Page 54 of Noah
But he could have at least listened, if he wasn’t so distracted.
Molly was out, for all the reasons I didn’t want to list again. Taylor was being typical unhelpful and vague. And that left me alone with the problem.
Though I thought I had a solution. If everything went right. If people would fucking call me back with DNA results.
My mind touched on Molly despite my decision not to think about her, and everything went gray for a moment. She hadn’t talked to me all day, though we’d been in the same place more than once. I caught her looking at me on the bus and I’d thought she might come over to me. Start building the bridge. Hell, I’d actually felt relieved that we might be able to brainstorm our way out of this. But she’d stared at me for a long moment and then turned away, like I was some disappointment she couldn’t face.
That had broken me, but I hadn’t let it slow me down. My plan didn’t leave room for any slowing down. I knew from Anna that she had a flight out of here tomorrow around noon, bound for LA. She was doing what I’d expected: flying back to Los Angeles to try to fix things with the magazine. Deserting me here to take care of myself, not that I blamed her. She probably blamed me, and she was right to do so.
But she didn’t know I had a way to fix everything.
Even if I’d told her, she would probably write it off as something I wouldn’t follow through on. And I couldn’t blame her for that, either. I’d spent far too long letting her solve my problems for me. Thinking I was in charge while letting someone else do all the dirty work.
That stopped now.
I’d put out the perfect excuse. I heard she was leaving and was throwing her a farewell breakfast in the morning. I knew Molly well enough to know she’d never say no to breakfast, evenif I was the one hosting it. I’d invited everyone, just to make sure she bought the story and had people she trusted around her. She was furious at me–or so I’d heard–and probably thought I was just going to let her go back to LA without a word. And in the past, maybe I would have. Hadn’t I done just that the first time she left? I’d been so shocked, felt so abandoned, that I hadn’t bothered to fight for her. I’d thought that since she wasn’t fighting for me, I didn’t need to bother. I’d let her walk out of my life and told myself I didn’t need her, when all signs pointed in the opposite direction. I’d thought I was better off without her. While drinking myself into an early grave because she’d left.
What. An. Idiot.
Things were different now. I was different. At least I hoped I was. I’d been doing my research since she left me, finding the guys to do what I needed done and getting all the details in order. If this went right, it’d show the world who she actually was and what she meant to me. I would give her the things she’d always wanted, and maybe even prove to her that I’d seen the light.
Would it be terrific press? Yes. A feel-good story to rival Lila and Rivers’. Could that help to rehab my own image, and that of the band, and get the labels interested in us again? Absolutely. This idea might be even better than my idea for new music in that regard.
But it was way more important that Molly understand why I’d done it. This was for her, not me. This was my grand gesture. Me kneeling at her feet begging her to forgive me and give me another chance. Bigger than anything I’d ever done. And even if she didn’t forgive me and decided she was going to hate me for the rest of her life–totally possible–at least she’d have the things she’d wanted. Her career. Her talent.
Potentially a family.
But only if those fucking guys called me back before tomorrow morning.
Iglanced at my phone again, practically dancing in place, and decided I’d waited long enough. I’d had the calls I needed and everything was in place. I just needed to get down there.
And take the girl of the hour with me.
I slid out of my room, my heart pounding, and started for the hallway. I knew what room she was in, thanks to Anna and Sadie, who I’d talked to at midnight last night. Everyone was in on it, now. I just hadn’t been able to pull this one off on my own. I wouldn’t have asked for help–hated that I wasn’t doing this by myself–but at the end of the day (literally), it had been too important to screw up. Sadie was rooming with Molly, as usual, and Anna was in their room as well, both of them ready to back me up if Molly gave me any trouble.
God, I hoped she was in a cooperative mood this morning.
I got to the end of the hall and turned right, my eyes on the room numbers as I sped past them. Timing was of the essence, here. I needed to get her downstairs and into the restaurant before she realized what was going on. Everyone was there–hopefully–and waiting. I’d put Rivers in charge of that part, and then told Lila to make sure he didn’t fuck it up, and if they’d done their jobs, then this could actually work.
But God, I was terrified. Because this could end it all if Molly decided I’d gone too far. I was betting everything–everything–on this working, and now that I was here, I realized I was betting on there being an ‘after’ for us, too. I was talking a big game about being okay with her deciding to leave me, as long as it meant she got her happy life, but I was lying. What if she hatedme so much she never talked to me again? What if it all went wrong and she didn’t understand why I did what I did? What if we didn’t survive this?
It didn’t matter, I told myself once more. If she was happy, that was all that mattered.
It wasn’t much comfort, but it was all I was going to get. Because I was at her room, now, and I had to go in there, kidnap her, and drag her downstairs.
Lights, camera, action, right? Moment of truth.
I took a deep breath, sent a prayer to a deity I didn’t really believe in, and opened the door.
32
MOLLY
Ididn’t know what was going on, but I didn’t like it.
I was in my room, packing up my stuff and talking with Anna and Sadie, when Noah suddenly burst in, grabbed me, and looked me up and down once. I didn’t know what he was looking for but he must have decided I satisfied his requirements because a moment later he pulled me out into the hallway and started hustling for the elevators.
“What the fuck?” I asked, yanking at him. “Noah, what’s going on? Where are we going?”
