“No,” I sneered, not looking away from him. “I. Know. Her. Everyone tries to treat her like glass, like she is someone who has to be managed, but she’s stronger than you think. If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t have called me last night.”
In that one split moment, she made a choice. She was good person. She tried to do the right thing. But at the end of the day, she still called me.
“Guys,” Amelia called out, and both of our heads snapped to her. She didn’t look away from the script in her hand. “I’m trying my best to pretend like you aren’t talking about me, but I’m really not that dumb, so …”
Smirking, I walked away from him.
“So?” I questioned, grabbing a bagel from the table and taking a seat directly in front of her.
“So talk to me, not about me, because there are a lot of things I can take from you, but doubt is not one. Not now. Not ever. We all make choices, and I made mine a long time ago. You. Beginning. End. It is always you. I do not ask for absolution. I do not call myself a good person. Everything you are—jaded, controlling, ruthless—I am, too. I know nothing but for the fact that I am yours, so you. Can’t. Doubt. Me. And you sure as hell can’t look at me with anything other than unreasonable, undeniable, borderline obsessive love.” She stared at me so intensely, I couldn’t look away even if I wanted to.
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. I couldn’t fight the grin spreading over my face the more I stared at her.
She too smiled and turned the script to me. “You’ve got to hand it to Blair—she sure knows how to keep her man in line.”
“Taking notes?” I asked.
“Does it bother you?”
“Not even a little bit.” I didn’t care that it came from the script. The fact that she said it right when I wanted to hear it was all I needed. It reminded me of when we were younger—no matter who our parents were or where we came from, when it came to each other, we could always find the same page.
This. Us. Everything would work.
I smiled.
And she smiled.
Then Austin had to fuck everything up by speaking. “Noah, he’s not leaving the lobby.”
“Who?” Amelia asked, glancing between us.
Rising from the chair, I got up and kissed the side of her head. “Finish eating. I’ll meet you at the car.”
“Noah?”
I didn’t answer, just took my leather jacket and walked to the door. The less she knew about Bo, the better off she was. However, I didn’t even make it a step out the suite. The moment I opened the door, there was Bo, grinning with a toothpick his mouth.
He’s an idiot was the first thing crossed my mind.
“’Sup, lil’ bro.”
Pushing him back, I slammed the door shut behind me.
“Noah—”
I held my hand to his face, glancing at the cameras in the hall before nodding toward the emergency stairs.
“I know you’re—” Bo started.
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” I hollered, grabbing his shirt and throwing him up against the wall. “You do not come to me unless I call for you, Bo. That is the deal!”
“Am I your fucking brother or your dog?”
“YOU ARE…” Taking a deep breath, I released my grip on him and took a step back. I wanted to beat the shit out of him, but instead kept breathing through my nose.
“I ain’t dumb, alright! I know the goddamn deal—”
“Then why are you here, Bo?”