“About that…” she begins, then stalls. “That was out of the blue. You could have warned me. My dad was right there.”
I let go of her, annoyed and walk to the dresser where I grab another shirt and place it on.
“C’mon, Noah, we haven’t even talked about any of this.”
“Is that my fault? I’m forever trying to reach out to you, yet you pull away. Isn’t that what I should be doing? I’m the guy here. I should be the one constantly unavailable,” I yell out of frustration.
“That’s sexist and unfair, Noah. I get it, you’ve been with several women. That’s all you do, fuck around. Possibly with Kate too, right?”
“Don’t even start…”
“This is too complicated,” she mumbles to herself. “I just really needed you. I can’t explain it.”
I can’t help but release a sinister laugh. “Yep, that’s what they all say.”
Her face contorts to a shocked yet angry stare. “Excuse me? I’m not like your other girls, Noah.”
“No,” I say, looking her directly in the eye. “That’s the problem here. You’re not at all like them.”
Standing apart, silence falls over the room.
“I can’t do this anymore. This fighting—”
I interrupt her. “And the running away?”
“I’m not running away.”
“So why can’t you cancel tonight? Or even invite me? God,” I tell her, embittered. “Are you embarrassed to be in a relationship with me?” It kills me to say it. But I can’t deal with her fucking secrecy anymore.
“Of course n-not,” she stutters. “Tonight is just…”
I grab my cell that’s sitting on top of the dresser. “I’ll call Scarlett.”
“Why?” she asks, panicked.
I scroll through my contacts and dial her number. When Scarlett answers, I place her on speaker. “Hi Scarlett,” I say in a much sweeter tone. “I had a meeting with Morgan and she mentioned she had something to attend tonight with you.”
“Hi, Noah,” she responds cheerfully. “Yes. There’s a red carpet party on Sunset. You should come. And bring some friends.”
I stare at Morgan, satisfied. She turns her head away, looking toward the window as she folds her arms.
“You know what, I’ll take you up on that. We ran out of time and I was hoping to catch her there.”
“Sounds great. I’ll have her to text you all the details. I’m really looking forward to seeing you, Noah.”
I say goodbye and hang up the phone. “So I guess you better forward me those details,” I remind her, sarcastically.
“You’re a
fucking stubborn ass, you know that?” she huffs.
“It’s like looking in the mirror, isn’t it?”
“Fuck you,” she mouths, before storming off and slamming the door behind her.
Chapter Twenty
I should have known better than to invite Charlie and Kate to the red-carpet event. Lex warned me it would create this bizarre frenzy within them. I laughed it off, being the naive dickhead who underestimated the power of a woman possessed by Hollywood.