47

47.
As soon as Quinn had dropped the bomb on us, everything that happened after was a blur. Noah was upon Charlie, beating the shit out of him, faster than I could say ‘oh crap!’ Charlie was bloodied and bruised within minutes.
Everyone else was just too shocked to even move, or could it be that no one cared if Charlie died at this point?
Finally, it was the queen who opened her mouth to order Noah to stop. But, she should have known that her words had lost their weight long ago. No one cared. The security guards were too afraid to go near Noah.
In the end, it was Will who came to the rescue, pulling Noah away from a deathly pale Charlie.
I don’t know how Will did it alone, but he was able to drag Noah away from the court. The court was dispersed after that, with the queen almost pleading everyone to keep their mouths sealed shut and not convey a word of what happened in here to anyone outside of this court.
What I didn’t understand is why was she still covering up for Charlie?
***
Noah was in his bedroom, with Liam sitting to his side, saying something that I couldn’t hear. Noah’s face was unreadable and he was staring at his bed sheet, as if all the answers of the world were written there.
Turn back, Chloe. Now is not the time. He is probably mad at you too for keeping stuff from him.
My eyes darted around his room. I had never really been inside his room, with so much going on. I had only seen it in passing. But, now, trying to find every excuse to stall my time, I took in every inch of the room. It could be called grand, only in size. The rest of the stuff was pretty much like a normal teenager’s room. It was like my brother’s room, a big screen LED, gaming console, Xbox, etc, then, there were those bean bags, and some clothes strewn near the wardrobe (causing an itch in my fingers to clean up the mess). It was pretty simple, for a royal, but I would be damned if I say I didn’t like it.
“Chloe?” Liam’s voice made me jump at least two feet in the air.
Crap, crap, crap!
I shifted my eyes towards Noah. He hadn’t looked up. It was like he didn’t even know what was going on around him. Like he couldn’t register anything. My heart dropped to my stomach.
“Come on in,” Liam was saying to me. I offered him a slight smile and walked to Noah’s side.
Noah still didn’t look up.
“Uh, hi!” I said and then, mentally face palmed myself.
Seriously, Chloe?!
I quickly rushed to correct my mistake, but, me being me, I actually managed to make it worse.
“I mean, hey, Liam! How are you doing? What am I saying? No one’s doing good, of course. And, they shouldn’t be, given the circumstances. No! I mean, I hope everything works out. And, everyone’s doing well again. And, now, I am just rambling and making it worse. I better leave before it turns into a complete disaster and I start crying.”
Please, ground, open up and swallow me whole.
The ground didn’t open. Even it was ashamed to have me. Before I could embarrass myself further, I turned to scramble towards the door.
But, my feet halted along with my heartbeat, when a hand caught my wrist. I squeezed my eyes shut, dreading to turn around and look at Noah.
Liam cleared his throat. “I will leave you two to…talk.”
No, wait, Liam! Come back! I wanted to scream but the words were caught in my throat.
I swallowed and finally, turned around.
Do not screw this up, Chloe. I repeat, do not.
“You too lied to me, Chloe.”
It was like I had received a physical blow from his quiet words. An ache began in my heart, and it took everything in me to not breakdown right then and there.
Fragile. Noah was in a fragile state right now. He was probably seeing the whole world as his enemy. It didn’t help that I had lied and hid things from him, too.
“Noah…” I began, doing my best to meet his gaze unflinchingly, “I didn’t want to involve you until and unless I was completely sure.” I told him honestly.
“Sure about what?” he asked, his voice raw, as if it was moving past a lump in his throat. His eyes told me that he already knew the answer.
“About the fact that…that your mother was involved in your dad’s…case,”
As soon as I had uttered those words, Noah dropped my hand as if it was on fire. The ache in my heart only intensified, when he turned his eyes away from me, fisting his hands on his bed.
Every instinct in me was yelling at me to turn around and leave, to give him space to sort it out on his own. But, I steeled myself against those instincts and decided to stay this time.
I sat in front of him, on the bed, urging him to look at me.
“I am not in the mood to talk, right now.” he said coldly, before I could say a single word.
“I know.” I replied calmly.
His eyes snapped towards me. “I am serious, Chloe. Leave me alone.”
I crossed my arms across my chest. “No.”
He closed his eyes in a way that conveyed that he was done with me. “I am not going to talk or listen. Why are you sitting here?”
“To watch you, like a creep.”
I knew, from the look on his face…I knew, that he remembered. I was throwing his own words at him, and boy, did he want to react badly. He wanted to laugh, but couldn’t bring himself to do so. He wanted to crack a smile, but was incapable of forming it. And, I wasn’t complaining. I was content with whatever little reaction he was giving me.
We stayed like that for a few minutes, before Noah swallowed and looked away again.
“Talk to me, Noah,” I pleaded.
“I don’t want to.”
“Why?”
“I have never done it before.”
“Then, do it now.” I told him, taking his hands in mine.
For a long time, his eyes just stayed on our intertwined fingers, and yet, he didn’t say anything.
“You know,” I started nervously, “it’s my fault, too. I never gave you an opening to talk to me about…serious stuff. I should have done this long ago. I should have come to you and demanded answers from you the moment I started hearing rumors about your dad from strangers. But, I was so afraid…so afraid, that you would push me away or tell me that it was none of my business.” I felt something heavy lodge in my throat. “Please, don’t shut me out, Noah. You are allowed to talk. You don’t deserve to suffer with your thoughts alone. Talk to me.”
He didn’t react in any way to my words. I felt all the more miserable, and was about to get out and cry my heart out, when I felt his hands squeezing my fingers.
“Where shall I begin?” his voice was raw with pain, and something in my heart snapped.
“Begin by telling me what your feelings right now are?”
He finally looked up, and met my eyes. “I feel like, I lost my dad all over again. The only difference this time is that it hurts more. I feel like…like I am responsible, somehow. I couldn’t give him justice even after he left us. I mean…his murderers were walking right under my nose, and I- I-” he abruptly cut himself off.
I shuffled closer to him, and held his gaze while saying my next words. “I want you to know that none of it was your fault. It was not your fault that you were lied to and kept in the dark. You had a lot of things going on, on top of that. So, don’t you dare blame yourself for something that was not in your control.”
Instead of replying, he closed his eyes. “It’s not just my dad I lost this time. I lost my so called mother for good.” His eyes opened, and I could see that hint of redness there: that which came from reigning in tears. “Sure, I wasn’t attached to her much, before this. But, this just…I feel ashamed that I am related to her. And, I don’t know…am I supposed to keep losing everyone my whole life?”
I instantly let go of his hands and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him in a hug. I couldn’t control my tears anymore. I had no idea how Noah did it. And, I hated crying. Screw my life.
“How dare you say that?” I said, my voice breaking. “You are not getting rid of me, even if you wanted to. It’s the mate bond, remember?”
I felt him stiffen. That’s it Chloe, you have scared him for good. He wasn’t even hugging me back. Could this get any worse?
I was about to pull away and wallow in embarrassment when I felt his hand on my back.
“Of course, how can I forget that?” Noah replied, his breath fanning my ear. “It’s not everyday that you get lucky and get Chloe ‘awesome’ Scott as your mate.”
And, just like that, I knew it was all okay.
I pulled away to look into his eyes and a wave of relief washed over me to see that usual trace of humor there. But, all my relief vanished when his eyes suddenly widened.
“Shit, you are not going to wipe your snot on my shirt, are you?” he asked, in a panicked voice.
I was stunned for a second, before understanding dawned upon me, and I lunged at him to beat the shit out of him.
“You annoying SOB! Just you wait! You wake your tomorrow, and all your favorite clothes will be covered in snot and tears.”
“Ugh! I didn’t need to see this!” a voice interjected.
I jumped away from Noah, and out of his bed, turning to face the door, where Caleb, Quinn and Brent, the pizza guy were standing.
“We are sorry to interrupt, but this is urgent,” Quinn walked in. “Charlie and Alice have escaped.”
“More like, the queen let them go,” Caleb muttered.
“And?” I prompted.
“And, we discussed a few things,” Quinn continued, “and, from what I found and also from Brent’s input, we now know who Charlie’s next target was or you can say is. And, I know this sounds unbelievable and seems impossible, but trust me when I say,” she released a breath, “it’s our mother, the queen.”
A/N: Look, who updated! Even if it’s a ‘whatever’ chapter, I am happy that I was able to update in two days! Wish me luck for more such fast updates XD And, after so long, I am in a mood to rant (even though I have a whole book for this, I am going to do it here):
So, I have a cousin, who is elder to me by four years. He is in film studies or something, and does director sort of work (don’t ask me the details, bc I don’t know lmao). He asked me if I wanted to visit a studio with him and I said yes. Man, I wish I could turn back the time and refuse, because…ugh, read ahead.
So, there were many models, actors, actresses in this studio. And, my cousin is friends with everyone. I was awestruck with all the beauty those models had to offer. And, needless to say, I developed like, fifty new crushes then and there. and, boy, I have never been so self conscious before, as I was then. I mean, in front of all those beautiful people, I literally looked like a potato (no kidding) and probably played the part too, by walking alongside my cousin awkwardly.
Finally, my cousin decided to introduce me to some of his friends. The first friend of his was a hot model, who seemed like he could melt me just by touching me.
Cousin: *insert model name*, met my cousin, crystal.
Model: *sticks out his hand, giving me a smoldering hot look* hello, crystal, nice to meet you.
Me: *shaking his hand hurriedly, then, realizing that I was had a fricking hanky in my hand and he probably thought I was transmitting germs* h-hi! Nice to meet you too.
Model: *chuckling, then, turning to my cousin* your cousin is so cute.
Me: *internally screaming: he called me cute! That’s a start*
Model: *continues* she reminds me of my sister. [me: (thinking, d-did he just…sister zone me?)] I miss her man. I haven’t been home for two months.
Cousin: it’s okay, you can visit my home anytime. And, my sister crystal, is like your sister too. tak to her whenever you miss home and your sister too much.
Model: *chuckling* I sure will. *then, smiles in my direction in a brotherly way*
Me: (in my head: FML!)