Kara
I’m sitting on my bed, staring at my half dead flowers and reading the card Noah sent to me when he stood me up on Valentine’s Day. It was on a damn Tuesday night, and he still couldn’t manage to find time to see me. He sent me a dozen pink roses and a card that says I’m sorry but someone called out, and I had to go to work. He didn’t even call me, and now tonight is supposed to be the epic make up date of all time, or so he says. He’s been telling me it will be the most romantic evening, but if he thinks I’m spending the night at his place, he’s crazy. I refuse to sleep with him again until he shows me he wants me for more than great sex. Blowing my blonde hair off my face, I jump up from my bed and head to the shower. If he actually shows up to take me out tonight, I want to be ready.
I decide to curl my hair and wear a dress with a lightweight sweater over it. Nights can be chilly at this time of the year here in LA. He hasn’t told me where he’s taking me, but he did say I needed to dress nice for our night out. I’m descending the stairs when the doorbell rings. My father opens the door and growls when he sees Noah. “Mr. Cooper, it’s nice to see you.”
“Wish I could say the same.” He steps away from the door. “Kara, your asshole boyfriend is here.”
I see Noah flinch at his words as he stands completely still on the front porch. Noah didn’t dare come in, since my father hadn’t invited him. “Daddy, behave.” I kiss him on the cheek and tell him I’ll be home a little later. That’s my warning to Noah that I’m not spending the night.
My dad walks me to the door. “She comes home crying and you’ll wish you had never lived.”
He swallows hard. “Yes, sir.” Noah takes my hand and pulls me down the porch in a hurry to get away from my angry father. He was there when I answered the door to receive the flowers Noah and sent me.
When we get to Noah’s BMW, he opens the passenger’s side door for me, and when I turn, my dad is still watching from the porch. I wink at him and he gives me a small smile, closing the door to the house. I get settled and Noah shuts the car door behind me. When he climbs in, he sighs. “What’s it going to take to get me back in the good graces of your father?”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Shouldn’t you be worried about getting in my good graces first?”
“Sweetie, I said I was sorry.”
“I’m tired of hearing how sorry you are. It’s time you start to show it.”
He sighs again and starts the car to take us off on our date. “I heard what you said to your father. Does that mean I can’t convince you to come back to my place and spend the night with me?”
“Glad you got the message.” I know I’m being a bit of a bitch, but I think I’ve earned the right, considering some of the shit he’s been pulling. “You can’t honestly think one romantic date is going to make it all better. You need to prove to me you’re serious about us.”
“I was hoping to show you while we made love tonight.”
“You don’t make love to me. You fuck me. Don’t get me wrong…you pleasure me, but you’re not connecting with me. Your mind is somewhere else.”
“Tonight it’s only on us.” He glances at me quickly and then looks back to the road. I shake my head and turn to look out the window, not really believing him.
He pulls up to the restaurant and there’s a line of people waiting to get in. I instantly sigh, figuring we’re going to wait a while to get seated, but Noah walks up the hostess with a confident smile. “Table for two, Noah Benson.”
The hostess looks at me with a huge grin on her face. “Your table is all ready for you. Right this way.” Noah turns to take my hand and sees the look of shock on my face as we follow behind the hostess.
We’re walking through a sea of diners and I’m getting nervous when it appears we are going to another area of the restaurant. The hostess pushes open another door and I instantly gasp. This place is gorgeous to begin with, but the private room Noah has reserved for us is breathtakingly beautiful. It’s an open space with a cream sofa on one side of the room, and on the other is a table with a round cushioned booth bench that seats two. There are lights strung up around the room and red rose petals all over the table and floor. There’s a bottle of champagne already set out, and a single lit candle on the table. I don’t even know what to say.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve already ordered for us.” I shake my head, because I don’t know what else to say. I can’t believe he’s done all of this for me. I step further into the room, Noah places his hand at the small of my back and ushers me toward the table, where I slip onto the bench. The hostess pours us each a glass of champagne and leaves us to ourselves.
“How? When?” I’m completely shocked. Maybe he really is sorry for all the times he’s blown me off.
“When I got called to work on Valentine’s Day, I felt really bad, and knew I had to do something big to make it up to you. My buddy Josh told me about this place and how they had the room for two. As soon as I got off my shift, I called and reserved it. I’ll be honest, I got lucky. They told me they only had tonight available because of a cancellation, otherwise I would have had to wait until spring.”
“Thank you. It’s stunning.” I have a huge smile on my face.
He leans in and presses a soft kiss to my lips. “You mean a lot to me and I wanted to make sure that you saw that tonight.”
“I don’t know what to think, Noah. I’m so confused right now. You’ve blown me off so many times, and then ask me to meet you at home after work. You quickly fuck me, and then we fall asleep together only for me to wake up alone.” I look down, not wanting to cry right now. I’m happy when the waitress walks in with water and two small cups of soup. I thank her and she quickly retreats. “I can’t get past the feeling that you’re hiding something from me, and it’s not a feeling I like.” I can’t let this one date erase all the bad ones we’ve had. I appreciate his first attempt at fixing things, but he hasn’t proven anything to me yet.
We both finish our soup as the waitress arrives with our dinner. He’s ordered me filet mignon, which proves to me that he hasn’t learned anything about me in the time we’ve been together, because I hate beef. I only eat beef when it’s ground in a burger, and even then prefer a turkey burger. Beef upsets my stomach, and this is a conversation we’ve had. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to gain some control over my frustration. I decide to eat the mashed potatoes and spinach that’s on my plate, leaving the beef behind.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?”
My brows shoot up in shock, because the fact I’m not eating the beef hasn’t rang any bells for him. “I don’t eat beef,” I remind him.
“Since when?” His brows furrow at my comment.
I sigh. “Noah, this is what I’m talking about. I very rarely even eat a beef hamburger, it’s usually a turkey burger. We had this conversation when we first started dating because you had recommended a steak from the restaurant we were at.”
“I’m so sorry. I forgot. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.” He slips his hand into my hair at my neck and pulls me in for a kiss. “Can you forgive me?”
I close my eyes and he deepens the kiss. I’m really trying to put my all into this relationship, but I feel like it’s going nowhere. I pull away. “Let’s just finish dinner.”
He looks sad and defeated as he goes back to eating his filet, but what’s sad is it’s clear that I’m not on his mind the way he has been on mine.
I’m glad he ordered us soup before dinner or I’d still be starving. The waitress comes back a minute later and asks if everything was okay. We tell her it was fine and Noah tells her she can bring the dessert and coffee. Lord help this man if he ordered anything other than something chocolate for dessert. I’m a chocoholic and I spend a lot of time in the gym, so I can feed my addiction and he knows it.
“Tell me, how do you like working at the club?” He leans back in the booth and crosses his leg.
“I love it. Shane is a great guy to work for, and now that I’ve started to prove myself, I’m getting offered more hours.” I twist in the seat to face him. “You should see if you can get on the night shift, that way we work the same hours and then we can try and fix this.” I point between the two of us.
I think I see a look of fear flash across his face, but he quickly recovers. “I can’t just switch shifts. There has to be an opening, and there isn’t one right now.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Can’t you look to move to a different company or at least ask?”
“No.” His answer is clipped and final.
“You don’t want to.”
“Kara, you don’t understand.”
“You’re right, I don’t. We’ve been discussing this for a while now, but you choose to ignore it. Well, guess what. I’m done.” I start to stand from the booth as the waitress walks in with our dessert. She can see she’s chosen the wrong time to enter, but it’s too late.
“You can leave the dessert, it’s fine.” She drops it on the table, quickly pours two cups of coffee, and exits the room in record time. I’m standing in the corner with my arms crossed, pretending to admire a painting but really I don’t want her to see me upset.
Noah comes up behind me, placing his hands on my arms, and resting his chin on my shoulder. “Please understand, this isn’t something I can explain right now. I screwed up and I’m trying to fix it. Once I do I’ll explain everything, but I really don’t want to lose you over this.”
I quickly turn to him. “What did you do? What are you mixed up in?”
“I told you I can’t explain that right now, but trust me, I’m fixing it. Come home with me, let me show you how much you mean to me.”
I step away from him. “Don’t touch me. Don’t come near me, and do not call me until you’re ready to tell me everything. How could you do this to me?” I bite my lip. “You know what I went through. You saw how messed up I was after being attacked, and now you think you can keep things from me and it’s just going to be okay. What is wrong with you?”
I run to the booth, grab my purse, and pull out my phone. “Katie, it’s me.” I begin to cry.
“Kara, what’s wrong? Where are you?” Her voice is pained.
“I’m at that nice Italian restaurant downtown. Can you come get me?”
“Of course. Wait inside and I’ll be there as soon as I can.” She cuts the call.
I turn back to Noah, who’s seething with his arms crossed at his chest. “I meant what I said. Until you’re ready to explain yourself, do not call me or come near me. I won’t be the victim of your crazy world.” I storm out of the room, hearing something crash behind me. I flinch involuntarily.
As my sister instructed, I sit by the door and wait for her to come get me, trying to think about anything but what just happened. If I think about it, I’m likely to break right there in the lobby of the restaurant. There’s a commotion behind me, and when I turn, I see two big guys escorting Noah out, and I have no doubt it has to do with whatever he smashed in that private room.
My sister pulls up as the bouncers are walking back in. They hold the door for me, and I quickly run out, jumping into the front seat of her car. “Was that Noah getting thrown out?” She looks to me as I put on my seatbelt and she notices I’ve been crying. “Oh, sweetie. Talk to me.”
“Just drive, please.” She pulls away from the place and heads in the direction of my parents’ house. “He’s mixed up in something—I don’t know what—but I told him he is not to call me until he’s ready to tell me what he’s involved in. I’m done with him.”
“We all thought he was a great guy and maybe he just made a mistake, but you did the right thing. There are better men out there that will care for you.” Her voice is so gentle and kind. I appreciate it because she wasn’t a fan of Noah’s in the beginning, but I convinced her that he was a good guy.
“It’s too bad, because this date started out amazing. He rented the back room for just the two of us and it was gorgeous. Everything was set up so romantic. He had champagne and he ordered our food so we wouldn’t have to wait.” I shake my head “But you know what the asshole ordered me? Beef.”
“He what?” She glances over with a questioning look. “Everyone knows you don’t eat beef. It bothers your stomach.”
I roll my eyes. “I had to remind him of the conversation we had when I told him that. He forgot, because he’s had a lot on his mind.” I shake my head. “I can’t believe it. I’ve thought about him constantly, missing him and hoping I’d get to see him, and he forgets something like that. I sigh. “It ruined the beautiful dinner he had planned.”
“Why did they throw him out?”
I shake my head. “I have no idea. I left the room right after I hung up with you, and as the door was swinging shut, I heard a loud crash coming from the other side of the door. I’m guessing he damaged something, and from the looks of the room, it was probably expensive.”
“That place is expensive. I’m surprised he could afford that on an EMT salary. I’m willing to bet that cost at least three hundred dollars.” Katie pulls up outside my parents’ home.
“I didn’t even think about that. I mean, I know he’s been working a lot, but he still only makes about thirty-five grand a year, and he has his rent and a car payment. I can’t imagine with his other bills he can just drop three hundred dollars on one date. The roses he sent me the other day looked really expensive too.” I slip my hands into my hair and rub the top of my head. I can feel a headache coming on.
“Listen to me.” My sister’s voice is full of concern. “Something feels off to me. Please stay away from him. I don’t trust him, and until we know what he’s mixed up in…” her voice trails off. “I don’t want to see you hurt again.”
I sigh. “I know. Thank you for coming to get me.”
She leans over to hug me. “Anytime, you know that. I’m always here for you, no matter what.” I give my sister a small smile and climb out of the car.
When I get inside, I find my dad waiting in the living room watching TV. “Hey, Daddy.”
“Why did your sister just drop you off?” He’s angry, I can see it on his face.
“Because I broke up with Noah tonight. We’re done.”
“What did he do to you?” He can see the tears building in my eyes.
“Daddy, I just spent the entire car ride home venting to Katie. I just want to go to bed.” A tear slips down my cheek.
My dad steps up to me and wraps me in a hug. “Have a good night, baby girl.” He kisses the top of my head and I run up the stairs to my room, where I let it all out. I don’t even bother to change, I just slip into my bed and sob. When I’ve finally calmed down, I pull my phone from my purse to put it on the charger and I see I have text from him. It basically says he’s not giving up and he will get me back, but I’m not sure I can ever trust him again.