Crazy Bitch
“What’s with the extra security?” I ask, pulling out a chair and taking a seat next to Anna.
“You haven’t heard?!” Darren exclaims.
I’ve got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Anna passes me the coffee the waitress just brought and asks for another. “I haven’t heard anything.”
“Sara is here. She broke into Noah and Mel’s room yesterday when they were in the casino,” Wyatt answers for him.
“Why am I just now hearing about this?” I’m trying to keep my voice down, but this isn’t okay. Security breaches should immediately be sent to all of us.
Wyatt stirs his coffee before replying. “Warren and Noah decided to keep it on the down low until they worked out all the security details, I guess. You should have an email by now though, have you checked?”
“No, after I got back from dropping off J, I slept for a couple of hours and then came straight here after taking a shower.”
“Hey, guys,” Noah greets us as he takes a seat.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Sawyer, really.” When his eyes meet mine, the tension in my shoulders lessens.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“It was unexpected. I called Tony and Warren while Ryan got rid of Sara, and then I spent a long while explaining everything to Mel. Once I was finished, I figured if I called you, you would get all hovery and I didn’t want to make your bad weekend any worse. What about you, are you okay today?”
Darren snickers and I smile, trying to ease Noah’s anxiety. “I’m great. Wyatt flew J in for the night.”
“No shit?” Noah flashes a huge grin at Wyatt. “Thanks, that’s the best thing I could have heard today, seriously. Is he okay? Why isn’t he here?”
“Bar shit. He flew back at five this morning. He’s fine. We … got through it like usual.”
“Carly?” he whispers, and I nod. Jordan’s little sister has always been his biggest regret.
“What in the actual fuck?” Anna blurts out, and when we look up, we see exactly why she’s pissed. Sara and her friends have just been seated at a nearby table. When she sees she has our attention, she waves as if we’re long lost friends. “That demented bitch. She may not realize she shouldn’t fuck with you, Noah, but she’s about to get my foot up her ass right now.”
As Anna pushes herself back from the table, I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her back down. “Come on, killer, we have men we pay good money to do that. Let’s keep you off Lizzie Borden’s radar for a wee bit longer, shall we?”
I’m joking, but it’s just to lighten the mood. The last thing I want is Sara setting her sights on any of the rest of us. Having one of us on her crazy-ass radar is scary enough. She’s eerily unhinged, and I don’t like that she’s back in our lives one single bit.
“Yeah, babe, please listen to Sawyer.”
Anna leans across the table and kisses her husband. “For now, but if she starts something, I’m going to finish it.”
Wyatt chuckles. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t.”
“Damn straight.”
We manage to make it through breakfast with each of us only occasionally glancing at her table. The security guards pretty much have us surrounded anyway; we’re quite a spectacle. It’s probably a good thing Mel isn’t here.
“Where’s Mel?” I ask now that she’s in my head.
“We ah … didn’t get much sleep last night, so she opted to sleep in and call for room service. Mac has one of the new guards up there.”
From the blush on his cheeks, I know they finally had sex. I’m happy for him; he needed something good in his life right now, especially with Sara here.
“Gotcha. As long as there’s security, she’ll be fine. Besides, we know where the bitch is right now, and that’s far away from Mel.”
After breakfast, Anna ignores protocol and starts walking out ahead of us, passing right by Sara’s table. Great.
The next thing I hear is Anna’s angry voice as we all catch up to her.
“You’re such a bitch!”
“I’m the bitch?” Sara retorts with a laugh.
“You’re a lying, thieving whore with a staring problem if you want to know exactly what I think of you.”
“Oh, Bethie,” Sara coos as I shoot daggers at her for using my nickname. “Haven’t you learned yet that playing mother hen to these guys is a waste of your time? Why don’t you run along and play with Noah’s new slut so he and I can have some much-needed alone time.”
The guards are surrounding the situation, and Noah signals them to move in closer, but he’s giving Anna respect and letting her deal with it—for now. Wyatt places his hand on Anna’s hip and tries unsuccessfully to get her to walk away.
“Instead of picking a fight with me, you could better use your time to … I don’t know, actually get a fucking job so you can pay Noah back all the money you siphoned away from him. You’re a lazy bitch, though, so maybe a fundraising campaign is more your style. Let’s see, you can call it something like ‘Thieving whore needs a sugar daddy for Lasik surgery and more.’ Hmm, actually, it sounds like a better title for your Tinder page. What do you think, Noah? Can she—”
“You fucking bitch!” Sara shrieks, lunging at Anna. Ryan is on it though. He picks Anna up around the waist and walks out with her before Sara can even get to her.
If Sara wasn’t crazy, that would have been amusing to watch. Now I’m just worried Anna is going to be in her crosshairs too.
“Anna, I love you, but let Sara be crazy. I don’t care about the money, but I do care about you. Stay away from her.”
“Listen to Noah, babe, please,” Wyatt says, pulling her close. He’s worried, I can see it in his eyes, and he’s got a reason to be. Wyatt has always given Anna free rein. He recognizes she needs her freedom and the ability to express herself, but I know he kicks himself in the ass a lot for not listening to his protective instincts.
“Fine, let’s go upstairs and catch a quick nap before you have to get to sound check.”
Darren, Anna, and Wyatt all head for the elevators, but I linger with Noah.
“Where are you going?”
He rubs the back of his neck and shakes his head. “Conference center, I’ve got a call with Warren and Tony. Warren is meeting me there.”
“Can I come?”
“Of course.”
Warren isn’t in the room when we get there, so we get comfortable.
“Tell me what really happened yesterday.”
Noah flashes a weak grin. “Honestly, it was a mess. There was a clinger in the casino, so we went upstairs.”
“How did Mel handle the clinger?”
Noah chuckles. “With utter amusement. I swear she was trying not to laugh her ass off while I was trying to extricate myself from the girl.”
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me in the least. Dating a Triton has its perks.”
“Yeah, but I’m not sure that’s always going to be a good thing,” he confesses.
“What do you mean?”
“When Ryan pulled Sara out of our room, it was almost like Mel shut down. I tried to get her to stay with me so she could see Sara meant nothing to me, but she insisted on leaving us alone instead.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“No, I was relieved because she was at least safe and out of Sara’s eyeline.”
“Okay, then you need to explain this better.”
Exhaling, he leans back and props his feet up on the chair next to him. “When I got inside, she was sitting on the balcony. She was quite buzzed and only had on a sweater. She was freezing, Sawyer, and she didn’t even seem fazed by it. Almost like she was completely disconnected from reality. She thought I was going back to Sara.”
“What? Why would she assume that?”
“I’m not sure, but she was … insecure? She was taken with Sara’s beauty.”
“Well, I’m sure you told Mel Sara is nothing compared to her, right? Mel is gorgeous.”
“Of course I did, but it still took some convincing. Everything worked out though. We had a good night, and you were right.”
“I typically am, but what was I right about this time?” I ask, kicking my feet up on the table.
“She loves me.”
When the words leave his mouth, everything clicks in place. This is right. This is what should be happening. I ignore the ache deep down in my chest and give Noah a genuine smile.
“I’m happy for you. There’s something about the two of you that gives the rest of us hope.”
With a raised brow, he counters, “You have hope now?”
“Shut up. You don’t have to rub it in.”
“It’s about time, little brother. When does the great woman search begin?”
“Ha! One thing at a time, big brother. Let’s finish the tour first and adjust to regular life again before you set up my online dating profile or anything.”
“Oh, I could have so much fun with that,” he adds, chuckling.
“So the rest of your night was …”
His answering smile says it all. “It was perfect. I’m a lucky man.”
Knowing Noah is happy makes me feel good.
“Good, so when is the big announcement?”
Coughing, he replies, “What announcement?”
“That you’re dating, official, whatever you want to call it. I’m sure Belle will dub it something like ‘Noah Weston is officially off the market. Kleenex stocks rise and sales soar.’”
“I’m not sure, but I’d like to do it soon. The fewer secrets we keep, the better. I hate trying to hide shit.”
“Amen to that. What did you think I meant? You looked a little freaked out there.”
“I don’t know, for some reason my mind jumped to marriage and babies.”
Laughing at his answer, I shake my head. “I’d hope not. Mel’s great, but it’s a little fast for all that with anyone, don’t you think?”
He pauses and answers slowly, “Maybe, but … I can picture all of it. With her … eventually. Honestly, sooner rather than later.”
“I’m so glad it’s you who inherited that gene.”
His brow furrows. “What gene?”
“The hopeless romantic.”
With a serious expression, he moves his feet and turns his chair to face me completely. “Don’t fool yourself, Sawyer, you’ve got it too. When you least expect it to rear its ugly head, it will. In fact, I’d be willing to bet once you fall, you’ll fall harder than I did.”
“Guess you’ll have to wait and see.”
He gives me a smug smile. “And I can’t wait to tell you I told you so.”
“I wasn’t expecting both of you, but I’m not surprised,” Warren says as he closes the door behind him. “Shall we get down to business?”