in Anchorage.” Noah explained. It was still strange, seeing him gesture with one hand rather than two. While one ran through his hair, the other was bound up in a thick navy sling, the shoulder casted to prevent the joint from sliding. “For the most part, everything’s fine. I’ve got a prescription, and I’m not sure how that’s going to work out. I forgot to ask about driving.”
“Need a chauffeur?” she ribbed, lifting her bag to her knees as she sat on the edge of an untouched bed.
Noah smirked, managing a one-shouldered half-shrug. “Probably. Think you can handle the pickup again?”
She laughed, offering a look of sympathy. “If you can handle getting that thing reset, I’m sure I can handle an automatic.”
He nodded, stepping forward to grab her hand, pulling her to her feet. He said, “I’m sorry about today. About everything.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for – although you can request a formal apology from whatever sorry tree took you down.” Her words were playful, but her tone wavered with an intake of breath. Her heart fluttered, his thumb tracing her lips. He kissed her, sending fire dancing across her skin. Reluctant, she parted, whispering, “I should get your jacket. It’s in the waiting area.” Noah teased, “Don’t go far.”
Aly smiled. “Never.”
Spinning on her heel, she left the room, headed for the lobby. After retrieving his things, she refilled her cup, grabbing another for Noah. On the way back, the sound of yelling traveled through the hall. A bystander in scrubs met her gaze, sharing a baffled, wideeyed expression. The woman quickly looked away, dark crimson pooling in her cheeks at being caught eavesdropping.
Before Aly reached his door, Lee ran out, shaking with anger. Nearly running into her, he stopped, a loathing stare following her toes to her crown. He hissed, “This is your fault.”
Aly blurted, “Excuse me?”
“You belong on the outside, Glass daughter,” Lee warned, “You stay away from my boy.”
As he shoved past her, half-caf sloshed from the cups to the toes of her boots. Mixed emotions welled in her chest, pain and anger swirling. Collecting herself, she prepared to brush it off.
Aly attempted to coax herself into entering the room as though tension wasn’t wafting below the door. Instead, she stood in the hall with coffee-flavored boots, feeling confused and two-inches-tall.
You belong on the outside, Glass daughter.
How dare you, Alyson Mackenzie.
Blinking, Aly peaked through the square block windows in the door. He had a free hand over his face, his good shoulder leaning against the wall. Glancing up with shell-shocked horror, Noah met her stare.
“Well,” she said, “isn’t that something.”
CHAPTER 20 | NOAH
Glancing in the mirror pinned to the closet, Noah turned, observing the angles of the splint. He’d nearly bit through his tongue when they reset it, his jaw still aching from grinding teeth. Once it was in, most of it went away. A dull throb and the threatening looseness of the joint remained. When he was still half in shock, keeping the arm at his side was instinctual. Without the initial agony keeping it sedentary, it had already gotten maddening.
Aly was the first thing that softened him since he had the band of labels snapped around his wrist. With her gone, the annoyance was creeping back.
He turned with a smile, the door slamming. Instead of promised coffee and Aly’s beam, Lee stood with an unseasonable faux-fur lined coat lining his misshapen frame, covered in sweat and irritation. With his gilded bolo tie fastened around the lapel of a black polo and half-rimmed wire glasses perched on projected cheekbones, he looked like someone’s hard-laboring grandfather, rather than an angry brute with primed lectures sliding across a tongue that never spoke silver.
Only rusted and charred.
Noah asked, “How is she?”
“How is she? How are you? You think you can go prancing in the forest, ignoring the words of the elders?” Lee yelled, “You allow her to affect you until you forget about your family. You forget your brain. Now, you’ve hurt yourself. It proves what I say.”
Noah chuckled blackly. “You’re worried about me getting hurt?”
In a fluid motion, his free hand gripped the hem of his shirt. As Noah lifted it to his ribs, he revealed bruised muscle. The center was a harsh violet, the warped edges stretched through phases of reds and greenish yellows, like an alien sun. Scratching the unwashed pony tail at the nape of his neck, Lee raised his pressed-in brow, thin lips crunching in a scowl. “The Gigit did this as well?”
Irritated and