Chapter 10

ten

Noah

I roll my tongue bar along my bottom lip, looking at the house I bought with Rose in mind.

It was my first big paycheck, and all I could think about was buying this house for her, for us, for our future family. But now, she’s gone and has built it with someone else, someone she cheated on me with, and yet I still bought the fucking property.

I gave her my everything for four years, and nearly two years after leaving, she’s still all I can think about.

Seeing her, actually having my eyes on her in person and not through memories and pictures, fuck, I don’t know if I can do this.

Maybe I should sell the place….

As I finish my cigarette, my eyes take in the large, dark gray Victorian mansion with a wraparound porch. It sits on roughly 9,000 square feet of land, and has a high wall and a black gate to keep the unwanted out.

Fuck, I even decorated the inside with the thought of Rose, including buying stables because of how much she loves animals.

Yeah, I should sell it, but first, I need to get my sister out of the fucking place.

The stupid girl tried to throw a party yesterday, but my security caught on by the second carload of people showing up. I should think Gina knows she needs to leave.

Sighing, I stub out my cigarette. I grab my keys and go to open my door, but I pause when my phone rings for the fifth time.

Shaking my head, I reluctantly answer it.

“Not the time, Mom,” I answer.

She clears her throat. “I know we set you up, but you needed to see her, Noah, to talk to her.”

I scoff. “Talk to her? She fucking walked off, not giving me the time of day.”

Mom sighs. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I thought she’d snap, that she’d give you a piece of her mind. I didn’t think she’d walk away.”

“Oh geez, thanks, Mom,” I say sarcastically.

Mom butts in, “I don’t mean it like that, Noah. For nearly two years, I have pleaded her innocence because I know the real truth. I know what your sister and Piper did; I saw it happen; I saw the absolute pain on that girl's face when she realized you left. I-I, Jesus, sweetheart, her father kicked her out.”

I chuckle sarcastically. “And did it not occur to you that there is a reason for that?”

Nearly two years, and my mom’s still defending her after not liking our relationship to begin with.

“Noah there is a reason for it but it’s not what you think.” She sighs. “She’s hurt and has her guard up, sweetheart.”

I snort. “And what? I’m not hurt? I haven’t been suffering?”

“It’s not her who has made a big old career out of your breakup, or who has had several photos in the tabloids with other men, Noah. You even had Piper licking your neck in one photo, another of you whispering in some girl’s ear. You made a life for yourself while she’s struggling to move on.”

Anger hits at the guilt I feel, even though the Piper situation wasn’t my fucking fault, and that I haven’t touched one fucking girl since her—and then fury takes over; someone who used to be a fucking drunk is standing by someone who cheated on me.

“You know what, Mom, it would be nice for you to stand by me just once. She cheated on me, for fucks sake; she’s had someone else’s fucking child,” I snap.

“Noah…” she tries, but I hang up, throw my phone on the floor of the passenger side of my car, and climb out, slamming the door and leaving the device behind.

Why are Mom and Nick hell-bent on standing by her when her own family disowned her?

I storm into the house I haven’t spent more than twenty minutes in since buying it, my mind going fucking crazy, but halt in the living area as I take in my fucking sister grinding on some poor clueless idiot on my dark gray corner couch, while Piper glares at the photos of me and Rose on the mantelpiece above the black marble fireplace with a lighter in her hand.

“I don’t get what he still sees in her; it’s been nearly two years since we showed him the picture!” Piper sneers, and I narrow my eyes.

“I don’t know, but don’t worry, he’ll give in sooner or later. Just get naked and lie in his bed upstairs until he gets back,” Gina slurs as the guy sucks her nipple through her top.

The bile rises in my throat.

Gritting my teeth that this is how my sister is treating my fucking hospitality, even after she got herself kicked out of school—and to think, I was going to pay for her to go to fucking Kingston University.

Shaking my head, I go to the intercom and press the button.

“Mr. Scott?” a voice echoes into the room, causing the three idiots to look my way.

Gina’s eyes widen while the guy looks ready to faint.

“Y-you’re, oh wow, you’re Noah Scott, the Noah Scott,” he fan-rants, and I roll my eyes.

“Dylan, I have three people who need to be removed from the property immediately," I say firmly, and Piper steps forward.

“Noah, sweetheart,” she rasps, twirling her finger in her hair.

“And please inform my manager that if Piper is not removed from our band, I will be going on strike.”

Piper’s eyes widen as Dylan states, “Two guards will be with you within the minute. I’ll contact Joel now.”

I thank him and shake my head at my frozen sister, before leaving them. I go upstairs to my studio, and Piper shouts for me, but I ignore her. I need to let off steam, and hitting a fucking girl is not something I can bring myself to do.

I don’t know how long I play around with the different strings for a tune stuck in my head all day, but my fingers are hurting when my boys walk in.

Cameron looks hung over while Barnett…he looks strange, really fucking strange, head partially down, hands in his jean pockets, chewing his bottom lip.

“Fuck, Noah, can’t you have time off?” Cameron asks, throwing himself down on the black couch, and throwing his arm over his eyes.

I shrug and say, “I came home to find Gina grinding on some poor fucker while Piper was looking to burn the place down.”

He looks at me and nods. “Well, that explains why they were screaming and shouting while being escorted off the property.” He scrunches his brows for a minute, then nods again and states, “Yeah, okay, continue playing; you write good shit when you’re in love, hurt, or pissed.”

I snort and look at Barnett, who hasn’t moved from near the door, and raise a brow.

“What’s up with you?”

He clears his throat and swings his arms back and forth, clapping his hands each time they meet in the front.

I roll my eyes. “Just spit it out, Barnett.”

He clears his throat again, looking fucking uncomfortable, and even Cameron furrows his brows.

“Dude, your acting weird.”

“I spoke to your mom,” he says quickly, and I narrow my eyes. He lifts his hands up. “I know, I know. What she did was really shitty. She never allowed you to get come to grips with seeing Rose again, but Noah, I’ve been saying this for years…you need to speak to her.”

Cameron sighs, and I grit my teeth. “Not you, too. Mom, Nick—why can’t you let things be? Fuck, her family disowned her, Barnett, so there must be some truth to the accusations.”

He nods. “They did but only because of the photo, but it was a lie, Noah, and deep down you know that as well. You got scared and ran, and we,” he points to himself and then toward Cameron, “allowed you to run, and we shouldn’t have. Yes, we’ve got a career out of your heartbreak, but you’re making the biggest mistake of your fucking life….”

I stand, placing my guitar down, ready to hit the fucker, when Cameron sits forward and says, “Okay, say you’re right, say that the photo he saw was out of context, which yes, we have all,” he gives a pointed look to me, “questioned over the past two years, but what about the child she had at seventeen no less, Bar. Surely that would mean she was seeing someone pretty fucking soon after Noah left….”

I place my hands on my hips and furrow my brows. “No, that’s not right. It was a year ago Gina told me she was four months pregnant, so that would have made her eighteen when she gave birth, not seventeen.”

Cameron frowns, and Barnett butts in, “Actually, according to your mom, she had her baby one month before her eighteenth birthday, exactly three days before yours, Noah." He tilts his head. “How sure are you that the baby isn’t yours?”

I shake my head in denial. “We’ve been through this, Bar. We were protected, and she would have told me if she was pregnant.”

He nods. “You're right, she would have, but you blocked her number, banned me from speaking to her, and even denied your mother's calls. You blocked her out of your life, so how could she tell you, Noah?”

I shake my head again. "Still, we were protected the whole time, and even then, it was only two weeks from prom to graduation that we were that intimate together, Barnett.”

He nods again. “And condoms fail, Noah,” he says. “And from what your mother has told me, from her actual due date and the fact she delivered two weeks early, she would have conceived prom night.” He raises a brow. “Tell me again, Noah, how the baby can’t be yours? Tell me how your sister and Piper didn’t fuck up everything for you, and you allowed it? Because from my recollection, you spent five hours drunk outta your mind, crying about how special getting to be inside her when you woke up the morning after prom, condom still on from the night before.”

Denial runs through me, not willing to believe it. It’s been nearly two years of me going back and forth about that damn photo, second guessing myself, but not once did I question the child’s paternity, except that one day Gina said she saw her.

Fuck, did Rose have my kid?

Cameron stands and I look his way. “Noah, how did Gina know she was four months pregnant? Did someone tell her, or did she see a bump and decide to say she was four months, hoping you wouldn’t question her?”

My body starts to shake, and I look between the boys, now both questioning the past.

I can’t….

Swallowing hard, I storm out of my studio, down the curved staircase, and out of the house, straight to my car. Neither following, giving me my space.

I quickly grab my phone and see several missed calls from my mother and some from Gina, Piper, and Joel. I swipe them away and press the number I need.

He answers instantly and states, “Noah, she’s gone. As soon as she saw you and saw her brother, she left. I think you need to leave things be.”

I grit my teeth. “Where does she live, Rafael?”

I squeeze the steering wheel as he admits, “I promised her I’d keep you from her, Noah. Despite her leaving again, I plan on bringing her back.”

If she cheated, he wouldn’t be trying to keep me from her; he’d be trying to keep her from me….

Fuck, fuck, fuck….

I swallow hard. “Please, Rafael, I’m being told one thing by several people and another by others. Please, I just need to find out the truth. You disowned her and now, suddenly, want her back in your life. I need to speak to her. I need answers….”

He’s quiet for a few minutes, then asks, “Do you think you deserve them? You left without a word to her, Noah. The reasons why I did what I did had nothing to do with you, son, and everything to do with her choices at the time. I pushed her away out of fear.”

Them...he said… them ….

My heart races, and I admit, “I may not deserve them, but I think we both need answers, for closure at least.”

He sighs. “She’s in Fremont, Grave’s Hill.” I squeeze my eyes tight, and he continues, “You never deserved her, Noah, not after the way you left, and me, well, I never deserved such an amazing daughter. I’ll text you her full address.”

With that said, he hangs up, and I throw my phone, before starting my car. Without thinking, I leave my driveway, heading to the airstrip, only getting my phone out again when he messages the address.

It’s time questions get answered; it’s time for us to move on from the hurt of the past, and for me to figure out if she was, in fact, pregnant when I left, and whether I’m a fucking father and the biggest idiot in the world.