“It’s not that easy, Henley,” he tells me with frustration as Rivers starts jogging this way to kick me out and take my place.
“Of course, it’s that fucking easy,” I demand, starting to get pissed off. “You two are going to end up in prison for that douchebag. How could you be so stupid to throw your lives away like that?”
“I have to,” Noah yells back at me, clenching his jaw to try to reign in his emotions. “You fucking know this. I can’t stop. I owe him.”
“Because of Lily?” I question. “Don’t think you think she’d be fucking ashamed seeing what you do for him?”
Noah slams his hand down on the dash, making me jump. “Don’t you ever fucking speak for her again. You didn’t know her, you never did. So how the fuck can you sit there pretending you know how she would feel about this?” he roars. “Anton gave her twelve fucking months,” he reminds me. “She never would have gotten that without him. I owe him my fucking life.”
“But you don’t-”
“No,” he yells, not even giving me a chance to get my point across. “Get the fuck out, Henley. Go to school.”
I look up at him with hurt only to see a fierce determination etched into his face. I grab my bag and reach for my phone before releasing the door. “You’re a real fucking disappointment, Noah,” I tell him, hoping it cuts just as bad as he cut me.
I push my way out of his car and make sure to slam the door with everything I’ve got before walking away, fighting to control myself as Rivers jogs past me. “What the fuck’s wrong with you?” he questions, not really asking as he continues on to Noah’s Camaro.
“I’m not fucking bailing you out when you dickheads get arrested,” I throw over my shoulder.
Do not fucking cry. Do not cry.
I get up to my locker and see Tully down the hall and for once I don’t actually give a shit. She can come to me if she wants. All I care to do right now is to knock some fucking heads together, maybe draw a little blood too.
I mean, how dare he? Yeah, I maybe took it a little too far suggesting Lily would be ashamed, but that’s just common sense, right? What little sister wouldn’t hate her big brother getting involved in that bullshit? But he didn’t have to yell at me like that.
What have I done? Allowing myself to get this close to a guy? Giving him my heart and allowing him free reign over it. I should have known shit would start going south soon enough. I should reclaim my heart to avoid the inevitable heartbreak, but I don’t actually think it’s possible. Once you give it away, it’s fucking hard getting it back, and I fear Noah is going to hold claim over it for the rest of our lives.
So, if I’m fucking stuck with him, that douche canoe better come up with one hell of an apology, otherwise it’s going to be a shit show when he gets back from serving his deranged boss.
Shit. How is it so possible to hate someone while being furiously in love with him at the same time? Damn it. This fucking sucks.
Tully falls into the locker beside mine. “Who are we beating up at lunch?” she questions. “You look like shit.”
“Like you’re one to talk,” I say. “How’s your hangover?”
“We’re not talking about me.”
“Well, we sure as hell aren’t talking about me,” I tell her, pulling out my books and closing the locker door. I lean back into it and let out a sigh. “How is it possible for your brother to be such a dickhead?”
Tully grins to herself. “I knew it wouldn’t take much for you to break, but I sure as hell thought it’d take a bit more than that.”
“Can’t help it,” I tell her, sulking like a little bitch. “I’m so fucking angry with him.”
“What did he do now?” she questions.
I shake my head. “Just the usual Anton bullshit,” I tell her. “I might have suggested that Lily would be ashamed of him.”
Tully sucks in a sharp breath. “Fuck. That wouldn’t have gone down well.”
“It didn’t,” I agree. “He lost his fucking mind and then kicked me out.”
“Damn,” she sighs. “You know his head is going to be all sorts of fucked up today.”
“Yeah, I know,” I tell her, hating that I’m the one who made that happen. “I just…I can’t stand him working for a guy like that. I don’t want to be visiting him in prison for the rest of our lives.”
“Same,” she murmurs with a tight smile, looking down at her feet. “Was Rivers going with him?”
“What do you think?” I grumble, knowing she hates it just as much as I do, though she doesn’t quite know the reasons behind why Noah does it and he wants it to stay like that despite the feeling I get that she knows more than he thinks. Rivers though, who knows what the hell his reasons are for working for a guy like Anton.
“Damn it,” Tully groans as fury shines bright through her green eyes. “Come on, let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Maybe we shouldn’t be together right now. I can just see it now; we’re going to end up in shit for doing something reckless and stupid to relieve our anger. Naturally, the dickhead boys will come in and try to rescue us from ourselves and then we’ll have no choice but to forgive them. Well, that shit ain’t going to happen. Not today.
The bell sounds and I shake my head. “No. Go to homeroom. We’ll curse out their asses at lunch, and besides, if I want even the slightest chance of getting this scholarship, I have to be here.”
Tully lets out a deep breath which comes out as more of an annoyed huff. “Fine,” she says. “But the cursing out is starting now. Keep your phone on you or I’ll be forced to come and bombard you in class.”
I resist laughing, realizing her threat is real. I wouldn’t put it past her to come and sit in my class just to bitch about Rivers, despite a teacher yelling at her the whole time, though, when she realizes that Alyssa is in most of my classes, she’ll probably change her mind.
By the time lunch has come around, the battery on my phone is just about gone. When Tully warned me that the cursing out was going to start during homeroom, she fucking meant it.
She blew up my phone like never before while I sat in class watching out the window, waiting to see that familiar white Camaro.
To be honest, I was surprised when it returned twenty minutes ago. I was sure as hell that the two of them would have avoided coming here like the plague. Surely, they must know that they have two very pissed off girls to face.
I walk down to the cafeteria and all I can think about is laying into him with everything I’ve got, but the second I walk through the big double doors and see those green eyes of his staring back at me, I suddenly don’t feel so brave.
He looks hurt. Not the physical kind, but the deep in his soul kind of hurt and I hate that I was the one who put it there. It pulls at my heart strings, but I still can’t get past the fact that he took me down the way he did, over fucking Anton Mathers of all people.
Tully is nowhere to be seen and Rivers, well, who the fuck knows? All that matters is that Noah is sitting across the room, staring at me with unease. I’d dare say he’s cooled down from this morning. Noah and Rivers probably didn’t talk about it, whereas Tully and I have hung on every last detail all day long, only fueling our anger.
I guess I was kind of hoping Noah would storm up to me in some kind of rage and give me a chance to get it all out, but now, I only feel deflated. Being mad at him is hard fucking work.
An arm loops though mine and draws my attention away from Noah. “What do you think you’re doing?” Tully demands. “You look like a lost puppy dog who just found her owner. You’re not going to cave that easily.”
“I wasn’t going to cave,” I defend, lying like the little bitch that I am.
“Yes, you were,” she tells me, pulling me towards the cafeteria line. “You were two seconds away from stripping off butt naked and offering yourself up to him like an all you can eat buffet. Trust me,” she continues, “that look in his eye is dangerous. He’s still more than ready to lay your ass out.”
Noah’s got his game face on. He hasn’t cooled down at all.
Shit.
What the fuck was I thinking? I was more than ready to waltz over there and start groveling at his feet, apologizing for being such a self-absorbed insensitive bitch, and it wouldn’t have gotten me anywhere except made me look weak.
I narrow my eyes on the fucker only to get a wicked smirk in response. “Oh, that fucking rat bastard,” I seethe through my teeth, loud enough that I’m sure he hears me; him and everyone else in the room.
Noah pushes to his feet with nothing but a challenge in his eye as he spreads his arms out wide. “Fucking try me, babe.”
Red. Fucking red. Every last damn thing I see is red.
It’s fucking on.
I get my bitch claws out and start towards him, barging kids out of my way as I go. Noah all but does the same, only the kids near him are smart enough to get out of his way before he does it for them.
“Shit,” I hear a familiar voice across the cafeteria, but it’s not familiar enough for me to figure out who it belongs to just yet. “Mommy and Daddy are fighting. Better pick a side now before it all goes to hell.”
The closer Noah gets, the thinner his glare becomes and it’s fucking terrifying, but I know he’ll never hurt me. He needs to scream just as much as I do. We’re just fucked up enough to let it happen right here in the middle of the cafeteria where the whole fucking world can see.
“No, no, no, no,” Tully says, hurrying behind me, trying to grab my arm to hold me back. “Not like this,” she begs, but I hardly hear her over the loud thumping in my ears. I mean. She’s more than happy for us to behead each other, she just doesn’t want it to turn into a fucking showdown.
My hand stings as I pump my fists by my side.
This fucker is about to go down.
No one crosses Henley Bronx, not even Noah himself.
Chapter 12
I storm into Noah, my hand already flying through the air. He ducks back and narrowly escapes one hell of a bitch slap. I should have known better. Noah has endured more than his fair share of pissed off woman.
Something flashes in his eyes but it’s gone quicker than I can get a read on him. Maybe he’s pissed that I’d try to hit him or maybe he’s hurt by the thought. “You Fucki-”
He grabs my hand and spins me so quickly that the insult falls from my mouth. His steel grip locks my hands behind my back and before I know it, he’s storming through the emergency exit and setting off the fire alarm. Though naturally, he doesn’t give a shit, just keeps pushing me in front. “Let me go, you big bastard,” I demand, struggling against his grip, only to get nothing but a furious growl from behind me.
He forces me across the school and towards the old art block where the school has practically been deserted. He slams through the door of the photography room and only stops once he’s pushed me through to the dark room.
Noah releases his hold on me to lock the door, making me wonder how he even knew there was a lock there. Though this is Noah Cage, he probably brought chicks down here to screw all the time before me.
Noah finishes with the door and I spin to face him, my hand desperate for another attempt at his face. “Fucking do it,” he growls, crowding me and getting in my face while knowing exactly what I need to help rid me of this anger.
I don’t hesitate. Not for one fucking second.
My hand slaps hard across his heated skin and I’m left fighting for breath as my palm begins to sting. Tears instantly fill my eyes as I’m overwhelmed by my emotions. I just hit the man I love and what’s more, he let me do it. This couldn’t be normal.
I slam my hand into his hard chest, wondering why the fuck he just allowed me to do that. “You-”
“No,” he demands, hitting my hand away.
I’m instantly clouded with guilt, but he’s already there, hands on my ass, lifting me and slamming me hard into the wall of the dark room.
A gasp is ripped out of me as Noah’s lips crush down on mine, completely swallowing it. He pins me against the wall with his body, freeing his hand to tear my shirt over my head. His lips are hard against mine. It’s not pretty. It’s desperate, needy, and messy, but hell, there’s no way I’m about to stop.
My hands reach around him and scramble for the fabric of his shirt before pulling hard. I rip it over his head before tossing it away and digging my nails back into the skin of his back, holding on for dear life as my man takes it out on my body.
He rids me of my jeans and I climb back up his body as he undoes his own. My legs wrap tightly around his waist as my arm curls around his neck, keeping me in place.
His jeans haven’t even hit the ground before he slams into me.
I scream out his name, panting and moaning right along with him. His fingers dig into my skin and I’m sure as hell it will bruise, but I don’t give a shit. I’m sure my nails have probably cut into his skin by now, but it’s not like he’s stopping me.
He slams into me over and over again, his lips still crushed against mine, right until the end when he helps me find the release we’re both desperately searching for.
There’s nothing better than angry sex. I don’t give a shit what anyone says, I will forever stand by it. Emotions are wild and when you’re at breaking point, there’s only one way to solve it, you know, considering you’re not about to break out into a brawl, of course.
Talking will only go so far and Noah’s never really been one for talk. He prefers to show me how he feels and it’s always in the best kind of ways.
He pulls out of me but doesn’t let me go as he hangs his head on my shoulder, breathing me in as we both catch our breath. His hands curl around my back holding me close to him as he spins us around, putting his back against the wall.
Noah slides down until he’s on the ground with me sitting in his lap. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you this morning,” he murmurs, raising his head until his eyes are piercing right into mine.
I shake my head, agreeing with him. “No, you shouldn’t have, but I shouldn’t have brought up Lily. That was a low blow.”
“You bet your ass, it was,” he grumbles, taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it.
I silently watch him, studying the lines of his face, getting lost deep in thought as he watches me right back. “Why’d it hit you so hard?” I ask, treading carefully. “Surely, you must know how she’d feel about it.”
He looks down, taking his eyes from mine and unknowingly killing me inside. His hands remain on my waist, his thumbs sailing back and forth over my warm skin. “I know exactly how she’d feel about it,” he murmurs, refusing to look up as though he’s ashamed of himself, killing me all over again. “She’d fucking hate it. You were right, she’d be ashamed of me.”
“Noah,” I whisper, holding onto him a little tight, wishing I could somehow take away his pain.
“Lily was too young to know anything about Anton,” he continues, “but every fucking time I go to work for him, it’s all I can think about, knowing she’d be looking down on me and seeing that. It makes me fucking sick. She’d hate it.”
“You can’t do this to yourself,” I tell him, tipping his chin to force him to look back up at me. “You need to stop.”
“As much as I want to, it’s not that easy.”
“Why not?” I question. “Surely, you must have paid off your debt to him. You’ve been working for him for years.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” he explains. “When a guy like Anton does you a favor, you’re selling your soul to him. He owns me now and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. Having me and Rivers around is far too convenient for him, he’ll never let us go. We know the area, we know the people, we don’t show fear, and we can
just about talk our way out of anything. We’re fucking gold mines to him.”
“But-”
“No, buts,” he says, cutting me off with a tight, apologetic smile. “Trust me, if there was a ‘but’ we would have gotten out a long time ago.”
“So, you actually want out?”
“Of course, I do,” he says, leaning in and gently pressing his lips to mine. “You think I like seeing the look on your face every time I have to go do a job? You think I like hiding it from my parents and knowing that Lily would be rolling in her grave if she knew. No way in hell.”
I let out a breath and lean forward, resting my forehead against his. “I’m sorry,” I tell him. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Spitfire,” he sighs. “Baby, you didn’t. You just reminded me how much I hated myself. I am a disappointment.”
“You’re not,” I tell him. “You’re the best person I’ve ever known. You’re so strong and loyal. It’s part of the reason I love you so much and it kills me that I said those things to you this morning. You kicked me out of your car and I was so angry, the words just came out. Please, don’t be mad at me. I can’t take it anymore.”
He smiles up at me. “How could I possibly be mad at you?”
“You yelled at me.”
“You yelled at me,” he fires back.
“Yeah, but…you were being an idiot.”
“And you weren’t?” he says before letting out a breath. “You hit me.”
“You told me to.”
“But…before that,” he says, referring to the almost slap in the cafeteria.
I let out a broken sigh. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just…you have this ability to infuriate me and don’t act as though it wasn’t provoked. ‘Fucking try me, babe’,” I mimic.
“You called me a rat bastard for the whole fucking school to hear. What was I supposed to do? Get down on my hands and knees and grovel for your forgiveness? Show weakness in front of the vultures? Yeah fucking right.”
“I guess we put on a bit of a show,” I murmur.
“You guess?” he scoffs. “That little performance is going to have them forgetting all about Nate and Jackson’s race.”
Untameable: Haven Falls (Book 3) Page 11