Books & a Baller

Cara

I headed into the dressing room to smooth out my hair, reapply my lipstick, and clean up my smudged eye liner. I didn't want to make it obvious what Nathan and I had been up to, Noah didn't need to know. Nathan had already gone back out to the lawn, and offered to get a drink ready for me, I glanced in the mirror before I walked out the door for another once over, and noticed my cheeks were still flushed red. I dabbed a little powder on them to cover up the redness, and wandered back outside, trying to act as natural as I could.

Walking over to the bar, I saw Shannon and Rahim there, where they had been before. Noah was standing off to the side, Priya whispering furiously in his ear. As soon as my heels clicked on the decking, Noah looked up at me, his eyes felt like they were burning holes into mine. I could see the fury radiating from his skin. I glanced from him, to Priya, the grin on her face said it all, she'd seen Nathan and I. And now she's told Noah everything.

"Noah.. I.."

The half drunk glass of scotch in his hand suddenly shattered, as his fist clenched around it, sending alcohol and glass flying every where. Fuck. His body was heaving, his eyes brimming with tears, I'd never seen him like this, he was a dangerous combination of hurt, angry, and drunk. How angry did someone have to be that they could shatter a glass in their hand, just by how tight their grip was?

He was seething, I could see it all over his face. What had I done? I took a tentative step towards him, his feet were cemented to the spot. He didn't move as I walked towards him.

"Noah..."

"What's going on?" Nathan appeared at my side, and draped his arm around my shoulders.

"Not now, Nathan." I shrugged him off, my eyes still locked on Noah's. In my peripheral vision I could see the smug grin still firmly plastered on Priya's face.

"Priya, what did you say to him?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"Obviously, why else would I be asking?"

"You should know, Cara, privacy is seldom found in the villa, maybe you should think about that when it comes to your next, rendezvous." She flicked her hair over her shoulder and sauntered to the dance floor to join the rest of the islanders, who were completely oblivious to what was going on, the music had covered the sound of the glass shattering.

"Noah?" I took another few steps towards him, I'd seen how angry he could get, and I'd seen him snap, I didn't know exactly what Priya had said to him, if it had even been her hiding in the shadows. I had no clue what was going through his head.

He hadn't moved, I took another cautious step, and he was just out of arms reach. A few stray tears fell from the corner of his eye, and dripped to the ground. Disappearing in the splattering of scotch that now stained the decking. I was acutely aware of Rahim and Shannon's eyes on us, and Nathan standing just a few feet behind me. I knew, even though she'd walked away, Priya was watching.

I reached out to him, my fingertips just lightly brushing against his forearm. This, barely there contact, was all it took for him to snap from his trance like state.

"Don't you fucking touch me, Cara." He ripped his arm out of my reach, and spoke just loud enough, so only I could hear him over the sound of the music. His words felt like a knife had just been stabbed deep into my chest.

He pushed past me, making a point to bump his shoulder aggressively against mine, to the bar, reached underneath the counter and pulled up an unopened bottle of scotch, and stalked off inside, I'm assuming up to the terrace. I'd never seen him like this, my heart was aching in my chest, and it took everything I had to not follow him.