Page 62 of Flirting With Forever
Noah didn’t like the comparison. She could tell. “Gage is more than wearing a flashy watch every day and driving a two-hundred-thousand-dollar car. He’s real. He’s got substance.”
“Two fifty,” Noah countered. “But that’s not what I meant. He’s not for you, Sloane, because he’s not part of our world. Your world.”
She knew that. She didn’t like Noah pointing it out, but she knew it. Though not for the reasons Noah spouted. She didn’t like it because it highlighted Gage’s vulnerabilities. His family’s weaknesses. Because as rich and well-liked as the Blackwells were, her father could decimate them with a phone call. He had connections on every level. “How did you swing that car, by the way? It’s a little out of range, even for you.”
“It was a gift for a job well-done.”
This time an unladylike snort left her that would have her father fuming at her lack of manners. Country-club ladies did not snort. Or defy their father’s orders.
“There are benefits to our life, Sloane. Benefits to you coming home and playing along like the good soldiers we all are. You like the car? You can have one the day you arrive. You know this.”
“I’d rather be a daughter than a soldier. And I don’t need fancy cars and clothes to be happy.”
“All I’m saying is that doing what Father expects of you doesn’t have to be a punishment.”
“Says the one who isn’t going to be auctioned off like a prized thoroughbred.”
Noah braced his hands on the opposite side of the counter and stared at her.
“You’re overthinking this when it’s only going to end one way. You know it though, don’t you? That’s why you’re having your moment. I can understand you needing that, needing time. But the harder you fight the inevitable, the harder you make it on yourself—and those around you.”
She shook her head at her brother, hurt vying for disbelief in her chest. “There’s that threat again,” she said in a bit of a singsong tone.
“Don’t make me the bad guy here, Sloane. I’m merely following orders. Just like you need to do.”
“It’s my life. Why do you or Father think it’s okay to use me like a pawn? Why do you let yourself be used that way, Noah? Do you really want this for me? Want that kind of life for me? If that’s true, all I can ask is—what’s happened to you?”
Something flickered in his gaze. Just for a moment. Just like it had outside of Gage’s townhome. The briefest hint of sadness. Fury. Empathy. Then possibly even guilt. But they were there, and in that moment, she saw the boy she’d known growing up. The one who’d piggybacked her inside when she’d fallen and skinned her knee bloody. The boy who’d always protected her from the neighbor bully who’d teased her relentlessly about her freckles.
The boy he was before their father had taken him as a teenager to train and groom him into the man in front of her.
Noah glanced over his shoulder and then lowered his voice as the outside door opened and a chattering group entered. “People like us don’t get to choose our lives, Sloane. We inherit them. We master them. We rule and then pass them on to our children. Do as your told if for no other reason than to know it’s the only way Father will allow your friend to stay safe.”
“Is that it?” she asked in a whisper. “Is that what happened to you? Did Father threaten someone who meant something to you and turn you into…this?”
The sharp sting of tears burned her eyes at the flash of truth she saw on his face. “That’s it, isn’t it? Oh, Noah.”
His jaw locked, and a muscle spasmed on the side. “It’s better to give them up than to know you’re the one to blame, Sloane. Trust me on that.”
She sucked in a breath, then another. Watched as Noah turned and strolled out of the building as casually as he’d entered, passing by the customers like a ghost of the man he might have been.
Shaken to her core, Sloane managed a forced smile to the youngest of the group looking her way as though sensing her upset.
Before going over to them, though, she needed a moment. A breath to steady herself.
She turned to gather her senses only to stop short when she saw Alec Blackwell watching her from within the doorway leading into the convenience store. He was still inside the store. Easily hidden but close enough to?—
Oh, no. No, no, no. Had he heard what Noah said?
Surely not. Noah’s words were too low. For her ears only. But Alec had seen them talking and probably sensed the gist of their conversation.
She swallowed audibly and lifted her chin. “Did you need something?”
“Gage back yet?”
Alec’s gaze unnerved her, and she fought the urge to squirm. How much had he overheard? “No, not yet. He texted that he had another delivery to the beach, and then he was going to one of the rental houses for a repair. The renter saw him on the beach and reported a broken window. He shouldn’t be long though,” she rambled. “I’ll let him know you were looking for him.”
“Excuse me, do you have any locally made souvenirs or books? We like to support local artists,” the older woman in the group said with a hopeful expression.
