Noah (5th Street series)

Chapter 11- Part 2

Infuriating is what it was. Veronica took a deep breath before hitting the unlock button on her car. She knew coming with Noah tonight was a mistake. She never should've done it. And if he expected her to admit she was pissed—beyond pissed—about the fact that he'd given Gio's cousin a long hard ride the day after Thanksgiving, he was out of his mind.

She thought back to that day now as she shoved her key into the ignition: the day he'd acted disappointed that he couldn't join her at the park to take her stupid pictures. Yeah, she was sure now that was sincere. A day at the park watching her take pictures of snails and raindrops on leaves, or a day of sex with his holiday whore? Hmm, tough choice.

But again, she reminded herself it was none of her business. Noah was free to do what he pleased. He owed her no explanations, and she wasn't asking him for any, so why the hell was he pushing this now? Did he want to embarrass her? Was this fun for him? He wanted her to say that it had bothered her more she'd ever imagined? She'd sooner die.

He finished putting on his seat belt just as she began to back out. "You were pretty obvious, Roni. I don't know why you just don't tell me." She turned to him, expecting some kind of smug smirk or twinkle in his eyes. Instead, he was glaring at her. "You have a thing for Gio?"

She blinked, stopping the car right there in the middle of the parking lot and stared at him. "What?"

"I saw the way you looked at him with that girl. Admit it. You were jealous."

She shook her head slowly, trying to make sense of what he'd just said. This is what he'd been referring to all this time? He thought she was jealous of Gio and that groupie?

"You looked disgusted when she sat down next to him. That's when I noticed you were upset, and then you suddenly wanted to leave?"

Roni's mind raced as her foot stepped down on the accelerator and they were on the move again. She was glad now that the restaurant was just a few blocks away from her house. She wanted nothing more than to get this night over with. Hector's comment had hit her like a slap, and she'd spent the entire time after that trying and apparently failing miserably to recover from it. Seeing Gio with that groupie served only as another reminder that this was Noah's world and she had absolutely no right to be judging him. He was young and deserved to be sowing his wild oats. But there was no escaping the festering jealousy she'd felt, knowing he slept with Gio's cousin and would apparently be doing so again in just a week.

She'd have to worry about her annoyingly contradicting emotions later. For now, there was hope that he'd misconstrued her stewing. Instead, he was under the ridiculous notion that she was jealous over Gio.

"All right, you got me."

"You're into him?" His voice was a near whisper now.

"No." She turned to him. He'd been staring straight ahead, but he turned to face her when she answered. "Don't be ridiculous. He's your age, remember? But you got me about the groupie. I remembered what you said about them before, and I guess I was a little disgusted. But I wasn't upset."

"So you're saying you couldn't be into him because of his age?"

Glad that they'd gotten past the subject of her being jealous about anything, she nodded in relief. "Well, yeah. He's twenty like you, right?"

"But what does that have to do with anything?"

Veronica rolled her eyes. "It has everything to do with it. Why would a guy his age be interested in a woman my age?"