Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 15: A Suspect

Emma's POV

   Too early as usual, I wake to the feel of Noah's arms wrapping around my waist. I feel his breath tickle my neck and he pulls my still naked body tight against his. 

    “Well good morning to you too. Excited much?” I chuckle and wiggle my ass against him. A low growl escapes his lips as his excitement grows against me. 

    “I wasn’t excited till you made me that way.” he whispers as he leans into my neck and nibbles on the lobe of my ear. He slowly makes his way down my neck and across my shoulder before I flip myself around and pushes Noah flat to the bed, climbing on top of him, my legs wrapped tightly. From there, I move quickly, taking all of him in and riding his length as if my life depends on it. Moan after moan pour from my lips before I crumble on his chest, both of us breathing heavily as we slowly come down from the high of an early morning orgasm.

    “As great as this is babe, we need to get moving. Check out is in an hour and I’m sure my dad will not want to wait to meet with me today.” I roll off of him, falling onto the bed and prop myself up on my side. He quickly jumps from the bed, standing at the side, eyeing me oddly.

    “You meant to say us, right? Surely your dad doesn’t want just you, I mean it was my car that was broken into.” I can see him struggling to hide his irritation, but fail as his voice slowly gets louder.

    “I don’t know what you’re getting all worked up about. All of this has nothing to do with you and you know my dad is a very private person.” I sit up, wrapping a sheet around my body, and scoot to the edge of the bed, throwing my legs over the side, placing myself directly in front of Noah.

    “Being a private person has nothing to do with it, Emma. It is MY car that got broken into, MY belongings that could have been stolen, MY windows that got busted, so please explain to me how this has nothing to do with me?!” his irritation now in full force and I can see the anger rising in his eyes with each passing moment.

    “I’m not going to argue with you Noah and I’m especially not going to sit here and just let you yell at me.” I stand from the bed and begin walking towards the bathroom. “I’m going to shower and get ready for the day. Maybe that will give you a chance to calm down and we can try to talk again after.” walking in the bathroom, I half slam the door behind me and angrily go about getting everything for my shower set up. Even though it's kind of childish, I want him to know just how upset I am. It’s not like us to argue and usually we can talk through anything without ever raising our voices or walking away. 

    I start the shower, hot water only, and sit down on the side of the tub while I wait for the water to heat up. Just as I’m about to step in the shower, I can hear the door to our room open and shut as quietly as possible. I guess Noah needed a minute to cool off out of the room and that’s fine. As soon as I get out of the shower, we will sit down and talk through this like we should have done from the beginning. Stepping into the scalding hot water, I jump slightly as the stream hits my bare skin, but it doesn’t affect me long. I breathe out a deep sigh of relief as the heat of the water consumes me. After a moment I find myself slowly slipping into my own little world and blocking out everything else. I enjoy this moment for a short time before I force myself back into reality and quickly clean myself up before stepping out and grabbing a towel. Once dry, I wrap my towel around my body and walk from the bathroom. Coming into the bigger part of our hotel room, I see that Noah is still not back, but I ignore that and head over to my suitcase on the bed so that I can get dressed for the day. As I approach the bed, I notice a piece of paper laying on the top of my bag. I snatch it up and notice it is Noah’s handwriting on a piece of hotel stationary.

   'I'm sorry my love. I need to get some fresh air and clear my head, so I’ve called for a taxi and I’m headed back to the apartment. I know I have done wrong in this situation, but please see things from my perspective. I hope you and your dad get things figured out and I will see you later at home. Be safe and know that I love you. We’ll talk soon.

Love, Noah'

    Still holding the note, I turn and plop down on the bed. I read and reread Noah’s words, a few stray tears escaping my eyes. We’ve never had any sort of argument or disagreement where one of us has left before things were solved, so for Noah to have gone home without me scares me. What if I’ve really screwed things up this time? All these secrets and sneaking around are really starting to get to me. I have to discuss coming clean to everyone whenever I see my dad today. Noah means everything to me and I refuse to lose him over this. I fold the note up and shove it in the side pocket of my bag and then quickly slip into the shorts and t-shirt I packed for today. Going around the room, I make sure I have all of my stuff and that Noah didn’t forget anything either and then head out of the room and downstairs to check out. On my way down I send my dad a text letting him know that I am ready to get picked up and he replies letting me know that there is already a car waiting for me. 

    “Good morning sir. I’m just checking out.” I say as I get to the hotel’s front desk. I slide my room key across the counter to the gentleman and then reach in my bag for my wallet and slide my credit card to him as well. “This card will cover the cost of the room.” I smile at him.

    “Good morning ma’am. I’ll get you taken care of right away.” he picks up the room key and my credit card and begins typing on his computer. “It looks like your room has already been paid in full by the young man that was staying with you.” he slides my credit card back across the counter to me.

    “Oh. Wow. Okay sir. Thank you so much. You have a wonderful day.” I pick up my card, shoving it back in my wallet, and turn to the front doors where I see one of my dad’s drivers waiting for me. As I walk out of the door I can hear the front desk clerk wish me a good day as well. I continue out, past the driver and straight to the car, the driver following close behind. He lets me in the car and quickly makes his way around to his door and jumps in, immediately taking off out of the parking lot and down the highway towards my dad’s office.

    It doesn't take long before we are pulling in at my dad's office and in a hurry to talk to him, I swing my door open and jump out of the car before it has even come to a complete stop. I rush through the front doors of the building and past the front desk, waving and shouting hello to Mrs. Veronica on my way through. I jump into the elevator and head up to my dad's floor, foot tapping impatiently as the elevator slowly drags its way up. Finally the bell dings and the doors open and I quickly push my way out and head over to my dad's office on the back of the floor. Without knocking, I shove open the door and walk inside to find my dad furiously typing away on his computer. I plop down in the chair in front of his desk and wait for him to finish up while I try to catch my breath.

    "Sunshine, are you okay?" my dad looks up from the computer and studies my face for a moment before closing the computer completely. "I know I said it was urgent we speak today, but I didn't mean for you to kill yourself to get here. What's going on?"

    "It's nothing dad, I just have a lot to talk to you about and today is the only day we will have for a while because I'm going back on the schedule at the cafe tomorrow and won't be free for a while, so let's get down to business."

    "Well, why don't you start. You say there is a lot to talk about and clearly you have something on your mind, so spit it on." he leans across the desk.

    "I guess I need to start at the beginning so that you understand why I feel the way I do." I look down and fiddle with the hem of my shorts as I start to tell my dad everything that happened this morning with Noah. I refuse to make eye contact with him as I talk because I don't want him to see the tears threatening to escape my eyes.

    "Sunshine, I need you to look at me." my dad stands from his chair and walks around the desk to my side, sitting in the chair next to me and placing his hand under my chin to lift my face. "You don't have to hide your tears from me. I know how much you love Noah and I can only imagine what this little hiccup is doing to you."

    "It's not just a little hiccup, dad!" I pull away from him and stand up from my chair. "This is just the torture I deserve for all the lying I do. I can't keep looking everyone I know and love in the face and lie to them as I sneak away on another 'task', it's all starting to come back at me. This is why all this bad stuff keeps happening; its karma for everything I've done." I sob out as I pace the length of the room.

    "Emma Lynn, stop this nonsense!" my dad stands from his chair and comes to where I am pacing and grabs my shoulders, forcing me to stop and look at him. "First of all, this is not karma, all of this is your mother. That is why I wanted you here today so I could tell you that we found out who broke into Noah's car and who was behind the explosion. Everything has traced back to that witch and I now have a team out looking for her. And second, you've always know the rules of this life we live and I wish I could help make things easier for you, but unless you and Noah are married and he has been sworn in to the business, he can't know anything and I'm sorry."

    "I get it dad, I really do, but please try to understand how I feel. I will finish out this year working for you, but after that, I will step away and just be your daughter, not anything else. I'm sorry." I push his hands from my shoulders and walk back to my chair and sit down. "Will you just tell me more about the mom situation?" My dad stands still for another minute, still in shock from my words, before he finally walks over to me and sits down.

    "Umm, yea. There isn't much more to say about it. My guys and I finally were able to trace everything back to her, but now we can't find her, so I've hired the best of the best to find her and bring her in to me so we can finish this." he pauses for a moment and then looks me right in the eye before continuing. "Are you sure you are making the right decision, sunshine?"

    "Yes daddy, I'm sure. All I ask is that you support me in my decision." I reach over and take one of his hands in mine and wait for him to reply.

    "I will always support you, sunshine. Nothing will ever change that. You're all I have. Things won't be the same without you around here, but as long as you promise to always be my sweet sunshine, then we will make this work."

    "I promise daddy." I smile and let go of his hand and wrap my arms around him in a tight hug. He's over protective, grumpy, and makes my life difficult, but he's my daddy and no matter how crazy he makes me, I'll always love him and need him.