Page 96 of Vicious Arrangement
“Little Italy?”
I spin and smile, Noah’s standing there, one hand in his pocket, frowning at his phone.
My smile falters. “Just talking out loud.” He doesn’t look at me, and my heart sinks. I don’t know why I’m so damn emotional so early on, but I am, and tears press and burn. “Is something wrong?”
“I’m good.” His gaze shifts to me, but his shoulders look tense, and his smile doesn’t even hint at his dimple, it’s that small and tight.
I pick up the raspberries and go to him. “You don’t look like you’re good. You look stressed. Have a berry?”
“Not hungry.”
“Noah.” I sigh and go put the berries back on the island and approach him again. This time, I ease his phone from his hand, and I don’t look at it, but I take his hand and lead him to the nearest sofa in the great room and sit him down. “You can talk to me.”
He looks at me, startled. “You’re pregnant.”
“Like seven weeks now. Also, pregnancy doesn’t make you an imbecile or made of glass. I can listen. I can even think.”
He rubs a hand over his face. “Sorry. It’s nothing.”
Fuck, this is like pulling teeth. “No, it isn’t. It’s definitely something. However big or small, it’s something and maybe I can help.”
Noah leans back and loosens his tie, looking up at the industrial ceiling. “I called that guy back.”
The wordsand you didn’t tell meclaw for freedom, but I don’t let them. My sudden burst of frustration just another ride on the weird hormonal emotional rollercoaster.
“Okay,” I say calmly, “what did he have to say?”
Noah lets out a noisy breath and pinches the bridge of his nose as the tension suddenly rises a few notches in him.
“Aaron, that’s his name, turns out to be my half-brother.”
For a moment I can’t think of a single thing to say. I stare at him, as shock ricochets through me.
Finally, I find my voice as I put a hand on his thigh. “How do you know he’s telling you the truth? After all this time, you’d think…”
“I made him get a DNA test, and the results just came back. We’re a close familial match.”
Noah has a brother.
I take his hand. It’s cold, and he doesn’t respond to mine. I pretend it isn’t like a slap in the face. “How do you feel about that?”
“Indifferent,” he says, shrugging, pulling his hand free as he sits forward. “It doesn’t change a thing, and all it does is prove what a true asshole my father was. Not to be confused with my assholery.”
I wince. “Noah…”
“I don’t feel a fucking thing. He’s nothing to me. A stranger. And he’s probably an asshole, too.”
“Noah,” I say carefully. “That might be true about your father, and this Aaron might be a dick or he might be a nice guy. He could be anything at all and he just found out and tracked you down. You’re known so it isn’t that hard.”
“Getting my number is hard.”
I nod. “My point is we just don’t know. You don’t know. And Aaron isn’t responsible for your father’s actions.” I search for the right words. “It’s not fair to punish him because of it.”
“And you know this how? Maybe he’s a fucking monster.”
“Maybe he is. I don’t know anything,” I say, recoiling as he jumps up, narrowly missing the coffee table.
“Or maybe you just like to judge me.”
