Alpha's Regret After Her Rebirth by Aurora Starling

Chapter 0159

Hannah

“Right this way, Luna Hannah. Patty will handle your hair and makeup today.”

| walked into the makeup room at the stage assistant’s directions, my stomach already in knots the moment |

saw that familiar pair of shoulders and that familiar head of hair sitting in the chair.

Of course Noah was here already-of course he was sitting in one of the styling chairs. Of course wouldn't be able

to get through today with minimal contact.

He looked ridiculously put-together, his dark hair neatly styled and a crisp suit hugging his broad frame. | could

just barely make out his face from the reflection in the mirror, and... Goddess, he looked handsome, too.

Swallowing hard, | forced myself to ignore him as | slid into the chair beside his, flipping open a magazine and

pretending to be engrossed in an article on sfashion designer | had never heard of.

We hadn't spoken in two weeks-not since | had run out of that restaurant after vomiting in the trash can. Not

since | had confided everything to Viona. She had urgedto consider telling him the truth, of course, but I just

couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Not right now, at least.

Part ofwas hoping Noah would have forgotten by now, that he wouldn't bother askingabout that night.

But another part ofsecretly hoped that he would, in a weird sort of way. Like an outside force makingtell

him the truth. That would be easier than deciding to tell him the truth myself, right?

Of course, there was nothing but silence as | turned the glossy pages of the magazine. My eyes glazed over the

words without actually reading them; | couldn’t focus on anything but him.

Blissfully, though, the makeup artist soon arrived and began preeningfor today’s event: the pageant. Today,

our eating disorder awareness pageant would be held. The four judges were, of course,and Noah as well as

Drake and Zoe.

| cringed just at the thought of Zoe being there. The last thing | wanted was to sit next to her on stage, but |

didn’t have much of a choice. My campaign manager had insisted that it would look good for the press and

would quell the rumors about the four of us, painting us as nothing more than good friends.

Ha! Friends. But my manager was right; and Noah had agreed with her immediately, so that was the end

of that.

Once the makeup artist was all finished, Noah and | were left alone in the styling chairs to wait for the call to

stage. | grit my teeth and roughly flipped to the next page of my magazine, carefully avoiding his gaze. But out

of the corners of my eyes, | could see Noah's hands shift in his lap. Here it comes, | thought to myself.

“You look good.”

My cheeks immediately flushed with warmth at the unexpected compliment. Swallowing hard, | continued

avoiding his gaze and muttered, “Thanks.”

More silence.

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Finally, Noah cleared his throat. “So... are you going to tellwhy you ran off that night?” he asked quietly.

“And don’t givethat crap about food poisoning again. You and | both know that’s not what happened.”

Brusquely, | flipped the page so hard | almost tore the paper as a lump formed in my throat. Maybe if | ignored

him, he would get the hint. But when his eyes remained glued to me, | knew | had to say something.

“Well, it was food poisoning.” | said curtly. “What other explanation could there be?”

Noah stared atfor a long moment before abruptly rising to his feet. My heart stuttered in my chest as he

stalked over, those broad shoulders of his seeming to blot out all the light in the room. Planting himself directly

in front of me, he placed one finger on the top of my magazine and pushed it down, essentially forcingto

look up at him.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Hannah,” he said in a low voice, fixingwith an admittedly sexy, stern look that

madesquirm uncomfortably in my chair. “We both know something else is going on with you... and I'm going

to find out what it is, whether you like it or not.”

opened my mouth to respond-but at that moment, the stage manager swept into the room with a wide

smile.

“All ready, you two?” she asked. “We've got to get you on stage in five minutes!”

“Just one moment,” Noah said, prompting the stage manager to leave us again.

“We should go.” Just looking for an excuse to flee, | abruptly shoved Noah out of the way and rose to my feet-but

in the process, | smacked my head directly into his with a’ sickening crack. Tears sprang to my eyes as |

crumpled to the floor, clutching my throbbing forehead and cursing under my breath.

“Shit! Hannah, are you alright?” Noah had tumbled down beside me, his large hand coming up to grip my

shoulder.

Fuming. | swatted his hand away and glared up at him through watery eyes. “I'm fine,” | muttered, rubbing a

circle on my forehead. “It’s your fault for standing so damn close to me!”

“My fault?!” Noah gaped atincredulously. “You're the one who jumped up so fast! If you had just- “What on

earth is going on here?”

We both froze at the sound of the familiar voice-and when | followed it to the source, | felt my heart plummet

into my stomach.

Zoe

Of course she would walk in at this exact moment to find Noah and | sprawled on the floor like idiots. Of course

she would see this pathetic display of us bickering and rolling around like children. Swallowing hard, | averted my

eyes as Noah scrambled to his feet, brushing off his pristine suit with flushed cheeks.

“Zoe! We were just... uh...”

Rolling her eyes, Zoe strode over and crouched down beside me, gently taking my chin and examining the

reddened skin on my forehead. “Letget scover up on that,” she murmured, quickly digging through her

makeup kit. “You too, Noah-that’s already turning into a nasty bump.”

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“Thanks,” | said, rising, “but | can do it myself.”

Zoe let out a nearly inaudible sigh as | turned to the mirror and grabbed a stick of concealer. “Suit yourself.”

Zoe crossed the room to where Noah waited and began getting to work. Try as | might not to look at them in the

reflection of the mirror, | couldn't help it-and the sight of the two of them madebristle.

Her delicate hands touching his face. Her breasts practically pressed up against his arm. The way she stood up

on her tiptoes even though she was plenty tall enough to reach, just in an attempt to look as tiny as possible.

“There,” Zoe finally said, stepping back to admire her handiwork. “All better. Hannah, you ready?”

| grimaced as | finished touching up my makeup and recapped the concealer stick.

“Yeah,” | said, plastering that well-practiced smile on my face. “Ready.”

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