Chapter 267

The nightmares did not stop. In fact, they got worse. By the end of that week, I was having at least one every night, and it was showing in behavior during the day.

I could scarcely stay awake. At my new branch of Ever After Weddings, I had to sneak off into the breakroom whenever there were no customers around to take quick naps—and even those were littered with images of Gregory and Louise attacking me.

I was not enjoying the same success that I had at the other branch, but I convinced myself that it was only the lack of sleep and the fact that I was just getting started in a new location. It would get better soon, I told myself. It had to.

Noah and I hardly spent any time together after the attack. We saw each other at the apartment, but we rarely spoke about anything except for work. A couple times, Noah tried to breach the subject of my nightmares, but I shot him down every time.

Without Andrew and my regular therapist around, I did not feel like talking about my nightmares with anyone. I especially did not want to heave that burden onto Noah. He had enough on his shoulders without needing to take on my problems, too.

He wasn’t about to let the subject go, though.

One day, after a particularly slow workday, I came home to find Noah sitting at the dining table. There was no laptop, no smartphone, nothing. He merely sat there, waiting, as though he had been anxiously anticipating my return home.

My stomach flipped.

Normally, Noah stayed late at his office, doing whatever it was that it took to start up his own practice (I honestly did not listen to what he said that was half the time). That day, though, he had beaten me home and seemed to be waiting for me. I could not imagine what would have made him go to these lengths just to talk to me.

“What are you doing home so early?” I asked as I placed my purse on the couch.

“Hello to you, too,” Noah replied.

“Well, of course, hello.” I walked up to Noah and gave him a hug. “I’m sorry, but you just took me by surprise by being home before me.”

Noah awkwardly returned my embrace.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

He sighed.

“Crystal, we need to talk. Can you sit, please?”

I blinked at him but acquiesced.

“Of course. What’s going on?”

Noah hesitated but seemed determined to push on.

“I wanted to talk about these nightmares that you’ve been having.”

I blushed and rubbed the back of my neck. I thought about brushing him off again but decided that there was no way to avoid this subject forever. I might as well address it head-on and hope that he would be satisfied with the answer that I would give him.

“I’m really sorry about that,” I mumbled. “I know that they must keep you up, too…”

Noah grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently.

“Don’t ever apologize for anything like that,” he said firmly but kindly. “You can’t help it, and I know that the incident was traumatizing for you.”

My eyes fell to my lap.

“I know, but I should have told you that I tend to have nightmares before we moved in together.”

“How were you to know that something would trigger them?”

“It’s still a possibility that I should have warned you about—”

“Crystal, that is not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

I looked up at him through my lashes.

“Then what do you want to talk about?” I asked.

Noah ran his free hand through his hair.

“I know that you’re not happy here,” he claimed.

“Noah—”

“No, just listen to me.”

I pursed my lips and nodded, indicating that he should continue.

“Bob has been arrested,” he said. “It’s safe for us to go back to our old pack now. We don’t need to stay here anymore.”

“Yes, we do,” I insisted. “We have started new lives here. I have a new store here, and you’re starting a new law practice.”

A pained look crossed Noah’s face. I could not quite decipher where it had come from, and it concerned me greatly. I reached for his free hand with mine and gripped it tightly, trying to let him know that whatever was on his mind, I would listen to him.

“Ever After Weddings isn’t doing well—”

“It’s brand new. It will take some time for it to gain the reputation that it has back in our old pack.”

“My new firm is struggling as well.”

I blinked, momentarily taken aback. He had not mentioned that to me before. He had made it seem as though everything was going smoothly with the setup, that it was only a matter of time until he had clients pouring in.

“Again, it’s just because it’s new,” I tried to comfort him. “It will take off in no time—”

“Crystal, you don’t understand.” He ripped his hands out of mine. “The problem is that you are clearly not happy.”

“Just because I had a few nightmares after being attacked—”

“It’s not only that.”

Noah did not look me in the eye as he spoke.

“You’re disinterested in everything, even this new branch of Ever After Weddings. You’re not really present when we talk. I can tell that there’s some place you’d rather be…someone that you’d rather be with.”

His eyes finally darted to me, and there was something almost accusatory behind them.

“We’re supposedly engaged, and yet we have never had sex.”

Heat spread across my cheeks. I had not expected Noah, of all people, to bring something like that up. It had never seemed to bother him before, and I thought that he understood the sort of arrangement that we had.

“Noah, just because we haven’t been together yet doesn’t mean that I don’t want to be with you.”

“Oh, really? How long did take for you to be with Andrew once you started dating?”

My gaze shifted to the table.

“That’s what I thought.”

Noah shook his head.

“I’m sorry,” he continued. “I didn’t mean for this to become some sort of inquisition. I’m worried about you, is all.”

I tilted my head at him.

“Why is that?”

“I don’t like seeing you so upset and not being able to do anything about it.”

I smiled slightly, leaned forward, and kissed Noah on the cheek.

“That’s very sweet of you, but you don’t need to worry. I am happy where I am and who I am with. That attack just really shook me up, and it’s going to take me a while to get over it.”

Noah eyed me suspiciously.

“I will,” I insisted. “I promise.”

Noah rubbed his face with his hand and stretched his jaw out. He seemed lost in thought for a moment, his eyes darting back and forth as though he was having a conversation with himself. Then he closed his eyes and breathed out slowly through his nostrils.

Opening his eyes, he held my gaze and grabbed both my hands in his.

“Crystal, there’s something that I need to tell you.”