Filmed_ An Alpha Bad Boy Romance(20)

The story my mom had told me, mixed with the pictures of all those girls he was trying to pick up, or whatever he was doing with them, suddenly burrowed themselves into my mind. I imagined trying to sit there with him and not say something about what his dad did to my mom, and I couldn’t. I knew that I’d have to confront him about it, especially since I had just found out about it less than an hour or two ago. I doubted Noah was the type to take that sort of thing very well; he’d probably storm off, and our working relationship would be awful. I couldn’t just attack the guy. He may not even know what had happened. And plus, like my mom said, it was all in the past. I should give Noah a chance.

Or should I? It wasn’t like he was hurting for company. Confused and a little bit angry, I slammed my laptop lid shut, putting it to sleep. From his end, he’d see the little dot next to my name disappear, and I’d never respond. I groaned and resisted the urge to throw my laptop across the room. I stopped myself, deciding that I shouldn’t take my own indecisiveness out on my computer. It was completely innocent, after all.

Frustrated and confused, I retreated into my bedroom to read. Instead, I floated between book and daydream, worrying over how Noah would react to my non-response, and wondering why I even cared. I didn’t owe him anything.

Then again, I couldn’t stop thinking about him imagining my underwear, either.





Chapter Eight


Eventually, Chris came home, and I full-on assaulted her with the details of the day. I spared nothing, beginning with my mom’s story, and ending with my conversation with Noah. As usual, she listened patiently, and by the end I felt a little bit better. Even if I hadn’t answered any of my own questions, it was a good stress release to have it all out in the open.

“Seems like a pickle,” Chris said slowly once I was done.

“You’re not kidding,” I said, laughing.

“Well, no. I said, seems like, but it really isn’t.”

That wasn’t what I expected. “What do you mean?”

She sighed and leaned back in her chair. We were perched around the kitchen table eating macaroni and cheese for dinner, which was our go-to comfort food for whenever one of us was in a bad mood. I loved that she sacrificed her calories for the greater good, or at least for my sanity.

“Your mom said it herself. You can’t blame him for what his dad did.”

“Yeah, I know that. But he’s such an asshole. How can I know he didn’t pick that up from his dad?”

“I get what you’re saying, but there’s a difference between being a jerk and giving you an annoying nickname, and sabotaging someone’s career.”

She had a pretty good point there. “But what about the rumors? All the girls in his Facebook pictures?”

She shrugged and shook her head. “I really have no idea. If it helps, Selena is usually full of shit.”

I laughed. Selena did strike me as someone who loved gossip, and I probably couldn’t trust half of what she said.

“And plus,” Chris continued before I could respond. “Why does that even matter? So what if he’s been with some other girls?”

“I’m not really looking to be a one and done, Chris,” I said.

“True, but he seems like he’s actually into you.”

That made me pause. “What about all of this makes you think that?”

“He keeps trying to hang out with you. He’s obviously flirting.”

I shook my head. “He’s just like that. I’m sure he asked out ten other girls before me earlier.”

She sighed and took a big bite of her food. “I don’t know, honestly. You could be right, and he could be the evil offspring of an evil asshole.”

I groaned and threw my head back. “So you see my frustration!”

She laughed. “And you see why I don’t date.”

I grinned and took a big bite. Even if she was sometimes a little blunt and calculating, Chris had a way of making me feel better.

“Why don’t you just, I don’t know, ask him about it?”

“He doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who has deep conversations about his family with near-strangers.”

“That’s fair. But this is my advice anyway: talk to him about it. Worst-case scenario, he tells you to fuck off, and what’s done is done. But maybe you’ll want to hear what he has to say.”

I nodded and chewed thoughtfully. She had a pretty good point. It wasn’t like I was going to lose anything. Noah and I didn’t exactly have a relationship. And I wasn’t even sure that was something I wanted. More than anything, I didn’t want work to become a nightmare of drama. Still, if I didn’t ask him, I’d constantly wonder, and probably act weird.