Chapter 3
Chapter 3 - Find Her.
Seven woke up later. Long after she'd left. The sun was starting to set, and her side beside him was long cold.
"Hello?" He tossed around, reaching for her. His hands met emptiness.
His eyes snapped open, looking around. She was gone. The only thing that remained was her perfect scent.
He groaned, burying his nose into her side of the bed, inhaling.
"Flour, butter...how can someone smell like dessert!"
Sitting up, his eyes fell on the clock on the bedside table. It read 6:15 pm.
Seven couldn't believe it. He'd slept for almost twelve hours. This hadn't happened in twenty-three years. He'd spent years barely sleeping through the noise in his head. Yet beside her, it had disappeared. A drunk blonde that smelled like a pastry shop had somehow managed to make him sleep in.
He leaned over and picked up the note from the nightstand. The handwriting was messy, the lipstick a little smudged, but he could still make out the words.
"Best night of my life. Thank you."
His eyes dropped to the cash beside it.
A short, disbelieving laugh escaped him.
"This woman really thought I was an escort," he mumbled.
He picked up the money and turned it between his fingers. Who would believe him if he told them a cute, heartbroken woman had mistaken him for an escort, slept with him, paid him afterward, left him a piece of chocolate cake, and disappeared before he woke up?
He looked at the cake sitting beside the note.
The whole situation was ridiculous.
And yet, somehow, he wanted to see her again.
He picked up his phone and called Tyren.
His assistant answered on the second ring. “You're alive. Meeting run long?”
“I slept with a woman.”
Silence filled the line.
Then Tyren said, “I'm sorry, what?”
“I slept with a woman.”
“I heard you. I'm trying to work out whether you hit your head.”
He smiled. “I don't know her name and she doesn't know mine. She left a note, some cash, and a cake. I want to find her.”
Tyren went quiet again.
“Do you want the best-friend answer or the assistant answer?”
Seven glanced at the empty side of the bed. “Best friend.”
“Leave her alone.”
He frowned. “That's your advice?”
“Yes. It was all fun and you were apparently feeling reckless, and neither of you knows anything about the other. Let it stay that way.”
Seven rolled the cash between his fingers. “And your assistant answer?”
“Find her.”
Seven laughed softly. “I knew I'd hired you for a reason.”
“You're impossible.”
“I prefer the assistant.” he unwrapped the cake.
Took a bite.
And had to physically stop himself from making a sound.
Sweet. Soft. Melted on his tongue.
Damn. Who taught this woman to bake?
“Of course you do.” Tyren sighed. “But before you start playing detective, can we acknowledge how strange this is?”
Seven's smile faded slightly. “What's strange about it?”
“Reid, you hate being touched.”
“I know.”
“No, I don't think you do.” Tyren's voice sharpened with disbelief. “You don't let people hug you. You don't shake hands unless you absolutely have to. Half the time, you move away when someone gets too close to you, and you've spent years making everyone around you understand that.”
He said nothing.
“And you haven't been with anyone in over five years.”
“That doesn't mean anything.”
“It means everything.” Tyren gave a humorless laugh. “You spent five years avoiding physical contact with women, and now you're telling me some woman you've known for a few hours climbed into your bed, touched you, slept beside you, and somehow you slept for twelve hours?”
He looked at the bed, his side was still warm and hers empty. He hadn't even noticed when she'd left.
Tyren continued. “You know how many times I've watched you go three nights without proper sleep? How many doctors you've seen? How many mornings you've shown up with bloodshot eyes? This is a miracle.”
“It's still confusing. I can't even get her scent out of my head..”
“Wow! She'd walked into your life and switched your brain off. And you lied to her about your name?”
"Told her it was Seven." He took another bite.
"Reid, are you joking right now? Seven was the project you concluded last year!"
He rubbed a hand over his jaw. The strange thing was, Tyren was right.
He'd spent years learning how to live around the neurological noise, the headaches, the restless nights, the discomfort whenever someone touched him without warning. He'd learned to tolerate handshakes, meetings, crowds, anything that came with being Reid Blackbell.
But Noelle had touched him without making his skin crawl.
She had fallen asleep beside him.
And he'd slept too.
For twelve hours.
He looked down at the little cake again. And yet, she doesn't know who he was. Only an assumption.
“What the hell happened to me?” he murmured.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Tyren sighed.
Reid picked up the note again. "Best night of my life. Thank you."
He smiled.
“I want you to find her.”
Tyren groaned. “You're really going to make this complicated, aren't you?”
“I haven't decided yet.”
“You already called me.”
“Fair point.”
Tyren muttered something under his breath before saying, “How am I supposed to find a nameless woman?”
“I heard someone call her Noelle.” By now, he'd finished the cake and tucked the wrap into his pants. This was one thing from her and for some reason, he wanted to keep it as a souvenir.
There was a pause. “That's it?”
“That's all I've got.”
“Great. I'll search the entire city for a blonde named Noelle. Should I start with the phone book?”
“Try not to embarrass yourself.”
“Man, I'm too swamped—”
Reid ended the call.
He tossed the phone onto the bed and looked at the note one more time.
Noelle.
He didn't know her last name or where she lived. He didn't even know why he cared. All that mattered was that his head was quiet. And he wanted to know why.