Deserve [H.S.]

Chapter 8

IMPENDING

That Saturday, Noah was visiting her family yet again, specifically for Holden's birthday. He had turned 5 that day and the birthday festivities had just about finished. There was a large Cars themed birthday party earlier in the day in which all of his preschool friends had attended. They had pizza and cake and Noah was just about worn out from playing with a large group of kids all day.

As she was helping clean up after a small dinner that evening, her mom, Elise, said something that made her anxious.

"Who's Harry?"

Noah immediately paused as she was putting the last plate into the dishwasher and nervously swallowed. How did her mom know about Harry? Noah had never mentioned him to her before.

The only reply Noah could come up with was, "what?"

"Don't act all innocent now," Elise teased as she put away the clean dishes from a previous dishwasher load, "Holden mentioned meeting a man named Harry when you were here the other weekend. Who is he?"

That little snitch.

"Should have known he would mention him," Noah jokingly rolled her eyes. "He's this guy that I've been sort of seeing? We've been on one date so far." Noah finished loading the dishwasher so she moved to lean against the counter, crossing her fuzzy sock covered feet.

"Sort of seeing? For how long? And one date? When? What did you do on the date?"

Noah puffed out her cheeks and let out a slightly annoyed breath. "Too many questions at once, mom. But I only met him a few weeks ago. We went on the date like a week ago where we went mini golfing and then ate some food on the beach and had ice cream. It was really sweet and simple. He's such a sweetheart, too. I think you'd really like him. He already asked me out on another date for next weekend."

"Aw, I'm so happy for you, honey. As long as you're happy and he treats you well, that's all I care about. How old is he and what does he do?"

A smile made its way onto Noah's face, feeling like everything with Harry was that much more real now that she was talking about it with her mom. "He's 26 and a personal trainer, I think. He said he works in a gym."

Elise's eyebrows raised slightly upon hearing Harry's age. "26? Interesting. And a personal trainer? So he must be really buff, huh?"

Noah laughed and shook her head slightly. "No, not super muscular or anything but definitely fit. Like, the perfect amount of fit. He's so handsome, too. Beautiful green eyes and brown curly hair. Perfect smile."

There was no stopping the smile from forming as Elise heard her daughter speak so fondly about someone. "You seem to really like him. Are we going to get to meet him soon?"

"Mom. No. Too soon," she jokingly groaned. She knew Elise was just teasing her.

Elise laughed and flicked her hand in Noah's direction, "well, I want to meet him when you feel it's appropriate. Now go take Holden to the park."

Meanwhile, Harry was sitting in his locker room with his head in his hands. He rarely let things worry him, or even affect him enough to have an impact on his mood, but he was genuinely beginning to feel a little nervous after his conversation with Ray a few moments prior.

To sum it up, Ray had told Harry that Jonah's team, including the rival ring owner, Victor, were seething over Harry's win the week before. They were all riding on Jonah winning that fight, so the fact that he lost so easily to Harry was a major embarrassment for them.

Harry could tell that Ray didn't want to worry him, so he definitely made it seem less severe than it was. If there was one thing Harry knew about Victor, it was that he was not one to be fucked with. Harry had heard enough horror stories about how Victor treated people that had wronged him, such that he knew he was potentially in for a disaster.