Chapter 81 - Vol. 3: Noah To Haru - 81

Noah

“You look worse every time I see you,” Connor said, chuckling as he watched Noah slumping on the sofa. There were dark shadows under the man’s eyes, and he looked haggard. “Did you even get a wink of sleep last night?”

Noah brought his hand up and rubbed his finger and thumb on the bridge of his nose. “Nope.”

Connor leaned himself against the side of the countertop as he folded his arms across his chest. “Work?”

“Yeah,” Noah said. “Can’t be helped since I fucked up.”

“You seem to be fucking up quite a bit at work in the past two weeks,” Connor said. “What happened?”

Noah sat up and sighed. “Fuck if I know how it started. If it’s not one thing, it’s another, and I swear Nicolas is beginning to have doubt in my ability.” He chuckled sadly. “Fuck, I’m beginning to have doubt in myself. Everything I do seems to go wrong. It’s crazy.”

“I’ve known you since we were in elementary school, Noah, and you’re a perfectionist. You don’t fuck up. What if someone at work is trying to mess with you again? Or what if it’s all just a stroke of bad luck?”

Noah eyed his best buddy. “You think someone is trying to fuck me up? Like in my last job? No way, everyone is so nice at the office.”

“I say maybe, or maybe it’s just a stroke of bad luck.” Connor shrugged his shoulders. “That happens. I mean considering something happened at home and you just suddenly left and now... Bad luck is my bet.”

“Bad luck.” Noah chuckled. “Yeah, right.”

Furious knocking sounded at the door of the apartment, which drew both men’s attention.

“You expecting someone?” Noah asked.

Connor shrugged his shoulders. “Not that I know of.” He left the open-plan living area and headed over to the front door.

Noah slumped back on the sofa, feeling damn exhausted, unlike anything he had ever felt before. Life seemed to have gone from hunky-dory to hell for him, and fuck, he missed his brothers. More importantly, he missed Haru, to the point that he might just go crazy. Despite the desire to return, to catch even a small glimpse of the boy, he was firm in his decision. He didn’t deserve to see Haru for what he had done to the boy, not until Haru had forgiven him.

“Noah!”

It was Isaac’s voice, and Noah flashed his eyes open and bolted up again. “Isaac? What the hell are you doing here?”

The brother came to sit down on the floor near the sofa and begged, “Please come home. Everyone misses you.”

Noah raked his fingers through his hair. He snorted. “Really, everyone misses me at home? I doubt that.”

“I’m serious. I’m not lying. Everyone misses you, especially Haru. You know he’s changed since you’ve left,” Isaac said. “He’s become withdrawn and distant, like he doesn’t want to be with any of us anymore. I think it’s because he really misses you.”

Noah shook his head. Yeah, he knew why Haru had become withdrawn and distant. It was because of him, Noah.

“Go home, Isaac,” he said.

“Nuh-uh! I’m not going home without you,” Isaac said firmly.

Behind him, Connor said, “Does that mean you’re going to be staying here, Isaac?”

The boy turned and said, “Yes. I’m staying here tonight. So there.”

Connor burst out laughing. “Do whatever you want. You’re welcome to share my bed, if you want.” He winked. “Noah is taking the spare bedroom.”

Isaac said, “I’ll take the sofa.”

Connor shrugged his shoulders. “Suit yourself.” Turning on his heel, he said, “I’ll start with dinner.”

Back to Noah, Isaac said, “Did something happen that day? I know Haru got really sick after the party.”

Noah eyed his brother. “Is he... Haru, is Haru all right?”

Isaac nodded. “Yeah, he’s fine now, or not so fine. I mean he’s so withdrawn and distant, like I said, and today, he had a big fight with Aiden and Mason.”

Noah frowned darkly. “Really? Fuck!”

He couldn’t believe it. Haru fighting with Aiden and Mason. That was rare.

“What did they fight about?”

Isaac said, “It’s about this new guy. Aiden said he’s not to be trusted, but Haru went to his apartment and stuff like that. I mean, shit, he befriended the guy, and none of us knew about it. What happened if that sicko took advantage of Haru?”

Noah felt sick to his stomach just thinking about it. Some sicko wanted to lay his dirty hands on their cute Haru? Over his dead body. But fuck, he couldn’t do anything to protect Haru, not with the way he was now, especially with him being so far away. He couldn’t keep his eyes on the boy, that was for sure.

“Will you think about coming home soon, Noah?” Isaac asked. “Please?”

Noah sighed. “I’ll think about it. And just so you know, I’m leaving for St. Joseph Island on Monday. I’ll be staying there for a week, and that means you’ll be staying here with Connor alone.”

That got Isaac flushing red in the face. “Okay, I’ll go home tomorrow.”

Noah smiled as he ruffled the younger brother’s hair. “Good boy.”