Page 52 of Hard Rock Tease

"The only person I trust is myself."

"That's a terrible way to live, Noah."

"Whatever," he said dismissively. "I don't need this."

"And bythisyou mean someone who actually cares about you? Someone who's willing to listen?"

"I mean dealing with some deluded fangirl who thinks she knows everything about me."

"So this is how it is? You just push away anyone who gets too close? Is that what you did with Lily? Is that why you sent her away to London?"

Noah stared at me with dead eyes for several long, silent minutes. He stalked over to the door and threw it open.

"Get out."

"What do you mean, get out?" I said, shocked.

His eyes were shuttered, his face expressionless.

"It means I don't need you anymore. I'm done."

Chapter Seventeen

At first I'd been upset. Beyond upset. Noah had said such sweet things to me the night before, then shut right down and thrown me out the next morning. I had seethed the whole way home, stomping my feet with every step and cursing Noah Cranky Hart.

Once I calmed down, I tried to see things rationally. Clearly I'd poked Noah in a sore spot. I shouldn't have provoked him. I certainly shouldn't have mentioned his sister.

I suppose he'd had his reasons for acting like that. He clearly didn't like talking about his feelings. He was obviously embarrassed about how much he'd shared. I wasn't going to let him off lightly, but I would at least give him a chance to apologize for throwing me out like that.

After a few days I sent a text, saying that we should talk. No answer. I left voicemails. Nothing.

It seemed Noah had been telling the truth when he said he was done.

"You look like you're a million miles away!" my friend Natalie said as she popped her head around my shoulder to smile at me.

I had a standing lunch date with my two best friends. We had lived together while we were at college. They had both recently moved in with their boyfriends so we'd made a pact to have lunch together at least once a week to make sure we kept in touch.

Ivy had recently reunited with her long lost childhood sweetheart, Ren Sada, after five years. Natalie had managed to capture the attention of her lifelong crush Morris Edwards.

Both happened to be members of Darkest Days' rival rock band Feral Silence.

Nat and Ivy managed to stay down to earth, despite having famous boyfriends. They often teased me that I should try to snag a rock star boyfriend of my own.

My mind immediately went to Noah. I scoffed at the thought of him ever actually opening up enough to someone to be their boyfriend. Even friends-with-benefits was out of the question, since Noah didn't have friends. We were merely work colleagues who had sex.

And as it turned out, we weren't even that anymore.

"Tell us about your new job," Natalie asked.

"I can't," I said with an apologetic shrug. "I signed a non-disclosure agreement." Although I didn't know if I even still had a job.

"That's not fair," she said, faking a pout. "Can't you even tell us where you're working?"

"It's in the music industry, I can tell you that much."

Nat's eyes lit up. "I'm so happy for you, Jen. You've worked so hard. You deserve it."

I looked down at my sandwich, picking out the cucumbers and setting them aside. All my hard work had clearly been for nothing. "I haven't worked any harder than you two have."