Thrown into Royalty [chicklit romance] [REVISING]

XIX.

A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for being so patient with me. Check out Maeve's outfit for this chapter on my Polyvore page! You all are the best, and don't forget to vote and/or comment on the chapter! You all are the best. xx

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"Noah?"

I found him about to open the door to his suite when I had just came back from the beach with Caterina and Margaux. He was in his leather jacket, white t-shirt and jeans, a sight to behold as two-day-old scruff danced along his jaw.

He paused as soon as he heard my voice, but decided to ignore as he pushed the door open.

"Noah!" I exclaimed, walking faster so that he wouldn't close the door on me. "Please, tell me what's wrong." I begged as I entered the suite after him. He shrugged off his jacket and placed it on the sofa, still pretending like I wasn't here. I sighed, putting my bag down on the floor before walking in front of him. I stopped him in his tracks and wrapped my arms around him in an embrace.

Hugging him reminded me that I hadn't been spending as much time with him as I'd like, and suddenly warmth grew in my heart as I stayed like that, but he didn't respond for a minute until he reciprocated the hug.

"Tell me; why are you avoiding me? You've been avoiding me for the whole day after this morning. I know we haven't been spending enough time, but we're both busy and we know that, but you didn't answer my calls or my texts when you'd usually do. What's wrong?" I asked gently, lifting my head so that I could look at him.

"Nothing's wrong," he shook his head, averting his gaze from me. "I just need time to clear my head for a bit."

"Are you sure?" I frowned a bit.

He nodded. "Yes."

"Are you mad at me for this morning, though?" I didn't like to watch him lie to me that he was fine.

"Not—not really." He pulled away from my arms, running his hand through his hair. "I just don't know how you'd react if I tell you this. I don't want to scare you away, but I do want to tell you that you have options— you can stay away from me, but in truth, I want you by my side."

"Why? What's happening?" I gave a quick once-over to at least get a gist of what he wanted to tell me.

He sighed, closing his eyes for a bit. "Last night, when Caterina was with that ex of hers, I wanted to beat the guy up and you grabbed me to ask what I was doing... I wanted to hurt you too."

I stared at him, the information seeping into my mind. "But you were already angry about Caterina being man-handled like that, so of course you wanted to hurt anyone in the way—"

"No, Maeve, you're not getting the point," he said in a firm voice. "This morning too, when that duke dared to even lay his hands on you... You weren't at fault, Maeve, but I turned angry, punched him in the face and was so close to losing my control when I wanted to hurt you too. I haven't felt the strong urge to hurt someone ever since I was seventeen and I'd never want to hurt you... at least when I'm in the right state of mind."

I took a deep breath as I held onto his arm. "Tell me, did I do anything wrong that would make you feel angry towards me?"

He shook his head, his face tightening as if he was pained. "No. No, you didn't. You haven't made me angry, but I just am. I don't want to be the type of boyfriend who will lash out on you for no reason, or even physically abuse you."