Noelle’s Rock
(A BWWM Holiday Romance)
By
Theresa Hodge
© All Rights Reserved
Chapter 1
Noelle
A Cold Lonely Night
I’m blinded by heavy tears falling from my eyes as I rush from my apartment building. I can hear my boyfriend, Victor, calling for me to come back inside out of the cold to finish our discussion. I am so consumed with self-pity and anger that I had rushed from the building out into the cold, wintry night in only a pullover sweater and jeans.
I thank goodness that I did have the forethought to at least slip my feet into my favorite pair of ugg boots before exiting the building. I look up at the night sky as snowflakes begin to fall. If I didn’t hurry to open the car door, the tears would surely freeze onto my cheeks.
I can hear footsteps behind me on the sidewalk as I press the button on the wireless remote to open the doors to my sky-blue 2012 Honda Accord. My car lights automatically blink on as I look behind me to see Victor running up behind me. He is shirtless as well as shoeless; I notice his long legs make quick work of the distance between him and me.
I quickly let myself inside the car, and the doors lock automatically behind me. A loud thud sounds at my driver’s side window. I jump in fright as I look up into Victor’s handsome but very angry face.
“Open the door, Noelle, and come back inside. It is too cold for you to be out here without a coat on. Are you trying to kill yourself?” he asks with anger in his voice.
“Look who’s talking,” I scream through my car window. “You are the one who is standing out here in the cold without a shirt on, or shoes for that matter,” I wipe more tears from my eyes with the back of my hand.
I can tell this makes Victor even angrier as I point out how silly he looks standing in the cold, half-naked in nothing but a pair of loose fitting D’Marge jeans.
“Go back inside, Victor. I need some time to clear my head without you around,” I yell loudly to get my point across.
“You are acting childish, Noelle, instead of acting like the twenty-five-year-old woman you are,”
I glare angrily at him through the window before starting my car. “I am acting like a responsible woman. You are the one who is acting like a child. You don’t want to man up to the situation that we both created together. How dare you ask me to get an abortion just because you aren’t ready to become a father,” I shout as fresh tears form and spill down my cheeks. “You don’t have to worry about me and my baby. I will handle this situation from here on out. You can pack up your shit, or do whatever you want to do,” I say before the sound of squealing wheels gave Victor no time to reply.
I look back in the rearview mirror to see my boyfriend, or should I say ex-boyfriend, throw his hands up in defeat before marching back towards our apartment building. I reach for the knobs to the heater to crank up the heat as I begin to shudder from the intense cold.
I now realize how foolish I was to leave home without putting on my coat. I can feel chill bumps appear on my arms beneath my sweater. I don’t think out a plan or even the direction that I am heading in. I just need to get away from Victor. How dare he ask me to abort our unborn child?
He knows that I’m virtually alone in this world except for him and my best friend Shelby Munroe. It’s Friday and Shelby is probably with her boyfriend, but I decide to call her anyway from my car phone. Shelby’s cell phone rings four times before she answers it.
“Hey, Noelle. What’s up kiddo?” she says in a light voice.
I sniffle as I think about the reason that I am calling my best friend. I turn my windshield wipers on because the snow starts to fall even harder than before.
“What’s wrong?” Shelby questions me as her voice immediately changes to concern.
“I…,” I begin to speak before I hear a gruff voice in the background.
“Who is on the phone, babe? I need you to come back to bed and finish what you started…like pronto.”
I can tell that I have interrupted Shelby’s alone time with her boyfriend, Erick. I feel bad because I know that she and Erick spend most weekends together when he is not out of town on business.
“I’m so sorry, Shelby. I didn’t mean to interrupt you and Erick. I will see you in the office on Monday,” I say in a hurry as I try to end the phone call.
“Wait,” Shelby replies quickly.
I can hear her speak in a low tone to Erick before I hear the bed springs squeak loudly. Shelby giggles before I hear her tell her boyfriend to “stop that” and warns him to have a little patience.
“I am back,” she says and I hear a door close.
I figure she walked into the bathroom to give herself some privacy.
“Now, tell me what is going on. I can hear that something isn’t right from the sound of your voice.”
Shelby knows me about as well as I know myself. She is the closest thing that I have to a real sister, or family for that matter. Shelby and I are as different in appearance as night and day. My brown, caramel skin and my chocolate brown eyes that clash with her porcelain, fair skin and clear, blue eyes have never stopped us from loving each other as well as having each other’s backs since we became roommates in college.
Through those long, sometime tedious, four years in university, we became the best of friends and much more. Even after college, and three years later, we’ve grow even closer. For that very reason, I am not going to ruin her weekend with Erick.
I decide that my problems will keep until Monday when I see her. “It’s nothing,” I fib. “I just wanted to see what you were up to?”
“Are you out in the cold at this time of night? I can hear traffic, and where is Victor by the way?”
“Ahh…Victor is in the store paying for the gas,” I fib again. No way did I want her to get upset and come running to my rescue. She would leave Erick just to make sure I am ok, and I don’t want that.
“Are you sure you are fine?” she asks again with doubt in her voice.
I breathe inwardly to keep my voice steady.
“I am great.” I even smile as if she can see me through the phone. “Tell Erick that I said hello, and enjoy your weekend. Here comes Victor now. I love you guys.”
“We love you too,” she replies. “I will call you tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay,” I agree before disconnecting the call.
I look down at my gas hand and am thankful to have a full tank of gas. I don’t know where I am going, but I continue to drive around aimlessly to clear my head. I can’t go back to my apartment tonight, and I can’t go to Shelby’s place and disturb her and Erick.
I know it wouldn’t be a problem for Shelby because she has extra bedrooms in her large condo. I just can’t bring myself to be a third wheel. I have very little cash with me, but I have two high limit credit cards inside my handbag. Maybe I will check into a hotel.
Chapter 2
Noelle
Let It Snow…Let It Snow…Let It Snow
I suddenly look around at my surroundings and realize that I am in an unfamiliar area. How did I get here? I look around at the rustic roadway surrounded by tall evergreen trees as the snow continues to fall.
I gaze at the big, beautiful flakes of all sizes and shapes as darkness surrounds me. I flash my lights to bright as I look around for a place to turn around. The trees become thicker which leaves me literally no place to go but forward. My heart beats against my chest as I suddenly grow afraid. I begin to feel isolated and alone as my imagination begins to play tricks on me.
I start to think of every scary movie that I have ever watched and how each character is picked off one by one by som
e crazies or unseen force. I become so lost in my thoughts that I don’t notice a wide-eyed deer cross my path until it’s too late.
I hit my breaks on the slick road without thinking before I begin to swerve. I panic and forget which way to turn my wheel as my car begins to slide across the narrow roadway. I begin to scream loudly knowing that I will surely crash into a tree.
I miss the big white-tailed deer by mere inches. I try to regain control of my small car before it slides into a ditch and comes to a complete halt. My chest is heaving heavily as I try to get my breathing under control.
I look out my driver’s side window only to realize that the door is wedged up against a tree. I know it will not budge, even if I attempt to open the door. My hands release the steering wheel from their death grip to cup the nonexistent swell of my belly.
I breathe a sigh of relief that my seat belt held me immobile, keeping me from crashing my head through the windshield. I unbuckle my seat belt to reach for my cell phone. I have absolutely no bars to attempt to make a call. I know I can’t stay here if I want to get out of this ditch.
Hopefully someone lives nearby so that I can make a telephone call to my towing company. I slide across the seat to the passenger side to open the door. My booted feet dangle over the side of the car because it has landed at an angle in the ditch. The ditch also seems to be much deeper than I at first realized.
I slide my butt to the edge of the seat before jumping down into the ditch on unsteady legs. I reach back to grab my handbag and use the mini flashlight I keep on my car key ring to light my way. As I pull myself out of the ditch, the knee area of my jeans becomes damp from the layer of fallen snow that has accumulated on the ground. I am left standing on a dark, lonely roadway.
I flash the sliver of light beaming from my mini flashlight around me as I take in my surroundings. The wind picks up, blowing the soft, falling snow into my eyes. I peer through the darkness before I slowly begin walking in the direction that my car was heading.
I begin to shudder from the biting wind as I grow colder. I walk faster when I hear a sound in the trees. I can hear leaves crunching to my left. I begin to run until I notice a dim light making its way through the trees and dark night.
I breathe deeply from the exertion caused by my short sprint. As I inhale, the cold air soothes my lungs. I see an opening through the trees. On closer inspection, I see it is a driveway leading up to a large house. I can’t see too many details of the house in the darkness, but my spirit perks up at the first sign of help.
By the time I make it up the long, winding driveway that seems to go on for miles and miles, I am cold, wet, and trembling. I arrive at the big, wooden door and peer at the knocker under the lighted porch. The knocker is brass and carved in the face of a lion.
I shudder at the frightening lion with its mouth open and its teeth bared. I take a deep breath before I raise my hand to grasp the brass knocker and rap the knocker against the door. I look down at my wet boots; I realize the wetness from my Uggs has soaked through to my thick socks.
I wiggle my stiff, cold toes inside my boots and wrap my arms around myself to ward off the chill. It is so quiet and isolated out here. I feel like this house is in a place different from any other part of the world. As I look behind me into the darkness, I wonder who in their right mind would want to live out in the middle of nowhere? I shudder at the thought.
I wait a few seconds and begin to knock again. I nearly jump out of my skin when the door suddenly jerks open, and a tall man around six foot three glares at me as if he detests the very sight of me intruding on his existence.
“What do you want?” he growls out as he peeps over my shoulder as if he is expecting someone else, besides me, to be standing at his door at this time of the night.
“I…I,” I stutter and tremble from fear just as much as from the cold, windy weather.
“Spit it out,” he growls again as I look up into his violent-blue eyes.
His eyes are the most unusual mixture of color I have ever seen. His longish, wavy, silky, black hair is tousled over his head. His face sports a neatly trimmed moustache that attaches itself to an equally neat close-cut beard. He would be one fine, handsome man if he could wipe that frown off of his face. I begin to forget about the cold as I stare into his beautiful eyes.
“I am not standing here all night while you make up a plausible answer explaining why you are knocking on my door at this time of night. It is almost midnight, you know,” he adds as if I am keeping him from something very important.
“I am so sorry,” I finally gasp. “My car went over into a ditch when I tried to miss a deer a few miles back. May I use your telephone to call a towing service? I promise I will be out of your hair in no time at all.” I talk really fast. His hard stare is causing me to feel slightly uncomfortable. He looks me over as if deciding if he believes my story or not.
“Why are you out this far from the city, anyway?” he asks without answering my question. “No one ever comes out her to my property unless invited by me.”
I am freezing by this point, and I am slowly losing my temper because of his attitude. Doesn’t he realize I am a woman in distress? A frown forms on my face as I attempt to inform about his rudeness.
“Look, Mister…whatever your name is. All I want to do is use your telephone. If there was any other way to avoid asking for your help, then I would do so, but as you can see I am wet and about to freeze to death,” I add for dramatic effect.
He peers out into the darkness once again before he pulls his large muscular frame away from the door-way to allow me inside. His odd behavior makes me think that I have more to fear from him than he does from me.
“Come in,” he finally says grudgingly. “But it is too late to call anyone out this far,” he states in a sensible tone.
He closes and locks the door behind him and walks down the hall without another word. I stand rooted for a moment before I jog to catch up with his long strides.
“I can’t stay here overnight,” I say to him in a frantic tone of voice.
“You can and you will. Besides, you need to get out of those wet clothes before you catch pneumonia.”
“I’m not cold,” I lied.
He stops in his tracks, causing me to bump into him.
“Miss, then why are your teeth shattering so loud?” he asks me with a smirk on his kissable lips.
Where did that thought come from? He is a complete stranger to me and me to him. Yet, here I am thinking about how kissable his lips are.
“You have nothing to fear from me,” he finally says. “Follow me, and I will give you something dry to put on until your clothes dry.
“I don’t even know your name.” I follow him further down the hall before I reluctantly follow him up some stairs.
“I don’t know yours either,” he says as he looks back at me with a lifted brow.
I shudder from the heat that courses through my body from his look. His look says he is a bad ass, and he doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him.
“I am sorry,” I say, trying to clear my head of the tempting thoughts I’m having about this good-looking, tall, muscular stranger. “My name is Noelle Winters.”
We reach the top of the stairs, and he leads me into a bedroom. I assume this is a guest bedroom because the room in itself is neither masculine nor feminine. It is painted in beige undertones with darker trimmings bordering the upper and lower edges of the wall.
“You can stay here,” he orders. “I will be back shortly with something dry for you to wear.”
I watch him as he exits the room. I look over at the large queen-size bed in the center of the room. The bed looks so inviting. I yawn, suddenly realizing how tired I am. I dare not sit on the bed with my wet clothes still on though.
I walk over to the window instead and pull aside the heavy curtain to peer out into the night. The snow is still falling. It falls as if it has no intention of stopping anytime soon. I hear footsteps come up behind me. I t
urn around to face my nameless host.
“I still don’t know your name,” I say to him.
A troubled look enters his eyes, then it goes away in a flash. “My name is…” He pauses for a moment before he resumes speaking. “You can call me Barry Beaumont,” he finally says.
He didn’t look like a Barry to me. Some people’s names fit them, but his didn’t for some reason. I shrug off my thoughts to thank him for allowing me into his home and to thank him for the change of clothes.
“Thank you, Barry for allowing me into your home. I hope I am able to repay you one day soon for your hospitality.”
“Here is a dry shirt you can put on for now.” He hands me a shirt with a football team’s logo printed across the front. “I know it is much too large for you, but it will have to do under the present circumstances,” he adds as his eyes rake over my body.
My pregnancy is nowhere near showing, since I am only around six weeks along. My brown skin tingles from the look in his eyes. He abruptly turns away, and I frown because this room will seem so empty without his presence.
“Sleep well and there is a lock on this door if it will give you peace of mind,” he adds, sounding angry again.
“Good night,” I say softly to the closed door, since he left so abruptly.
I walk over to the door and turn the lock in place before walking over to the bed. I strip out of my clothes, even my underwear. I place them over a comfy looking chair. I am sure my clothes will be dry by morning. It is a good thing that tomorrow will be Saturday instead of a work day. I think this to myself as I pull the tee shirt over my head. The big shirt falls down to my knees and hangs loosely around my shoulders.
I get a whiff of a woodsy, citrusy cologne. I lift the neck line of the tee shirt to my nose and inhale the masculine scent. I close my eyes for a moment and see the color of Barry’s violent-blue eyes. My eyes pop open as I give myself a reality check.
Memories flood my brain reminding me why I arrived at this place tonight. I think of how I believed Victor loved me and would want to raise this baby with me that we conceived together. I think about the last time we made love, and he held me in his strong arms, and he promised to love me forever.
Noelle's Rock: A BWWM Holiday Romance Page 1
