Cherry Blossom Girl Ch. 02

Are you always this easy to please?

No.

Sascha remembered nothing after that. Had they...?

Her head throbbed as she bolted from the bed and found her jacket on the dresser next to her phone and keys. Her shoes were on the floor. At least she'd woken up in her jeans and bra. That had to be a good sign. And if she'd had sex surely she would have felt some difference. She put on her jacket, shoved her phone in a pocket and grabbed her keys. Their metallic clank heralded an unwelcome realization. Liya knows.

The blender stopped.

Her house keys tumbled out of her grasp and onto the dresser.

Silence.

Sascha cringed inside. Now he knew she was awake. Um. Newflash. It's not as if he doesn't know you're here.

Footsteps.

Her panicked gaze darted from to the sliding door leading out onto the balcony to the wall behind the bed. She did her best to erase the makeup smudges around her eyes with what little time she had. What she wouldn't give for a buzz saw right now.

Noah paused in the doorframe dressed in navy track pants and a damp white t-shirt plastered to his chest and shoulders. He seemed kind of...mad to find her here. The stony expression on his face offered no reassurance.

"Good morning." Her voice cracked and her throat felt raw. Noah's hello was an economical use of sound. Maybe he wasn't a morning person.

"What happened last night?"

"You don't remember." It wasn't a question yet it brimmed with disbelief. The warm, lively voice she remembered had gone hard and cold.

"I wouldn't be asking you if I did." The persistent rasp in her morning voice meant she'd be down with a cold come sundown

An electric silence followed. Sometime during the night he'd said he wasn't done with her. Her stomach plummeted and catapulted at the implication. Please don't let me be sick.

"What did you do to me?"

"I didn't do anything to you," he answered in a flat, defiant tone. "You begged me to fuck you—more than once."

Sascha shook her head, her denial a hoarse whisper.

Noah folded his arms. "Yes."

"I-I wouldn't...that's not me." As much as she wanted to disappear she couldn't leave without knowing the truth. "What happened?"

"You mean did we have sex? No—not the kind you're thinking."

Heat settled in her face. More memories.

"I'd never force myself on a woman. And I definitely didn't need to with you. Or did you forget that part too?" His callous, mocking attitude was so unlike the man who kissed her forehead before she fell asleep. But then she'd just accused him of something ugly.

"No." Her hands fluttered with agitation as she realized the clip had been pulled out of the grenade. "I-I didn't mean it like that. It's just...I don't remember anything after—"

If Noah weren't so furious he might have been taken aback by the shame he read on her face. He hadn't done a damned thing to warrant that look.

"There was nothing after." Especially after she'd called out another man's name. "You fell asleep. You woke up. End of story." He cut her off as she started to speak; he'd had enough of this bullshit. "And if you don't believe me, call the police and tell them how much fun you had dry humping your neighbor." He grabbed her keys off the dresser and dropped them in her hands. "Run home, little girl."

There was one moment where anything could've happened—she could've cursed, she could've cried—anything.

She pocketed the keys and slid on her shoes with such defiant grace, it made a point. Then she faced him straight on. "Thanks for the hospitality," she told him then walked out. She may as well had said, "Fuck you".