It could be prospective residents, he thought. It could be guests of some of the residents here. It could be anyone.
And yet…
He walked to his car and placed his bag and his sticks in the trunk. He knew he should mind his own business. He knew he should leave. If Alec returned and found Noah on the couch, watching television, embarrassed wasn’t going to cover how he would feel. Regardless, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t at least look into it, make sure Noah was all right, and then he would leave.
“Goddammit, Sinclair,” he muttered to himself, shaking his head as he slammed his trunk shut. “You and your goddamn feelings.”
When he finished, he locked his car and shoved his keys into his pockets before heading back to the apartment. He tensed his body, ready for any sort of attack. He wasn’t sure what to expect from Aaron – if that car even belonged to Aaron in the first place – and he wanted to be ready.
Of course, it was more likely that he was setting himself up for nothing, that the car was just a random car, that Alec had done enough to rid Noah of Aaron forever.
But he had to be sure.
Alec reached the apartment door and glanced around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He leaned forward and pressed his ear to the door, holding his breath. As far as he could tell, there was no screaming, no thumping, nothing that would indicate a struggle was taking place at that moment.
He knocked on the door and waited. He could have gone in. His keys were pressed in his pocket. All he needed to do was pull them out and go in. But he wanted to make sure Noah had warning that he was there, that he was back. He didn’t want to startle her. Although, now that he thought about it, someone coming to the door and knocking might be more suspicious than the scrape of a key unlocking a door.
At that moment, the door opened and there stood Noah, wide-eyed, head tilted to the side, clearly confused.
“I thought you were –“
“I’m sorry,” he said. He could see the fear in her eyes and he realized he was acting stupid. He didn’t need to do this. He didn’t need to start getting so paranoid that he scared her. “I saw this car in the lot and I thought –“
Before he could finish his sentence, someone shoved him from behind, hard. His body flew forward, knocking into Noah. The two fell down together. His arm wrapped around her waist, managing to break her fall before she could hurt herself.
The door slammed shut. Whoever it was – and Alec didn’t need to turn around to guess – was inside with them. Before Alec could unravel his arm from around Noah, a foot struck his ribs and he barked out a grunt of pain.
Noah let out a small scream. She wasn’t the type to scream, so Alec knew it had to be bad for her to indulge in something so frivolous. Why he was focused on Noah and her screaming when someone was kicking him, he didn’t know. Probably because he didn’t care, as long as they weren’t kicking Noah.
“Shut up, you stupid bitch!” Stomping sounded around Alec. He picked his head up to see what was happening, wincing immediately. The strain against his skin, the pain it inflicted against his core was more than he expected and he gingerly brushed his fingers where Aaron had been kicking him before. This wasn’t good. How was he supposed to protect Noah if he could barely protect himself? “This is your fault, you know. If you had just stayed, none of this would have happened.”
Aaron grabbed Noah’s wrist and yanked her away from Alec. Her back scraped the floor. Alec tried to reach for her, but couldn’t. He could barely move his arm, let alone lift it. He hated himself in that moment. There was nothing he could too. He let out a roar of frustration.
“My sentiments exactly,” Aaron said, stepping over Noah so he hovered over her. “You, my dear, are in desperate need of a lesson. And I’m going to give it to you.”
Without warning, he reached across his chest with his opposite hand and slapped her hard with the back of his hand. The momentum of the hit was so hard, Noah’s head snapped back, hitting the hardwood floor with a loud bang. Suddenly, Alec didn’t care if his ribs hurt. He didn’t even care if they were broken. No one was going to do that to Noah. He wouldn’t let it.
Without warning, Alec stood up, grunting as he did so. The side of his torso screamed in protest, but he didn’t care. He ignored the pain, even though such a thing was practically impossible. He clenched his teeth together, narrowing his eyes. Aaron currently knelt over Noah, hand up so he could do the same thing again. This time, Alec reached out and grabbed Aaron’s hand before Aaron could do such a thing, snapping it back.
A loud pop filled the room. Aaron screamed. Alec was sure, at this point, that someone had heard the struggle. There was no way one of the noisy neighbors were oblivious to the scuffle going on. If that was the case, Alec prayed the police were called. He needed all the help he could get, and he had a feeling that Aaron wasn’t the sort of person to go down without a huge fight. He had already left once; Alec didn’t think Aaron had it in him to leave again, especially since he was so insistent on making Noah pay.
Pay for what, Alec didn’t know. Quite frankly he didn’t care. He knew it was bullshit. Noah could be a pain in the ass, but no one deserved this. Not even Alec’s worst enemy deserves this torture.
“You’re a sick bastard, you know that?” Alec snarked, pinching Aaron in the face with his left hand. It didn’t hurt as much to hit Aaron with his southpaw, considering the fact that Aaron kicked his right ribs. “Picking on innocent women, hitting them. That make you feel like a man? You got limp baby dick or something?”
He knew it never boded well, provoking a beast. He also knew he didn’t care. If it meant distracting Aaron from Noah, Alec would keep proving and poking that bear, regardless of what that meant for him. Regardless of the consequences.
Aaron lunged. Maybe Alec breaking Aaron’s wrist was enough to distract Aaron already and being a smartass wasn’t helping anyone.
Aaron moved much faster than Alec anticipated a man with a broken wrist to move. As such, he didn’t have time cushion his fall and prepare for the attack. Which meant Aaron got the upper hand.
Alec was pushed into the coffee table, the edge of the table pressing uncomfortably into Alec’s back. Alec winched, biting down on his bottom lip to keep from screaming. He had already done that once and didn’t want to give Aaron any excuse to think Alec was some sort of bitch. He was a hockey player, goddammit. He would suffer the pain.
The table collapsed underneath him, causing his body to jerk to the ground. Aaron was surprised as well, landing on top of Alec with no way to cushion the fall. Alec’s breath vanished, and his eyes widened. Aaron was on top of him, and thanks to his ribs, he was having difficulty trying to get him off.
If something wasn’t done soon, Alec was going to suffocate. Not that Aaron cared, but Alec sure as shit did.
“Get off of me!” Alec demanded through clenched teeth. He kept moving under Aaron. Each time he tilted his torso to the left, his entire face contorted up into a painful wince. He needed to be careful because if he damaged his body in. a particular way, his career was over.
“Make me,” Aaron retorted. It was probably the most juvenile thing Aaron could say in return, and it called Alec back to his elementary school days of getting into fights on the playground at recess.
The same defiance surged through him, the same desire to do exactly what Aaron taunted inspired him to lift his knee despite the pain and knock it into his stomach. Aaron grunted at the impact and fell to the right, sliding off of Alec.
Noah was suddenly there, reaching out to Alec to help him up. She said nothing, but she was pale, her lips were pressed into a thin line, and she was trembling all over. She was scared. Legitimately scared. Alec hadn’t seen the ashen look on her face ever, and it made him want to do everything he possibly could to protect her. Even if that meant getting his ass kicked in the process. He wasn’t going to let her hurt again.
He took her hand and started to pull himself up when Aaron was th
ere, tackling Alec to the ground. Noah screamed. Alec let out a breath, the wind knocked out of him. He landed on his bruised ribs.
Without warning, something crashed into Aaron, causing him to roll off Alec.
Not something.
Someone.
It was Noah. She must have ran across the room in order to shove him just enough to get Aaron off of him. Her momentum carried her forward and she tripped over Aaron’s body. The loud thump of Aaron hitting the floor was enough to alert the downstairs neighbor that shit was hitting the fan.
Where the fuck were the police?
“You, stupid bitch,” Aaron said, pulling himself up. “I should have killed you a long time ago – before your mother intervened. Before I had to put her in her place.” He stomped once, twice, until he hovered over her.
Alec grunted, pushing himself to a crouch, and then slowly straightening his knees. He was out of breath, exhausted. Every part of him hurt. But Aaron was focused on Noah, and Alec refused to let him hurt her any more than he already had.
He walked over to where Aaron was, each slow, painful step a second too long. Just as Aaron reached for Noah, Alec lunged for him. Again, the two fell down together, limbs tangled up. This time, Alec managed to pull himself up while Aaron was still on the floor. He kicked Aaron. Again. And again.
Alec didn’t feel the pain. Didn’t feel anything as the adrenaline coursed through his body and he became stronger. Aaron tried to block it, attempted to fight back, but failed. Alec kept going. Kicking him over and over again – until someone screamed.
20
Noah
“Stop!”
Noah blinked once, pushing the tears that filled her eyes down her cheeks. She brought her hand up to her mouth, her fingers shaking as she did so. She couldn’t control them. She couldn’t stop them even though she told her body to do just that. She swallowed, flaring her nostrils. She sniffed, not wanting more snot to come out, but she couldn’t help it. She rubbed her nose and then realized that she was the one who screamed, she was the one who told Alec to stop.
Alec looked at her over his broad shoulder. He seemed dazed, as though he was slowly waking from a dream. It was hard to read his face. He looked down at his hand and flicked his wrist once, twice, but it was like he didn’t even register the pain. And Noah knew he had to be experiencing some kind of pain after beating Aaron to a bloody pulp.
“I…” He let his voice trail off.
“You need to go,” she said, catching his eye. “Alec, you need to go. You need to get out of here. I’m pretty sure at least one neighbor called the cops, and I don’t want you here when they come. I don’t want anything to happen to you. Please.”
Alec shook his head. “I’m not leaving you,” he said, his voice soft but firm.
“But your trip,” Noah pointed out, though her voice was weak. She wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t believe what she was saying or if she was still reeling from what happened. It was probably both. “Your game. You can’t miss it.”
“I already did,” Alec said.
Noah closed her eyes, squeezing out more tears from her eyes. She didn’t want it to be true. She didn’t want him to have put everything on hold just for her. She didn’t think she was ready for that sort of responsibility.
“W-why?” Her voice cracked, asking the question she desperately did not want answered. “Why would you do that? I didn’t ask you to do that?”
“You didn’t have to.”
Alec’s eyes rested in his lap. His jaw clenched and he wouldn’t look at her. He was probably ashamed of himself, ashamed at what he had done. For her. The best thing for everyone would be for him to just leave. He would take care of it. She highly doubted the cops would believe that she was the one who beat Aaron the way Alec had, but Noah wouldn’t say anything and she doubted they would push an abuse victim, at least, for the moment.
“Alec, I don’t want you to stay,” she said. She still wouldn’t look at him – couldn’t. “I don’t want you to get involved more than you already have. I don’t want you to lose everything you’ve already built up. I don’t –“
“I love you.”
Noah stopped immediately, pulling her eyes from the ground so she could look at Alec. She wasn’t even sure what her face looked like, but shock was probably an understatement.
“What did you just say?”
Alec’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. For a second, Noah thought he was going to make a joke, maybe ignore what he said. He probably wasn’t thinking straight after everything that happened.
“You heard me,” he said, wincing as he reached across his torso, gingerly holding onto his side where he had been kicked.
“Your ribs.” Noah stepped forward, her arm reaching out so she could touch them, to feel the damage she indirectly caused. Before she could do just that, she yanked them back as though she was about to be burned. She didn’t want to hurt him more.
Instead, she spun around and made her way to the kitchen. Her fingers shook as she brushed hair away from her face, stopping only when she encountered the fridge. She opened the freezer and was about to pull out ice cubes from the dispenser when she realized she needed a ziplock bag. What was going on with her?
You’re traumatized, a voice said as it flitted through her head. What do you expect?
Noah closed the freezer and headed for the small pantry. She sucked in a breath, held it, then released it. She caught sight of the familiar green and blue box and grabbed a bag. In her haste, she dropped a few. Kneeling down, she picked them up and replaced the ones she didn’t need before heading back to the freezer.
“Are you seriously ignoring this?” Alec asked from behind her. “You?”
Noah stopped what she was doing. She set the bag on the nearby counter and paused, looking down at her hands. She didn’t want to face him. Not yet.
“What do you want me to say?” she asked, her voice croaking like she was some kind of amphibian.
“That you love me too,” he said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, “because I know you do. You can pretend you don’t, but I know you. I know you do.”
“And what good is that going to do?” She whirled around, throwing her hands out. Tears crept back into her eyes which should have been impossible because how could she still be able to cry? But she didn’t care. “Do you see what happened to you? You’re bleeding profusely. Your ribs are probably cracked. I wouldn’t be surprised if you broke your fingers. That is not love! That’s… that’s…”
“That’s not you,” he said. His voice was rough but gentle, an odd contradiction that somehow put Noah at ease. Except, she didn’t want to be at ease. She wanted to be angry and guilty and shamed. She wanted to be confronted with the fact that this was her fault because if she wasn’t… she wouldn’t know how to be. “You didn’t do this to me. This isn’t your fault.”
“I –“
But Alec didn’t seem to care. He walked to her, even though each step he took caused him to wince.
“None of this is your fault.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest.
The second she was pressed against him, she burst into tears again. Noah couldn’t help but think that this was a pathetic show of emotion she could do without. She didn’t want to be that girl, a crying fool who couldn’t get hold of her emotions. And yet, she couldn’t stop them if she wanted to. And she didn’t want to.
“It’s okay,” Alec murmured into her hair. “It’s okay now.”
At that moment, the door burst open, and police offers swarmed inside. They were there for the next hour and a half, taking statements and collecting evidence. They even had medical personal with them so all three individuals could be checked over. Noah was worried she might have had a concussion from where Aaron hit her so hard, her head hit the floor, but it would seem she passed that test with flying colors. Aaron was still breathing and was arrested. Alec had to have a splint for his hand, but besides his bruise
d ribs and some scratches, he was going to be okay as well.
That was when she started crying again. It wasn’t seeing Aaron arrested and knowing it was finally over, it wasn’t getting the news that her injuries were all superficial and would heal in time. She had been so worried about Alec, about him losing his hockey career by protecting her that to know that wasn’t the case caused her to burst into tears.
“I got her,” Alec told the officers, who seemed startled by the unexpected outburst. “She’ll be fine. Just emotional, as I’m sure you can imagine.”
They nodded, finishing hitting down their notes before flipping their notebooks shut and heading out the door.
The apartment was still a mess. Noah had a lot to clean up. This was her fault, and she wanted to make it right. She just didn’t know how. She could never repay Alec what he potentially sacrificed for her. She could never repay Lily for offering Noah a place to stay when Noah had nowhere else to go, even though they hadn’t been talking to each other for years.
“Can we finish talking about what we were talking about?” Alec asked, taking Noah’s hand in his and gently tugging her to the couch.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Noah said, glancing down at their hands. She didn’t deserve his tenderness. Not after everything that had happened. “I think I should clean up this mess, and then I think I should go.”
Alec breathed in and then breathed out. A small trickle of blood rolled down the skin between his nose and his lips. Before Noah could stop herself, she used her free hand to wipe the blood away. Another injury he sustained for her.
Rookies Say It Better: Book 2 in The Minor League Mayhem Series Page 12
