(BL)Alpha Made-Chapter 492: A random Noah appears!

Andrew patted Maxwell, letting him know he was leaving for a moment and Maxwell let Andrew go without a second thought. Maxwell could trace him by his scent. Andrew was not worried.

Andrew made easy work getting through the crowd as he spotted Luis and Thomas speaking to the new guest as well. As Andrew got closer he could finally see who it was, and boy, did they look haggard.

Noah looked like half of the man that he normally was. He wasn’t as dressed up as he would normally be at a party like this, his tie was crooked, and he looked...tired. Andrew had no idea what the man had just gone through, but it appeared to be a lot just from how he was carrying himself.

Andrew pushed himself through the last little bit of crowd that he needed to get through and headed for his younger brother. Thomas spotted him first and gave Andrew a small smile as Andrew came barreling towards them. Andrew didn’t hesitate, only stopping at Noah because he was wrapping his arms around the other man and squeezing him.

He’d only seen Noah in passing so far. He’d either been busy on the phone when he’d been by to visit or face time Nicole, or he’d been chatting with the police. This was the first time he’d seen him since he’d gone to his apartment.

"Noah! I didn’t think you’d make it!" Andrew said, squeezing him tightly. Noah was a little more hesitant in his affection, but he did eventually hug Andrew back.

"Yeah. I didn’t think I’d make it too. Honestly...I considered not coming at all after..." He trailed off and Andrew knew that there was a story there.

"Did you drive here?" Andrew asked, pulling back to look over his younger brother. Up close he was even worse off. It looked like he hadn’t even slept. Poor man. Andrew had a feeling he might know what was going on, but then again. Noah could surprise him.

"I did." Noah confirmed as Andrew scanned him. His eyes were dark. Andrew could feel emotions churning inside of him, pheromones begging to leak out, so he was a little surprised to see his eyes so dark instead of amber-bright.

"Let someone drive your car home from the Beckett group. You shouldn’t be driving home, even if you aren’t drinking. You shouldn’t." Andrew said and Noah’s lips twitched.

"What are you? The police?" He teased and Andrew felt his lips curl up as well.

"What? I’m not allowed to politely tell my younger brother he looks like ass and needs to take a breather?" Andrew asked and watched as Noah’s facial expression froze. His expression grew somber, he swallowed thickly and the hand on Andrew’s shoulder tightened.

"I..." He trailed off and Andrew let out a soft sigh.

"Come on. Let’s go get you some food, some drink, and we can discuss what happened, alright?" Andrew suggested softly. Noah looked conflicted, like he wasn’t even sure it was okay for him to be here.

Thomas leaned over patting him on the shoulder.

"Come on, kid. Let’s get you taken care of the Beckett way, alright?" He said softly and Noah swallowed tightly again. He gave his head a jerk once, and both men escorted him away, Luis watching with a concerned, but parental look on her face. The martini in her hand sold the look a little too much.

~

Getting Noah to talk was going to take a lot, so Andrew didn’t try to force it. Andrew behaved like normal. He was chatty, helpful, and generally didn’t make anything feel different from how Andrew would normally behave. He was also just as observant as he normally would be, and he wondered if Noah knew that about him.

Thomas was a great help, adding that extra fatherly touch that Andrew didn’t have. He made sure that he got Noah a good, stiff drink while Andrew made sure he had a plate of good food that Andrew had already tried.

When they finally got Noah sat down in a quiet area, plate of food in hand, drink in the other, the man looked shocked about how he’d even ended up there. Andrew and Thomas were nearby, not right next to him, but close enough to watch him closely. A tag team of sorts.

Noah was silent at first. He began to eat, and slowly picked up speed as he realised that it tasted good. From the look on his face, Andrew wondered if he’d even eaten, or if the food he had been eating until now tasted like nothing. Andrew got it.

After his Mom died, lots of little things felt hard. Eating was hard, and tasted awful for the first little bit after she’d passed. In a way, Noah was grieving. His family, everything he knew. He was as much of a victim as Nicole was in all of this, he just wasn’t in a hospital bed. That might also be eating him alive.

Andrew shouldn’t speculate, but he couldn’t stop himself. He just wanted to know what was wrong so that he could help him. Help Noah. Help the younger brother who had reached out to him for help.

Thomas was equally silent, keeping an eye on the other man in a way that reminded Andrew of Maxwell completely. The narrowed gaze, the calculation. If Andrew didn’t know better, he would think he was sizing him up to see if he was worth all the hassle. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Noah was completely finished the plate before he finally spoke. The silence had been tense, pregnant with the words that wanted to be said, but weren’t. Andrew and Thomas couldn’t break the silence, it had to be Noah.

The heavy sigh that left his lips after his plate was empty felt like it carried the world.

"I crashed my ex-fiancé’s Christmas party to end our engagement." Noah finally said. "That was why I was late." He looked up at Thomas first, and then Andrew. His gaze was careful, but it was clear he was searching for an answer from them. Andrew felt his eyes widen slightly in shock, but he wasn’t upset that Noah had done that. He was actually rather impressed with him.

"Oh. Could you only do it today?" He asked carefully and Noah nodded. He kept his gaze down for the moment, staring at the empty plate.

"They wouldn’t respond to my texts, weren’t answering my calls, so I went in person. I called them out for not only cheating on me physically, but also cheating on me with my own family. Then ratting out my only sister that I kept contact with and shoving her into a hellhole and betraying her relationship with her fiancé. They don’t know that Nicole didn’t, and they don’t need to fucking know. I made sure that their family knew what kind of trash that they were, and ratted out the brother they were sleeping with as well." Andrew nearly choked on nothing.

He had no idea that Noah’s distaste with his fiancé had run that deep, but shit, they were also cheating? Holy moly, that was...a damn circus.

"Oh Noah. I’m so sorry that you had to endure that for so long." Andrew said, meaning it. Noah let out a harsh laugh.

"Yeah, well, grandpa ordered it, so I had to stay in it. When they heard what they had done, and that I had evidence of their cheating, they didn’t question me cutting off my connection with their kid. Especially since I had proof I had never wandered. As a true alpha, that’s a big deal." Noah said it sarcastically, and Andrew felt his heart ache. Thomas frowned at his words, but held his tongue.

"You’re free now?" Andrew asked and Noah gave a harsh laugh.

"They didn’t accept it. They want everything to be back to normal. It’s almost like they are delusional. I think my other brother dropped their ass after they had ratted out Nicole. Either he was using them to get what they wanted, sex and a rat, or they viewed them as more trouble than they were worth. Either way, that relationship is over, and so is mine with them." Noah said. "As fucked up as it is, because my engagement was negotiated not with them, but with their parents, getting their father to say it’s over means it is truly over." Noah said. Andrew could feel the pain radiating off of him and Andrew’s heart ached for him.

Unable to stay away, Andrew moved to sit next to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. He wasn’t sure what kind of touch Noah would accept, but he needed to touch him to let him know he wasn’t alone. Noah jerked at the simple touch at first, but slowly relaxed.

"You did the right thing for yourself, and for your future family." Andrew said. "You wouldn’t have wanted to have a family with that kind of person." Andrew said and Noah let out a harsh laugh.

"Family? What family, Andrew? I have no family now, my name’s in tatters. If someone found out I was an Abraham from this point on, they’ll take one look at me and turn away." Noah was harsh with his words, before his eyes widened and he turned to Andrew, panicked. "Not that I am protesting what you did! What you have every right to do. What Nicole is doing, either. I just-" Andrew smiled, squeezing his arm as he met Noah’s panicked gaze.

"You’re allowed to feel bitter, even if it isn’t directed to us, Noah. You’ve had that last name for a long time. It has to be a hard thing to adjust to." Andrew said. Noah gulped. He turned his face away from Andrew, and Andrew noticed that his leg was bouncing.

"I’m sorry. I’m just-fuck. I’m sorry." Noah apologised again and Andrew shook his head. He didn’t need to.

Thomas watched on, silent as Noah fought with himself. He let him do so, sipping from his glass as he watched the younger man struggle.

"I...I hate them." Noah admitted. "I hate them so much for doing this to us. To you, to Nicole, to me. And then they just ran away like fucking cowards." Noah looked panicked suddenly and went to stand up. "Sorry. This is supposed to be a happy occasion. This was why I didn’t want to come. I-"

"Noah. Sit. Down." Thomas ordered firmly in his best, most authoritative Dad voice. Noah gulped and sat back down. He didn’t have to listen to Thomas, but he was so flustered and just a general mess that he couldn’t stop himself.

Andrew patted Noah’s shoulder.

"If you ever say that you should leave something because it’s supposed to be a good time again, I’m going to drown you eggnog, are we clear?" Andrew said to his brother softly and Noah turned a wide, stunned look towards Andrew. Andrew smiled. "Maxy will help me. So will Thomas. We both just went through something terrible. That isn’t up for debate, and they aren’t comparable either. We just both went through something terrible. You just came back from something hard, but needed to be done. We should be celebrating that we got through it, Noah. Not thinking that we don’t belong somewhere where others are having a good time." Andrew’s voice was firm, but not loud.

That wouldn’t get Noah to listen to him better.

It took him a while, but he seemed to hear what Andrew was saying eventually. He dropped his head, and Andrew watched as his shoulders shook.

"Fuck. Nicole would kill me if she saw me like this." Noah whispered brokenly and Andrew took a shaky breath.

"She wouldn’t. Elijah might, but she wouldn’t." He told him and Noah let out a wet laugh.

"Yeah. He’s so protective of her." He agreed and neither man acknowledged out loud why he was protective of his future wife. They just sat there, in silence, as Noah silently cried.