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“No,” I answered with a smile I didn’t feel. “I just needed to see you.”

Silas seemed skeptical. “Did you now?”

I didn’t waste any time. I kissed him roughly, pushing him back into his house. We shut the door without breaking, Silas guiding my body upstairs to his bedroom.

“What kind of surprise is this?” Silas questioned breathlessly when we reached the door to his room.

I said nothing. I kissed him again. Silencing him.

We fell through the door and into the room. That’s when Silas flicked the light on.

“Your eyes are red, have you been crying?” he questioned immediately, holding me at arms length to get a better look.

I shrugged his question off. “No, it’s nothing.”

Our lips met again, only for a moment. Silas was frowning. “Noah, seriously, what is going on here?”

Nothing is wrong.

Nothing is the matter with me.

Let me be the little whore they all crave to use and abuse.

SILAS

Any other day of my life and this would have been a dream come true. But something about the way Noah arrived here, so aggressive, so flustered, like he was running out of time, had my red flags waving.

When Noah pushed me onto the bed, wrestling with my pants, I knew that something was wrong.

“Jesus, Noah. What—”

“Shut up,” he ordered, finally tugging my pants down, just to my thighs. I could see it in his eyes—the sadness beginning to overwhelm him. He was trying to outrun something, trying to banish it through this.

“Noah, slow down, just—”

“I’m just going to suck your dick, what the hell are you so worried about?” he stammered, his voice cracking.

“No,” I growled, taking hold of his arms. “Talk to me. What is going on?”

“Shit, I want to, okay? I’m just evening the score.”

Something told me not to let him. I continued to hold him back at his shoulders.

“No, Noah.”

“Well, why the fuck not?” he asked, angrily.

I took a deep breath. I knew he didn’t want to talk about it. But I had a feeling his behavior might have been because of our encounter at the club.

“I want to talk about what I said. When I told you that I loved you.”

Noah looked like he wanted to crash out. He threw his arms in the air. “Seriously, Silas? Right now? You want to talk about that right now?”

“Yes, I do,” I snapped. “Because you didn’t give me an answer back.”

“I can’t give you what you’re asking for,” he exclaimed. “I don’t know how!”

He was still on his knees between my legs, and I reached for him, aiming to pull him upwards to my level. “Let’s try and figure it out together. Let’s figure this shit out as a team, Raven.”