Yep. Definitely insane.
“Well?” he questions.
I glance over and notice that he hasn’t started eating yet and is caught up watching me, waiting for my inevitable downfall. I roll my eyes and can’t help the smile from spreading across my face. “It’s not that bad.”
Triumph flashes in his eyes before he digs his fork into the noodles. “What did I tell you, Spitfire?” he says with that signature cocky attitude. “Everything is better with chili.”
With that, he leaves me to eat in peace and before I know it, I’m cleaning up the dishes and shoving his shirt into his arms, silently begging him to put it on before I throw myself at him. “Put your shirt back on, Romeo.”
“Romeo?” he laughs, feigning ignorance as though he doesn’t realize that he’s been a complete flirt all afternoon.
I start ushering him towards the front door, making sure he collects his keys on the way. “Well, um… thanks,” I say rather awkwardly as I try to shoo him out the door. “I guess, thanks for the ride and fixing the truck.”
“Why does it sound like you’re trying to get rid of me?” he questions with a sparkle in his green eyes.
“Ahhh, because I am.”
“I told you, I’m going to introduce you to Tully. Grab your shit.”
“Seriously?” I groan. “I thought we covered this. I don’t do friends.”
“And I thought you understood that I don’t give a shit. That was a bullshit excuse and you know it. Besides, Tully could use a friend too.”
“Damn it,” I grumble under my breath, resisting rolling my eyes as he calls me out on my shit once again, but the second he said that Tully could use a friend, I couldn’t say no. I mean, he’s shown me kindness today, why the hell can’t I do the same for him. “Fine.”
I grab my phone off the kitchen counter and before I know it, I’m locking up the house and allowing him to drag me to his car for the second time this afternoon.
Chapter 5
“I swear to God, Rivers,” a voice is shrieked as Noah opens the front door of his home. “If your Willy Wonka comes anywhere near my vaginamite, I’m going to strangle you until your eyes pop out of your skull.”
Damn. I should get out of here before it’s too late. It’s like walking into the lions’ den.
“Shit,” Noah groans, letting out a frustrated breath as he walks in with me following behind him. “They’re always at each other’s throats.”
We walk into what must be one of the biggest homes in Haven Falls to find none other than Tully Cage two seconds from tearing Noah’s best friend, Rivers, in two. “Babe,” Rivers laughs. “What did you just call your pussy?”
Tully’s face flames as Noah’s voice sounds out. “Knock it off,” he tells them. “We have company.”
Both Rivers and Tully’s eyes snap to mine making it clear that ‘company’ is not something they usually have. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of people being invited over here, you know, except for the massive parties they have every now and then.
Rivers looks up and down my body, his eyes narrowing further the longer he looks; making me feel like some kind of leech who’s just walked through the door trying to attach myself to Noah. Within two seconds, he’s made it clear that I’m not welcome.
Tully on the other hand flicks her eyes between me and Noah, probably wondering why the hell some girl is standing in her doorway and why he felt the need to drag me in.
I can’t help but take her in. She’s like a girl version of her brother, long brown hair, stunning green eyes, and gorgeous sunkissed skin. She’s just like him minus all the tattoos, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a few hiding in places that only she would ever know about.
She looks as sweet as anything, but I know, hiding deep within her, is a caged lion, a Mumma bear ready to pounce on any kind of threat that comes to her and her boys.
I’ve only been standing here for a blink of an eye, but it’s already enough to know that the tensions are riding high. I’m an outsider and the next few seconds are going to dictate a hell of a lot.
“Henley,” Tully smiles moving forward and surprising the hell out of me that she knows who I am. “I heard you got Noah with a spaghetti bomb. Are you ok? Those bitches can be hard work.”
I briefly glance across at Noah before settling back on his twin sister, assuming I’m supposed to just go with the flow on her forwardness. “Umm, yeah. I’m fine,” I tell her. “I’m ready to go back and finishing kicking their asses.”
Tully rolls her eyes as Rivers continues standing silently, watching me like a hawk with an intense darkness settling over him, reminding me of the company I’m currently standing in front of. I must have forgotten that these were the most feared people in Haven Falls. What the hell am I doing here? “Tell me about it. Candice and Monica are fucking whores.”
“Wait,” I say. “You don’t like Monica? I thought you guys were tight because, well, you know, she’s with your brother.”
Noah groans. “Past tense,” he reminds me. “We’re not together anymore.”
“Dude,” Rivers says as he walks out of the living room into what I’m assuming is the kitchen while giving Noah the side eye, clearly still not very impressed that he brought me in here. “You two are always together, even when you’re not.”
“Get fucked,” Noah grunts back at him as we hear the sound of the fridge opening and closing.
Tully draws my attention back. “I’ve never liked Monica. She’s so fake. It’s all a show she puts on so people think she’s the perfect girlfriend with the perfect relationship. When she’s here, she practically locks herself in Noah’s room and doesn’t talk to anyone.”
“Really?” I question as things finally start to make sense. I turn to Noah. “Why the hell would you date someone like that?”
He looks at me as though I’m crazy. “Ummmm….have you seen her?” he asks. “She’s fucking hot.”
I scoff as Rivers walks out of the kitchen with a soda. “She also has incredible tits.”
Noah spins around to face Rivers. “How the fuck would you know?”
“Dude,” he laughs as though he’s proud of himself. “That girl is fucking horny. She walked out here butt naked the other week and tried to screw me on the couch.”
“What?” Noah questions.
Rivers continues. “Do you have any idea how hard it was not to touch her? I mean, if you guys weren’t together, I would have slammed her into the wall and fucked her until she was seeing stars.”
“Man,” Noah scoffs, shaking his head, “thanks for telling me.”
“Sorry, man. I completely forgot until now. Besides, what does it matter? You guys are over. It was the middle of the night and I was dead asleep.” Rivers turns to Tully and winks. “I actually thought it was you finally coming to your senses.”
She scoffs, just like her brother had. “You wish.”
A knowing smile spreads across his face making it clear as day that something is definitely going on here, or at least, Rivers wants something to go on. I wonder what Noah thinks about that.
“Come on,” Tully says, grabbing my hand and dragging me down the hallway before I have a chance to escape.
I follow on as I hear Rivers’ voice behind us. “What the fuck are you doing bringing in strays?”
Tully pulls me into her room and closes the door behind her, cutting off Noah’s response, but honestly, I don’t know if I want to hear it. “So,” Tully says, crossing her room to open her closet doors, “what’s going on? Why’d Noah bring you here? Are you guys a thing?”
“A thing?” I laugh. “No. He saved me from giving Candice a black eye and then wouldn’t leave me the hell alone. How do you think I ended up here?”
“Seriously?” she questions with a knowing smile, looking over her shoulder at me. “I think someone has a little crush.”
“What?” I laugh. “No, I don’t like your brother.”
“No, I meant that he’s crushing
on you.”
“I seriously doubt that,” I tell her. “He was taking pity on me and using me to get back at Monica. Are you forgetting about the spaghetti thing? I covered him in front of the whole school. I doubt he’s just going to forgive and forget.”
Tully shakes her head. “He’s not like that. He doesn’t give a shit what Monica thinks and if he wanted to get back at her, he would do it without using anyone. That’s not his style. Besides, why would he pity you? You’re beautiful, tough, and can stand up for yourself. You put him in his place today and he would have loved that.”
“Has it not occurred to you that I’m the school loser?”
“You’re not,” she tells me. “You’re the girl who fell in love with the wrong guy. We’ve all been there.”
“Thanks, but…have you been living under a rock?”
“No,” she laughs. “The way I see it, if Noah thought you were a loser, he would never have stepped in at school, he never would have driven you back to your place, and no way in hell would he have brought you here. He does not pity you, he respects you. I guess the question is how much?,” she muses. “We’re not exactly known for bringing people in.”
My brows pull down, taking it all in. If that were true, then there must be some other reason he spent the afternoon with me as hanging out with me, just to be nice, doesn’t make sense to me. Respecting me? Well, that makes even less sense “Huh,” I grunt, feeling more and more unsure of myself.
Tully turns back to her closet and reaches up before trying to grab something from the top. “Look,” she says, trying to explain it a little more. “Noah doesn’t usually let anybody in. The fact that you’re standing here right now tells me that there’s something about you that he likes.”
“Yeah,” I scoff, “my ass and tits.”
“No, that’s just an added bonus,” she tells me as she finally reaches a box of popcorn from the top of her closet. “You’re tough and edgy. You don’t let other people’s bullshit affect you and he’s drawn to that. You fucking called him out in front of the whole school.”
“What are you saying?” I question, leaning against her desk as she drops down onto her bed, making me realize just how easy she is to talk to. Maybe I’d misjudged her earlier.
“I don’t know,” she muses. “But the last time he let someone in like this, it was Rivers and the fucker is still here.”
“So, Noah wants a new BFF?” I question. “And why the hell are you stashing popcorn in your closet?”
“Shhhhhhhh,” she demands, desperately trying to hush me before double checking the door is firmly closed. “The boys have a popcorn obsession. Whenever I buy it, it disappears within seconds. In order for me to get any, I have to hide it,” she explains, wiggling her eyebrows at me with a knowing glint in her green eyes. “And as for Noah, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Damn it.
Shit like that makes me nervous. I don’t like not knowing people’s intentions. If somebody wants something with me, then I need to know what that is, but sensing she’s spoken the last word on the topic, I turn the spotlight back on her. “So, what’s going on with you and Rivers?” I ask, hoping I’m not overstepping the line.
“Ugh, don’t get me started,” she groans, but I have a feeling she’s more than ready to talk about it. “There’s been this awkward sexual tension between us for the past six months and it’s clear he likes me, he’s told me as much, but he doesn’t want to act on it because of Noah.”
“What?” I question, absolutely stunned with that revelation. I mean, there are definitely rumors at school, but there’s nothing to back it up. Though, what I just walked in on… that tells a different story. “What’s Noah got to do with it?”
“Noah’s protective,” she explains, “and Rivers is a bit of a ladies’ man.”
“Ahhh,” I say as understanding dawns, “Noah doesn’t want his best friend screwing over his sister.”
“That,” she says with a grin, “or he just doesn’t want his best friend screwing his sister at all.”
“And what do you think about that?”
She lets out a breath as a deep thoughtfulness comes over her. “I haven’t decided yet,” she tells me. “On one hand, being with Rivers would be exciting, and to be honest, I think I like him, but on the other hand…, I’d get hurt for sure. He’d get bored of me. I mean, you saw how easily he spoke of fucking Monica against the wall.”
“Has he cheated on girlfriends in the past?” I question.
She raises her eyebrows. “He’s never had a girlfriend before.”
A grin rips across my face. “Are you the exception?”
Tully shrugs her shoulders before leaning back on her hands “Who knows,” she says. “I’m down if I could guarantee he wouldn’t hurt me, but I’m not exactly sure I want to risk my heart to find out.”
“Hence the awkward sexual tension between the two of you.”
“Exactly.”
“Damn, that sucks,” I say, having experienced my own torment due to sexual tension with Jackson. Though that was one-sided and I ended up looking like a fool.
“Come on,” Tully says, jumping up from her bed and walking over to a stack of DVDs. “What are you in the mood for?”
I shrug my shoulder. “I don’t know. You pick,” I tell her, wondering how my day ended up with me watching a movie with a girl I’ve never talked to in my life, in the house of a boy who practically abducted me for the afternoon, with a group of people who I’m still stunned to be hanging out with.
“K,” she grumbles as she searches through her selection before smiling as she finds the one she wants. “‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, it is.”
“Ugh,” I groan. “Really?”
“Yes, really,” she defends. “What’s wrong with it?”
I shrug my shoulders again. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen it before, but isn’t it all about dirty sex?”
Excitement lifts her eyes. “So much dirty sex,” she tells me, “but it’s so much more than that. Did you ever read the books?”
“Can’t say that I have.”
“Oh, my god,” she groans, grabbing a little tablet looking thing and shoving it into my hands. "You're missing out. Read it when you get home."
"I don't have a copy.”
“You do now,” she says, looking down at the device in my hands. “That’s my old Kindle, you can have that. Noah bought me a new one for my birthday last month, and I’ve kept the old one completely updated.”
I shake my head completely stunned. Is this girl for real? I just met her and she’s handing me a Kindle? “I can’t take this,” I tell her, trying to jam the Kindle back into her hands, “I only just met you.”
“Tough shit,” she smiles. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll write you a list of books that I want you to read and when you’re finished, I’ll take it back. Besides, I like you. I think I’ll keep you.”
I can’t help but groan, realizing she said pretty much the same thing that Noah had said earlier. “I’m warning you, I’m not a big reader.”
“And I’m warning you that once you get hooked on a good one, you won’t be able to stop. Now, quit making excuses. You’re taking it home and you’re going to read until your brain is fuzzy by Mr. Grey.”
I roll my eyes and tuck the Kindle under my arm, realizing that this isn’t something she’s about to cave on. “Fine,” I tell her. “But don’t be surprised if I don’t finish it.”
“Don’t be surprised if you do,” she shoots back at me before grabbing the box of popcorn off the bed and dragging me out of her room.
Something catches my eye in the hallway and I find my feet digging in as I stare up at the black and white photo frame on the wall. Inside the frame is a beautiful little girl staring back at me with bright eyes and a cheeky smile, one that reminds me of Noah. “Who’s this?” I question, not having seen a little girl running around the house earlier.
Tully’s face falls as shadows overtake her eye
s. She lets out a heartbroken sigh. “That’s my little sister, Lily,” she explains, running her eyes over the frame and taking in the little girl within. “She’s not with us anymore.”
My eyes widen and I find myself pulling Tully into a tight hug as I recall the lily tattooed on Noah’s chest. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up something hard.”
“It’s ok,” she tells me, holding me a while longer before pulling out of my arms. “You didn’t know.”
“Do you mind if I ask how it happened?”
Tully gives me a tight smile as I notice Noah on the couch in the living room, watching us up the hall. “It was cancer,” she explains, “leukemia. She was diagnosed at three years old and she fought it off like a boss until eight. She was incredible. The strongest person I’ve ever known. A piece of both me and Noah died when she did.”
“I’m so sorry,” I tell her, shaking my head as I try to contemplate what it would have been like to watch your baby sister suffer through something like that. “I can’t…I.”
“It’s ok,” she tells me. “You don’t need to say anything. Even though it still kills me to think about, I’ve come to terms with it and she wouldn’t want me breaking down all the time. She’d want me to be happy and strong so when she looks down on me, she’d have something interesting to watch.”
I simply can’t help it. I pull her in again. “You’re incredible,” I tell her. “I don’t know how you do it, but I bet you were the best sister she could have ever asked for.”
“Stop, you’re going to make me cry,” she laughs, “and if I cry, the boys are going to start hovering and being protective assholes and then our whole afternoon will be ruined.”
“Ok,” I laugh. “Let’s get this movie over and done with.”
“You’re on.”
Tully drags me back out to the living room and I watch with amusement as she goes straight up to the TV and turns off whatever rubbish the boys were watching to put the DVD on. “What?” Rivers groans, throwing his hands up in the air as the menu for ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ appears on the screen. “Again?”
Untouchable: Haven Falls (Book 1) Page 5