Page 97 of Vicious Arrangement
“Don’t start this, Noah. You’re lashing out because you’re hurting. You?—”
“What?” he says, snarling, “I lash out to protect myself. I’m not a fucking DIY project. And I’m not an idiot. I don’t have to see this guy, I don’t know him. He’s nothing to me, you get that? Nothing. And I’ve got nothing to give him, either. Just pain and heartache about my father. And I don’t have money for him, either. There’s none from my dad, and he doesn’t get to touch the Templeton money.”
I draw in a breath and stand, too. “Noah, I just thought… maybe you could look at it calmly. Of course you don’t need to see him if you don’t want to, it’s your life.”
“So keep out of it,” he says.
I stumble back, recoiling, and behind me from the doorway to the terrace, Angus growls. I don’t even tell him not to. Let him. Noah deserves to be growled at.
“Keep… out of it?” I laugh and shake my head. “I was only trying to help, to talk things out. It’s what people do.”
Silence spreads through the air and hangs heavy between us.
“Noah—”
“Look,” he snaps, “I appreciate you’re trying to help, but this is none of your business, Aria.”
That arrow hits so hard I can feel myself bleeding inside. And it’s cold and it hurts.
“You’re right, it’s not,” I say, moving away to the open kitchen to put the fruit away, and he follows to the edge. “It’d only bemy business if we were in a relationship, right? You know, a real one?”
Now he sighs. “Aria, you know damn well that’s not what I fucking meant.”
“Didn’t you?”
“No.”
“Because,” I say angrily, “from where I stand, you’re never going to let me in. Not completely. I don’t even know what I’m doing here.” I snap my fingers. “That’s right, I’m pregnant so you’re stuck with me.”
“I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to. The fact you just want me to fuck and now, apparently, to birth your babies is reason enough for you to have me here, but it’s not for me. To me, this whole thing’s a waste of time.” A sob breaks free, and my eyes blur, a tear slipping free that I dash away with the heel of my hand. “I might as well just…”
“You might as well just what?” he asks softly.
And I sob again, shaking my head.
“Leave? Are you suggesting you might be better off leaving me?”
“I don’t know, Noah. I just know I’m at the edge of everything, and I’m tired and sick, and I just want—” I stop, look at him, and straighten up.
He doesn’t say a damn thing, he just watches me. Waits, and that’s maybe the worst of all, because he knows I’m not going anywhere. I can’t.
I’ll never hurt Gramps. And now… I won’t rob Noah of his inheritance.
But what about me?
I’m here because… like it or not, I’ve gone and fallen. And trapped myself in the worst way.
“What do you want, Aria?” he asks.
I shake my head. I’m no longer hungry. I tap my hand on my thigh, and Angus trots over to me, nails softly clacking on the white oak floor.
“Nothing. Nothing at all. We both know why you’re here, and we both know I’m well and truly stuck here.” I sniff, and walk to the hall. “Come on, Angus. We’re going to bed.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
NOAH
