Page 68 of Resisting You
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing at the moment.
Rosa's words stung, each one a dagger to my heart. I set down my fork and leaned back, trying to process what she was saying.
“I might put on a bit of an act around them, but that’s just part of the business."
“Oh, I’m aware, trust me. When your mother is a legendary actress and your father’s a politician, you become quite adept at the appearances of public personalities.”
“Then why are you getting mad? Youknowthe real me. You know who I am at my core. That’s one of the things I love about you. You’re one of the few people in this world, including several of my fucking family members, who I can truly be myself around.”
She shook her head, her eyes flashing. “The arrogant jerk I saw today seemed pretty convincing. How do I know you’re not just putting on an act for me, too?"
"How can you think that?" I insisted, my brows furrowing together. "Never with you. Listen, having to be 'on' all the time in this business can mess with your head. But you keep me grounded. You have for the last couple years I’ve known you. With you, I can just be myself."
"Can you?" Rosa challenged. "Because 'yourself' apparently includes a healthy dose of chauvinism and disrespect toward me in front of your friends."
I fell back against the seat in the booth. “Say what you will about me being a little cocky around them, but I did not disrespect you.”
“You let Morgan disrespect me. Isn’t that the same thing?”
“You want me to go tell Morgan to fuck off? I will. Trust me, I don’t fucking want her here. You want me to tellallof them to fuck off?I will.For you. It’ll make my life hell on set, but I’ll do it if it’ll make you happy.”
Rosa stood from the table, shoving the plate of pie at me. “Oh, spare me your righteous display, Noah. Why don’t we just go back to the original plan, huh? Pretend to be a happy couple in love so I get my practice up and running and you get out of these teenage heartthrob roles and then we’ll get an annulment and be on our merry little ways.”
Rosa stormed off. “Happy couple in love, huh?” I shouted after her. “That doesn’t usually involve shouting in public and storming off!”
She flipped me off over her shoulder as she disappeared around the corner.
Fuck me.
Thank God the diner wasn’t filled with people. But the few people who were here had their eyes plastered onto me.
I grabbed the fork and started shoveling bite after bite of chocolate pie in my mouth. What was once one of my greatest, sweetest memories now tasted like fucking sand in my mouth.
A shadow drifted over my table and a low, feminine voice said, “Noah Tripp, how did you fuck this up so fast?”
I looked up at the figure towering over me, pretty sure chocolate was still staining the corners of my mouth and blinked. “Hazel?”
Chapter 25
Noah
“Me? You thinkIfucked this up?” I stared incredulously at Hazel. “You heard what happened here, right? I offered to get rid of all my friends for her and it still wasn’t enough.”
With a roll of her eyes, Hazel slid into the booth across from me. “If you think she wants you to cut all your friends out of your life, then you’re stupider than I thought you were, Noah.”
She picked up an unused fork and speared into my chocolate chess pie, taking a hearty bite.
“Well then, can you enlighten me? What the hell does she want?”
“It’s simple. She wants what every woman wants at some point. For her man to prove herwrong. And she wants you to do it without needing to be told to do it.”
I pressed my fingers into my temples where a low, throbbing ache was beginning. “You considerthatsimple?”
Hazel shrugged, then almost immediately, threw her head back with a groan. “Oh my God, this pie! I forgot how fucking good it was.” She paused to point at Elsa from across the cafe. “You’re the best, Elsa!”
Elsa gave Hazel a thumb’s up, then went back to clearing plates.
It was easy to forget Hazel was from Maple Grove, too. She was always an outcast when she lived here.
