A confused kiss
Months of Ryder's relentless pursuit had slowly chipped away at Noah's resistance, though Ryder remained the same arrogant, flirty asshole. But despite that, Noah couldn't deny that he'd come to tolerate the man. What started as hatred morphed into an odd kind of…coexistence. They talked now—civilly, at least. And even though Noah still rolled his eyes at Ryder's shameless flirting, he didn't hate him anymore.
In fact, over the past year, Noah had seen sides of Ryder he never thought existed. Beneath the cocky exterior, Ryder was actually kind-hearted, in his own irritating way. He showed up when Noah needed someone—sometimes uninvited, sometimes with terrible timing, but always present.
Noah got his company back, but he had to lose a friend in the process—Ash. That night when Ash showed up at Noah's place, crying and begging to escape from Elijah, everything else in Noah's life faded into the background.