Back to Me (Carolina Rebels 1)

“Come in,” she calls from the other side.

I push the door open. Erica tenses when she sees Noah. “We need to talk,” I say before she has the opportunity.

“About what?”

“About you giving out my address.”

Erica shrugs. “I don’t see the problem. He was your fiancé, after all, and he said it was an urgent matter.”

“The problem is if I wanted him to have it, he would have it. You can’t give out that information without my permission.”

“Well, sorry.” She doesn’t mean it in the least. There’s nothing genuine about it. “He pleaded he needed to see his ex because she was pregnant with his baby and due any day now, and I figured he should see the woman who obviously lied to him. It’s not my fault he found out about it.”

All I can do is stare at her. That’s why she told Vance where I was. If he told her he needed to see me because I was going to have the baby soon, she told him so he could find out that wasn’t actually going to happen. Erica has the nerve to smirk at me.

“Mere,” Noah snaps me out of it. Those brown eyes seem darker somehow, but it’s his tightened jaw and voice that gives away his thinly veiled anger. He speaks to me in a gentle manner, though. “Go do whatever you usually do before practice. I’ll come find you.” He turns me and nudges me out of the office before I can process it.

“Listen to me carefully, Erica,” I can hear him say, but I start walking away.

I’ve surprised myself by not wanting to hear what he has to tell her. Maybe my mind knows I’m going to need a few moments to myself to recover. It doesn’t bother me that she thought I lied to Vance. She doesn’t know me. What bothers me is how carelessly she threw it in my face, especially since she doesn’t know what actually happened. There may be some women out there who would lie about something like that to trap a man, but I’m not one of them, certainly not where Vance is concerned.

Instead of doing what I should to get the courts ready for practice, I sit on the first set of bleachers I come to. My mind seems numb. It’s a feeling I recognize too easily. At first, the wound hurt like a bitch whenever I thought about it. It was like being sliced open over and over again. The pain seemed to be neverending. All I could do for weeks was lie in bed and cry.

That urge is still there. It brings numbness after the initial pain. Will it ever not hurt so much? I don’t know what’s worse: a bearable pain or fresh pain that dies into a numbness. They both seem terrible.

I’m startled when a set of shoes appear in my line of vision. Then, I realize I’m leaning forward with my elbows on my knees as I hug myself. Sitting upright, I see Noah holding out both of his hands, palms up. I take them and he pulls me to stand, immediately wrapping his arms around me.

“You okay?”

“I guess.” Having him hold me is starting to make me feel better.

“That’s not convincing.”

“What did you say to her?” I ask, tilting my head to look up at him.

“It’s not important. She should be nicer to you now.”

“I wish I could’ve been the one to tell her off, but she finally had ammunition to use that hit me instead of bouncing off. I couldn’t think of anything to say back to her.”

“If it makes you feel better, I had plenty to say to her, and I said it all.”

“Thanks.”

Noah gives me a soft kiss. “Now, what can I help you with?”

He helps me set up the courts with drills, ball machines, and other equipment needed. I can tell by the look on Erica’s face when she brings me my clipboard that Noah told her what happened with my pregnancy. She doesn’t say she’s sorry, but it’s written all over her face. Noah is like my shadow, standing behind me and watching silently.

The girls seem to arrive and notice him all at once.

“O.M.G. It’s Noah Ramsey!” Carrie squeals. She rushes and hugs him before she can be stopped.

“I’m just here to watch,” he explains. The girls don’t care and quickly introduce themselves to him. I start to usher them away to start their stretches when I hear, “You must be Kira.” She’s the only one left and she hasn’t introduced herself yet.

Kira looks at me with wide eyes. “You told him about me?”

“Her first day, I came home late from a road trip. You were the first thing she told me about,” Noah tells her. “I’ve heard about you ever since. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“You, too,” she says to him before turning to me. “Ginny is going to freak.”