I did manage to stay away from Noah for three whole days, as per Shannon's request before the inevitable happened. I was in Mr Stinson's office polishing up the notes I had been taking for him in a just concluded meeting when Elena came in followed by a very beautiful woman looking like she was in her mid forties but with such a banging body, you might mistake her for someone in her early thirties.

"Mr Stinson", Elena called out in her rarely used courteous voice "Mrs Stinson is here to see you"

Ahh, Noah's step mom, the raging bitch.

"Darling!" she cooed, her voice dripping with too much affection, in my opinion.

I swear Mr Stinson's face lit up like a Christmas tree. It would be hard not to, if you had such a smoking hot wife.

He stood up from his big CEO chair and went over to meet her, his arms slipping about her as they shared a brief kiss.

"Ellie, I don't think you've met my wife before. Grace, this is Ellie, my new assistant. She's been quite a help around here", Mr Stinson said to his wife while gesturing at me

I uncrossed my legs and stood up, pleased at Mr Stinson's remarks. I walked over to them and held out my hand to her, "It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am"

She eyed my held out hand scornfully. "Don't call me ma'am"

Okay... "Oh sorry ma'am... I mean Mrs Stinson". When she made no effort to accept my outstretched hand, I lowered it back down and pretended to wipe it against my jeans. I could see Elena's shoulders shaking as she snickered before she departed the office.

I went over to gather my notes and leave but I couldn't help but hear some of their conversation.

"Honey, what brings you here? You rarely visit me at the office", Mr Stinson said to his wife

She tugged on the lapels of his suit. "Well, I wouldn't say this is a visit per say. I came to get you"

"Get me?" Mr Stinson's brows furrowed in confusion

"Yes, honey. We're having lunch with the Goldbergs today, remember?"

"I thought that was supposed to be tomorrow", Mr Stinson said "Ellie check my itinerary, when am I supposed to have lunch with the Goldberg's?"

I brought out my phone and opened up Mr Stinson's itinerary. "Lunch with the Goldbergs. Tomorrow, sir, 2 pm"

I looked up to find Mrs Stinson glaring at me like I had done something wrong aside from following my orders.

"Well baby, you know I have that trip to Napa over the weekend so I shifted it to today so I'd have time to prepare. I thought you wouldn't mind"

Mr Stinson scratched his chin. "Ah well I think I was supposed to..." but he was interrupted by Noah barging into the office. My heart did a little flip as his gorgeous face came into view, it felt like it had been forever since I had seen him last.

Noah stopped by his dad, he looked pissed.

"I heard you were here, Grace. Had to come see what you were up to"

"Noah, darling", her bright red lips parted in a faux smile "You hardly come for family dinners anymore, you should give your step mom a call sometime"

Noah ignored her and turned to Mr Stinson. "Dad, are you ready?"

"Yes, he's ready", Mrs Stinson spoke up "To have lunch with me and the Goldbergs"

"What?!" Noah looked infuriated as hell "Dad, we're going to the cemetery. Today is the tenth anniversary of mom's death, remember? Nate is already on his way there"

Mr Stinson looked torn... and I felt out of place watching their family drama unfold.

"Surely you can go visit your mom's grave anytime. This lunch had been planned long ago, Noah"

"You have a lot of nerve, Grace", Noah shook his head at her

"Hey, watch your tone when speaking to my wife, Noah", Mr Stinson admonished in his no nonsense tone

Okay... that was my cue for I needed to get the hell out of there.

"Dad", Noah looked right at him "Don't let her do this. We have to honour mom"

"Noah darling, your dad has made a commitment and right now, it's more important to honour the living than the dead", Mrs Stinson said, her words daring him.

Noah seethed; I could feel his anger emanating all the way from where I was standing and I could feel him just restraining himself.

"Noah, unfortunately Grace is right, this lunch is important. I can visit your mom's grave any other time", Mr Stinson spoke, interrupting the glaring match between Noah and Mrs Stinson.

"Dad! You rarely ever visit, we usually need the anniversary of her death just to get you there", Noah ran a hand through his hair in frustration

"Son, what I've said is final. Don't argue with me", Mr Stinson said to Noah with a note of finality.

Woah... I would have never expected this from Mr Stinson. What kind of witchy voodoo did his wife have on him?

The pause in their conversation was my opportunity to leave; I quietly made my way towards the other side of the room.

"Ellie, not so fast. I need you to deliver the article I just approved to Prime publications right now" Mr Stinson said, his gaze switching on me

"Right now?" I squeaked "But I don't know where that is, sir. It might take a while"

"Noah will take you. C'mon Grace let's go", Mr Stinson said and turned to leave

"But dad..."

"Noah!" Mr Stinson bellowed. I had never seen him angry before but he was just on the verge of it before he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down "Just do as you're told, okay?"

Without another word, he led Mrs Stinson out of the office. Mrs Stinson sent Noah a triumphant smirk just before she went out the door.

"Aaargghh!" Noah groaned slamming his fist against Mr Stinson's wall; thankfully it was not made of glass like the other walls in this place.

Now looking at Noah, I realized something was off about him. He was dressed in all black today, which wasn't actually unusual but today, there was a sadness to him. His eyes looked a little forlorn and I realized today actually meant a lot to him, he must have been thinking about it for a while which explained why it had been so easy to avoid him these past few days.

I walked over to him, he was my friend and I hated to see him hurting. I placed my hand on his arm "I'm sorry, Noah"

His eyes met mine. Deep, sad hazel eyes that made my breath catch in my throat and my heart want to break in two.

"It's fine", he said "Let's just go"

And we went, the car ride was cool and chilly, and it wasn't just the air conditioning. I looked at Noah a few times, torn between staying away from him and being there for my friend. Noah didn't notice though, he was in his own head. Thinking about his mom, I'm sure.

We got to Prime publications, I delivered the article and got back and Noah wordlessly turned the car around and made to drive back to Stinson & Co.

Finally, I couldn't bear the silence any longer, I spoke up.

"Noah..."

"Hmm?" his gaze briefly left the road to settle on me

"It's fine. Go visit your mom", I offered him a sad smile

He shook his head. "I need to get you back to the office"

"Don't worry, I'll come with you"

He gazed at me, a long, hard gaze. "Are you sure? It might get depressing for you"

"Eyy", I shrugged "I can do depressing"

He cracked a smile at that; I loved to see him smile. I loved making him smile.

Hold up, Ellie. What the heck was I thinking?

"Alright, then. I want to swing by my apartment and get something first, I hope you don't mind?"

"No, I don't mind. Let's go"

The drive to Noah's apartment was shorter than I expected and his apartment was definitely more beautiful than I expected.

"Woah", I gasped once we pulled up "Do you live here... alone?" It was freaking huge, an architectural masterpiece for someone his age.

Noah laughed. "Yeah, I do. Give me a sec, I'll be right back"

He got out of the car and disappeared into his house. I took the time to mull over my thoughts, wringing my hands together as I did. Was I getting in over my head? Outside, the skies darkened and I heard thunder rumble in the distance.

Today was turning out to be quite a dreary day.

In a few short minutes, Noah was out again. He was carrying a bouquet of white orchids, the most gorgeous arrangement of flowers I had ever seen.

He got into the car and shut the door and they smelt as heavenly as they looked.

"Wow, these are so beautiful, Noah", I said touching the delicate petals as he set them down

"They were my mom's favourite" I glanced up to see him looking down at me, our gazes met... and held.

I pulled away and cleared my throat. "So how is Shannon doing?" Today was the anniversary of her parents' death as well.

Noah broke out of his haze, and revved up the car before pulling out of his driveway. "Shannon went back to LA. Her parents' graves are still there, whilst we moved my mom's when we moved to Connecticut"

"Oh", I said

"Is that weird?"

"No, not at all", I reassured him "So Shannon is grieving there?"

"Ahh, I don't know for sure. Shannon would mark it, but grieving is not her thing. She'd mostly just want to forget"

"I see" and I did. I understood everyone had their own different way of dealing, and that was Shannon's.

We drove for about thirty more minutes in a relaxed, companionable silence before Noah pulled up in front of Crescent Hills cemetery.

"We're here", he announced quietly, looking over at me "Are you sure you want to do this? You could just wait in the car"

I reached forward and placed my hand over his. "I'm sure"

He stilled as my hand made contact with his, but just for a moment before starting up again.

"Okay, well come on then"

I followed him out of the car, outside powerful winds whipped across my skin and leaves floated past.

"A heck of a rain storm is brewing", Noah said, stating the obvious. He took hold of my hand "Come on"

I had never been to a cemetery before. I'm sure it was supposed to scare the shit out of me, but having my hand in Noah's, supporting him through this difficult time, it felt right. I wasn't creeped out one bit.

We made our way across some headstones, past a clearing until finally I could see the tall brown haired older version of Noah that was Nate standing in front of a beautifully carved headstone.

We walked over to him.

"Noah", he broke into a kind of sad smile when he saw us "Ellie it's great to see you again"

Noah reached forward and they hugged, their grief evident in their grim expressions, they were usually really cheerful around each other.

"Bro", Noah said "Sorry to keep you so long"

"It's alright. Had some alone time with mom here" I looked at the dozen or so red roses that were already placed at the base of her headstone. The inscription on her headstone read 'Phoebe Dane Stinson', 'Beloved wife, mother, sister, and friend'. '1964-2005'.

"Where's Dad?" Nate inquired, his brow furrowing into a frown.

Noah just shook his head solemnly.

"Why? What happened?" Nate demanded

"Grace happened", Noah replied drily

Nate's hand clenched into a fist. "That woman will be the death of me"

"Calm down, Nate. It's not like dad doesn't have a mind of his own"

"I know... it's just. Dad behaves like he's brain washed sometimes. I mean does he not miss her at all?"

"I'm sure he does. He loved her, like we all did", Noah placed his hand on his brother's shoulder and squeezed reassuringly.

Noah placed his bouquet of orchids next to Nate's and we all just stood there for some time, the only sound was that of harsh breezes whipping by.

Just then one or two fat droplets of rain began to pelt my face. I looked up to see that indeed, the rain storm was just starting. Noah and Nate noticed too, and were paying their final respects.

"Rest in peace, mom", Noah whispered, stepping closer to her headstone.

"I have to go back to the restaurant", Nate announced to us then he came forward and hugged me unexpectedly "Thanks for coming out here, Ellie. Noah might not say it but I'm sure it means a lot to him"

I nodded, choked up by my own well of emotions and unsure of what to say.

He pulled away and then walked off. Noah and I lingered back for just a minute longer before Noah took hold of my hand again and we left the premises of the cemetery, rushing to get back to the car before the rain started.

We got into his car just moments before the rain began to patter down heavily now. We just sat there, breathing heavily.

We sat there till our breaths evened out; the sound of rain falling around us filling up the void of our silence till finally Noah spoke.

"I'm sorry. This must probably be weird for you"

"It's not weird"

"Well I h... I appreciate you coming out here with me. You've probably seen me wimping out enough about my mom"

"Honestly, Noah I really don't mind", I leaned towards him "Okay let's talk about it; tell me, what was your favourite memory of her?"

Noah smiled to himself, I'm sure reminiscing on those memories. "Ah, wow... There are a lot", he ran a hand through his hair

"Any one will do"

"Okay, well there was this one time... Because I might not look like it now, but I was quite the troublemaker when I was a kid. So I was looking around the backyard for buried treasure when I was about five, and then I came across mom's freshly planted garden which she had previously warned us not to go near"

"Don't tell me you dug it up", I gasped

"Oh, I dug it up Ellenore, I dug it all up", he laughed, covering his face in his hands "She was so pissed, grilling me and Nate, asking who did it. We both denied of course"

"So later that night I couldn't sleep, I went up to her, all remorseful and everything, and I confessed to it. She laughed and said she knew it was me, and why didn't I own up to it. I told her I was afraid she wouldn't love me anymore and she just pulled me in and hugged me real tight and told me that there was nothing in this world that would make her stop loving me, absolutely nothing"

I offered him a sad smile, reaching out to touch his hand.

"I just miss her so much sometimes. Sometimes I forget to miss her, and then I feel bad for that too. I mean, she never got to see Nate's restaurant, she never got to see me grow up. Would she even be proud of the person I've become?"

"Noah, your mother would be so proud of you", I told him, my hands slip up from his arm to cup his cheek "You are an amazing, thoughtful, brilliant person and I'm not your mom, but I would sure be proud as hell to call you my son"

Noah's hand reached up to cup my hand cupping his face and the burning look in those hazel eyes as they met mine sent white hot flames eating at me from inside out.

"Ellenore..." he said and then his mouth was crashing down hard on mine. And goodness help me, I was oh so powerless to resist.

His lips, his tongue, his hands, they were all magic. His lips kissed mine over and over again, long, slow drugging kisses that left me breathless. His tongue coaxed its way into mine gently, stroking against mine, taking all I had to offer until my arms came to wrap against his neck and I shuddered as the electricity sizzled from all points of contact all the way to my toes.

His hands burned a path through my jeans as he ran his hand over my thigh. Suddenly, he lifted me right up from my seat, one hand on my waist and the other on my thigh to straddle him on his seat.

Before I had time to protest, his lips were on me again, this time on my neck, he trailed soft delicious kisses down from my jaw line all the way to the base of my neck.

"Noah..." I let out in a ragged breath, my fingers curling in his blonde locks as I wondered if it was possible to die from neck kisses.

"Ellenore, I want you so much", he whispered against my ear, biting down gently on my earlobe and his words sent fiery white heat engulfing my whole body, a flame that only he could extinguish.

I crashed my mouth down to his again, relishing in the way our lips meshed and parted in synchronization. My hands found their way to the base of his shirt and I tugged at it, wanting desperately to touch him.

Noah pulled away for just a second, but before I could mourn the loss of him, he had reached down and pulled his shirt off, tossing it onto my previously occupied seat.

Oh my, my mouth grew dry as his amazing body came into view. He was ripped, but not overly buff. Lean muscle and tight abs roped across his torso. I would have stared some more but his hand came around to cup the back of my head, pulling me down for another hot open mouthed kiss.

His hands reached up to span my waist where my blouse had ridden up and I swear, it felt like fireworks were exploding all over my skin.

We stayed that way for a really long time kissing and touching each other, steaming up the windows of the car. I never knew just making out could make my heart feel like it was about to hammer right out of my chest.

Noah was just about to reach for the hem of my blouse when my phone vibrated in the back pocket of my jeans. I tried ignoring it, anything to keep me in this bliss I was currently in but it kept on vibrating.

I pulled away from Noah, breaking out of my trance.

"Ignore it", Noah whispered. I so wanted to ignore it, but I knew I couldn't anymore.

I pulled my phone out and checked the caller ID, it was Rob.

"It's Rob", I said quietly, leaning away from Noah. And with that, we both knew the mood was instantly broken. "Wow, I can't believe we just did this", I shook my head "This is so so wrong on so many levels"

"Ellie... calm down. Let's talk about this", Noah reached for my hand but I pulled away

"Calm down, Noah?" I hyperventilated "We just fucking cheated"

Guilt seeped through every pore in my body. I felt like crap.

"Can you stop freaking out and let's just talk about this?"

"Noah, I kissed you once and you freaked out because you had a girlfriend. Now, we're both seeing people and we both consciously cheated and you expect me not to freak out?" I realized how ridiculous I sounded still straddling him.

"Screw this", I reached out, grabbed my bag at the same time pulling open the door to Noah's side and quickly scrambled out into the pouring rain.

"Ellie what the hell are you doing?" Noah called out after me but I was already gone.

Damn it. Damn it all to hell, I was a terrible person. It took Noah a few seconds to come after me; I guessed he was pulling on his shirt.

Rain pelted down on me, lighting flashing dangerously against the dark skies as I ran forward. My clothes were thoroughly soaked and my hair stuck to my face in wet clumps.

"Ellie!" I could hear Noah scream after me "Stop running from me"

"I promised... I promised I would stay away from you, Noah", I hope the rain sluicing down my face would hide the tears that were also falling.

"What the hell? What are you talking about, Ellie?" he took a few steps forward, rain beating down on his body and I took more steps away from him

"I'm talking about... You're bad for me, Noah. Before I met you, I was normal. I was perfectly fine and normal and then you came in and messed it all up, and I don't know who I am anymore!"

"Ellie just get back in the car! You'll catch hypothermia at this rate"

"No!" I cried "Just leave me alone Noah... I don't ever want to see you again"

Thunder rumbled in the distance but it felt like nothing compared to the storm of emotions of Noah's face.

"You don't mean that, Ellie. C'mon please"

Luckily for me, a taxi sent by angels was driving by just then. I ran madly towards it in an effort to flag it down and to my great relief it actually stopped.

Without a glance back at Noah, I pulled open the door and slipped inside, slamming the door shut behind me.

The driver looked at me like I was a crazy woman.

"Can you go please?" I said to the driver, unable to stop the tears that were streaming down my cheeks

Just then, Noah slammed against the door, knocking against the glass with rivulets of water cascading down his hair, his face.

"But ma'am, that person..." the driver started

"Just GO!" I screamed at him. He shook his head, muttering something to himself about crazy ladies, put the car in gear and drove off. I risked a glance back at Noah and the devastated look he had standing there in the rain was one I was sure would haunt me forever.

A/N: Second update in a day guys whoop whoop. Hope you enjoy the chapter, it's a little more dark, depresssing and dramatic than usual (LOL). So let me know what you think :). Votes, comments and shares are always welcome over here. P.s last updates for a while, I've got exams so bear with me till I'm done ok? Xoxo