No… I was crying.
That damn part of me still wanted something to happen with my mother. To be mother and daughter. I didn’t want to make up for all the memories missed but just have something with her now.
That wasn’t going to happen.
I looked down at the dress and I wiped my eyes.
I had bigger things to deal with.
Like the burning question in my mind…
I had gotten a dress from Easton and Xavier.
What about Noah?
Chapter 15
dress up
I filled Gia in on everything that had happened while she was off doing her running thing. My mother ordered a bunch of Thai food and decided at the last second to go out. She had enough perfume on to make someone pass out… which made me wonder if that was her move to get a guy.
That’s mean, Winter.
I knew.
I smiled at the mental joke anyway.
My mother had the nerve to actually make Gia and I wish her luck.
She hurried out of the beach house like a teenager.
I shook my head and ate some food with Gia.
We of course dipped into a wonderful bottle of vodka and ended up on the beach after dark.
“Are you really going to choose a dress?” Gia asked.
I glanced at her. “I don’t know. I guess. I need one to wear there.”
“You really want to fuck with them?”
“Sure. Show up in a hoodie and shorts? Look all scummy?”
“That’s a possibility,” Gia said. “But you’ll have everyone looking at you. Not sure you want that kind of attention. You want to blend in with the rich assholes as much as you can.”
“True.”
“You should get your own dress.”
“My own?”
“You pick it out,” Gia said. “That’s like a big fuck you to all three.”
“Ooohhh… that’s a great idea.”
“Nothing that sticks out, you know?” Gia asked. “You know all three of them are wondering what you’re going to do. That way you surprise them all. Mind games, right?”
“You’re pretty good at this,” I said.
“I have my ways,” she said. “I’m not pretty like you though. I don’t have hot guys fawning over me. The only time I get attention is if I’m half naked when I run. Like if it gets too hot and I’m in a sports bra. Or if I’m wearing something that doesn’t support me all the way. Guys just love boobs.”
“They’re all idiots,” I said. “And you are pretty to me. You’re hot, Gia. You should own it. Your legs are like… fuck…”
“My legs?” Gia asked. “Who cares about legs?”
“I don’t know. Some guys do, I’m sure. I’m not going to compare our bodies. That’s not good to do. You’re smoking hot. I’m smoking hot. And anyone who can’t see that, screw them.”
“Screw them with a jagged seashell,” Gia said.
“Wow. You’re good at mental games and violence.”
“I’m the full package of crazy bitch,” she said. “I don’t get why I’m single.”
We both started to laugh.
Our shoulders bumped together and Gia looked at me to say something else.
She quickly sucked in a breath and all laughter ended.
Her face turned pale white.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Someone is watching us.”
My heart jumped into my throat as I scrambled to get to my feet.
I grabbed for Gia’s hand.
Someone was definitely watching us.
But it was someone I knew.
“Is that Noah?” Gia asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “You better go.”
“What? No.”
I looked at her. “Gia. Seriously. Go. I’ll handle him.”
“He has something… oh… wait…”
“Yeah,” I said.
Noah stood just far enough away to look creepy as hell. With a dress in his hand.
I shook my head and blinked a few times to make sure this was real.
Noah showing up like this. With a dress.
The third dress.
Meaning this entire thing was getting too crazy and too real all at the same time.
“Are you sure, Winter?” Gia asked.
“Positive,” I said. “I don’t want you involved in this.”
“Too late for that,” she said. “I do remember stabbing some tires.”
“Which you will never tell anyone you did,” I said. “Got it?”
Gia reached down and grabbed the bottle of vodka out of the sand. She took a drink and handed the bottle to me.
“You’ll need this,” she said. “And I feel like a terrible best friend for leaving.”
“You’re not. Let me handle it. It’s fine.”
Gia sighed and left.
I kept my eyes moving between her and Noah.
Noah didn’t move an inch.
Gia disappeared into the night.
Once she was really gone, Noah started to walk toward me.
“You guys love to make an entrance,” I said.
“I didn’t want to interrupt your girl’s night,” he said.
“Bullshit, Noah.”
“No, I’m serious.” He was close enough that he grabbed the bottle of vodka from my hand. He took a big gulp. “God, that tastes terrible.”
I ripped it back from him. “Then don’t drink it.”
“I was hoping you two would kiss or something.”
“You know, you and Xavier are as dumb as Easton.”
“Dumb?” Noah asked.
His lip curled.
Ahh, right. Noah has issues… so calling him ‘dumb’ is really bad…
“What?” I asked. “Are you offended?”
“No,” he said. “I brought you a dress.”
“A dress? For what?”
I was kind of loving playing stupid near Noah. Or maybe it was just the vodka making me act that way. I felt giddy and flirty and loose and floaty.
All of which were dangerous things to feel considering who I was around.
“Really?” Noah asked with a laugh. “You lost your memory, but not your recent memory.”
“You don’t know anything about my memory, Noah.”
He moved closer to me. “Want to bet?”
The smirk on his face made me shiver.
What the hell does that mean?
I stepped back a little because the vodka was already telling me how good Noah looked. He wasn’t some rough and tough beach guy. He wasn’t some hippy surfer wannabe. He was himself. The nice shirt. The nice pants. That was his look. And even with the blood… when he beat someone up and got blood on his shirt… he would just change the shirt like it was nothing.
I shook my head to purposely scramble my thoughts.
“Uh, a dress, huh?” I asked. “You know, the other two just dropped theirs and ran.”
“I’m not the other two,” Noah said.
He moved closer to me again.
“I can see that,” I said. “I was enjoying a night with Gia.”
“Oops,” he said.
“Give me the dress and leave,” I said. “I’ll try it on. Like I did the other two. And then you’ll have to wait and see which dress I decide to wear to the ball.”
Noah slowly shook his head. “No.”
“No?”
“I wish you could remember, Winter,” he said.
Oh, but I do, Noah…
“Remember, what?” I asked, almost flirting a little.
“Everything,” he said.
He reached for my face and stroked my cheek.
When he did that, all the chills that had been working through my body turned into mini balls of heat.
I didn’t quite understand what everything meant. Other than him messing with my head. Just like the others. Like Easton trying to convince me that he and I had hooked up in the backseat of his car. The closest thing Easton and I
ever had to a hookup was me in his memory and him in his bed with his right hand doing the work.
The same could be said for Xavier.
And Noah.
A quick wave of sobriety came over me and I reached for the dress.
Noah put his hand to my wrist and moved my hand away.
“No,” he said again.
“No to what, Noah?” I asked.
“You’re not taking this dress and running off with it,” he said.
“Then what am I doing with it?”
“You’re going to try it on for me… in front of me.”
Trust me, I went through the logical process.
I told myself leading Noah to the beach house was a bad idea. I told myself accepting his dress - or the other dresses - was a bad idea. Even when I got to the deck, I put my right foot on the first step and paused.
Before I could even attempt to think a thought, Noah touched my sides and pressed the front of his body to the back of mine.
“Cold feet, Winter?” he asked as though he could read my thoughts.
That was an opening to come to my senses and tell him to leave.
There was zero reason for me to accept a dress from him. I could actually make my plan work by rejecting his dress without seeing it. It would hurt him. It would get into his head. He would have instant resentment for Easton and Xavier over it.
But there was this fire in me.
Wanting to prove to myself and to Noah that I wasn’t afraid of him. Or the others. Or the situation. Or the lies. Or the truth.
It was my chance to have some real power.
This was Noah wanting to see how far he could take things with me. He wanted to see me undress.
Which meant my body was now a prize.
A thing.
I hated the idea of being objectified, but… I would drive him crazy with my body.
Just thinking that made me blush.
I was lucky Noah couldn’t see my face.
I walked up the steps and went into the beach house.
I pointed to the cabinet and looked back at Noah with a grin.
“That’s where the good stuff is,” I said. “Since you hated the vodka so much.”
“I don’t think I need to drink right now,” he said to me.
He was still inches from me.
Wanting his body close to mine. Wanting to tease me with himself.
It was a game.
He was good at it.
But I was cheating to win.
Oops.
I took him up the stairs to my bedroom.
My heart danced around my chest.
Way more than I really wanted it to.
Noah entered the room behind me and shut the door.
“Are we alone?” he asked in a smooth voice that made me tingle.
“Yeah,” I said.
He didn’t lock the bedroom door.
He walked to the bed and laid the dress down.
He unzipped the covering and opened it.
Then he moved to the top of my bed and sat down.
Noah… sitting on my bed…
I looked at the dress.
It was a rich crimson color. A mix of red and black, based on the way the material folded or reflected the light.
I swallowed hard at the sight of it.
Just by the look and color it was my favorite one.
I would never admit that though.
“Do you like it?” Noah asked.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Yeah. Sure.”
“Try it on,” he said.
“Then you have to go,” I said.
“Deal.”
He put his feet up on my bed and put his hands behind his head.
I reached for the dress and carefully lifted it.
It was a rough material on the outside.
Face it, I knew nothing about this kind of stuff. I grew up rich, and if I had to wear something nice, it was picked out for me. I wore it and that was that. Even when it came to dances, junior prom, and the big prom, I told someone at the castle what I wanted and they got it for me. I knew nothing about fabrics, design, blah, blah, blah.
I slowly turned and Noah cleared his throat.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“To try it on.”
“You can do it right here,” Noah said.
I looked back. “What?”
“I told you. In front of me, Winter.”
“I didn’t do that for Easton or Xavier.”
“They didn’t ask,” he said. “Or tell you to do it. I’m not afraid of what I want.”
What you want?
Now I’m suddenly desirable? Why? Because I survived the accident you planned?
I looked forward and saw the mirror.
The gigantic mirror on my dresser.
I took one step to my left and saw Noah’s reflection.
That’s when an idea hit me.
The best of both worlds in a sense.
I could give him what he wanted and give myself what I wanted.
I hated myself for wanting the attention.
Especially from someone like Noah.
But what were my options? I had three Bumps who tried to kill me… now they want me. Plus I had one Troc who had already made his move on me.
I chased away all those thoughts and put the dress on the dresser.
I looked down at my shorts and gently flicked the button open.
When I stripped them down my legs, I didn’t bend over like some stripper looking for money. Instead, I did a squat, bending my knees, wrestling my shorts down to my ankles. I stood back up and stepped out of the shorts.
If I knew this was going to happen, I would have made sure my bra and panties matched.
There was nothing wrong with the panties I was wearing - they were gray with laced edges - just that they weren’t the ones I felt my best in.
I stood there and took a breath the best I could without Noah seeing.
My fingertips flirted with the bottom of my shirt.
I shut my eyes and lifted the shirt.
I kept my eyes closed as I felt the air in the bedroom tickle my skin.
When I dropped the shirt to the floor, I opened my eyes.
My bra was all black, nothing fancy about it.
My hair fell down to the middle of my back.
My eyes stared at the reflection in the mirror as Noah sat up.
His eyes burning at me.
I knew what he wanted me to do next.
Take the bra off, Winter.
But that wasn’t going to happen, yet.
Instead, I reached for the dress.
I had to carefully find a way to step into the dress.
I wanted to keep some class for myself, and I wanted to tease Noah.
He slowly inched to the edge of the bed.
The dress came up over my shoulders, covering the straps of my bra. The back was open, which meant wearing a bra with the dress wasn’t going to work.
At least not without a strapless bra.
Which was how I would have to wear the other dresses. Or any dress for that matter.
“Want to zip me up?” I asked Noah.
He launched from the bed with so much speed that I smiled.
This was working.
He stepped up behind me.
His fingers touched the zipper but he didn’t zip up the dress.
With one quick motion, he grabbed the clasp of my bra and twisted it, popping it open.
Heat rushed to my cheeks and I looked down at my chest.
The cleavage was showing a little more at that moment.
“There,” Noah whispered. “That’s better.”
His right hand then touched the right shoulder of the dress.
He moved it one inch and paused.
When his lips touched my shoulder, I quickly spun around to face him.
I opened my mouth, ready to tell him to get the hell out of my room.
Only I was speechle
ss.
There was something about him.
Dare I even mention it… but it was comforting.
Almost familiar.
Noah put his hands to my hips and moved his body closer to mine.
“I think this will look nicer on the floor, don’t you?” he asked.
His lips barely touched mine.
“Noah, no,” I whispered.
“No?”
I pushed at his hard stomach, hating myself again for doing so.
Noah moved back and he flexed his jaw.
“What did you think was going to happen here?” I asked. “Did you think I was going to fool around with you?”
Any sense of power I had lost I had back.
I was in control of my body. He wanted my body. Which meant I controlled him.
The anger and annoyance on Noah’s face gave way to a smile.
“You look beautiful, Winter,” he said. “That color suits you.”
“Red? For what? Blood? Danger? Violence? The accident…?”
Noah leaned down toward me again. “No. Red is for the heart. Love. Romance. Truth.”
His lips closed over mine.
It was a kiss I couldn’t say no to.
My hands grabbed for the edge of the dresser so I didn’t fall to the floor.
Noah pulled away and walked to the bedroom door.
That had been his moment to touch me again. I would have melted into him, forgetting everything that happened and what was at stake.
I wasn’t sure if he was being a true gentlemen or just dumb.
He looked back at me one last time. “You sure you don’t need me to help you get out of that?”
“I’m fine on my own,” I said.
Noah nodded.
He left the bedroom and I stood there for a few seconds, trying to catch my breath.
I spun back around and looked at myself in the mirror.
I waited maybe a minute to make sure Noah was actually gone and was going to stay gone.
That’s when I walked to the bed.
The dress was loose on me since the zipper wasn’t done up.
I sat on the bed.
I looked around the room.
I inched down and put my nose to the pillow Noah had been resting against.
As I took a deep breath to smell him, I shut my eyes.
There was a flash in my mind… this moment where I imagined him sliding the dress down my shoulders, down my body… kissing me… his hands guiding me back to my own bed… laying me down…
I hurried to jump up out of the bed.
Damaged Love (Bay Falls High NEXT Book 2) Page 13
