Page 43 of Noah
“Um, you think I’m going to call the grocery store or something?”
“No, stupid. Go on the grocery app and put an order in at the closest market. They’ll deliver it. Don’t worry; my card is already saved in there. You can just charge it in the checkout.”
I stared at him, feeling like he’d suddenly started speaking Greek. Just go into the grocery app? His card was in there?
Who the hell was this guy, and what had he done with Noah?
“Go into the grocery app?” I asked. “You have a grocery app on your phone? How do you even know that they’ll deliver dog food? How long does it take?”
“City like this? Maybe half an hour, if we’re lucky,” he said.
“Oh, right. So you... order groceries often? For all the dogs in your life?”
When he looked up, he was blushing. I hadn’t realized Noah wascapableof blushing.
“Not for myself. But you know how Rivers likes to find an orphanage when we hit a big city? Buy the kids ice cream and stuffed animals?”
I nodded. Rivers had been doing that ever since we started going on tour, and it had always made me smile. For the longest time, he’d tried to pretend he didn’t need anyone else. But that sweet, soft boy had always been in there, trying to take care of other kids who didn’t have parents.
Noah shrugged. “He does orphanages. I do shelters. And when I’m there, I get supplies delivered. It’s not hard.”
He went back to drying the puppy like he hadn’t just said the most unexpected thing in the world.
“You volunteer at shelters while we’re on the road? And you never told anyone?”
More to the point: He never toldme?
Now the sly smile was back on his face. “Couldn’t. If I’d told people, they might have thought I was a big softie. And I can’t go ruining my reputation, now, can I?”
I stared at the guy I’d thought I knew like the back of my hand, my mind reeling. He’d just shouted at me in the parking lot about how I didn’t accept help, then rescued a puppy from freezing to death. Smuggled said puppy into his hotel room, given it a bath, and dried it with a hair dryer. He evidently volunteered at shelters when we were in big cities–or at least bought them supplies. The Noah I’d known would never take on responsibilities like that.
Or at least, I hadn’t thought he would.
Who was this guy, and what had he done with my friend?
Isnuggled down into the covers of my bed with Whiskey curled against my stomach. This little dog was a tiny canine heater, and though I hadn’t known whether taking him to bed was a good idea, I was now enjoying the hell out of it.
I was also starting to think I might have to fight Noah for night time ownership of said puppy. He slept hot and didn’t need a tiny portable heater. I was always cold. I needed the heat.
Though I suspected I would lose that battle. The only reason I had custody of Whiskey right now was that Noah had been meeting with the band for dinner and drinks, and hadn’t wanted to leave the puppy in his room alone. He’d asked me to take him until the morning, and I hadn’t argued much.
Besides, I’d welcomed the company. My mind was spinning over all the things Noah had said, and once he was gone, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about them. He’d been protecting me, or so he’d said. He hadn’t wanted me to be seen with him, notbecause it would damage his reputation, but because it would damage mine. Though I suspected there was more to it than that. Noah was, at his base, a selfish creature, and I wasn’t sure he could think of other people before himself.
I didn’t blame him. He’d grown up having to take care of himself because his mother wouldn’t do it. But still, it made it hard to believe he’d had my well-being in mind.
Then again, I never would have believed he’d take a puppy into his room and hide it there, or then want to keep it.
My world, it seemed, was changing.
I had thought I landed the perfect job, except that now that job depended on me getting Noah to agree to a nude photo shoot. I didn’t want to do it, and I didn’t even want to ask, but I would probably lose my job if I didn’t. I’d thought I was comfortable with being an orphan. But now some man was in the picture saying he was my dad, and it was tearing me apart. My best friend had become a guy I barely recognized, who I may or may not be in love with.
My whole body hurt. I felt like my soul was in conflict with itself, like it didn’t know which way to go. The world was pulling the rug out from under my feet, and I didn’t know how to recover. Noah had always been the one consistent thing in my life, and now I’d slept with him and evidently adopted a dog with him, though it might cost me my job and him his recording contract. I didn’t know if anything we had was real.
I liked it better when he was an asshole. At least then I knew what to expect.
I hated change.
A knock at the door interrupted this depressing train of thought, and I sat straight up. Th e puppy, who’d been asleep, yelped in surprise.
