Page 38 of Freed By Fire
“But as you said, we’re both somewhere we shouldn’t be,” he continues. “So, it does make me wonder.”
“About what?”
Noah Sr. gestures to the nearest woman in a uniform and waits until she’s in front of us. “I’ll have a whiskey sour.”
The waitress nods and disappears.
“We could be of use to one another. Rumor has it you’ve got yourself some powerful…friendsthese days.”
Panic and fear claw their way through me. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”
Noah Sr. studies me, his dark eyes giving me chills. “You can deny it all you want, but I know the truth.”
I stiffen. “I am not going to help you.”
Noah Sr. laughs humorlessly. “You haven’t even heard my offer.”
“I don’t think it will matter.”
He stops laughing and looks at me coldly. “I am not a man who goes back on his word, London. You do me a favor, and I’d owe you one. I am a powerful ally to have, as you’ll come to learn.”
I search his face. “Who said anything about wanting an ally?”
Noah Sr. leans across the table and lowers his voice. “I can tell you’re going to need one.”
I press my lips together and lean away from him.
Where is Carlisle, and why hasn’t he stepped in?
Because you know what’ll happen if he does. He knows you don’t want to draw attention to yourself, and what happens if word spreads that he intervened with one of the biggest clients.
As much as I hate being exposed, and to Noah’s dad of all people, I know it’s for the best that no one else, least of all Carlisle, gets involved.
Noah Sr. has to believe I’m just here having a drink.
It’s the only way I’ll get him to leave.
Or at least that’s what I tell myself when the waitress returns with his order and a smile. When she leans over to set it on thetable, Noah Sr’s eyes roam over her slowly, but she pays him no mind. He offers her a bright smile full of expensive white teeth, and she blinks at him.
She shoots me a sympathetic look on her way past.
Noah’s dad reaches for his drink and eyes me over the rim. His eyes remain on my face, and it takes every ounce of self-control I have to sit there and not react. Noah Sr. is nothing compared to some of the bloodthirsty enemies Mason has gained over the years, but I know he can’t be trusted.
And he’s got clout with every major politician in the area.
I’ve known since the day I laid eyes on him that he couldn’t be trusted, but not wanting to break Noah’s heart, I’d kept it to myself.
What good would it have done?
Noah is many things, but stupid isn’t one of them. Deep down, he must know what his father is like, and if he doesn’t want to confront that, that’s his prerogative. It’s not your business, and it’s too late for you to do anything about it now.
At this point, anything I tell Noah would seem mean and spiteful.
I’ve taken enough from him, and I have no intention of adding his dad to the mix.
Noah Sr. clears his throat, and I realize he’s still looking at me intently. He takes a long drink of coffee and carefully sets it on the table between us. “Well?”
“Well, what?”
