Before Noah (Daniels Family 3)

“I’m fine, Noah. Go back to her.” I wave a hand back at the woman.

“Cali. Her name is Cali.” His words are like a knife thro

ugh my sternum, shredding through my heart.

“She’s stunning.” Painfully so, if I’m honest.

“Yeah, she is,” he confirms, and I think I’m going to be sick. “Can we talk?”

Sighing, my head drops, and my eyes close. I can’t look back up at him as I tell him, “No, Noah. We can’t. We have nothing left.”

And right there, on the street, in front of my brother’s house, I leave my splintered heart on the asphalt as I drive away.

Noah

I’ve always been a little intense. Quick to anger. Slow to forgive.

Never have I fucked up nearly as much as I have with Ember. From the first time I met her until five minutes ago when she went speeding off with tears streaming down her face, I keep fucking up.

“She doesn’t look very well, Noah,” Cali, my cousin, comments beside me. She's all the family I have left. I brought her because I knew Ember would be here. I wanted her to meet the only other important woman in my life.

If fucking backfired because she thought Cali and me were an item.

“She’s lost weight. A lot of it. And she’s not sleeping.” Depression has taken Ember hostage, and it’s all my fault.

“I could kill Trina for you if you want,” Cali offers, and I’m not entirely sure she isn’t serious.

“Much as I’d like to take you up on that offer, I can’t. I’d have to arrest you.”

She pats my arm. “Sure you would, Noah. Go after her.”

Fuck do I want to. Need to. I want to show Ember that I haven’t forgotten about her. That everything I’ve done has been for her, but I'm a fucking idiot who handled it all wrong.

“I fucked up, Cal.”

“Duh,” she retorts, and I turn to glare at her. She rolls her eyes. “You’re a man. It’s in your DNA to fuck shit up. You just have to be man enough to fix it.” She shrugs like it’s so simple.

“How do you propose I do that?” Ember isn’t a flowers and chocolates kind of girl. She won’t forgive my silence so easily.

“Let her know you’re thinking about her. Have dinner delivered to her.”

“She’ll toss it just to spite me.”

“Write her a letter.”

“She’ll burn it.” Ember is filled with as much fire as her name. One spark and she turns into a flame.

“Then make it personal, Noah. Do not let one more day pass that you don’t do something to ensure she understands you’re thinking of her.”

Fuck.

I’ve never been the romantic guy either.

“She mentioned a dance thing. Show up. But don’t let her see you until after the show. Wouldn’t want her to screw up on stage or anything.” Cali’s words give me an idea.

2

Noah