.”
“What about you?”
She looked up at him and he mused as she silently went back and forth with giving him her real name or another.
“Don’t give me no fake shit like Rachel or Sarah or something,” Noble joked, making a tiny smile pierce the corners of her mouth.
“Savanhi. There’s no meaning to it. My brother named me. Apparently, he’d just learned about the savannah and was obsessed with it, so there came my name. It has no meaning. But if you ask my brother, he’ll say it fits me.”
“Why is that?” Noble posed.
Savanhi bit her lip and hummed, then shrugged. “The savannah is large, and it holds life when watered, kills when it’s not.”
“Oh, so you’re dangerous,” he joked, stepping back. “Let me step back.”
“Only when I’m not tended to correctly. But you don’t need to know all of that. Tonight’s about you.”
Silence settled between the two as they approached the private dock Sincere rarely used that housed a boat he’d only bought for show. Noble followed as Savanhi took a seat on the bench of the dock and went back to staring at the moon.
“How often do you do that?”
“Do what?” Savanhi retorted.
“Focus on someone else other than yourself?”
Her brows raised, a scoff muffled between her lips as she blinked away the remnants of pain. “Ashamed to admit how often actually. That and no one really asks. I’ve gotten good at holding it until I can’t.”
“That shit sucks though. Being the strong one. The one that always has to hold it together.”
“What else are we supposed to do? Cry about it?” Savanhi posed and shook her head. “I’ve done enough of that in life. You just hold it and keep moving on.”
“Holdin’ it is heavy as fuck though,” Noble admitted, twisting his mouth and staring into the moon. “I can hold a lot, but sometimes I need to get it off my shoulders just for a second so I can breathe.”
“Well, get it off your shoulders for a second.”
“Nah, I’m not putting that on you.”
“Listen, I crashed your party, no gift in hand. I’m impeding all on your space. I doubt we’ll see each other after tonight. So whatever it is, it’s safe here.”
Noble studied her under the moonlight. Large eyes that shone like diamonds, full lips, and a nose that fit her face perfectly. He cooly examined her body while they walked – not for any other reason than the fact she was a work of art. He remembered his rule. As captivating as she was, he wasn’t going to fall back into the shit he’d just gotten out of.
But he couldn’t help himself. There was a magnetic pull she had that provided comfort.
“Ever been cheated on?” he asked.
Savanhi scoffed bitterly and looked down at her hands. “Yeah. It’s a pain like death.”
