Chapter 50

Chapter 50
NOAH
I lifted my eyes from the almost empty bottle of alcohol on the table when music filled the room and saw Javier walk into the room before everywhere became quiet again when he closed the door. “Hey.”
“Wow,” he said, creasing his forehead, after his eyes zeroed in on the bottle. “Do you plan to go to work with a hangover?”
“I haven’t had that much to drink, but if I do, maybe dad will let me have the day off then,” I replied and he raised a brow before I groaned in frustration. “I think he’s doing it on purpose.”
He walked over to me, settling on the couch next to me with a sigh. “Doing what on purpose?”
“Working me to death… Work is all I’ve been doing for a while now and I don’t see it stopping anytime soon.” I heaved a sigh and ran my hand over my face. “He doesn’t want me spending any time with Dalia.”
“Are you just saying that or you’re completely sure that’s what he’s doing?”
I tilted my head sideways as I thought about it. I wasn’t completely sure if he was overworking me to prevent me from seeing Dalia, but I did know that he was pissed when he found out that people at Hartman knew about Dalia and I, and that was when the overworking started.
“A little bit of both? …I don’t know, man. It feels like we’re in a long distance relationship.”
“Why don’t you go see her now?”
“She’s having a family dinner,” I muttered and he picked up the bottle on the table, pouring its content into the glass next to it while I tried to picture what she was doing right now. It didn’t take long for her friend to pop into that picture though, and I clicked my tongue. “That dude is probably there with her.”
“Her best friend?” he asked, picking up the glass, and when I bobbed my head, he drew his brows together. “Still an issue for you?”
“No, it’s just… She and I barely spend any time together, but she’s always with him. Even at midnight,” I went on as I remembered hearing him next to her when I called her one night. “What the fuck is she doing with him at midnight?”
“Uh -”
“I’m not implying anything, Javier. I’m not. I mean… Fuck. Fuck me.” I hated that he was always there for her and with her, especially after how I ruined things in school for her. I was jealous.,, and stupid. Not being able to spend time together was my fault and I just kept complaining like that was going to solve anything. I needed to get my shit together. “... Do you think I should quit this CEO thing?”
His brows shot up while he made a noise in the back of his throat, and he dropped the glass he had been drinking from before getting to his feet. “Yeah. I’m not going to answer that, dude. Let's get you home.”

The apartment was so quiet, it was almost depressing, and I was tempted to go over to Javier’s to spend the night.
I heaved a sigh, dropping my jacket on a couch as I walked towards my room and checked the time on my phone to see if it was too late to call Dalia. It was almost midnight. She was probably asleep, but I should text her to check. I opened my room’s door as I started typing the message and when I turned on the light, I jolted at the sight of someone on my bed.
“... Dalia?” I said just as her eyes darted from her phone to me and she smiled before sitting up.
“Hey. I was beginning to think you weren't coming home.”
“You're-” I drew my brows together as I walked towards the bed, thinking I was hallucinating, but I realized that wasn’t the case after staring at her for several moments more. “What are you doing here?”
The smile slipped off her face and she cocked her head to the side. “You want me to leave?”
“God, no! I just…” I trailed off as I came to a stop next to the bed, and she crawled over to me before wrapping her arms around me. “You said you had dinner,” I added, running my fingers through her hair, and I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that she was really here.
“It ended three hours ago,” she replied just before I took her mouth in mine, swirling the tip of my tongue against hers and pulling it into my mouth. Jesus, she tasted good. She hmmed after I broke the kiss several moments later, and splayed her fingers on my chest. “You’ve been drinking.”
“With Javier.” I pressed a kiss to her lips before peppering her face with kisses and she laughed, tightening her hold on me.
“I missed you,” she muttered when I stopped and I wrapped my arms around her, burying my face in her hair
“I missed you more… Way more.” I pulled away from her and trailed my thumb over her cheek, wondering if she was going to go home this night. “Are you spending the night?”
“Do you want me to?” she replied and I slightly raised my brows. She had never spent the night in my place before.
“Yes.”
“Then I will.”
“…Really?” I asked and she nodded before she pulled me in for another deep kiss. I’d missed this so fucking much and I didn’t want to break the kiss, but we needed to breath. “I’m sorry I’ve been blowing you off for work.”
“You haven’t been blowing me off. Work is important.”
“Not as important as you,” I muttered and she beamed before pulling me down to sit next to her. “Are you busy next week?” I added when she straddled me and began to unbutton my shirt.
“Ehhhh… Julie’s having her final round of chemo on Wednesday and I have to sort some things out because I’m starting my internship in two weeks -”
“Oh,” I blurted out. “Where?”
“Auto Prime,” she replied and I pursed my lips because I had hoped she’d say Goodmans. I had mentioned that she should apply there when she told me she was applying for internships. I thought she would, but she obviously didn’t because if she had, she would have definitely gotten accepted.
“You didn’t apply to Goodmans?”
“Uh, no,” she muttered, letting out a harsh breath, before giving me a kiss and getting off me. “Me being there would probably… make things difficult for you.”
“It won’t.” I knew she meant making things difficult for me with the board members, but she didn’t have to worry about that. They already knew about us, but strangely, they didn’t do anything and one of them only made a snide remark once, so I assumed dad talked to them or something.
Dalia gave me a look - the one she always gave me when she wanted me to drop something - and I groaned before taking her hand in mine, squeezing it gently. “Okay. I’ll go take a shower.”

“Wake up, Anderson,” a familiar voice said in my ear and I came to with a jolt to see Dalia standing next to the bed. She was dressed up and holding a cup of coffee out to me, and I realized it was morning after seeing the light filtering in through the curtains. “Hey,” she muttered while I heaved a sigh and ran my hand over my face.
“Hey.” I pushed myself into a sitting position, and my lips curved into a smile when she pressed her lips to my forehead. We had spent quite the time talking and just enjoying each other’s company at night, so we ended up going to bed past midnight. “What time is it?”
“After nine.”
I picked my phone up from the nightstand to see several missed calls from dad and pursed my lips because I was meant to be at the company by nine. Well, he’s not going to be happy. I dropped the phone before taking the coffee from her, setting it on the nightstand as I pulled her to me. I wanted every morning to be like this. “Thank you.”
“Mmm. I should get going,” she muttered and I shook my head sideways, pulling her onto my lap.
“No.”
She snorted and tried to get up, but I wrapped my arms around her. “I have to. My dad and I are going rock climbing,” she said while I kissed her breast through her shirt. “Besides, you’re late for work.”
I kissed her shoulder. Her neck. “I can be a little late.”
“You’re a lot late,” she replied before pulling me in for a kiss that turned hungry and intense in no time, and when my hand slid under her shirt, she broke the kiss. “Get your ass out of bed, Noah,” she said with a grin and patted my shoulder as she got to her feet.
“Will you stay for breakfast?” I called out while she headed towards the door.
“Only if you’re ready for work in thirty minutes.”