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“You gone love this shop. It’s never really busy when I pass by, but the lady who owns it is dope. Her name is Goldyn,” Noah shared as we passed the resort. I still hadn’t visited, but Noah promised to give me a tour whenever I wanted.

“Goldyn…” I echoed. That name sounded familiar, but I didn’t know why.

We rode in companionable silence, giving me time to concentrate on not fucking up my face, but when I capped my lipstick, I squinted my eyes and asked Noah a question I’d wanted to ask since I met him.

“What made you and Greyson decide to live together?”

I’d spent the last two weeks witnessing their dynamic, and the biggest takeaway I got was that they would both move heaven and hell for each other.

But they were both eligible bachelors, supposedly in their prime and never alluded to being on the market for anything other than what they had together.

Beside me, Noah brushed a hand over his jaw and spoke. “I went through the worst break up of my life and he was the only person I thought of. I drove to Bliss Peak without realizing that’s where I was going. My sister has lived here for years with her husband but I didn’t go to them, I went to Greyson and he never thought twice about it. He had just moved into the house so hecould be close to the resort and showed me to the guest suite.” He released a weighted sigh I could feel in my gut before he went on. “I told him I needed a few weeks to get my shit together. It turned into two years. I don’t see myself going anywhere anytime soon.”

I smiled and zipped up my makeup bag. The bond I had misread as romantic the first time I met them was clearly only meant for the two of them to understand. From all the dinners we’d shared, I knew they met in grade school in Charlotte and went to college at King’s Town A&M together before going their separate ways to start their careers in different cities. Noah was bisexual and tended to be a serial monogamist in his twenties, but I’d learned next to nothing about Greyson’s past love life.

“I’m glad you had him to run to. Even subconsciously, you knew that.”

Noah nodded silently, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. “I owe him everything but he would never even let me mention repaying him. That’s just the type of man he is.”

That was sweet.Theywere sweet. No wonder it was so easy for them to welcome me like I’d always been here because they spent their days taking care of each other and expecting nothing in return. It was just who they were.

“I’ve been thinking more on it lately though. Whenever he finds someone, I know I’ll have to leave so they can have their space.”

“How do you know you would have to leave?”

“Would you wanna be a newlywed living with your husband and his roommate?”

I giggled at how bluntly he delivered the question. And while I could see where he was coming from, the fact remained: they were more than roommates. And neither of them seemed in a rush to change that, so maybe he had nothing to worry about.

Silence fell on the truck and I embraced the peace, watching the passing scenery. More leaves were on the ground now and aside from the drop in temperature, the nearly barren landscape made it obvious that a new season had fully arrived.

“I got proposed to the night I left.” Noah’s voice startled me out of my reverie.

“What?”

He kept his eyes ahead but reframed his confession. “The night I broke up with my ex, he got down on one knee and proposed to me.”

“Oh…”

“We weren’t working. Hadn’t been working for months. It took me a while to realize what he was doing for all that time was abuse. I thought just because he hadn’t put his hands on me that I was just being sensitive. Later, my therapist told me it was emotional abuse, and abusers banked on their victims not knowing that.”

My nose burned as anger filled my veins. I wanted to hurt whoever had the audacity to hurt him. This man was too good for the bullshit he’d been dragged through.

“It made it harder to understand as abuse because I was used to the same shit from my father. I thought it was tough love.” He shook his head like he was trying to clear unwanted memories from his mind. Hearing his father had been his first abuser turned my anger into a simmering rage.

Noah was clueless to the roller coaster of emotions I was on and licked his lips.

“Anyway, that night my ex threw out every single thing he knew I wanted. Or used to want, at least. A ring. Talk about looking for a surrogate so we could have a baby. Putting a down payment on a house together.”

He slowed to a stop at a red light and cast me a cautious look. When I smiled encouragingly, he went on.

“It was everything I used to want with him, but by the time he wanted to give it to me, I didn’t give a fuck anymore. The thought of raising kids with him gave me a god damn panic attack. I didn’t want to make a child endure our toxic version of love.”

My heart shattered at the sudden chill in his voice. It was the darkest I’d ever heard his tone and told me everything I needed to know about the type of man his ex was.

An ache worked its way through my sternum, making the words I wanted to say taste bitter on my tongue.

“He didn’t deserve you.”