Chapter 32 Beneath his towel

Chapter 32: Chapter 32 Beneath his towel

Noah scrambled around the room, desperately searching for his towel. When he finally grabbed it, the fabric slipped from his grip and dropped again. Marcus stood there, witnessing the whole thing, which only made heat flood Noah’s face until his cheeks burned bright red.

"Fuck this! Why now? Why?!" Noah snatched the towel once more and quickly tied it around his waist. He silently prayed for the ground to crack open and swallow him whole, letting him disappear forever from this embarrassment.

"What is up with you Alphas and never knocking on the door?!" Noah snapped, fury rising in his voice. He had finally carved out a rare moment of peace and solitude, only for it to shatter like waves crashing against rocks.

Marcus lingered at a distance, looking thoroughly embarrassed. "That is my fault. I didn’t know you were naked. I never thought about it." Even as he spoke, his eyes kept trailing over Noah’s chest and down to his V-line, refusing to pull away.

Noah caught him staring red-handed and dramatically wrapped his arms around his waist. "Is that why you’re still gawking at me?"

Marcus blinked, stunned for a moment, before forcing his gaze elsewhere. "Damn, your confidence is on another level. This body is everything. How did you get so sexy overnight?"

That was another detail Noah didn’t need to hear. Marcus had apparently been staring at him for a long time, even before this incident. How else would he know exactly what lay underneath the towel?

"I guess that’s what being rejected countless times will do to you," Noah shot back. The words seemed to strike a chord, filling Marcus with guilt. Noah savored the silence that followed.

*Good. Let him feel guilty.* After everything Ashton had endured at their hands, Noah saw no reason to let them off easily. Ashton hadn’t just been bullied miserably—he had been killed. It was completely fucked up. Now that things were different, they expected Noah to simply jump at their apologies? No chance.

Shamelessly, Noah left Marcus standing there and headed to his cupboard in search of fresh clothes. He was immediately hit by the sight of Ashton’s hideous wardrobe. "Oh fuck, my eyes. The weekend can’t come soon enough so I can get rid of these," he muttered.

Marcus watched him move around the room, pulling items from under the dresser and starting to dress. "Shouldn’t you talk about what made me jump through your window? Or are you just going to keep staring for hours?"

Marcus jerked slightly and clasped his hands in front of him, clearly thinking through how to express what was on his mind. "Ashton, I came to say sorry for how I didn’t defend you. That was terrible of me."

Noah was only half-listening as he pulled on his jacket and adjusted his pants. Lately, the Alphas had been full of apologies, but he didn’t fully understand what it all meant. The entire sequence of events felt wrong, like pieces of a puzzle forced into the wrong places.

*Just why are they paying so much attention to me? What about Sylvia? Can’t they just follow the storyline?* The major changes disturbed him deeply, leaving him worried about how the future might unfold.

"Pardon? You were saying something?" Marcus asked, looking confused about whether Noah had been addressing him or muttering to himself.

"Oh, I was just speaking to myself. Continue—don’t let me stop you." Marcus seemed relieved that Ashton wasn’t being too harsh and pressed on.

"Damian is someone I care about deeply. Seeing him so shaken, and finding out he was that monster... something snapped in me that I can’t explain. I was so distracted by it all that I didn’t think about you in that moment." The words flowed easily from Marcus’s mouth. By the time he finished, Noah—who was finally dressed and ready—offered a small smile.

"That’s some big bullshit," Noah replied flatly. "You stayed quiet because you wanted the blame to fall on me so Damian would be fine. The person you were supposedly defending stood up to clear my name, but you? Yours was different. How am I supposed to be sure you didn’t encourage Sylvia? No matter how you all reacted, she’s your betrothed in the end."

Noah reached for the final touch—Ashton’s favorite perfume, which smelled really good—when Marcus stopped him. "Don’t apply that. Your scent is really good, but wait... something’s changing. It’s almost like a lemon scent now, not that tea flavor, the chamomile I used to pick up before."

That comment made Noah start shaking inside. How was his scent matching that creepy stranger’s? Or was it from their interactions? Those shouldn’t even count—they had happened only in his mind, not physically.

"Just leave that. Let’s go." Noah had dressed up as if heading to a formal event. One rule he never abandoned was looking his best on every occasion, because you never knew what might happen.

"Aren’t you going to say anything? At least one word for everything I’ve been saying?" Marcus pressed.

Noah didn’t feel like responding. "Nope, I don’t want to, Marcus. And who among you is supposed to be the cold one? I thought it was you, but it doesn’t look like it this time. Or was it Damian? Or Eugene? You all are just one big freaking puzzle I have zero interest in cracking."

He walked away, passing through the door with Marcus trailing behind. As they left, Noah spotted Philip, who didn’t acknowledge him at all. *There go our interactions this morning.* Noah wasn’t surprised. It seemed Philip had simply followed the crowd. Once the school labeled Noah as a basic threat instead of the savior he had once been painted as, Philip stopped talking to him entirely.

"Isn’t that your roommate? Why aren’t you two talking to each other?" Marcus asked.

Noah kept walking at a brisk pace but still responded. "Hmm, it’s his problem. I don’t have time for him, so can we just not talk about my roommate now? He isn’t worthy of a conversation." Noah’s irritation with Philip’s attitude lingered.

By the time evening approached, tension hung thick in the air. The whole school had nearly emptied out, with only a few staff members and security personnel remaining. Mrs. Danielle’s words had truly spooked everyone.

"You’re late. Mrs. Danielle is waiting for us all in her office," Lamia relayed the message, his eyes carrying a soft look toward Noah. Noah noticed it but pretended he hadn’t. He felt a pang of sympathy for Lamia. When Lamia moved to enter the building, Marcus tried to follow after Noah, but Lamia held him back.

"Don’t make this harder for him. I beg you all—don’t dare." Lamia’s warning gaze was enough to stop them. The group entered together.

The gathering included the whole Moonlight Alphas pack, along with Sylvia, Rose, and Lamia. Whatever this meeting was about, it promised to be intense and heated.