Sapphire

Chapter 30

Though they started the ride home by not speaking, it wasn't as tense as the journey to the McAuley's house. Shay felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off of her shoulders after spilling her guts to Noah, accompanied by a vulnerability that she hadn't experienced in a long time. He knew everything about her now, literally everything.

Except maybe her crush, which had persistently followed her all the way to California and back again. Like a lock on her heart, closing her off to anyone else but the one man who held the key.

"You gonna tell me what they did to your arm?" Noah asked. Again, she didn't realize she was nervously probing at the device beneath her skin until she was called out on it.

"They injected a tracker."

"I take it it's not easy to remove?"

"Apparently, it will paralyze me if I attempt anything." Shay replied. "And alert the cops of my location, thus resulting in me going to prison for a long time."

She must have sounded nervous cause the next thing she knew, Noah's hand was on her leg. "Don't worry, we've dealt with worse. Val will figure it out."

At least, that's what she thought he said. She had a hard time concentrating when his fingers were splayed out across her thigh, the heat searing through her jeans and into her skin. It wasn't long before he moved it, placing his arm on the middle console while nervously fixating back on the road.

"I hope so." Shay murmured as she stared out the window. Was this car getting hot or was it just her?

By the time they pulled into the driveway, Shay still hadn't cooled down. Nerves, guilt, confusion, she didn't even know what she was feeling as she walked up to that front door. She hesitated on the porch, her hands resting by her sides as she stared down at the door handle. It wasn't until Noah's hand squeezed her shoulder that she snapped out of it.

Didn't he realize that touching her was just making it worse?

"It'll be ok. I'll be there the whole time." Noah reassured her, taking his hand away just as quickly as he put it there. One look at his expression made her think the contact shocked him as much as it did her.

The two of them walked inside with Shay in the lead. Making a beeline for the kitchen, she found Eli sitting at the breakfast bar and asked where Val was. He pointed to her office so that's where Shay went, standing outside of the huge door with Noah right behind her.

"Hi guys." Val answered the door with a concerned expression, her brows knitted together and arms crossed in front of her chest. She was wearing yoga pants over her slim legs and a pink oversized sweater, making Shay think Val was just getting ready for bed.

Which made it even worse, somehow. She liked it better when Val was in her typical pantsuit. It felt less personal that way.

"We need to talk to you."

Shay felt the power of Noah's commanding voice behind her through to her core. Apparently, she'd stood there silently staring at Val for longer than appropriate according to social standards.

Val's eyes flitted to Noah before resting on Shay, her mouth turning down into a frown. "Ok. Come on in."

One thing Shay hadn't paid attention to the last time she visited Val's section of the house was the small living room that was across from her surveillance room. There was a couch and an armchair facing the average sized television, with one side table on the far side of the room. It was small but comfortable, and after taking a seat on the couch next to Noah, Shay clasped her hands in her lap and tried to control her nerves.