Page 84 of His Greatest Muse
Rocks fill my throat despite how many times I try to swallow. Fuck it.Here goes nothing.
“We’re connected. Somehow. Where he goes, I go. I’m my best self when I’m with him, and I help bring out things inside of him that nobody would ever be able to witness without me. I feel like I’m breathing polluted air when he’s too far away. The only time I can take a full, clean breath is when he comes back to me. I don’t remember a time in my life where it wasn’t like that. I don’t think there ever was. And I know how that must sound to you, but I can’t change the way I feel, even if Noah isn’t the type of person you imagined me with.”
My words smack into a wall of silence. It doesn’t feel uncomfortable, though. Just . . . heavy. Dad’s still staring at me, but the concern in his expression has shifted. No longer curious, he appears almost shocked, as if he didn’t expect me to unload on him the way I did. Despite our close relationship, we’ve never spoken about boys or relationships before. He’s always been too protective for me to even contemplate bringing up a crush to him. This all has to come as a surprise. At least it’s out there now. Maybe he can try and understand how I feel instead of putting his preconceived notions of Noah first.
“You okay?” I ask after a few more beats of silence.
He blinks a couple of times before glancing around at the gym. He’s fidgeting. My dad isn’t usually a fidgeter. I’d say this isn’t the time or place to tell him about my stalker. The last thing we need today is for him to go into cardiac arrest.
“Dad?”
His head snaps back at my voice this time. A soft, apologetic smile pulls at his mouth. “I’m sorry, Tiny. I’m just a bit out of my comfort zone here. I’ve never heard you speak about anyone like that before. It’s me that’s been naïve, I think. I should have seen this coming years ago.”
“You would have if you hadn’t let everything that happened with him and Oakley cloud your judgment.”
He tries to hide the guilt that flashes in his eyes, but I find it in an instant. “I think it was a lot of things. Oakley and my love and worry for you are just the main reasons behind my lack of understanding. I’m your dad. I’m always going to want to protect you from the things that could hurt you.”
“Noah isn’t going to hurt me. The way you and everyone else tend to treat him does.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
I close the distance between us and give him a hug. He wraps me up in his arms and presses a kiss to the top of my head. I’m surprised at how receptive he was to what I had to say. It’s progress. A bit of weight off my shoulders.
The rest of it will remain there until we figure out who’s been taking my things and watching us. Watchingme. A sense of wrongness floods my senses at the reminder of what’s been going on these past few weeks. It’s only been three days since we found my underwear and that scratched-up photo outside the bus, but they’ve been three incredibly tense days. We’re constantly waiting for something else to happen, and I don’t want to live my life looking over my shoulder all the time. I wake up on edge, and it only gets worse as the day goes on. We haven’t told anyone else about what happened, and I want to keep it that way for as long as possible.
“Thank you, but I think Noah’s the one who deserves the apology. He’s never going to be perfect, but he makes me really, really happy. He’s my unconventional kind of perfect,” I say.
Dad tightens his arms around my back, squeezing me softly. “I’ll apologize the next time I see him.”
I roll my lips to hide a smile as I back out of his arms and scratch the back of my neck. “About that—”
“Tinsley?” Noah shouts. He’s perfectly on time, as if I accidentally summoned him here.
Dad stiffens, eyebrows fastening together. “Coincidence?”
“We have plans after training,” I answer innocently.
“Right.”
Noah stalks into view, and I feel all of the tension leave my body. I grin and wave, not paying much mind to the irritated expression on his face when he glances at my dad. My excitement to see him makes everything else hard to care about. Maybe he’s rubbing off on me after all.
God, that sounds dirty. In a good way.
“Hey.” I bounce my leg to keep from running to him.
He looks back at me, and his features settle. “Finished already?”
“We got a bit distracted. Four hours will have to cut it today. Right, Dad?”
I widen my eyes at him and jerk my chin, silently telling him to get on with it. I’m grateful when he turns to Noah and attempts to make himself look less intimidating. Noah just stands in place, one brow twitching as they stare at each other.
“I’m sorry for the way I’ve treated you recently. If you make my daughter happy, then that will have to be good enough for me.”
My eyes pinball between the two men as a sticky silence drapes over us. I exhale a massive sigh of relief when Noah dips his chin and, despite the tension radiating from the hard lines of his body, attempts a grimace-like smile.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” Dad replies quickly. He wants out of here, and I have to stifle a giggle at his discomfort. It’s not often I get to see him this way.