Surviving the Storm

Chapter 25

     I watched as Noah got out of his car with ease. A duffle bag clutching in his hand. Celeste squeals running into his arms. Noah stands there surprised slowly wrapping his arms around her. She kisses him on a cheek before backing up.

    I could feel his presence behind me. It's been over a day since I last saw Brendon's face. He passed me in the hallway on the way to the kitchen. Our talk hasn't happened yet like I expected it to. It's been a couple days since he's been staying with us.

     The movie night was a success besides the fact that Celeste kept giving me the side eye. I knew she was thinking about the talk we had. I didn't want to talk to her anytime soon though. Faye was able to be put back to bed with the help of Garret. He had to remain in the room so she wouldn't have nightmares. Apparently Ana's scream frightened Faye since she was already having a nightmare.

      "It feels good to be home," Noah admits. A smile on his face as we follow him into the mansion.

I fell behind not wanting to be a center of attention. Garret patted Noah on the back already rattling off news about the company. Celeste was hugging Noah's arm. His arm nestled between her breasts making me scoff. Of course she was being desperate.

"How about we watch the game? I'll order take out?" Noah proposes interrupting Garret. He pouts walking back to Nat's side. She hands Faye over to Garret before walking to stand by me.

"Okay what's wrong?" she asks. I shrug standing there watching Noah interact with the family.

"Nothing," I comment. Nat noticing Brendon walking my way and leaves. She takes Garrets hand leading them into the living room.

"Babe, can you put the game on the tv?" Noah asks Celeste. She smiles at him innocently walking into the room the rest went into.

Noah's eyes lock onto mine. They flicker to Brendon briefly before returning back to mine. "Brendon, can you give us a second?" he asks nicely. Brendon hesitates to leave going into the room after Celeste.

"How was your trip?" I ask. He sits down on the last stair on the large staircase. He pats the spot next to him. I felt like I was going to get lectured. I walk over taking a spot a few inches away from him.

"It was fine but I missed being home. I missed you texting me about your cravings," he teases. I take a moment to admire him. The combed back hair making the luxurious state of his black suit. The stubble on his chin made him look even more attractive.

"Yeah I miss spending all your money on my food," I reply with a smile.

"On a different note, I was visiting Jackson," he confesses. His brother that no one knew about. I tried to find images of Jackson online. There was an image of Noah in football. He looked like he had his arm wrapped around someone else, but the photo was cropped.

"How is he?" I decide to ask. Noah shrugs wiping a hand down his face tiredly.

"He's the same as last time. I tried to see if he could be any use to my investigation on Simon & Ash," he informs me.

I watch Noah pull out his phone pulling up an imagine of Simon & Ash company. It was a logo but in the background on each side was two boys with arms crossed. One was a light brown haired boy with blue eyes. The other must have been Ashton. He had lighter hair and hazel green eyes. I wondered if this was the Simon that was mentioned on the phone call. Celeste's dad was the attorney for the Simon & Ash company. There had to be some sort of connection there right?

But Celeste said she wasn't getting back with him. Simon had to be in his forties or older by now. It couldn't have been the same Simon.

"Any news?" I ask.