Page 30 of The Fallen
“Neve, I believe you.” Noah shakes me, hard, snapping me out of my terrified state.
I let out my breath and slump against his chest. His arms catch me and keep me standing, but I feel like all my energy’s been sucked from my body. Noah keeps me in his arms, and the gentle rise and fall of his breathing gives me something for my mind to focus on. Something to rely on.
Time stands still for me. I don’t bother to count his breaths; all I know is that he’s still holding me up. This man, sent to catch me and bring me to heel for my brother. And my feelings towards him are a riddle I’m not ready to answer. “So what do we do? Do we just wait for him?” I mumble against his chest, still unable to move. The fear that this isn’t going to be as easy as I hoped starts to grip me, along with the realisation that I freeze and am next to useless when confronted by Lewis.
Noah’s arms remain locked around me. “I can't hunt him down with you here,” he says, frustration in his tone. “We'll go back and see if there’s any movement on the rental’s reg. If it’s been returned, if it’s moved. We go through everything. Again. Check the credit card stamps. Everything. And then we can come back and put surveillance here.”
“Surveillance?” I look up at him.
“Cameras to catch him. If he’s still here.”
“Can we rig it now?” I ask, pretending not to hear the last bit.
“I don’t carry that shit around in my car, Neve. I didn’t anticipate setting up cameras here. And if he was here, he probably won't come back now anyway. Worth a try, though.”
“Okay.”
Another minute passes before Noah removes his hands from my shoulders.
“This is where Ivy and Blake were held,” Noah states, as we walk back past the first building.
“What?”
“Your sister and her boyfriend. They were kidnapped. Close call by the sounds of it. Blake shot two men.”
My mind skips back to the argument between Daddy and Lewis. How mad he was that Father wouldn’t capitulate to his demands for money and the changes to the will. I didn’t follow all of the conversation - Lewis wasn’t making sense and turned on Daddy, making him out to be a monster. Right before he pulled the trigger, he said, if he wouldn’t change his mind now, he never would.
Is this what he meant? That he kidnapped Ivy to blackmail him further? It makes my stomach lurch, and I turn away, not able to stomach the bloodstain. It’s not Daddy’s – not this time. But someone else's. Did he hurt Ivy? What happened to cause all the blood? I stare at it, not knowing what to do, say, or think.
The light’s beginning to fade, and being here suddenly makes me feel overwhelmed. I'm lost, tired, unable to make sense of anything, and Noah's constant questions and needling are making me feel foolish. Considering his expertise in these underhanded situations, I'm not surprised, but it's not helping me feel in control of anything.
“I’d like to go home,” I murmur, as I turn and look up at him.
“We'll be going to mine.”
“Why?” I ask, my sigh following. Right now, I need something – some form of comfort to keep me from falling apart completely. And while the sex might be better than I thought it would be with him, comfort isn’t what he’s offering at all.
He starts walking, pulling the old barn door open for me. “Yours isn’t safe. And there’s a cat.”
“Murph won’t be any trouble,” I murmur.
“Not for you. We’re going back to mine. End of discussion.”
Chapter Thirteen
NOAH
I haven’t woken her this morning. Don’t know why. Didn’t feel like it. I felt like leaving her to sleep. Watched her breathing for a while. Watched her long, dark eyelashes fluttering and her mouth part slightly when she mumbled something, and then I left so she could rest some more. The fact that she had her head tucked into my shoulder and my arm was around her when I came to means nothing. Shouldn’t, anyway. Kinda did, though, after yesterday and seeing some real panic in her. Don’t know why that should matter to me, and maybe it’s just having someone in my bed with me all night. Can’t remember the last time that happened.
Never has here.
Sipping some tea, I wander around the old garden and take in the roses dying against the trellis. Autumn’s here, regardless of the sun trying to keep the air warm today. I look over at the decaying barns, thinking about her asking me if I had any pets. Stupid fucking question. Why would I want any of those? This place is just quiet, that’s all. I might have acres around me, but I’m not going to go all Farmer Giles with it.
I go inside and flick the kettle on, making my way to the office. I’m met with the sound of a keyboard working furiously, and I glare around the corner to see her already in my fucking systems again. She doesn’t notice me behind her. She keeps going as if she’s as lost in her online world as I normally am.
Her distraction gives me a minute to stand quietly and watch, taking in the vision of her. Her hair is messy and piled on her head, her glasses perched on her nose. Still got some kind of pyjamas on, flimsy T, some shorts, and the old blanket draped around her body. Can’t stop smiling at the look of her in my space, which pisses me off and relaxes me in equal measure.
I roll my eyes to myself and head back for the kettle. The sex isn’t weird. It’s this shit that’s weird – this feeling of relative comfort about her being here. I don’t even know what she’s doing in there and I’m smiling about it? Yesterday I was having a near fucking breakdown about her touching my shit, and now I’m happy? I need to get a fucking grip of myself. She’s paying for a service in the only way she can. That’s all. This is nothing other than that.
