The Heiress's Shadow novel Chapter 29

Chapter 22 

When Noah sees I’m done, he immediately starts speaking, his tone hard. 

“That’s not true.” 

I open my mouth to say something but he keeps speaking. 

“You do not deserve to die. If you had been the one to die, you would have never come to America and I would have never met you. I notice the little things. I notice that you always throw your head back when you laugh. I notice that you bite your lip when you think. I notice that you zone out a lot. I notice that you just need someone to tell you that they care because you’ve convinced yourself that nobody does.” 

“Noah-” 

He cuts me off and stands up. I stand up also. 

“And guess what, Carter? I care! Okay? I don’t like caring about people. The less people I care about, the less people I lose, the less it hurts!” 

“Noah-” 

He doesn’t let me speak. 

“I care about you! You’re annoying. You’re weird. You’re blunt. And it pisses me off that you think it’s okay to walk around the streets by yourself at two in the morning when you could be kidnapped or worse! It pisses me off that all it takes is for you to laugh at something I do to make me smile! It pisses me off that I feel like I need to protect you and look after you! It pisses me off, that I’m here, trying to convince myself that I don’t care about you, when in reality, I’m falling for you!” 

He finishes his rant, his chest rising and falling as he calms himself down while staring at the floor. 

I stand there, gaping. 

He finally looks up. “I-” 

This time I cut him off. 

I take step forward and lean up, pressing my lips against his. 

He freezes for a few seconds before wrapping one arm around my waist and putting he other hand on the back of my neck, pushing me closer to him 

I place my hands on his bare chest as he leans down. 

My eyes 

shoot 

open. 

What the hell am I doing?! 

I promised myself I wouldn’t catch feelings. 

I push Noah away from me, making his eyes spring open as he stares at me in confusion. 

“Carter, what the hell?” He takes a step closer to me, but I take a step back. 

He freezes, his eyes pooling with hurt. 

“I–I can’t.” I stutter. “I’m sorry.” 

I push past him, opening his bedroom door and running downstairs. 

“Carter, stop!” Noah runs after me. 

Just as I’m about to open the front door, a hand grabs the back of my hand and spins me around, making my hood fly off. 

Noah and I both freeze. 

He stares at me amazement and I stare at him in horror.. 

20.19 

The Heiress’s Shadow 

22.8% 

He shakes his head, snapping out of whatever trance he was in, looking horrified when he realises what he’d just done. 

“Carter, I didn’t mean to–” 

He doesn’t just to finish his sentence because I throw my fist out and punch him right in the face. 

He curses, gripping his nose as I throw the door open and run out. 

“Carter!” He yells after me but I ignore him and keep running. 

–Noah- 

“Carter!” I let go of my nose, grabbing a hoodie from behind the door and running out of the house, slipping on a random pair of shoes which were sitting on the front porch. 

Where the hell would she go?! 

The cemetery. 

She’s not here! 

Where the hell would she go?! 

She hasn’t told me about any special places. I don’t think she has any. 

The only place I know about is- 

No. She wouldn’t run to the next town over. 

Oh who the hell am I kidding?! Of course she would! 

It’s only an hour and a half run, she would definitely go there. 

“Carter, I’m going to kick your ass!” I yell into the air as I run in the direction of Riverhead, not thinking to go to Max’s house and get the Jeep instead. 

Nevaeh- 

I stare up at the sky as I lie in the middle of the field. 

Why did I punch him in the face?! 

“Ugh, stupid!” I shout, slapping my forehead. 

It’s not that I don’t like him, because believe me, I do. 

But I don’t know how long I’m going to be here. 

My doctor said I’m not going to live 

past nineteen. 

When I first found out I had cancer, I didn’t care that I was going to die. 

I was fifteen. It was a few months before we moved to America. 

My mum doesn’t know, but I know that if she did, she wouldn’t be able to handle it. She wouldn’t be able to handle losing another child. 

That’s why I still care for her. Most kids would hate their parents if they were treated like I am, but my mum’s the only family I have left, apart from my aunt who lives in New Zealand. Of course, I never told her about the situation with my mum because I knew she would take me away from her. 

I wasn’t worried about dying. I had no one. That is, until I moved and met Megan. Then a couple years later, three idiots forced their way into my life.