Without warning, something crashed into Aaron, causing him to roll off Alec.
Not something.
Someone.
It was Noah. She must have ran across the room in order to shove him just enough to get Aaron off of him. Her momentum carried her forward and she tripped over Aaron’s body. The loud thump of Aaron hitting the floor was enough to alert the downstairs neighbor that shit was hitting the fan.
Where the fuck were the police?
“You, stupid bitch,” Aaron said, pulling himself up. “I should have killed you a long time ago – before your mother intervened. Before I had to put her in her place.” He stomped once, twice, until he hovered over her.
Alec grunted, pushing himself to a crouch, and then slowly straightening his knees. He was out of breath, exhausted. Every part of him hurt. But Aaron was focused on Noah, and Alec refused to let him hurt her any more than he already had.
He walked over to where Aaron was, each slow, painful step a second too long. Just as Aaron reached for Noah, Alec lunged for him. Again, the two fell down together, limbs tangled up. This time, Alec managed to pull himself up while Aaron was still on the floor. He kicked Aaron. Again. And again.
Alec didn’t feel the pain. Didn’t feel anything as the adrenaline coursed through his body and he became stronger. Aaron tried to block it, attempted to fight back, but failed. Alec kept going. Kicking him over and over again – until someone screamed.
20
Noah
“Stop!”
Noah blinked once, pushing the tears that filled her eyes down her cheeks. She brought her hand up to her mouth, her fingers shaking as she did so. She couldn’t control them. She couldn’t stop them even though she told her body to do just that. She swallowed, flaring her nostrils. She sniffed, not wanting more snot to come out, but she couldn’t help it. She rubbed her nose and then realized that she was the one who screamed, she was the one who told Alec to stop.
Alec looked at her over his broad shoulder. He seemed dazed, as though he was slowly waking from a dream. It was hard to read his face. He looked down at his hand and flicked his wrist once, twice, but it was like he didn’t even register the pain. And Noah knew he had to be experiencing some kind of pain after beating Aaron to a bloody pulp.
“I…” He let his voice trail off.
“You need to go,” she said, catching his eye. “Alec, you need to go. You need to get out of here. I’m pretty sure at least one neighbor called the cops, and I don’t want you here when they come. I don’t want anything to happen to you. Please.”
Alec shook his head. “I’m not leaving you,” he said, his voice soft but firm.
“But your trip,” Noah pointed out, though her voice was weak. She wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t believe what she was saying or if she was still reeling from what happened. It was probably both. “Your game. You can’t miss it.”
“I already did,” Alec said.
Noah closed her eyes, squeezing out more tears from her eyes. She didn’t want it to be true. She didn’t want him to have put everything on hold just for her. She didn’t think she was ready for that sort of responsibility.
“W-why?” Her voice cracked, asking the question she desperately did not want answered. “Why would you do that? I didn’t ask you to do that?”
“You didn’t have to.”
Alec’s eyes rested in his lap. His jaw clenched and he wouldn’t look at her. He was probably ashamed of himself, ashamed at what he had done. For her. The best thing for everyone would be for him to just leave. He would take care of it. She highly doubted the cops would believe that she was the one who beat Aaron the way Alec had, but Noah wouldn’t say anything and she doubted they would push an abuse victim, at least, for the moment.
“Alec, I don’t want you to stay,” she said. She still wouldn’t look at him – couldn’t. “I don’t want you to get involved more than you already have. I don’t want you to lose everything you’ve already built up. I don’t –“
“I love you.”
Noah stopped immediately, pulling her eyes from the ground so she could look at Alec. She wasn’t even sure what her face looked like, but shock was probably an understatement.
“What did you just say?”
Alec’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. For a second, Noah thought he was going to make a joke, maybe ignore what he said. He probably wasn’t thinking straight after everything that happened.
“You heard me,” he said, wincing as he reached across his torso, gingerly holding onto his side where he had been kicked.
“Your ribs.” Noah stepped forward, her arm reaching out so she could touch them, to feel the damage she indirectly caused. Before she could do just that, she yanked them back as though she was about to be burned. She didn’t want to hurt him more.
Instead, she spun around and made her way to the kitchen. Her fingers shook as she brushed hair away from her face, stopping only when she encountered the fridge. She opened the freezer and was about to pull out ice cubes from the dispenser when she realized she needed a ziplock bag. What was going on with her?
You’re traumatized, a voice said as it flitted through her head. What do you expect?
Noah closed the freezer and headed for the small pantry. She sucked in a breath, held it, then released it. She caught sight of the familiar green and blue box and grabbed a bag. In her haste, she dropped a few. Kneeling down, she picked them up and
