The Scarred Wife's Racing Five

Chapter Fifteen

POV Noah

The music was loud, and it was safely drowning out all the screaming in my head. The fear from the last time I tried to bring a girl into my life and the reality that she was a poison more than a perfume. Now I just have to figure out which category Holly falls into. "Come on Noah. Just give us a hint. Tall? Short? Something to hold on to?" Zander pressed, and I rolled my eyes and took another sip of whiskey. The bar seems to be getting busier and the eyes are falling on us. It's ruining my distraction.

"Zander, try to be an adult every once in a while. She is my patient first." Sawyer said, shaking his head and grabbing a swig of an 805.

Zander rolled his eyes and leaned back into the worn velvet booth. "Look, you two have seen her. And you got to touch her. I want details."

"Pipe down, Zander." Payne growled. His eyes were closed as he leaned back in the seat and took a deep drag of his cigarette. "She's probably some easy piece of ass waiting to get her claws into the great Canterwood family."

"No way." Sawyer and I said together. It surprised the three of them, but I think it surprised me more. I turned to look at Sawyer and his eyes looked anywhere, but at me.

"You like her?" I asked him and his glass froze before it touched his lips.

He let the drink fall and fiddled with the coaster. "You have to be more specific."

"Specific? Remember the only one who likes to sleep around like he's impervious to catching something is Payne. You, on the other hand...prefer to wait it out." Zander noted, and Payne winked toward him with a knowing glance.

"She's different." Sawyer continued.

"Different how?" Wyatt asked. "N-Not like Beth, right. I thought we swore not to walk that path again. If she's already seen Sawyer at the hospital...."

"She didn't go willingly." I grumbled.

"Wait, what?" Zander and Payne said while Wyatt's face lit up.

"So she isn't trying to get sympathy?" Wyatt asked.

"Quite the opposite, actually. But I swore I would keep it between us so that is all you are going to get out of me." Sawyer rang through the group. "Speaking of, how was the ride home?" He asked me. "I told her to keep you in the loop and ask for help if she needs it."

I blinked at his words and slowly registered the conversation I had, or the lack there of as I drove the pair of us back home. "Holly didn't say a word. She kept to herself and looked out the window like I was some ride-share service."

"Wow...maybe Sawyer is right. She is different. Most women would kill to be where she is right now." Payne added.

"Why don't you focus on your next flavor of the week and leave Holly out of your stereotypes." I hissed and he raised a brow.

"Defending her twice? Now I'm even more interested." Payne chuckled as a red head approached the table. She leaned over towards Payne. Her breasts pressed up to her chin, and her sparkling black dress left nothing to the imagination. Payne turned to look at her with a knowing smile. "Can I help you?" He asked.

"I hope so, handsome." She purred into his ear.

"No you cannot. Leave!" I spat, and she looked up in shock before running off. "Payne, keep it in your pants for one night!" I hissed.

Payne rolled his eyes and put out his cigarette on the ashtray in the middle of the table. "I can see you are really struggling right now, but being a c*ckblocker isn't like you, Noah."

"Let's just focus on why we came here, alright? No fighting guys." Wyatt said, and we both looked at the baby of our group.

"Why don't you go sip your seltzer water and hush?" Payne chuckled.

"Payne, knock it off. He's my cousin, and we all agreed that he gets a say in our group." Zander said.

"He doesn't get a say in this though. I like to enjoy my food while it's hot. He's just not seasoned enough to understand that." Payne added.

"Ugh, please keep your chef references in the kitchen, Payne." Zander clipped and Wyatt bashfully raised his hand to usher for Zander to cool it. Being only twenty-five, we brought Wyatt in shortly before we met Beth. Zander and Wyatt's family are not necessarily elated about our lifestyle, and it took even longer for Wyatt to lose his guilt for thinking otherwise. Once he finally gained some confidence to tell his family to back off, Zander had taken him under his wing in racing. Taught him everything he knew and even helped him become a firefighter. If there was one of us that took her betrayal the hardest, it would be him. Well, right after we count me.

----Flashback----

---Three Years Earlier---

“Why can't you see it?! She's been lying to us all this time! Creating distance between us. We are supposed to be best friends, and we let some snake into our inner circle. We let her poison everything we’ve worked so hard for.” Zander shouted while I stood protectively in front of Beth. This woman was our world. We waited on her hand and foot and now, everything was falling apart.

Brandon stood off in the corner with his fiancée as she held her now swollen face. A thin line of blood dripping down her chin. “The proof is right in your face, Noah! See reason. My sister almost maimed my Susan. She ruined our engagement party and for what? She thinks my Susan would flirt with any one of you right in front of my face?! Beth’s my sister and even I’ve had enough!” He shouted, and I winced.

“I will not let you do this, Zander. She told me you’d be jealous, but we agreed to share her, not monopolize her.” I hissed back and Sawyer sighed.

“Then explain what you are doing now. The writing is all there in black and white. I'm not losing a friend over this waste of a woman.” He threw me his phone and I glanced down at the screen. “I had a feeling she’d do something stupid with her guard down. The video is evidence.”

Reluctantly, I watched the camera as she approached Susan, slapped her so hard in the face she collided with the waiter behind her, then Beth theatrically fell to the floor like Susan was at fault. Then, I saw my stupid ass running toward her and completely ignoring the scene. “I…can’t believe this.” I whispered.

Wyatt threw his hands in the air angrily and Sawyer snatched his phone back. “When you figure out you’re delusional, contact us. Until then, enjoy her because we will not. Not anymore. She’s all yours.” Sawyer growled.

I watched as each of my friends walked out of that bar one after another. I turned to look at Beth, who was still sniffling from her fake tears and hardened my face. There was no way all four of them would just turn against me like this. They even had video evidence. “Noah, it hurts so much. I cannot believe Zander would slap me.” She cried and I looked over her cheek. “Then Sawyer wouldn't even look at it and accuse me of lying?!” My eyes grew as I actually heard her words.

I balled my hands into fists. “Tell the truth, Beth. I just saw the video! Accusing my friends and your boyfriends of hurting you isn't something any of us would take lightly. Especially Zander. If you are going to lie, lie better.” I growled, and her eyes darted around the room at the party. The party she so expertly ruined with her games that I stupidly fell for. Again and Again. Not this time though. Not ever again.

“I…I don't know what you are talking about.” She squeezed my arm with her perfectly manicured fingers and I pulled my arm away.

“I didn't want to believe them. I always chose your side. Protected you. But not anymore. I'm done with you, and I'm done with whatever was left of this relationship. I have a lot to apologize for, but the way you acted when they accused you, with evidence, is nothing short of damning. Disappear. And make sure you don't come back. For any of us.” I bellowed before racing out of the bar to find my friends…my brothers.

It was time to fix what she destroyed.