Spencer touches me as his lips roam over my neck. I tilt my head back, needing more and if he can manage to keep quiet, I’ll be more than happy to continue this all night.
I must be sick. Where’s my drink gone?
What kind of girl pictures someone else while getting down and dirty? Surely, this is wrong. I mean, it’s not like I have to tell Spencer that the only way I was going to get off was by picturing his ex-girlfriend’s twin brother.
Shit. It’s definitely wrong.
I open my eyes to find Spencer’s face hovering right in front of mine with hooded eyes and a relaxed smile. This must be his sex face, or at least, his ‘just about ready for sex’ face.
It’s like getting a bucket of iced water thrown over my face. What the hell am I doing?
I scramble back from Spencer. “No, no, no. Stop,” I tell him, holding up a hand to keep him at bay.
“What the fuck, Henley?” he grunts, moving towards me again. “Things were just getting good.”
“Yeah, for you,” I snap back at him.
He flinches and I realize he probably assumed I was insulting his moves rather than having an issue with the fact that he’s the wrong guy all over me. “Damn it,” I groan, feeling around for my top and wanting my bottle of green yumminess back at my lips. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. You’re great, it’s just… I’m not into it.”
“Bullshit,” he says, reaching for me again. “You were definitely into it.”
“Yeah, because I was picturing someone else.”
“Hey,” he grins before sending me a dirty little wink, “That’s perfectly fine by me. Whatever works. I won’t tell if you don’t.”
“How about no?” I say as my fingers curl around the bottle. I bring it straight to my lips and swallow it down. Once. Twice. Three times. Yeah, that should do me for now. I push up to my feet and am surprised to find myself wobblier than I had expected.
“You’re a fucking tease, babe,” Spencer growls after me, clearly annoyed he couldn’t get his rocks off.
“Chill out,” I call over my shoulder. “I’m sure Candice will have no issue getting down on her knees for you.”
With that, I ignore his case of blue balls and stumble my way back up to the party. I get hit in the face with someone’s cigarette smoke and it instantly makes my head start spinning again. I need to find Tully.
I feel around my jeans pocket for my phone, but all I get is a handful of ass. Shit, it must have slipped out while I was fooling around in the grass. I search the bodies dancing around me, but don’t see Tully anywhere.
I push my way through the dancers, wanting nothing more than to go home and sleep it off. I spot Rivers across the room, pouring himself a drink as he looks down at someone with complete adoration. Taking one step to the right, I see Tully smiling up at him as though he’s her knight in shining armor, and I find myself falling in love with the way they love each other, not that they have big enough balls to take the leap.
His arm falls around her and he pulls her in. I gasp as I watch. Are they about to…? He ducks his head and she looks up at him like he’s her whole world as they have a private conversation. A fond smile cuts across his face and in the blink of an eye, he presses his lips to hers, instantly making her melt.
“YES!” I scream, throwing my hands in the air and making all the idiots around me look at the drunk, crazy girl. I should go and cheer them on.
Wait. I don’t want to be the reason to ruin this. I should leave them to get their freak on. After all, Tully really likes him and I know he likes her too, besides, she’s having a dry spell too.
They should have a little privacy. Hell, I don’t even care that Rivers seems a shitload shadier than Noah and hasn’t given me the time of day. He’s a good guy and after all, Tully wouldn’t allow herself to feel for someone if he wasn’t worthy of her.
I turn on my heel and with the knowledge that Spencer is probably making his way around the party with a hard on, looking for me, I slip out the front door with my bottle in hand, more than ready to go home.
I get about thirty steps down the road and realize this is going to be a much bigger task than I had thought. I pass a house. Then another. Then a big tree with a broken branch. I stop to carve my name into it and get halfway through the ‘H’ when a light inside the closest house comes on. “Whoops,” I grumble before I keep going.
I finish off my bottle but keep holding onto it. Maybe it will magically refill and keep me in this happy state. No, maybe I should go back to the party and get another. Excellent idea. I turn around and start heading back, but as I look up the street, I realize I don’t recognize a damn thing. Where was the party anyway?
Where am I?
I turn back around and my head spins. How many turns did I do? Am I facing the right way?
“Oh, well.”
I push forward and end up in a deserted little park. Well, of course, it’s deserted. There’s not going to be any kids hanging around here at three in the morning. Or is it four? Hell, maybe it’s only midnight. I’ll check my phone.
I feel around and realize it’s gone. “Damn,” I grumble, but something screams at me that I already knew that.
I wonder where Tully is. I bet she’s having a great time. A damn great time.
I take a seat on the park bench and rest my head against the cool metal of the table. Yeah, that feels good. With my eyes closed it makes it easier to manage the world spinning around me. I could probably have a little nap, rest my feet, and then keep going in a little bit.
Yeah, that sounds fantastic.
But then, they have some swings at this park. My head pulls up and I focus in on the swings, but the thought of sitting in one of those death traps while going back and forth, back and forth, makes me want to hurl.
I’ll pass on the swings.
My head goes back down to the cool table. Yeah, this is where I should stay.
Noah’s going to be a daddy.
I should have found my way down to the beach. It probably would have been a bit nicer. Oh, I could have gone swimming with the dolphins. We could have a little party and they could take me to visit their underwater world. The Little Mermaid would be there and I’d swim with them all night.
I’d make an excellent mermaid.
I push up off the park bench as something that sounds like the tune of ‘Under the Sea’ comes flying from my lips.
“Whoa, Little Mermaid,” a voice says at my back, catching my shoulders and steadying me when I go to fall back over the bench. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
I spin around, terrified of who’s standing behind me and have to blink a few times to make sure I’m seeing this correctly. “Hey, daddy,” I grin, absolutely ecstatic to see him, though I bring my hands up and feel his face, just to make sure. “Where have you been? Not dealing drugs again, I hope.”
Noah grabs my hands and puts them down by my side as he laughs at the trainwreck before him, while ignoring my ‘drug’ jab. We both know he isn’t into that, or well, I hope anyway. “Spitfire, what are you doing out here?” he questions, a little more forcefully as his eyes roam over me from head to toe, no doubt taking in the empty bottle that lays carelessly at my feet. He inhales before narrowing his eyes. “Have you been smoking?”
I fall against him and instantly start melting. Yeah, this is where I want to be. “Let’s go swimming.”
“We’re not going swimming,” he tells me, wrapping his arm around me and leading me away as he presses a discreet kiss to the top of my head.
“You’re such a party pooper,” I grumble.
“Shit happens,” he says, leading me towards a white blur across the park which I’m assuming is his car.
I let out the most unladylike scoff. “You’re preaching to the choir, Noahsaurus.”
His head whips around to me so fast that I worry he’s just snapped his neck. “Where the hell did you hear that name?”
I grin up at him and wiggle
my eyebrows. “Where do you think?”
Noah groans and holds me a little tighter as we finally reach his car. “I’m going to kill her.”
I sway as I reach for the handle and Noah boots me out of the way to do it for me. “No, kill her tomorrow. She’s busy right now.”
He narrows his eyes on me. “What’s that supposed to mean? Who’s she busy with?”
I press my lips together and drag a finger across the front of them, pretending to zip them. As he rolls his eyes, a burst of laughter booms out of me. “Whatever,” he laughs. “As if Rivers would let her out of his sight.”
“Yeah, I bet Rivers is taking real good care of her.”
He narrows his eyes again before deciding to give up. “Get your ass in the car, Spitfire. I’m taking you home.”
My eyes widen in fear and I begin to retreat, scrambling around and trying to make a break for it. “No. You can’t take me home,” I panic. “Dad will kill me. I was smoking.”
He lets out a frustrated huff, probably at having to deal with me like this. “Fine, you can sleep in Tully’s bed.”
At that, I allow him to help me into his car and when I struggle with the seatbelt for a good five minutes, he takes the clip out of my hands and does it for me, though he makes sure to do it with a groan. “Shit, where would you be if I didn’t find you?”
I let out a dreamy sigh. “Swimming with the dolphins.”
He laughs as the engine roars to life. “You know there are no dolphins in Haven Falls, right?”
I suck in a breath, absolutely horrified by this news. I mean, I used to sit out on the beach day in and day out just waiting to spot one. “Whaaaaaaaat?” I draw out. “You’re lying.”
He shrugs his shoulders. “Google it if you don’t believe me.”
I flop back into the chair, devastated as he drives me back to his place. We sit in silence for a short while and with each passing second, the tension rises. “What were you doing tonight?” Noah questions, though from his tone, he’s not asking me how the party went, he’s asking a much deeper question.
I let out a sigh and turn to look out the window, hoping he can’t see my face. “You hurt me, Noah. I was trying to forget,” I murmur so low that I don’t even know if he can hear me. “What did you think I was doing?”
“Drinking like that and walking away from the party was stupid,” he scolds, trying to lecture me on my bad decision making.
I turn back to him. “So is doing shady shit with your best friend and having unprotected sex with whores.”
His fingers curl around the steering wheel, sending his knuckles a bright white. “I like her enough.”
“Bullshit,” I grumble, shaking my head. “I’ve seen the way you look at someone you like and believe me, you don’t like her, not even a little.”
Shit. Did I say that out loud?
Noah doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t need to. We both know I’m right.
He pulls into his driveway and doesn’t bother helping me out, but I don’t deserve it. I probably shouldn’t have called him out on his bullshit while he was in the middle of saving my ass from sleeping on a park bench.
I walk down the hall to Tully’s bedroom as Noah disappears somewhere else in the house. I unbutton my jeans and pull them down my legs before deciding that was way too much for me to handle. I drop down on the end of Tully’s bed and let out a sigh as I pull my top over my head.
I look down at myself and a small purplish mark draws my attention on the curve of my boob. Is that a fucking hickey? I gasp as I spot another one and fly back to my feet.
I dart across the room and stand in front of the mirror, taking in my body. The right side of my neck is covered in them and they cover a good part of my chest. “Fuck,” I curse, hating the look of myself right now.
A low breath is expelled behind me and my eyes meet Noah’s in the mirror as he takes in the markings on my body. His face morphs from tired frustration to absolute fury. “Who the fuck touched you?”
I spin around, not bothered by my near nakedness in the least. “What does it matter?” I question. “I’m not yours.”
“It fucking matters,” he snaps before shutting his mouth and clenching his jaw. He’s quiet for a short moment and something tells me he’s working hard to control himself from arguing the point, but what can he say? I’m a free agent. I’m not here saying anything about the fact that he was probably with Monica tonight, screwing her pregnant brains out.
“Here,” he finally says, drawing my attention to the glass of water and pain killers in his hands. He passes them to me and I reluctantly take them, hating how much I love the fact that he’s looking after me, even though I really don’t deserve it.
“Thanks,” I grumble, glancing away.
The second the tablet touches my lips, my stomach churns. My eyes widen and I thrust the glass of water back into his hands. “Oh, no,” I panic, barging past him and slapping a hand over my mouth.
No, no. no. This is not happening.
“What’s wrong?” he yells after me as I haul ass up the hallway and barge into the bathroom, hating that I’ve probably just woken his parents.
I make it just in time to throw myself down in front of the toilet and hurl up the entire contents of my stomach which mainly consists of green liquid. And let me tell you, it certainly doesn’t taste as sweet coming up than as it did going down.
“Fuck,” Noah curses, flying in behind me and scooping my hair out of my face. He reaches across to the counter and pinches one of Tully’s elastics before doing his best at tying my hair up.
“No, Noah,” I moan between gags as it seems to just keep coming. “Go away. I don’t want you to see me like this.”
“Well,” he chuckles. “It’s too fucking late now.” I groan and he runs his fingers down the side of my face. “I’m not going anywhere, baby.”
With that, he grabs me two wet, cold washcloths. One to clean myself up with and the other to hold against my head. To be honest, I’d probably prefer to take a shower, but knowing me, I’d probably drown in it somehow.
When my stomach settles, I drop down to the ground, laying my face against the cold tiles. “Don’t do that,” Noah cringes with disgust. “Rivers was in here for ages this afternoon.”
“Ewwww.” The thought of what he did in here has my stomach clenching once again and I hurl myself back up and over the toilet bowl, but as I’ve already emptied my stomach, all that’s left for me to do is to dry heave.
Great. I can’t believe I’ve just hurled in front of Noah Cage. Good work, dipshit. If I didn’t fuck up my chances before, I certainly have now.
“Sorry,” Noah murmurs, slightly pleased with himself. I guess that was his payback for my comments over the past half an hour.
Noah scoops me up off the floor and takes me back into his room. He looks down at my shirt with a cringe and pulls it up over my head before taking the shirt off his back and slipping it over my head. “You’ll sleep in here,” he tells me.
I shake my head. “Bad idea, daddy.”
He groans, probably hating that I’m calling him that. “Would you rather I wake up in the morning to find you’ve choked on your own vomit during the night?”
I nod. “At this point… yeah.”
He rolls his eyes and leads me back to his bed. “You’re so damn dramatic,” he tells me. “Now get your ass in bed and go to sleep.”
I do as I’m instructed and keep right over the opposite side of the bed, hating that we’re so close yet so damn far away. I don’t sleep and my gut is telling me that neither is he, but I’m terrified of rolling over to see the haunted look in his eye.
All it would take is for me to reach out to him, to just hold him for the night. No one would have to know, but it’s not right. He’s with Monica now, despite the fact that he can barely tolerate the girl. He wants to do the right thing and he has a child to think about now.
I can’t resist. I just need to peek.
I roll ove
r to face him. His arm is propped under his head as he stares up at the roof, ignoring the fact that I’m staring at him like some kind of creeper. I was right, he looks haunted. He’s clearly torn about what to do here - what his head is telling him to do and what his heart is screaming for.
“Noah?” I whisper into the darkened room. He turns his head and those green eyes that I’m getting so damn used to are stormy and wild.
I reach across under the blanket as we silently watch each other. My fingertips graze across his ribs and he sucks in a breath. “Fuck it,” he murmurs.
In the blink of an eye, he reaches out and draws me tight into his body, holding me there where an instant peacefulness settles over me.
His arm curls around me as my head finds its place on his chest and my hand falls down on top of him. My leg hitches up over his hip and his hand rests against my thigh, holding me in place, right where I belong.
It’s perfect.
It’s exactly what my body has been craving since he last touched me on Tuesday.
I don’t know when it happened or how, but somewhere over the past two weeks, I have become one hundred percent his. My body, mind, and soul belong to him and I’m going to have to work out how to get them back because he’s no longer mine. Maybe he never was, but the truth of the matter is that soon enough, he’s going to be someone’s daddy. He’s going to have a family of his own and that future doesn’t include me.
But for now, I can pretend that just for tonight, I’m his.
My finger traces over the lily tattoo on his chest as I listen to the racing beat of his heart. “Noah?” I whisher in the night, feeling more sober than ever.
“Mmm?”
“Can you tell me about her?”
“Who?” he questions. “Lily?”
I nod my head against his warm skin and he exhales a deep breath before falling silent. I fear I’ve lost him, but when the words start flowing out, I find myself taking it all in and seeing a whole new side to the guy who’s quickly stealing my heart.
“She was beautiful,” he tells me before a small chuckle vibrates through his chest. “She had Tully’s bluntness and my stubbornness. I swear, she could have taken over the world if she just got the chance.”
Untouchable: Haven Falls (Book 1) Page 15