Is he worth it?

Chapter 18 Lying

Noah's POV

I couldn't help but feel something was off with that couple. Just when I was thinking that, I thought I heard a woman cry and I turned my head to look back at the house while still walking away. I didn't hear anything else after that, so I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me. I was heartbroken. I was supposed to protect her, and I couldn't even do that. Where could she be? Did the other gang leader take her with him? Did she get a chance to escape? Is she lying dead somewhere around these woods? We looked for hours and couldn't find anything or any indication that she had even been in the woods.

"I don't know. I got an off feeling about that couple and there was definitely someone else in the house with them." I said to Jai while walking with my head down. Their house was deep in the woods. That made me skeptical in the first place. Why are they all the way out here? What really got me was the fact that if we didn't turn onto what looked like an abandoned dirt road in the first place, we wouldn't even have seen their house it was hidden so well.

"Okay. We will get shifts going to watch the house just in case anything happens."

I nodded my head in agreement. I was losing hope. How could I save her? If she was still alive and in these woods, she was probably so scared right now. There was literally nothing I could do. This was my fault. I failed her.

An entire week has gone by and there was still no sign of PJ. At this point I just assumed she was dead and we were looking for a body. As much as I didn't want to think about it that way, I couldn't help it.

I told my mom that I had a big opportunity with writing and that I would be away for a bit. I was lying to my entire family. I couldn't even look her in the eyes when she was jumping for joy excited for me. Lying was the last thing I wanted to do, but I just needed time. I had to even call her job and make up some story about her being in a car accident. PJs friends were blowing up her phone. I finally had to pretend to be her and text them back. What else could I do they were blowing my phone up too.

"Hey guys! Sorry I have been gone. Noah decided to take me away for a little us time! 😉 -P"

"We were so worried about you. We came by but didn't see you. You know you can tell us anything right? We heard you were in an accident. -T"

"Are you sure you are okay? Text us something about food if you are not. -S"

"Yes! I promise! We will be back soon! Love you guys!"

"Okay... Love you too."

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. She deserved for me to actually take her somewhere special. No one had come out of that couple's house except for the man and woman who lived there. Gardening at times. Chopping wood. The woman left at one point and came back with groceries.

I felt like I couldn't do anything. I hadn't moved from the couch in the warehouse in 3 days. I was so overwhelmed with my emotions and I did not want to snap on anyone, so I just kept to myself. I know how bottling my emotions inside of me made me want to explode at any little thing. These people helped me no questions asked and I didn't want to show my appreciation with anger. I wasn't angry at them, I was angry with myself.

I was hungry, but just couldn't bring myself to eat knowing PJ was probably starving. If she is even alive. I don't if I couldn't even stomach food right now. I just wanted to be alone and huddled up in the ball on this couch.

"Yo. Noah. You need to eat man." Tony said handing me a burrito. I took the burrito and put it down beside me.

"I'm not hungry." I mumbled.