Bliss Series Boxed Set: The Whole Damn Harem (114 page)

“Fuck you, asshole.” He comes at me, swinging his arm wide but I see it coming and block him, deflecting the hit, then punching him hard in the stomach.

He immediately bends over, winded. I take the opportunity to grab Zoe and move her out of his reach. “Go press the emergency button over there, sweetheart.”

She looks up at me and nods, running to the panel by the door and pressing the red button to call security. “Noah . . .”

“Zo, get out of here until security arrives.” But she doesn’t move.

“Zoe . . .” Justin moans, lifting his head to look at her. “I love you. We belong together.”

She looks at him and takes a deep breath, her confidence returning as she squares her shoulders and rallies herself. “I broke up with you months ago, Justin.
Months!
You followed me, broke into my bedroom, and even when you were warned by the police, you wouldn’t fucking
listen!
”

“Zo . . .” he whimpers.

“You just don’t get it. I don’t love you, Justin. I never loved you. I know what love is now and you’re not in love with me. You’re
obsessed
with me. It needs to stop. The texts, the calls, the following me, the gifts, the flowers . . .” I go completely still when I hear the words, realizing that she’s been hiding a hell of a lot from me during the past few months.

She looks at me with wide shocked eyes, grasping exactly what she just revealed to me. Even still, she turns her attention back to him just as two burly security guards run through the door. They seem to evaluate the scene before looking at me.

“Doctor?”

“He physically assaulted her and held her against the wall, then tried to punch me,” I explain.

They rush over and each grab one of Justin’s arms as he starts fighting them, trying to get free.

“What do you want to do? Do you want the cops?”

I open my mouth to answer, but Zoe beats me to the punch. “Yes, I need this on record. There’s a detective that I’ve been dealing with. I need to make a statement.”

“Zoe, baby . . .” Justin whines as the guards lead him out.

“Wait!” she says, stepping in front of him. “I need to say something.”

I place a hand on her arm. “Zoe, I don’t think—”

“You need to leave me alone. I’m going to get a protection order and you will
have
to leave me alone. No contact, no visits—nothing. Justin, you need to get on with your life and forget about me, because I’ve met a man who I love more than anyone else in my life and I know that hurts you, but I’ve moved on, and I’m not coming back.”

And fuck if the guy doesn’t start crying.

“You can take him now. I’ll take her to the precinct to give her statement and press charges,” I tell the guards, who turn and drag him out the door and out of sight.

Before I can say anything to her, Zoe rushes at me and wraps her arms around my chest, bursting into tears. I pull her closer, my heart still racing at the thought of what happened before I got here and what could’ve happened to her if I hadn’t come looking.

“It’s over, sweetheart,” I murmur into her hair, my hand stroking her head as the tremors wracking her body slowly disappear.

She steps back and looks at me. “Noah, I—”

“You okay? Let me check you out.” I scan her face, her arms, everything, looking for any sign of injury.

“I’m fine, Noah. I’m so sorry.” Her voice waivers as her eyes fill with tears again.

Not wanting to make the situation worse, or even in a position to comprehend what just happened, I put my arm around her shoulders and pull her into my side. “Let’s go, sweetheart. You can leave a note for Greta and come with me. I’m finished anyway so I’ll take you down to make your statement.”

“Okay,” she replies quickly, burrowing her head into my chest as we move out of the room. I need to keep a close eye on her, her trembling body and shallow breathing a sure sign of the adrenalin seeping out of her system and reality sinking back in.

“He was really mad. Desperate,” she murmurs. “I’ve never seen him angry like that. He’s never physically hurt me before.”

“He’s unhinged, sweetheart. I think he’s got the message loud and clear now.”

“Hope so.”

“Let’s go find this detective you’ve been talking to. And your brother.” She stops dead in her tracks and her eyes go wide. “Oh no. No, Noah. We can’t tell Zander. He’ll lose the plot,” she pleads.

“He’s going to find out anyway. Better to find out from you than through the grapevine.”

Because God knows it makes you feel like shit to know someone you love doesn’t trust you enough to tell you the truth.

∞
∞
∞

Zoe

I was right. Zander’s expression is murderous when he walks into the room while I’m in the middle of giving my statement. Jeremy goes to open his mouth, probably to tell him off for barging in and interrupting, but slams it shut when he sees Zander’s look.

“Zoe, I could wring your neck right now,” he whispers as he pulls me up and hugs me tight.

“I’m sorry,” I reply roughly.

“We’ll talk about it later. That guy needs to get the message to stay the fuck away from you. So you’re going to finish your statement and then Taylor is going to take you home.” He looks at Noah and nods. “When I’m off shift, Kate and I will come to your place. Okay?”

“Yeah,” I reply weakly, the events of the day starting to take their toll. I’m exhausted, so fucking tired, relieved and still worried, just not about Justin now.

Noah was amazing. When he stormed in the room and pulled Justin off me, I just stood there and watched as he took control of the situation and put Justin in his place. But now that the shock of it all is starting to pass and I recount everything to the detective, the guilt of hiding everything from everyone for the past few months is making its presence felt in a
big
way.

I thought I could handle it. I thought Justin would back off when I didn’t reply to his texts, didn’t answer his calls, and definitely when I started sending the flowers back once I realized they were from him. But I was wrong, so very fucking wrong, and look where it got me—shoved against a wall and held against my will.

I look over at Noah sitting beside me, giving him a small smile. He just nods in response.

Something isn’t right with him. He’s here and he’s supporting me, holding my hand and encouraging me with gentle squeezes as I tell Jeremy everything that has happened since I arrived in Chicago, and even before I left Indiana, but his eyes are flat—he is flat. There is no cocky edge, no smile, and dare I say, no feeling there at all.

I expected some response, an outburst of some sort. But there’s nothing.

I sign my statement and Noah ushers me out of the room, Jeremy’s card clutched in my hand as he reassures me that Justin will not be getting anywhere near me anytime soon.

We walk to his car and Noah opens the door for me, shuts it, then walks around the front of the car. He hops in and turns the key, starting the engine, then pulling out into traffic and heading toward my apartment.

“Are you okay?” I ask warily.

“Yep.” Again his voice is flat, void of emotion. It’s heartbreaking, but probably nothing less than I deserve.

“Okay,” I reply, because what else can I say? I lied, or omitted the truth, but I never,
never
meant to hurt anyone, not my brother and especially not Noah.

So I sit back and lean my head against the car window, watching the city pass by, and try to brace myself for the time bomb that is preparing to explode.

I can only hope that Noah and I are still together after the explosion.

“Man on a Wire”

Noah

I’m numb. I’m filled with anger. I’m lost, wondering how the fuck I’ve come full circle to be back where I started, with a woman unwilling to give herself completely to me. Zoe is not Nikki; that is not where I’m going with this. It’s the fact that I love Zoe, more than anything else in my life.

The man with the reputation for having a big dick and knowing how to use it is finally done for. I’ve found the woman I want to be with. I don’t want anyone else in my life, my bed, or my fucking heart.

Then her obsessed ex walks into the hospital and manhandles her and I save her, only to find out she’s been hiding everything she’s being going through from me, from her brother, from her mom and sisters—from everybody. I don’t know whether to wring her neck or hold her close and never let her go.

I park my car and get out, walking around to the passenger door to help Zoe.

“Give me your keys and we’ll get you upstairs,” I urge, holding my hand out as she drops them in my hand.

She’s been quiet the whole ride home, probably overthinking shit as much as I am. We need to talk this out. I need to know why she kept everything hidden from me. Hell! From everybody it seems. Why didn’t she trust me enough to tell me about what was happening, and everything she was going through? I fucking knew she was holding something back from me; I should’ve pushed hard, demanded answers.

The nightmares, the caginess whenever she’d get text messages, and her general evasiveness when I’d ask whether she needed help—now it all seems obvious. Listening to her giving her statement, she’s been going through hell for months, even when she came to Chicago to get away from the idiot. He was persistent, he was desperate, and his irrational behavior continued to escalate until it led to today’s clusterfuck.

Then there are fucking bruises on her arms from when he grabbed her and held her against the wall. I won’t forget that look of fear in her eyes.

I’m mad at her.

I’m mad at myself.

My issue is honesty—or the lack of it.

Mac and Daniel have it. Zander and Kate eventually got it. Even Sean and Sam got their shit sorted once they were finally honest with each other after years of avoiding their issues.

“Noah?”

I turn to look at her, realizing I’ve been walking on autopilot while lost in my head, and we’re now standing outside Zoe’s apartment door.

“Sorry,” I say, as I open the door before putting my hand at the small of Zoe’s back and walking inside.

“Can I get you something? Water, Coffee, Gin?” That earns me a half-hearted smile.

“I’m okay. Look, I think we need to talk . . .” She says as we reach her living room.

Then all of my emotions collide and it hits me. If I stay here with her right now, I’m going to do something or say something I might regret when everything calms down.

“Hey, if you’re okay I need to go.” I kiss her cheek and look her in the eyes. “I’ll call you later, alright?” I feel like an asshole for not explaining further but I just need to get out of there.

Her wide eyes almost stop me in my tracks, but the need to get out of there and have time to think things through makes me power through it.

“Okay. Later.” Her voice is defeated, as if she was expecting this from me. Or expecting more from me. Fuck knows what she’s expecting right now, because I don’t even know how I should be acting, how I should react. I feel as if I’m off-kilter and I need space to get back on track.

I nod and walk out the front door, ringing Zander as soon as I’m outside the complex.

“Hey. Is Zoe okay?” he says when he answers.

“Hey. Yeah, she seems to be. She’s at home now but I needed to get out of there. Can you or Kate go be with her now? I want someone with her just in case it hits her, or she gets flashbacks or anything.”

“And why aren’t you staying with her?” he asks.

“I need space to think. She hid this from me for months. I even asked her about the asshole and she said he was harmless.”
I’m fucking kicking myself now for not pushing her on the issue.

“Yeah, well I reamed Jeremy out for not telling me sooner too. He was just honoring her wishes though.”

“I’m heading over to Mac and Daniel’s place to get my head on straight. I had as much clue as you did, and it’s screwing with my mind.”

“All good. Mac’s at home with Kate now so I’ll ring her and get them to head straight over.”

“Thanks, man. I care about her too much to stay there and fuck things up by saying shit I don’t really mean.”

“I hear you, man. Kate and Mac will be there soon,” he replies.

“Just tell her I’ll call her later, or tomorrow, and get Mac to text me to let me know she’s okay.” I hope like hell she’ll still want to talk to me later.

“All good. Talk soon.” Ending the call, I get in my car and drive.

Twenty minutes later, I’m pulling into Mac and Daniel’s driveway, having texted Daniel on the way over to make sure he was home.

Walking in the door, I’m hit with the smell of garlic and I soon find Daniel in the kitchen, stirring a pot.

“Honey, I’m home,” I call out dramatically from the doorway.

“Everyone thinks they’re a comedian. Don’t they Jared?” he says to his son, who is wearing a “I’m a mini-superhero” T-shirt that is over the top, but still pretty cool.

“Where are the girls?”

“Mac got the call from Kate ten minutes ago to say Zander’s held up at work, and they needed to go be with Zoe. Riley is at my sister’s having a tea party, I’ve been told.”

I just nod at him, not sure what to say or how to say it. All I know is that I need to talk.

“Beer?” he asks, holding an open bottle of Millers in front of me.

“Thanks.” I take a seat on a silver stool on the other side of the kitchen counter, watching Daniel cook and Jared pretend to help him.

“So what did you do?” Daniel asks over his shoulder.

“Not me this time.”

He picks up Jared and sits him on his hip before walking around the counter with his beer in hand and sitting beside me. “What happened?” he asks, not giving me any shit, which I appreciate more than he could ever know right now.

“Did anyone tell you about Zoe’s ex?”

“I heard through the chick-vine that he was a bit clingy after she ended it.”

I take a drink from my beer and put it back on the counter, leaning my body into the steel surface. “Well she came here to get away from him and we all thought it was a thing of the past. She’d still get the occasional text but it wasn’t anything that would set off alarm bells. Or so we thought . . .”