Unforgettable (Haven Falls 4)

“Come on, babe,” Noah yells from my car. I glance up from the ground and take him in. He’s absolutely soaked from head to toe. Water is literally running off him as he cringes with each hailstone that comes down on him.

I hurry as best I can without falling over and breaking a leg. I finally make it to the car and Noah instantly helps me spread it out. We pull it over the car as hailstones slam into my back. It takes all of two seconds to realize that the blanket is far too short.

“Shit,” I curse as the whole hood of the car remains exposed, making me cringe with each stone that rebounds off of it.

Noah bounds forward and throws himself over the hood, laying on it and spreading both his arms and legs out wide. “Save yourself,” he cries.

“What are you doing?” I laugh, running back towards the house so I can stand under the porch.

Noah yells out to me from the car, shaking his head as water drips down into his eyes with a massive grin taking over his lips. “If your dad comes home and finds hail damage all over this car, he’s going to somehow find a way to blame it on me, so I’ll be damned if I let this car get ruined.”

“Dramatic much?” I laugh.

“I ain’t kidding,” he shoots back as the water threatens to slide him right off the hood. He latches on as best he can and I briefly wonder if his weight on the hood is going to dent it, but then, he’s smarter than that. He would never do anything that would potentially harm my baby.

“You know, all that ice is probably good for your face,” I chuckle as over the last few days, he’s refused to ice his black eye. He did it for about three seconds with a packet of peas when it first happened, but then we got talking and it was forgotten about. When I finally remembered, it was a no-go zone.

“Shut up,” he throws back at me. “This isn’t exactly enjoyable.”

“Oh, trust me, it’s definitely enjoyable,” I laugh. “Who would have thought I’d find myself a guy who’d willing throw himself over my car during a hailstorm?”

“Hey,” he demands, sputtering around the water that drips into his mouth. “Don’t think I’m doing this for you,” he says. “I’m doing this to save my own ass. Your dad keeps showing me that new shotgun and I have a feeling he’s looking for a reason to use it.”

“Oh, come on,” I laugh. “You know my dad is all talk. He’s like a big marshmallow, just like you.”

“I can assure you, Spitfire. Your dad is definitely not all talk. When it comes to protecting his baby, he’d do just about anything, even if that means shooting me in the ass.”

I roll my eyes. He’s kind of right, but I’m not going to admit it. Dad would do anything to protect me against the world even though I’m constantly arguing that I can take care of myself. I’m his baby and that’s just his natural instinct as my father. Aria though, she better watch out. He’s had a world of practice with me. I can only imagine what life is going to be like for her when boys start showing up at our door.

After a short wait, I sense the hail beginning to slow down and I decide enough is enough. Noah is probably going to have welts and bruises covering his back from this silly stunt. I race out into the rain, still getting hit with the odd hailstone, but it’s nowhere near as bad as it was before.

“What are you doing?” Noah demands, seeing me darting towards him. “Get back under the shelter.”

“It’s stopping,” I tell him as I reach him and start grabbing for his arm. “You need to get off. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“No, it’s not over yet,” he tells me in a show of defiance.

I laugh as I start tugging on his arm, hoping to slide him off the hood.

“Cut it out,” he yells at me, clutching onto the hood with one hand and trying to push me off with the other.

“Nuh uh,” I laugh. I grab hold with my other hand and give a hard tug. My eyes widen in horror as the tug has him slipping straight off the hood and stumbling towards me. Noah tries to throw himself off the hood so his clothes don’t scratch the paint but all that does is have him shooting towards me that much faster.

“Fuck,” he shouts as he crashes into me. Noah tries to break my fall but it’s no use. We’re both fucked.

We tumble down into the soaking wet grass and my ass goes down into the massive patch of mud that Aria had made sure to make bigger this morning.