Chapter 24: Noah, Bruised and Battered

Noah felt the breakup all over again as he listened to Cassandra. She'd spouted lies, but at least she hadn't said he was abusive. Everything she accused him of, she'd done to him instead.

Hailey sat there recording it all. Noah had kept silent as he'd promised. His heart hurt in a different way from the breakup. He hoped that Hailey didn't believe any of it, but he couldn't be sure. Her face hadn't shown any reaction.

They rode down in the elevator in silence, but in her peripheral vision, he could see Hailey glancing his way. He couldn't tell if that meant Hailey had believed Cassandra or not. Noah wasn't ready to talk about it.

What Cassandra had said, reopened wounds that Noah had thought healed long ago. His heart lay raw in his chest and he wanted out of the situation. If he could have run screaming from that hotel room, he would have.

But he was happy to be there for Hailey. Cassandra would have been worse if Noah hadn't been there to see things. As it was, she'd looked down