Moving In

Noah

After the little mishap in the kitchen that morning, Noah decided he'd be more careful about the things he said and did around Veronica. Obviously, she had her reservations still. The last thing he wanted was to weird her out again and have her change her mind about their arrangement.

Truth was her long soft curls had taken him by surprise. Normally, she wore her hair up in a ponytail, and he'd never noticed the curls like he did this morning. Then when he was close enough to take in the scent of her hair, he'd greedily leaned in to get an even closer smell when she turned around. To his enormous relief, he was pretty sure she hadn't caught him sniffing her.

The ride to Abel's was somewhat quiet, but he managed to make some small talk, mostly about the weather then a little about Abel's truck. He was now anxious to get her back into the gym where he knew she'd be in her comfort zone again. More than that, he was anxious to know why a woman her age was still alone. She'd been overweight when she first started working out, but she'd told him she only gained the weight in the past year or so. Clearly from what he saw now and in all the pictures all over the house, she'd been attractive up until she started letting herself go. Even then, when he first met her, he didn't think her unattractive, just out of shape and noticeably self-conscious about it.

As far as he was concerned, she was where she should be weight wise now. But judging from her skimpy breakfast, she wasn't satisfied yet. Based on her reaction to even touching him and the way she still remained far off of personal subjects, his telling her he thought she looked perfect now or finding out more about her personal life would have to wait. He had to take it real slow if he didn't want her bolting for the door again.

Abel and the guys were waiting outside his foster parents' house when he and Veronica drove up. In addition to Abel, his younger brother Hector and Gio would all be helping him move his things.

Abel, who would most likely be fighting as a heavyweight soon as big as he was getting, crossed his arms in front of him, leaning against his truck.

"Are they all boxers like you?" Veronica peered at them as they pulled up next to Abel's truck.

"Yeah, even the younger one."

"Which one is the younger one? They all look so young."

That made Noah frown. "Of the two taller ones, Gio is my age and Abel is a year younger. Hector is Abel's younger brother."

She nodded then turned to him as she stopped the car. "Well, get to it." She then glanced up at the sky. "Looks like it's gonna start up soon. I'm stopping at the market on my way back. Anything in particular you want me to grab for you?"

It was weird to feel like someone was looking out for him but a good weird. Noah reached in his pocket. They were going to have to figure something out soon, but for now, he'd just offer her some cash. He pulled out a couple of twenties, handing them to her. "Just grab the usual stuff you'd normally get and lots of eggs."

She stared at the two twenties apprehensively.

"You need more?" he asked, reaching in his pocket again.

"No! It's just that . . . Well . . ."

"Take it." He shook the twenties at her. "We'll figure this whole grocery money, rent, and utilities thing out later." Then their eyes met. "Tonight over dinner."

He realized how that sounded. Just because he was renting a room in her house didn't mean they'd be sharing meals or spending time together. He'd inadvertently set a dinner date for them tonight—assuming she didn't have other plans. He held his breath and waited to see how she'd react.

To his surprise, she took the money, her deadpan expression giving nothing away. "Okay." She looked over his shoulder then back at him. "Will your friends be staying for dinner too?"

Noah turned back to his friends who were blatantly staring at them. Hell no. "Nah." He turned back to her. "I'll just buy them a pizza for lunch or something."

Since she hadn't balked at his dinner suggestion, he was now looking forward to it. No way was he ruining it by bringing this bunch with him.

Veronica had barely driven away when, as expected, Hector was the first one to speak up. "So you're really moving in with that chick?"

"I'm renting a room in her house. I'm not moving in with her."

"And you're not," he made a lewd gesture with his hand pumping it outward and inward and whistled keeping with the rhythm of his hand, "her?"

While Abel laughed and Gio smirked, Noah frowned, shaking his head. "Don't be stupid. She's a client. She heard about my roof issues, and she had extra rooms, so she offered to let me rent one."

"Ah," Abel said. "So you were already working her out." Then he stopped, bringing his fist to his smiling mouth. "Wait. She's the one you've been training, right? Is she one of those ladies that walked in together that night?"

"Yeah, she was one of them." Noah said, trying to sound as indifferent as possible.

"One of the old ladies?" Hector asked then made a face. "She didn't look old today."

"That's 'cause she's not." Noah said, walking toward the garage, the annoyance beginning to build.

"But she is older, right?" Hector's expression was a bit disgusted. "Too bad. 'Cause she's not half bad looking."

"Why too bad?" Noah asked, a little irritated that he'd let his friend's sixteen-year-old brother bait him into this dumb conversation.

"I'm just saying, you and her alone in this kind of frightening weather, getting warm and cozy in front of the fireplace." He bobbed his eyebrows with a stupid smile. "Might've been fun if she was, you know, younger."

He decided to stop with any more talk of Roni, since he was even more irritated that this kid added another visual to Noah's already overly active imagination. He changed the subject as he opened the door to the garage. "So it's mostly a few totes and some of my weights. I'm throwing this mattress out." He lifted the wet mattress, taking in the moldy smell. He'd only been gone from this place for a couple of days, and already he had no desire to ever come back.

Gio came around and stood next to him, examining the damp garage and all of Noah's soggy things. "Dude, I'm sorry we couldn't get it all out of here sooner."

Noah knew Gio felt awful about his mom not wanting him to stay at their place. She was a little old fashioned, and with Gio having three boy-crazy sisters all just a few years younger than Noah, she wasn't having it. And no way was he staying with Abel, Hector, and their mom. They already had to share a room because their mom was renting the third room in their house, and they always had one or two relatives from Mexico staying on their sofas.

Even Jack had apologized for not being able to offer him a place to stay, but the landlord at his already cramped tiny apartment didn't allow roommates.

Gio and the guys all felt bad when they heard he'd be staying at the gym, but Noah understood. If there was any way they could've helped, they would've like today and the rainy days when he'd tried in vain to fix the roof. They'd all been there getting soaked with him. None of them had given it a second thought when he asked if they could help. He never even asked Hector. If Abel was coming, you could sure as hell bet Hector would be there.

"Nah, it's cool. I got the important stuff out fast enough." He'd never even kept the real important stuff here to begin with—his boxing gear. All that stuff had always been kept in the comfort and security of the gym.

Abel walked into the garage. "So which totes are yours, and which ones belong to the Fuentes?"

Noah pointed out which things were his, and between the four of them, they had all his stuff in Abel's truck just as the sky started to thunder. They hurried to cover everything with a tarp. "Shit, it's gonna start coming down soon." Abel said, tying down the tarp on one end. "We better get this outta here."