Page 13 of I Shouldn't Feel This Way

What the fuck just happened?He asked himself, getting out of bed to clean up. Those graphic images didn’t make sense to him.

After he washed up, he settled back to bed and tried to relax. Noah was a very sexual man. He loved intimacy and had an active, healthy sex life with his wife. He was the kind of guy who was dominant in the bedroom. And although he was married, he had been with his fair share of women before settling down. Needless to say, Noah was a very experienced lover, but nothing had ever distressed him so much. He had never expected to dream about his daughter this way.

With a weighted breath, he reached over to the bottle of water resting on his nightstand. Once he quenched his thirst, he rested his head on his pillow and closed his eyes. Noah tried to convince himself that Aria’s cameo appearance in his dream was an accident. He concluded that it was all because he had been thinking about her before going to sleep, and that he wasn’treallysexually attracted to her. It couldn’t have been any further from the truth.

CHAPTER FIVE

aria

Icouldn’t wait for Friday to come. Noah had been taking care of some business while he was still in New York, so I was fortunate enough to spend some time with him before he flew back to LA. I didn’t know how I was going to survive the week. It had only been two days since we last saw each other, and I was way too nervous to reach out and be the one to call him first. When I was at school, I found it hard to pay attention because my mind was so occupied withhim. And when I was at home, I would lie in bed and listen to music all night while trying not to think about him. Yeah, that typically failed.

It was a Wednesday evening and I was sitting at the dinner table with my family when my cellphone vibrated. I placed my fork down and pulled out my phone, thinking it was probably a text from my best friend Allyson. But when I read the text, I desperately wanted to excuse myself from the table.

Hey baby girl, how are you doing tonight?

I miss you.

It was from Noah. I shoved my iPhone back in my pocket and looked at my mom. “May I be excused, please? I’m not so hungry anymore.”

“Your mom slaved away in the kitchen all evening,” my stepdad grumbled. “You’re going to sit your ass down and finish your food.” He scowled at me with his beady brown eyes, burping disgustingly loud.

“Robert, you promised you’d stop cursing so much.”

“She’s being disrespectful, Emily. She should know not to waste food! I work damn hard to put bread on this table.”

You work damn hard to gamble it all awaywas more like it.

I rolled my eyes and stuffed my mouth with the remaining veggies and mashed potatoes, all in four hasty bites.

“Done—thanks for dinner, Mom.” I gathered my plate and utensils then speed-walked to the kitchen to place them in the sink before I ran to my room, ignoring Rob’s relentless complaints. He always had a problem with me. It was getting old.

I turned on my iPod and dropped my weight on my bed, rolling over on my stomach. I swung my legs back and forth while I texted Noah as fast as I could:

Hey, I’m ok. How r u?

I was so excited, feeling like my biggest crush was spontaneously texting me. After about twenty seconds, my phone vibrated again:

Just okay? What can I do to make you feel GREAT? And I’m doing fantastic since the world’s most beautiful daughter texted me back :)

Even through texts he made me blush. I wanted to tell him that Rob and Mom were annoying me and getting on my case a lot, but decided against it. He already gave the vibe that he was very protective of me. I didn’t want to cause trouble for Mom, especially if I was going to convince her to let me live with Noah. So, I lied instead and wrote:

I got into a dumb fight @ school with some friends. They’re not talking to me now.

He quickly responded:

Whose ass do I need to kick?

I couldn’t help but giggle and texted:

It’s just 2 of my gf’s… and u can’t kick their

asses :P

My phone received another incoming message:

I’m here for you if you need advice

or need to vent.

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