Page 174 of Fractured Fate

He didn’t stop her from taking a moment to herself. He wouldn’t enjoy hearing someone he thought he could trust, or at least considered a friend, was someone different from what they led him to believe.

Her fingers curled into his shirt on his stomach. “So it was all an act? Did he do all those things to get to me because of Blaire, like the stalker wanted to do?” Her eyes met his, and the vulnerability there stole his breath.

He lifted his hands to cup both her cheeks. As much as he loathed to admit it, she needed answers to reassure her. “Noah liked you. It’s hard to mistake genuine affection. I don’t know what his intent was, but there was more to his actions.”

It crossed his mind that his words meant to reassure might make the betrayal hit harder, knowing Noah wasn’t faking it. That her friend sold her out. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything.

When she leaned forward, resting her head against his chest, he looped his arms around her, placing a hand on the back of her head.

He didn’t know what it felt to have a friend betray him, but he didn’t need to know firsthand. Charlotte’s emotions flowed into him, giving him an intimate understanding of the pain it brought.

36

NOAH

Charlotte watched as Riley cut into another swath of orange fabric. She had a pile of different shades of orange and pink around her on the floor of the craft room in the back of the clothing shop. Riley had said they needed to create an ombré effect with sunset colors for a beach wedding next month.

When she first asked about going with Riley to work so she could see her mom, Blaire and Lukas seemed hesitant about her leaving the academy grounds, but even Aiden reassured them that Riley could protect her. Riley might be smaller, but she wasn’t human. Her preternatural strength would be enough to ensure Charlotte’s safety.

Leaning forward, resting her elbows on her knees, she bit the edge of her thumbnail. In the couple of days following her conversation in the forest with Aiden about Noah, she replayed the events of her time getting to know him while she lived in Athens. The correlation between events that happened regarding the stalker and times she saw Noah seemed too convenient.

Was Noah her stalker all along?

She sat up, sliding her hands across her thighs, tapping her fingers where they came to rest.

Her theory made sense but didn’t. The biggest flaw in her theory came from Noah’s lack of issue with expressing his interest in her. He’d approached her like a normal person who wanted to date her. A stalker wouldn’t do that. Would they? A stalker would act unhinged and send stupid notes with flowers, make phone calls, and escalate to threats. The behavior of the stalker didn’t align with Noah’s attempts at a connection with her.

But the stalker showed up in Rosebrook Valley when she did, just like Noah.

She huffed, slumping against the wall.

“You’re gonna hurt yourself if you keep thinking so hard,” Riley quipped.

Charlotte groaned, slapping her thighs, and standing. “I know. I know.” She paced to the other side of the room near a drafting table covered in various sketches of different dress designs. “I just can’t figure out who this guy is. It’s obvious he’s after Blaire, but I don’t understand his interest in me. Why not go straight after her?”

“Because his job and his interests are different?”

She spun around. “What did you say?”

Riley set the fabric scissors down, looking at Charlotte. “If he’s supposed to get to Blaire, then he’d do that, but if he’s interested in you, then that’s different.”

She put her hand on her forehead, placing the other on her hip. “Huh?” Nothing about what Riley said made the least bit of sense to her.

“Okay, so the rogues don’t work alone. Like gangs, right?”

“Yeeeeah.”

“So he’s not the only one after Blaire. I mean, there were two of them in the alley.”

She had told them all about Noah after everything that had occurred, so they knew he shared a connection with her.

“Now, he might be the big kahuna, or he might be low on the totem pole, but if the dude in the alley wasn’t him, and that guy Noah isn’t him—which I’m still on the fence about—then that means someone else is stalking you.”

“What’s your point?”

“Uh.” Riley looked up at the ceiling. “Oh!” She dropped her gaze back to Charlotte. “Right. That shows you there are more people.”

“Uh huh,” she said, dragging out the last word. Where was Riley going with this?