Ralph’s house is surrounded by forest, and it spreads out onto his property, clusters of trees growing all over his lawn. Still, I park far back on the road, and double-check that there are enough branches and boughs to conceal my car.

My heart is flooded with worry for Noah, but I’m trying to stay calm, to be smart about this. Rushing right up to Ralph’s house is not a good idea. I need to see what I’m walking into.

Will follows me out of the car, and we weave together through the trees until we set eyes on the house.

As soon as I see the slumped structure, the long gravel driveway - I realize that I actually have been back to Ralph’s place since the day we searched for the cemetery. Aiden and I came here to drop Ralph off after we rescued him from Cam at the bar. The entire experience was so chaotic that I almost forgot about that part.

Noah was sitting on the porch steps when we pulled up, pale with worry, waiting for Ralph. And Ralph blew past him, didn't even bother to look him in the face.

Today, though, Noah and Ralph are looking right at each other.

There’s no Corvette in sight, so I guess that Ralph either failed to get it back from Cam, or decided against trying to. Instead, a simple, faded black car is parked at the end of the gravel path. Noah and Ralph are standing in front of it.

I’m too far away to hear anything, but I can see that Ralph is saying something to Noah. Noah is silent, listening, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his bomber jacket.

“Is that him?” Will asks, and I nod, keeping my eyes on the two of them.

“With the tattoos, yeah.”

“Quite a lot of tattoos,” Will observes. “Is he a sailor?”

“Um.” I glance at Will, surprised into a smile. “No, he’s an electrician.”

It’s a relief just to see Noah standing on his own two feet, even though Aiden would have said something if he was in harm’s way. I’m also really glad that Noah isn’t inside the house. The thought of that makes my heart twist.

Will suddenly tips his head to the side, like he hears something I don’t.

“Aiden is summoning me,” he murmurs. “Shall I go?”

I pull my phone out of my pocket, check it, and cringe when I discover that there’s no service. Goddamnit. I forgot about that. It’s been a problem around Ralph’s house before.

“Yeah, go ahead, Will.” I shove my phone back into my pocket. “Just tell Aiden what’s going on and then come back, okay? I’m gonna try to get a little closer.”

Will’s green eyes dart to Ralph, then back to me.

“Be careful,” he says, and vanishes.

I use the snow-heavy branches of the trees as cover, carefully sneaking closer. Ralph and Noah aren’t paying attention, and I manage to sidle up behind the house unseen.

I’m making my way along the decaying back wall when Will startles the hell out of me by reappearing at my side. I gasp, pressing a hand over my chest. My nerves are so fragged already.

“Aiden is on his way,” Will says. “He asked me to tell you that if you get involved before he arrives, he’ll kill you himself. His words, not mine.”

“Sounds right,” I say, around a quiet laugh. Just knowing that Aiden is coming makes me feel so much better. “Thanks, Will. Can you check the house, see if Grant is in there? I just want to know how many we’re up against.”

“What does Grant look like?”

“He’s - well, honestly, if there’s anyone in the house, it’ll be Grant.”

Will nods, once.

“Heed Aiden’s message,” he warns me, walking backwards through the wall.

He disappears into the house, and I scan the landscape to see if there’s a way for me to sneak closer to Noah and Ralph. I heard Aiden’s message loud and clear, but I want to be nearby in case things start to get out of hand.

My eyes land on a group of trees near the end of the drive, a perfect spot. If I take the long way around, and go slow… I think I can get there unnoticed.

I make my way closer, until all that remains between me and the cluster of trees is a stretch of dead brown grass. Nothing along the way to hide me. But Ralph and Noah are entirely focused on each other, and - I got a lot of practice with this, at the Bratton Collection. I know exactly how to time it.

I move fast, very briefly out in the open, then back into cover.

I reach the nearest tree and flatten myself up against it. The rough bark against my palms feels like sweet relief. I take a few deep breaths, my heart hammering.

Sheltered beneath the collective canopy of the trees, I turn and peer through the branches.

My heart sinks as I finally get a good look at Noah.

His shoulders are squared, his chin tipped slightly up. He’s staring down Ralph with cold, steel grey eyes, his hands fisted in his pockets. Standing tall, with one pierced eyebrow arched, like this is boring him.

I forgot that Noah can be scary, when he wants to. Just like Aiden.

But I know him well enough to discern his true feelings. I see the little hints. His eyes keep flashing back to the house. There’s an air of suffocation and claustrophobia clinging to him, though he’s outside in the pale morning sunshine.

Every time his gaze moves back to Ralph, it’s stone again, entirely impenetrable. He’s got the real Noah buried in there, deep down, closed away.

Ralph, on the other hand, seems like his usual self. As I watch, he drifts over to lean lazily against the car, and Noah immediately backs away, maintaining the several feet of space between them.

I search Ralph’s face, looking for any indications of what he’s thinking, struggling hard to surmise what exactly is going on here.

He’s speaking casually, all relaxed. Like this is a totally average day for him, nothing unusual to report. But there’s also this fucking hyena smile on his face. He calls to mind a predator with its prey backed into a corner.

Noah seems to be thinking along the same lines. He’s doing an exceptional job hiding it from Ralph, but I can see that he’s poised on the edge of fight or flight. Storming with barely-contained frenetic energy, though he’s holding perfectly still, apparently perfectly calm. I have a feeling that the tiniest wrong movement from Ralph could unleash it, no matter how hard Noah tries to keep it roped-in.

The very air between the two of them is somehow jagged, sharp.

As I start to get my breath back, my heart stops pounding so violently in my ears, and I can finally hear again.

“-music festival in Greenrock,” Ralph is saying. “Cleaned up. You should have come with me. Seriously, I’m sold out of everything.” He extracts a small clear case from his pocket. It’s filled with pills, and they rattle when he gives it a shake. “Always got my head stash, though. You want one?”

Noah’s eyes flit to the case, but only very briefly.

“What the fuck are you doing, man?” he asks, his voice as icy as his expression. “Stop talking to me like shit is normal between us.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll be back to talking that way all the time, very soon.” Ralph slips the case back into his jacket pocket. “It’ll be like you never left. I’ll be nice enough to forget that you did. Pretty sure you’ll forget, too, eventually.”

Noah barely reacts to this, but I can sense how it unsettles him, how it quietly slides beneath his skin.

“Look, I only came here because you said you had something important to tell me, Ralph, so what is it? Cough it up, or I’m leaving.”

“This is the perfect time to bring you back into the fold,” Ralph continues, as if Noah hadn’t even spoken. “I was gonna go move some product in Port View once I get stocked up again, and you know how it is there. Good money, but bad to work without backup. You remember that time some guy pulled a fucking box cutter on us?”

“Ralph,” Noah says, very slowly and coldly, “Give me one good reason why I should ever do a single goddamn thing for you ever again.”

“Because I have something on you,” Ralph answers.

There’s a short silence. Noah looks taken aback. He blinks hard at Ralph, then frowns deeply.

“No, you don’t.”

“Believe me, I do. Really, you just handed it to me. You made it so easy. I’d have thought all those years living with me would make you more careful than that, Noosh.”

Noah draws in a sharp breath, the tiniest slip in his calm facade. “Don’t call me that.”

Ralph straightens up from the car, his eyes narrowing. “I’ll call you whatever I want.”

Noah holds his ground, doesn’t move an inch, though I can only imagine what he’s feeling right now.

“Jesus, man,” he says, rolling his grey eyes. “Stop being so damn dramatic. Spit it the fuck out, or I’m calling my ride.”

“And who would that be?” Ralph asks, folding his arms over his chest. “Melanie?”

All of the remaining color in Noah’s face disappears instantly.

He goes completely still and silent. Then he pulls his hands out of his pockets, balls them into fists, and takes a step closer to Ralph.

“You leave her out of this.” Noah’s voice is rougher and sharper than I’ve ever heard it. “She has nothing to do with this, you hear me? Keep her name out of your mouth.”

“Oh, she has everything to do with this.”

“The fuck she does!”

“She does,” Ralph explains calmly, “Because I saw you two together. That’s what I have on you.”

Noah stops, arching an eyebrow. “What?”

Ralph nods his head in the direction of town.

“I saw you and Melanie go strolling out of Mugshot together yesterday morning. I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, Noah, but then you kissed her, and gave it all away. Crazy, because from what I’ve seen, your new friend Raj is so - important, to you. What’s going to happen if he finds out that you’ve been messing around with his girl?”

Noah stares at Ralph, wide-eyed, but otherwise expressionless.

“So,” Ralph says, “Here’s what’s gonna happen. I’ll leave Raj in the dark about all this, but you’re moving back in with me. I’ve got a business to run, I need my second in command. Your room’s still open, anyways. Oh, and you’re gonna need to tell Aiden that you decided to come back on your own. Make it convincing.”

Noah’s head jerks back. “Wait - that’s what you have on me? That you saw me kiss Mel?”

“Yep. I’m sure you’re doing a whole lot more than that, too. If you don’t come back, I’ll tell Raj all about it.”

Noah stares at him for another moment, then lets out a hoarse laugh. He covers his face with both tattooed hands, tipping his head back.

“Oh, my fucking god.” He laughs again, through his fingers. “Yeah, okay. You know what, Ralph? Go ahead, tell Raj. Be my guest.”

Ralph is thrown by this reaction. People don’t often dare to laugh at him, definitely not right to his face. He goes from relaxed to furious in the blink of an eye.

“I should have known you’d be the type to try and get some play with your friend’s girl,” he hisses, taking a step closer to Noah. “You have no fucking loyalty, as Raj is about to find out.”

Now Noah is angry, too.

“Why do you think I’m even here, right now? When you said you had something important to tell me, I thought that Cam and his guys were after you again, I was fucking worried about y-” Noah cuts himself off, then runs a hand through his hair, trying to take a deep breath. “Loyalty doesn’t mean putting up with whatever, okay? Did you forget that you fucking blacked out my eye? That was a cheap shot, by the way.”

Ralph surprises me by wincing.

“You could have dodged it,” he snaps. “I didn’t expect you to take it on the chin!”

“Well, I didn’t expect you to slug me!”

“Oh, go cry about it to Jamie Keane,” Ralph spits. “That’s your new MO, right? I’ve seen you hanging around his place. Maybe he’s where I should be focusing my attention.”

Noah’s dark expression grows even darker, and he stabs threatening a finger at Ralph’s chest.

“Ralph, I’m telling you, if you do even one damn thing to Jamie, I am actually gonna fuck you up. Aiden is gonna have to get in line behind me.”

“Funny how you give a shit about all of them, when I’m the one who’s stuck by your fucking side all these years!”

Ralph is practically shouting in Noah’s face, now, and Noah really doesn’t do well with people invading his personal space. He instinctively puts a hand out, pushes Ralph back. Ralph immediately responds with a much harder, two-handed shove.

I know that Aiden isn’t here yet, but - I’m not about to let this happen.

I stride out onto the gravel pathway, forcing myself not to run.

“Hey!” I shout.

Ralph and Noah both spin around. I’m so nervous that I can barely even see them clearly, but I make myself keep going until I reach Noah’s side.

“Are you okay?” I murmur.

He steps away from Ralph and closer to me, running a shaking hand over his mouth. “I’m fine.”

I quickly touch a hand to his back, then turn to face Ralph.

“Honestly, Ralph,” I begin heatedly, and he scoffs.

“Keep it shut, Keane, you don’t even-”

“Can’t you see that this isn’t helping you?” I blurt out. “This isn’t helping you!”

Ralph opens his mouth to answer, then pauses. He seems confused by what I said. His eyebrows are drawn together, his eyes narrowed.

I tug on Noah’s arm, then start to move backwards, in the direction of my car.

Ralph’s scowl returns full force, and he takes a step towards us. “We’re not fucking done here!”

“Yeah, we are,” Noah says firmly, “Because if Jamie’s here, you better believe that Aiden-”

We all startle at the sound of tires tearing up the street.

Kent’s car comes whipping around the bend in the road, and I could sink to the ground in relief.

The car jolts to a stop only a few feet away from us. Aiden gets out and slams the door after himself. He doesn’t even look at me, or at Noah. He strides right past us and directly to Ralph, towering over him, his blue eyes burning.

Ralph pales, stumbling backwards as Aiden bears down on him. My heart plummets, and I let go of Noah, race to catch up with Aiden.

“Aiden, hey - hey! No, no no-”

I seize his arm. He stops and looks down at me, breathing hard.

“Don’t,” I say softly. “I’m okay. Noah is, too. And - that’s not you, anymore. Remember?”

Aiden stares at me, then takes a breath. He looks at Ralph, pins him to the spot with his blue gaze.

“Noah,” he rumbles, without turning around. “Let’s go.”

Noah turns on his heel and sets off for the car. Aiden casts Ralph one last glowering look, then follows after him.

I’m about to go with him, but I catch a glimpse of Ralph. He's just standing there, ashen-faced, his eyes wide.

I can’t help myself, and I turn back before Aiden can stop me.

Ralph watches me warily as I approach. I stop a few feet away from him, close enough to speak without Aiden and Noah overhearing.

“You know that Noah wanted to be your friend, right, Ralph?” I ask. “You didn’t have to make him be your friend, he wanted to. This kind of thing, what you’re doing right now, this is exactly why he changed his mind about that. The version of you that left the gift for Aiden, and gave Noah back his stuff - that’s the person he wanted to be friends with. You should get in touch with that person more often.”

Ralph stares at me, his expression unreadable.

Without waiting for his answer, I go rejoin Noah and Aiden. We all slip into the car, and Aiden turns us around, sending up a spray of gravel.

Ralph stays right where he is.

His eyes follow us until we go around the curve in the road, and the trees swallow him up.