Noah (37 page)

It wasn’t just the fact that her hanging out with an ex
-
boyfriend was enough to make Noah’s insides grind, but this guy was scum as far as he was concerned.
Not only had Noah always thought him a total prick, he’d
left
Roni
high and dry at a time in her life when she most needed him. Why would she even consider staying friends with him? He didn’t deserve her friendship.

Gio eyed him as Noah stalked through the front room toward the kitchen. The guys all followed him stopping around the center island where he put the boxes of pizza down. “Let me grab paper plates,” Noah said as Hector reached for a slice.

“So what’s Dean Dickhead doing here?
D
o
n’t tell me he and
Roni
are related.
” Hector
said
as he chewed.

“He’s an old friend.” Noah said
p
laci
ng the paper plate
s
down on the counter.

He walked over to the front stopp
ing
at
an
angle where he could see Roni and Derek talking by his car but they couldn’t see him.
The dean
’
s body language was just as Noah remembered, upright an
d
full of authority. Noah hadn’t asked Roni much about her relationship when she’d mentioned Derek before but now Noah had plenty of questions, especially since she obviously held double standards. This guy was way older than her.

~*~

“Wow,” Derek said as they walked down her porch steps. “I ha
ve
n’t seen that kid in years. I’m surprised he’s not in jail.”

Roni turned to him, her arms crossed in front of her. “Wh
at makes you say
that?”

Derek chuckled. “That kid sat outside my office more than my damn receptionist
when he w
ent to
Garfield
.”

She wasn’t sure but it made sense that Derek might have reason to try to discredit  Noah. She’d seen his expression when she told him Noah was her roommate. Just the fact that she’d previously mentioned her new roommate was a guy
she was sure
had already
gotten
him speculat
ing
. His showing up here unannounced today was not on impulse like he’d said it was. Derek did nothing on impulse.

But she decided to bite anyway. “Why was he at your office so
often
?”

“Typical troublemaker. Did you run a background check on this guy before letting him move in?”

The thought had never even occurred to Roni. “No, because he’s a friend. What do you mean troublemaker?
What kind of trouble?
”

Derek shrugged leaning against his car, obviously in no hurry to leave. “Ditching, fighting, drug trafficking, you name it.”

“Drug trafficking?”

“Yeah, I’m telling you the kid is trouble with a capital T.” He frowned glancing back at her house. “So what? This guy trains you and you just invite him to move on in?”

“No.” She hesitated, fumbling to find the best wording. “He had issues
.
”

Derek scoffed. “Yeah, I’ll bet.”

“
Issues w
ith his
place
,
” Roni added, the annoyance building by the second. She knew Derek would have something to say about this, and his emphasis on referring to Noah as a
kid
hadn’t gone unnoticed either. “The storm
s
did a number on his roof.” She wouldn’t mention it was the roof
over
a garage. Derek would love that. “I had the extra bedrooms so I offered to rent him one.”

“Convenient. I’d get the money upfront if I were you.”

Roni rolled her eyes. “I gotta go, Derek.” She began to walk away.

“Hey, listen, Veronica.” Derek
’s
condescending tone
had suddenly softened
. “
I
’m
sorry. I know you said he’s y
our
friend
.
  It’s just that I’d like to think me and you can still be friends, too…at least. And I do still care about you, so I can’t
help
but feel a little concerned here. Who knows maybe he’s changed. It
has
been a few years. All I’m saying is what I
do
know about him is no good. So just be careful.
Okay?”

Roni turned back to him with a weak smile. “No need to worry. He’s a great guy.”

As expected, her last comment raised questions. She saw it in his eyes but he didn’t ask.
Instead he w
e
nt on to a topic she’d hoped to avoid. At least for now.

“So once you get settled in at work you think we can get together some time?”

She’d used the excuse of being too busy trying to get back on track with her work schedule to answer or return his calls
and
texts. It was a lame excuse and she’d hoped he’d
take
the hint. She didn’t see how getting together with him would work
now
. Noah would no doubt have issues with it.

Every moment
she spent with Noah now, every one of their
friendly
good night kisses, her need to move things forward with him
began to
outweigh the feeling that she’d be taking a huge risk. All this time she’d been telling herself that he was too young and would want to be out there playing the field. Yet he was free to do that now and he spent all his free time with her. That had to
count for
something
.

A smile and a nod was the only response she offer
ed
Derek, then added, “
t
ext me
,
”
b
efore walking away.

She’d at least pretend to consider it.
She told herself o
nce she
felt completely comfortable being back at work and her life went back to what she considered the norm, she’d take that plunge and next step with Noah. But
considering
the speed at which their relationship was progressing that plunge might come a lot sooner than she planned.

One thing was for sure if she did do this with Noah, she was doing it all the way. No keeping their relationship discreet and
keeping it
a secret from people like Derek. She’d already seen the disapproval from him and he only thought Noah was her roommate. She was sure he wouldn’t be the only one who would be close minded about their relationship. Hell
,
up until very recently she’d been
just as
close minded about
the possibility
as wel
l.
But she didn’t care. This was yet another reason why she had to be absolutely sure about it because once she did this there’d be no turning back. Their relationship would be out in the open for everybody to know about. Besides she was certain Noah wouldn’t have it any other way.
      
           
 

Until then she’d hold off giving Derek a solid reason why she couldn’t get together with him anymore. Saying her roommate “the trouble making
kid
” wouldn’t like it, sounded a little silly. But saying her live-in
boyfriend
wouldn’t
like it
, held a lot more weight.

As promised, even though the guys had apparently gone through two of the pizzas already, Noah waited for her to eat.
I
t didn’t surprise her that he wanted to talk before he ate. The guys were now in the front room still munching on pizza as they watched a football game. Noah leaned against the counter as Roni placed a slice of pizza on a paper plate.

“So Dean
Kratz
is Derek uh?”

“Yeah.” She glanced up at him as she stuck a pepperoni in her mouth. “Like you said
—
small world. I’m surprised he remembered you out of all the kids he
’s
de
a
l
t
with
over the years
.”

She smiled hoping that would stir up some talk of his troublemaking days. She had to admit she was curious about the drug trafficking comment. Noah was an occasional drinker if that, and she knew drug use wasn’t allowed even in amateur boxing.  Noah was verging on the ‘my body is my temple’ type. Though obviously he didn’t take it
quite that
seriously she just couldn’t see him doing
or
much less trafficking drugs.

Noah ignored her observation completely and got straight to it. “So what’d he want?”

“To say hello.” She walked over to the
fridge and pulled out a can of soda. “You want one?” she asked holding out the can.

“No, I’m good. Did you know he was coming?”

“No.” She popped open the soda and took a swig before setting it down on the counter. “He said he’d been meaning to stop by for a while.”

She wouldn’t encourage an interrogation by offering too much up front but she could understand his concern. Given the fact that he’d allowed her to unleash her questions about Rita when she hadn’t the slightest will to
hold
them
back she’d allow him to ask away, but she’d keep her answer
s
short and to the point.

“So are you two friends again or is there something else I should know?”

She hadn’t even realized her eyes had been glued to her slice of pizza until the change in his tone made her look up at him. “Should know?”

“Yeah,
like you planning on picking up where you left off
him
?
”

“No, of course not.” A simple no would’ve sufficed.

Adding the
of course not
was uncalled for. It confused things and she immediately saw it in his curved lip
and suddenly bright eyes
. It validated a decision she was yet to make. Not that it was one she wasn’t close to making but this was too fast—too soon. This was a huge life changing decision
, that could ultimately break one of the best friendships she’d made since Nellie
. She needed
more
time to think it through. 

“So you told him it’s outta the question?”

“He didn’t ask,” she said. “I just don’t have any interest in picking up where
we
left off.
”
 

And that was the truth right?
That
was the reason she’d so
swiftly and
adamantly nixed any idea that she would even consider reconciling with Derek. There may be a bigger
reason
soon but for now she wanted to make this absolutely clear.

Noah finally pulled himself away from the counter he’d been leaning on.
“So if he shows up again
,” he said picking up a slice of pizza. “
I can
kick
his
geriatric
ass
to the curb
?
”

She had to laugh. “Geriatric?”

“Yeah, he’s gotta be pushing fifty
right
?
”

There was an age difference between her and Derek but he wasn’t that much older.  She knew where he was going with this. “He’s thirty-
six
and no you will not be kicking
anyone’s
ass anywhere.”

“Interesting.” He chewed his pizza as he stared at her for a moment. Though humor laced his eyes there was still that bit of raw intensity she saw earlier when
she first walked in from outside
. “So he’s
eight
years older than you
?
”

She nodded. “Yes.” And Noah was e
ight
years younger than her, not a big difference to him she was sure, but there really was. “But it’s different.”

His eyes opened wide. “Really? Wow, this should be good.” He took another bite of  pizza then wiped his mouth.
There was a slight kick in his tone now.
“
Tell me how is
you
dating guy eight years older different from
me
dating a woman e
ight
years older?” 

“
It’s not the amount of years in between, it
’
s where the two people are in their lives when they meet.” She didn’t even know why she was arguing anymore she was so close to giving this a go anyway. Any argument she made now would be negated soon enough. “When Derek
and I
met we were at
a
place where we both knew what we wanted.”