What He Believes by Hannah Ford Page A

“I just… I thought that if he had
information about those girls that I should at least listen to him.”
    Noah nodded, his
lips set in a firm line.   He crossed
the room to the window and stared out across the city for a long moment.   He took in a deep breath.   The silence stretched between us, thick
with tension.   When he finally
spoke, he did so slowly, as if he wanted to make sure he chose his words
carefully.
    “You do realize
that the story of what happened to you has been all over the newspapers.”
    “I know that,
Noah,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m not a complete idiot.”
    “I didn’t say you
were an idiot, Charlotte.”
    “Really?   Because pointing out something that is
very obvious, namely the fact that my story has been in all the papers, feels
like you think I’m an idiot.”
    He turned to look
at me, his eyes blazing with fury.   “I think you’re naïve, Charlotte.   Do you realize the amount of crazy people there are in this city, the
kind of crazy people who will call anyone they read about?   You will not put yourself in danger like
this ever again.   You will not.”    The intensity of his voice hit me
like a wave and I involuntarily took a step back from him, even though he was
on the other side of the room.
    “You cannot keep
me locked up like some kind of kept woman, Noah,” I said.   “I’ve told you, this is –”
    He crossed the
room in three long strides and grabbed me by the shoulders, pulled me toward
him so that my chest was crushed against his.   He kissed me, his tongue parting my
lips.  
    When he pulled
back, his eyes were still blazing with fury, the tension in the room so
palpable I could almost hear it crackling.   “You will obey me,” he breathed.   “You will do as I say so I can keep you safe.”
    “But – ”
    He kissed me
again, silencing me.  
    When he pulled
away, his eyes had softened just a tiny bit, and I could see the desperation
and panic simmering beneath his anger.   “If anything happens to you,” he breathed,   “I will never forgive myself.    Ever.   I can’t… I cannot go through it again,
Charlotte.   Not with you.   It will destroy me.”
    His voice caught
on the last word, and I knew he was thinking about Nora.   Nora, his ex-fiancé.   Nora, who had been killed by Professor
Worthington, the same way I’d almost been killed by him.
    I stared at him,
at the strength in his face, the determination on his features.   He was so wounded inside, and I couldn’t
even being to imagine what it was he’d gone through with Nora, what that whole
thing had done to him.
    There was so much
I didn’t know about him, this man who had asked me to spend my life with him,
to bond myself to him in a way that was irreversible.   Divorce was not an option for me.   I was only going to get married once.
    I knew Noah was
the man I wanted to spend my life with.
    But how could it
work if he wouldn’t let me in?
    Be patient, I told myself.
    But greed filled
me, taking over, forcing me to push him.   My need to feel close to him pushed away my reservations.
    “Noah,” I
said.   “Can we… .Nora ,
what happened to her?   How did she…what
were you…?”   I swallowed, not
knowing exactly what I wanted to say, what I wanted to know.
    No. That wasn’t
true. I wanted to know how he’d felt about her, what their relationship had
been like.   How had they met?   What was she like?   What had he done to get over the pain of
losing her?   Was he over the
pain of losing her?   Would he ever
be?   And Dani.   I couldn’t forget about her,
either.  
    She had died too,
at the hands of Professor Worthington.   And even though Noah’s relationship with Dani hadn’t been as serious as
his relationship with Nora, her death must have still been devastating.
    “Charlotte,” Noah
whispered, shaking his head.
    I reached up and
touched his face, put one hand on each side of it, and looked deep into his
eyes.