Noah

“Surprise!” Angela said from where she was stirring something in a bowl, steam billowing up from it as she’d just pulled it from the microwave.

“Surprise is right,” Hector said, while Noah remained speechless.

Their noses began to work, followed by their eyes as they looked around at the setup.

“Did you bring us lunch?” Noah said, wondering if she could hear the drool from his mouth hit the floor.

“And what if we did?” Rachel challenged.

“Then…then,” Noah tried to speak, but the words failed him as scents assaulted his nose.

The dish Angela was stirring smelled suspiciously of pasta and copious amounts of cheese. Thick slices of fresh roast beef were laid out on a platter in front of Rachel, along with what he started to identify as buns, horseradish, and something else. Mustard, perhaps? It didn’t matter, it was all mouthwatering.

“Well, are you going to stare, or are you going to come eat it and tell us just how fabulously delicious it is, while showering us with compliments?”

“The biggest compliment I think you could get would be our silence while we devour it,” Hector said from at his side as he stepped up to his mate.

“Absolutely not,” Rachel said, waving a wooden spoon at him threateningly. “We didn’t go through all this work just to have you two cavemen shovel it into your mouths without being able to keep up proper table conversation.”

The two men looked at each other and groaned in unison. Noah tried not to grin. Hector might not completely trust him, but that didn’t mean they weren’t still two men at the mercy of women. Sometimes things never changed.

“Oh get over here,” Angela growled, a smile on her face as she set the cheesy-pasta—and beef, he noticed with delight—bowl down on the table.

“Yes, ma’am,” the two men said and proceeded to pile their plates and a bowl high with food. There was a salad as well, which they obviously skipped, mashed potatoes, warm bread, all the good things.

“I’m not sure we’ve done enough good to deserve all this,” Noah said as they sat down.

“You didn’t. That’s why there’s some of it for us.”

“Yeah,” Hector said. “We know. But you could have stayed at home to make and eat a salad.”

Rachel slapped him in the arm. “I’ll have you know I intend on eating my fair share of this, thank you very much. We made it, we get to eat some of it. So don’t think it’s all for you.”

Both Noah and Hector managed to look perfectly saddened by the knowledge that they had to share, which drew a laugh from the women. The foursome and two children ate somewhat quickly, knowing that they couldn’t ask Andrew to cover for them for too long. As Noah found out, they’d been ready to sit in the lobby and feed them if necessary, so this was a boon for all sides.

Still, they finished up rather quickly, with both he and Hector having seconds, and then with a falsely reluctant sigh from the women that served to hide a satisfied smile, they were also allowed thirds.

“Okay,” Rachel said as she finished packing up the empty dishes, having portioned out the leftovers into two containers and left them on the table. “We’re off, boys. Have a good rest of your shift.”

Noah smiled as she walked over to Hector, leaned up, and gave him a kiss. “I’ll see you back at the house.” Then she waved at Noah.

He almost forgot to wave back, but managed in time to get his hand up in a fair approximation of a casual wave. “Take care,” he said, wondering if the others could hear the tightness in his voice.

Rachel didn’t seem to react, which he hoped meant his acting had sufficed not to draw attention. She pushed the stroller with Karlie in it to the rear while Hector strode out, leaving him and Angela alone for the moment.

“What did she mean by that?” he asked.

“Mean by what?”

Noah frowned. “When she said “see you back at the house.” She doesn’t live in a house. It’s a unit. That’s what you all call it. So why did she say house?”

Angela’s eyes flicked up and to the side as she replayed the conversation. Noah could see the skin around them tighten slightly as she realized he was right. Rachel had said house. Not unit, or complex, or even just home. She’d said house, which implied an actual building. Which was either a very random slip of the tongue, or she was hiding something from him…

“I guess it was just a slip of the tongue?” Angela replied.

Noah wanted to deflate right then and there as she lied to him. It was as clear as day, he could see it in her eyes, in her mouth and the set of her shoulders. Angela wasn’t telling him the truth. She knew more than she was letting on.

“I see,” he said dully, not bothering to hide the fact that he was aware she was lying to him. “You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

He inhaled, breathing out in a sigh. “Very well,” he said stiffly. “Thank you for lunch. I need to get back to work.” Noah gave her a very polite hug and then left the room right away, before he could reveal to Angela how hurt he was by her lie.

It revealed a lot to him, including the fact that she apparently still suspected him, and didn’t trust him completely, despite her earlier words. There was still doubt sown in her mind about his true intentions in Cloud Lake, and whether he might just be using her, instead of the truth. Noah wasn’t certain how he could convince her that he was being honest with her, short of telling her that he knew she was his mate, that they were going to be together forever. Eventually.

Doing so would probably just scare her away, however, and that was what he could afford to do least just then. He needed to gain her trust, to find out what she knew, and potentially use that to out either Braden or Chase, whoever was the spy. But if Angela wasn’t going to do that, then he had exactly zero leverage over them, nothing to bait them with.

Which meant that to gain the information he needed, he was going to have to do something he did not wish to. Something devious and underhanded, that he’d so far absolutely refrained from even considering.

Noah was going to have to follow Hector home.