“Nope,” Rivers says proudly. “Didn’t touch her.”
“Right,” Noah murmurs slowly before turning back to Tully. “Go on.”
“What can I say?” she shrugs, glancing across at me, knowing I already know what’s coming next. “I’m not a patient girl. I got sick of waiting for him to come around, so I forced his hand. I told him exactly how I felt and didn’t go stingy on the details.”
Noah looks back at Rivers. “And you felt the same?”
Rivers eyes roam over Tully as she watches him before reaching out and trailing his fingers over her arm. “How could I not? She’s fucking beautiful.”
Noah scoffs under his breath. “And you call me a fucking pussy whipped cunt,” he murmurs, getting the side-eye from Rivers. “So, I’m assuming that’s when,” he scrunches his face up in disgust, “you know?”
“Yeah,” Tully cringes.
“Fast forward past that shit. I want to know how the hell you two ended up fighting day in and day out, and I want to know why the fuck you’ve looked broken every time you’ve looked at him over the past few weeks.”
Tully sighs, glancing up at her brother. “Do we have to?” she asks, looking across at me with pleading in her eyes, silently begging me to make her torture end. But I can’t. Not this time. I’m on team Noah now. They’ve both kept this from him for so long and he deserves to know the truth.
“Just…please, Tullz. I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I need to know. I promise I won’t ask you about it again unless you want to talk.”
She looks across at Rivers who looks as though the world is sitting on his shoulders. “You know, I’d change it if I could, right?” he tells her with his fingers still trailing over her arm.
“I know,” she sighs before looking back at Noah. “The next morning, I woke up feeling like maybe we were going to make it work. I was over the fucking moon, but I got to school and the second I saw him, I just knew. He shut down and pushed me away, claiming that for some godforsaken reason that he wasn’t good enough, and it fucking hurt like nothing before.”
“That’s what all those stupid dates and whoring around were about?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry. It was all innocent, just a ploy to get under Rivers’ skin, which I think was working by the way, until I decided that I wanted to hurt him right back and ended up fucking it all up.”
Rivers scoffs as Noah narrows his eyes on her. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing,” she says, glancing away.
“Nothing?” Rivers grunts in disbelief. “You fucking slept with Spencer. How is that nothing?”
“What?” Noah roars, flying to his feet. “Tell me that’s a lie. Please, Tully, for all that is fucking holy, tell me it’s a lie.”
I cringe as let’s be honest, there’s really not a lot else I can do right now.
Tully sighs before looking across at me to avoid the gazes of the two angry as fuck men around her. “Alright,” she says. “I’ve slept with him a few times. I dated him last summer and then slept with him again a few weeks ago at Kaylah’s party.”
That puts Rivers on his feet. “What?” he demands, his head spinning her way. “You never fucking told me you dated him last summer.”
Tully’s not finished yelling though. “What’s the big fucking deal?” she throws back at Rivers, giving him just as much attitude as he threw her way. “It’s not like you tell me about all the whores you’ve been with, and believe me, from the stories I hear coming left, right, and center, there’s a fucking lot of them.”
I smother a chuckle and resist fist bumping her. That shut him down.
“Wait,” Noah throws in. “Don’t tell me you’re not with her now because of Spencer?”
Rivers growls. “It’s got nothing to do with him. I was pissed about it for all of thirty seconds.”
Tully looks back at Noah. “Can we please get back on track?”
I grab the back of his shirt and pull him back until he’s sitting down once again. “Fine,” he grunts, “but for the record, I’m not fucking happy about this.”
Tully salutes him just to get on his nerves. “Noted,” she smirks before continuing. “So, just when I thought he was finally coming around, Rivers overheard me telling Henley about Spencer-”
“Whoa,” Noah butts in, his head swiveling towards me. “You knew about this too?”
Damn it. “Of course, I fucking knew,” I snap back at him. “She’s my girl.”
“Noah,” Tully yells. “Get the fuck over Spencer. This is about me and Rivers.”
“Fine. Whatever.”
She lets out a frustrated huff but goes on. “So, he heard what happened with Spence and that was it, it was over before it even began, but I guess I was stupid to think that there was still a small chance. After all, it didn’t take a genius to work out that he’d regretted being with me.”
“Whoa,” Rivers cuts in, demanding her complete, full attention. “Hold the fuck up, babe. I don’t regret it. Not one fucking bit,” he tells her.
“But-”
“No,” he growls. “How could you possibly think that?”
“You don’t want to be with me,” she throws back at him. “No matter what your excuses are, you pushed me away. What the hell did you think was going to go through my head? All this time you keep telling me that you’re not good enough, but all that does is make me feel not good enough.”
“Fuck, no, babe.” Rivers grabs her chair and spins her around to face him straight on. “I told you this was about me,” he demands. “Not fucking you. Never you. You’re fucking perfect. I didn’t fall in love with you and put us through all this bullshit for you to come out the other end feeling like that.”
Tears fill her eyes. “So, you just decided for us then? That we don’t even get a shot? It’ll never happen?”
Rivers shakes his head. “I don’t see how.”
Damn it. I can’t watch this.
I turn to Noah, pulling on his hand. “Come on,” I tell him. “Have you heard what you need to hear yet? We should go. Give them a chance to talk this all through.”
“Yeah,” he says, glancing back at them one more time. “That sounds like a fucking great idea.”
With that, we get up and I fumble around with my blanket and pillow before Noah rolls his eyes and scoops me up off the ground so I don’t have to bother unwrapping myself.
He makes his way into the tent and suddenly, the night that I’ve been dreaming about all day seems so far away. It’s not even my relationship that’s being discussed, but for some reason, I feel emotionally drained.
I let out a heavy sigh as Noah drops me down into our makeshift bed. “You ok?” he murmurs, coming down beside me and drawing me into his arms.
“Yeah,” I grumble, “that was just a bit…heavy.”
“I know,” he murmurs as I nuzzle my face into his chest. “Are you ok? That couldn’t have been easy.” I feel him shrug and find myself lifting my head back up at looking at him. “You want them to be together, don’t you?” I question. “That’s why you were pushing it so hard.”
“I don’t know, maybe,” he admits. “It’s just…you saw how he was looking at her out there. He adores her. I don’t know how I haven’t seen that before. No other motherfucker out there is going to look at her and treat her the way that he would.”
“They’re perfect together,” I agree. “I just wish he’d pull his head out of his ass and do something about it.”
“I don’t know,” he muses. “Rivers isn’t the kind of guy to easily change his mind. Once he’s set on something, that’s it. If he doesn’t feel worthy of her, then she might as well start looking elsewhere.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” I tell him. “I want them to be happy, like us.”
“I know,” he murmurs. “As much as it kills me to say it, I do too.”
----------
The sun comes streaming through the flimsy fabric of the tent and I peel my eyes open. It’s f
reaking cold but with Noah’s arms wrapped around me, it doesn’t seem so bad. Hopefully, the sun will do its thing soon and warm me enough to function.
We’re well and truly into winter now, so I guess it was our stupid fault for going camping, but with the promise of sleeping in Noah’s arms and a campfire, it really didn’t seem so bad. I didn’t take into account what it would be like waking up in a tent with no hot coffee or heating.
It’s not like it snows here, so I really shouldn’t be complaining. Others have it much worse, but still, my nipples are hard and it’s not because of the hand that’s currently cupping my tits.
I lay, nestled in Noah’s arms until the urge to pee completely takes over. I start getting up and Noah instantly pulls me back down to him. "Where are you going?” he says in his all too sexy morning voice, though, that isn’t the only morning thing he’s got going on right now.
I push out of his arms once again but this time he puts up a better fight. "I have to pee,” I tell him, the overwhelming need getting a little more serious than I can handle.
“Fine,” he groans, not bothering to open his eyes. “But you better come straight back. I haven’t heard you scream my name yet.”
Damn, that sounds good.
I make my way out of the tent and hurry into the woods before the threat of pissing myself becomes all too real. I give myself a metaphorical pat on the back when I manage to pee once again without destroying my clothes before waltzing back into the clearing and heading for our tent.
Movement across the clearing has me glancing up to find Tully dawdling back from the opposite side of the woods, probably after taking her own morning wee. She walks forward, still not having seen me and my eyes flick between her and the tent which holds the promise of one hell of a good morning.
Tully. Noah. Tully. Noah.
Shit.
I turn towards Tully and start heading her way. Her head finally comes up a few steps away and she gives me a bright smile. "Good morning,” she smiles, dropping down in front of the cooler and rifling through until she pulls out a bottle of water. "Want one?” she questions.
“Nah, I’m good,” I tell her as I take my seat from last night and poke a stick around the burnt out ashes from the campfire. The fire is well and truly gone but I can’t help but notice the lingering smell as I push it all around. “How’d you go last night?” I ask as she drops down in the chair beside me.
“Before or after we fought? Or before or after he kissed me?”
I grin across at her, knowing just how much she would have liked that. “All of it.”
Tully presses her lips together, deep in thought as she goes over her night with Rivers, making me wonder if maybe it isn’t as good as what I think it is. “I think it’s all good,” she finally tells me. “We talked, and while nothing has changed, I don’t feel as though I need to tear him apart every time I see him.”
“I guess that’s a start,” I murmur, wondering how the hell they could go from that to him kissing her.
“Yeah, I think I’ve been doubting how he actually feels about me like as though saying he wasn’t good enough was just some kind of excuse, but he’s hurting just as much as I am. He feels it like I do.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” I smile, feeling a little cocky but doing a great job not letting it show. “He loves you, but what does that mean moving forward?”
She shakes her head and I see the hurt still lingering in her eyes. “It means nothing,” she says. “He’s not prepared to jump headfirst into this with me, so I guess I’m left with the ‘trying to move on plan’.”
“Rocko?” I question.
“Yep, and he’ll be staying with Alyssa, silently killing me every time I see them together.”
“Maybe it’s not a great idea to be dating Rocko. I don’t think your heart is ready yet.”
“I need something to distract me from the thought of his tongue down her throat instead of mine.”
“Shit,” I sigh. “Maybe you should both just stop dating.”
“I can’t ask him to do that,” she says. “Just because he’s not mine, doesn’t mean he can’t try to find happiness somewhere else. That’s not fair.”
A body barges between us before Rivers bends down and presses a kiss to the side of her face. “Yes, you can,” he murmurs. “Just say the word and I’ll stop. I won’t do it if it’s hurting you.”
Tully presses her hand into his and he pulls her out of the chair before walking away, side by side, clearly with still a little more to discuss.
“You never came back,” a deep, accusing voice murmurs from behind me.
I turn in my seat to find a pair of green eyes staring into mine with nothing but a mischievous smirk on his face, and considering the large bulge currently tenting the front of his sweat pants, I have a damn good feeling what he’s got planned for me. I shrug my shoulders and give him an innocent smile. “Yeah, well, you never took me on a date.”
I wait for the usual ‘I knew that was going to come back and bite me on the ass’ comment that always seems to get thrown around, but when something else comes shooting from his mouth, I find myself gasping and clenching my thighs in anticipation.
“Henley Fucking Bronx,” he warns so low that the sound shoots straight down to my lady bits. “Get that fine ass of yours back to that tent, and when I get there, you better be wearing not a goddamn thing, on your hands and knees with your ass up in the air, ready and waiting for me.”
Fuck me. I think I stare at him a moment too long before scrambling to my feet and hurrying to the tent. I’ve done a few stupid things in my life, but not offering myself up on a platter to Noah Cage when he’s ready to put it down is not going to be one of them.
A moment later, I’m ready and waiting just as he told me too. And when he comes in and curls his hand around my hair, holding me still, I bite down on my lip knowing I better hold on tight for one hell of a wild ride.
Chapter 17
Aria sits between me and Tully at their breakfast table while Violet busily runs around the kitchen, putting things away before we all have to get out of here in about ten minutes.
I try to force a little more breakfast down Aria’s throat, you know, all that ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ stuff that parents, teachers, and doctors are always going on about. I mean, there has to be some sort of merit in that, but just to be sure, I grab a few more slices of fruit and add them to the pile on her plate.
“Would you quit trying to feed the kid?” Tully grumbles around a piece of toast. “She’ll be the size of an elephant if you don’t let up.”
“She’s fine,” I grumble. “She’s like me. She loves her food.”
“Exactly, and just like you, she’ll end up with a tummy ache.”
Damn it. She’s probably right.
Oh well. I add another slice of toast to her plate just in case. Besides, what happens if she forgets to eat her lunch at school? I wouldn’t want her getting hungry, though something tells me lunch is Aria’s favorite part of the day.
Noah comes striding in with a grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye before silently bending down and pressing a kiss to my cheek. He takes a seat beside Rivers, minding his own business as he goes about pouring himself a coffee and refilling mine and Tully’s.
“Yo,” Rivers says pushing up out of his chair, letting it scrape loudly against the tiles before taking his plate over to the sink and rinsing it off. “I’m out.”
“Huh?” Tully grunts, checking the time. “You never leave this early.”
“Yeah, umm…”
“You’re picking up Alyssa,” she says, finishing his sentence while looking down at her plate, though something tells me she just lost her appetite.
Rivers hovers in the kitchen for a long pause. “I don’t have to,” he murmurs, suddenly more at ease when talking about their feelings though I guess that happens when all their dirty laundry is forced out in the open.
�
��You’re not dating me, Rivers. You’re dating her. Go and pick the girl up.”
His eyes linger on her for a moment before he lets out a silent breath and walks away. No one says a word as we hear him walk through the house, collect his car keys, and then strides through the front door. All while Noah’s grin gets wider.
“You ok?” I murmur, looking to Tully to double check she’s not about to break.
The front door is barged in and Noah flies to his feet with only moments to spare before Rivers’ body slams him into the wall. The two of them go down to the ground, fists flying as they try to get the best of the other, Noah unable to control his howling laughter.
“What are you doing?” Violet shrieks as Noah’s dad, Eddison, hurries in to try and break them up.
Tully gapes at them while I watch on in suspicion. Noah was far too happy walking in here before. He was up to something and the sparkle in his eyes was the dead giveaway.
“Cut it out,” Eddison says, finally pulling them apart, though I don’t know how he’s capable of such a thing. He must be some kind of superhero with strength as his power because as far as I’m concerned, getting between these two during a fight is impossible and will most likely result in a death wish. “What the hell is going on?” Eddison scolds. “You’re scaring Aria.”
All eyes fall to Ari to find her standing on her chair, wide-eyed with a huge grin on her face. “Goooooo Rivers!” she squeals. Yeah, that’s my girl. You’ve got to be tough if you live in Haven Falls otherwise you simply won’t make it. I learned that the hard way. Aria though, she was just born tough. I have a feeling she’s seen more than the rest of us combined.
“Yeah, really scared,” Noah grins as Rivers continues to scowl.
“Will somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?” Tully cuts in. “I thought you had better things to do.”
Rivers’ eyes swivel to Noah. “I would be doing better things except there’s a massive, bright pink, ten inch, rubber dildo duct taped to my fucking hood.”
Untameable: Haven Falls (Book 3) Page 16