Page 9 of Her Noble Protector
My thumbs hovered over the keyboard as I reread his message multiple times. It caught me off guard to see a message from Noble checking in on me. I thought he was some mean ass man, but he had a soft side.
ME:
Can I be honest? :/
Noble:
Yes. Always.
ME:
I’m not okay at all. I’m scared, Noble. Is that normal? :(
Noble:
Yeah, it’s normal. Do you want to come downstairs and talk about it?
ME:
Yes, please.
I sat up and slid my feet into my slippers. The polar bear claws were my favorite house shoes to slide around in. They might have been childish, but I didn’t care.
The sound of the living room TV greeted me first as I descended the stairs. Then the sight of Noble came into view. He wore a pair of basketball shorts and a white T-shirt. He had his security iPad in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. He looked relaxed.
“Hey,” I squeaked. My voice betrayed me. I wanted to sound okay, but the shiver in my tone gave me away immediately.
“Hey.”
He craned his neck to look at me before I walked across the room to join him on the couch. After taking off my slippers, I tucked my legs under my butt and folded my fingers in my lap.
“I don’t know what to say,” I confessed.
“I’ll go first, if you don’t mind.” Noble put his iPad and bottle of water down before he turned to give me his full attention.
“Go ahead.”
“I want to apologize for the way I handled things.”
“You don’t have to apologize, Noble.” I scooted closer to him and placed my hand on his arm.
“Nah. I need to apologize because I will kill any and everybody who comes at you wrong. It’s in my nature. It’s in my blood. I’ve killed more people than I can count, so I’ve become numb to death. You aren’t me, and I shouldn’t have done it in your presence. I’ll do better at being discreet next time.”
Next time.
This was my reality until they handled the man who set up the bounty. There was no telling how many people would die before they found the man and handled him.
“How many people do you think will get hurt before this all ends?” I asked. I knitted my fingers together to hide the shakiness.
Noble shrugged. “I can’t give you an answer.”
“Will you get in trouble for killing people who are trying to kill me?” I inquired.
He shook his head. “Nah. Everything is handled so nothing traces back to me.”
“Is that legal?”
“Do you really want to know?”
