Page 46 of Already At Risk
“C’mon, Cam. You don’t need to do this. Blake and I both clocked it the moment you guys met. And now thelooksand thecatandChloe. Something’s up.”
“It’s because that wasn’t the first time we met,” I admitted, taking myself by surprise. But I also felt relief flooding me with every word out of my mouth. I hadn’t realized how much it was driving me wild to keep that bottled up, not until this moment when I got to let it out. “We met in a bar about six months ago. Hit it off, shared a few drinks, but nothing came of it.”
Noah hadn’t been expecting that. His expression shifted, stunned. It almost looked like he didn’t believe me at first—which I couldn’t blame him for, considering Natalie had made it clear she rarely went out—but then something clicked in his brain.
“I…remember that, actually.”
“You do?”
“It was in November, right?”
I nodded, and he shook his head with a sort of disbelief, leaning back against the exposed brick wall.
“Natalie doesn’t go out often,” he said with a humorless laugh, confirming I’d been right about his thought process. “Not just for herself. But it was the one-year anniversary of filing for her divorce. She wanted to commemorate it. Chloe hung out at my place. It made me nervous because Nat was going out alone, but I didn’t want to discourage her from celebrating, either. And I was glad I didn’t. She came back and seemed…” His gaze raked over me, somewhat assessing, like he was looking at me for the very first time. “It seemed good for her.”
“I didn’t know who she was,” I confessed. “I wish I’d known who she was.”
Biggest understatement of my life, for so many reasons.
“Fuck, man.” Noah’s expression changed from wonderment to sympathy. There was a speechlessness to him as he ran a hand over his jaw, like he didn’t know what to do with this new information. “She didn’t tell you?”
I shook my head. “Gave me a different name.”
For some reason, I found myself not wanting to share with him exactly what it was.
A dry laugh left Noah’s lips. “Of course she did.”
My brows lifted, and Noah noticed.
“Walls,” he muttered. “Natalie has a lot of walls she’s put up.” He gave me a thoughtful look. “But it seems like you’ve gotten through some of them already.”
I tried to play that off like it didn’t affect me, like I didn’t care that I was lucky enough to get a version of Natalie not everyone did. “Some of it is out of necessity,” I said logically. “I’m her lawyer. There’s some information she has to tell me, even if she doesn’t want to.”
“Right. You’re her lawyer.”
It was like he’d momentarily forgotten.
I wished to hell I could momentarily forget.
Or permanently.
“Yeah,” I said dryly.
“Look.” Noah settled his hands on his hips. “I don’t have a problem with this. Actually, I think it’s fucking great. But Idohave a problem with this getting in the way of?—”
I put my hand up, halting him in his tracks. “Jeopardizing this custody case is the last fucking thing I would do.”
“And yet hercatis growing attached to you,” Noah challenged, leaning forward with the tiniest glint in his eyes. Because while I could tell he wanted to be supportive and chill about this, it was still his sister and niece’s livelihood and well-being on the line, and I couldn’treallyblame him for that. “Is Nat bringing her cat to your office?”
“No, it was just—” I sighed.Fuck. He was right; I knew he was right. “Chloe is exaggerating. I’ve met the cat like three times.”
“Threetimes,” Noah repeated. His eyes grew round and then narrowed, not at all happy by that revelation.
Shit, I should have lied about the cat.
Noah hung his head for a second and then gave me a tired look, like he hated that he had to spell this out for me, that he wished he didn’t have to meddle but knew it was for the best. “You have to be careful around Chloe, too. She gets attached easily. And if she gets confused about why you’re over all the time?—”
“I know,” I said, nodding, recognizing the truth in what he was saying. “You’re right. I’ll do better.”
