by Chloe Walsh
Max chuckled and nodded. "I mean it," he told me fondly. "But we won't be able to stay more than two or three days," he warned. "Work is hectic and I'll need to come back before…"
"I'll take it," I shouted happily before springing to my feet. "Oh man, I knew there was a reason I loved you, Maximus."
I danced out of the lounge and grabbed my coat off the back of the door. "I need to tell Hope."
"You have ten minutes," Max called out. "You're still grounded."
****
Okay so Hope wasn’t as excited for me as I'd originally thought.
"You can't be serious," she snapped, cheeks flushed and eyes narrowed. "You're leaving." She folded her arms over her chest and sighed. "I can't believe this crap."
"Don’t be such a princess," I shot back with a chuckle. "It's only for a few days, I'll be back before you know it…"
"You say that now," she grumbled, leaning back in her chair with a huff. "But when you get there and fall in love with being back home it will be a different story."
I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my hot-chocolate. "Well, come with us if you're so worried." Smirking I added, "But I warn you now, there's not much to do there."
Hope's eyes lit up. "Do you think your uncle would mind?"
I shrugged. "Doubt it," I chuckled. "He's fairly easygoing." Sliding my phone out of my jeans pocket I sent Uncle Max a quick text asking if he'd be cool with Hope coming with us.
He text me back a couple of minutes later.
Max: Fine by me if her parents are okay with it. Tickets are booked. Be home in 5. You're still grounded.
I grinned and showed Hope the message.
"This is excellent news," she chirped. "I can't freaking wait."
"You don’t know if your parents will let you go yet," I warned her.
Hope gave me a look that said 'fool, please' before handing my phone back to me.
"I've always wanted to go to Ireland," she sighed dreamily as she rested her chin on her hands. "Uncle Derek's been – so have my parents…"
"Good luck trying to get your daddy on board, Hopey-bear," Hope's grandmother chuckled as she carefully iced some queen cakes at the counter.
"Grandma, please," Hope scoffed as she smiled lovingly at the short, white-haired woman. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime." Frowning she added, "Dad won't ruin this for me."
Grandma Tracy wiped her flour encrusted hands on her little pink apron and sighed. "You four are seventeen and eighteen years old, and your daddy still has me come over and watch you guys when he and your momma go out of town."
I gaped at my friend. "Your grandmother is babysitting you guys?"
Hope flushed and I burst out laughing.
I shook my head and tried to stop grinning. "You're eighteen."
"Have you met her daddy?" Grandma Tracy asked me chuckling as she shuffled towards the kitchen door. "Boys," she called out. "Dinner's ready."
A stampede erupted from somewhere upstairs so I rose from my chair and said my goodbyes, ready to make myself scarce.
"Oh hey, Teegs, don't worry," Hope called out after me when I reached the front door. "I'm going with you to Ireland – come hell or high water."
****
Teagan
By the time school finished on Friday I was looking forward to locking myself away from the world for two whole days.
Unfortunately Hope seemed to have other plans.
"Sorry for barging in, Uncle Max," Hope called out as she sauntered into my kitchen. "But I kinda need to borrow your niece for the evening."
"In case you've forgotten, I'm kind of grounded," I muttered, casting Max an evil look from where I was perched on the countertop, dressed in my ratty old sweats, waiting for the kettle to boil.
Max had extended my grounded sentence when Ellie – the rat – went straight to him, sobbing her little heart of stone out over the whole flour bombing incident at Thanksgiving.
Hope frowned and worried her lip anxiously. Her blue eyes were round as saucers as she swung around to stare at Max. "Please?" she asked softly.
Uncle Max sighed heavily from where he was sitting, watching us. "You can go," he grumbled as he closed the lid of his laptop and leaned back in his chair. "You've suffered enough."
Hope clapped her hands and grinned. "You're the best," she squealed. "I promise we won't be out too late."
"Keep her as long as you like," I heard Max chuckle and I shook my head in mock disgust as I hopped down from the counter and followed Hope to the kitchen door.
"Keep the tomfoolery to a minimum though, Teegs," Max said in a stern tone. He stood up and unplugged his laptop from its charger before sliding it into a brown leather case. "And no fighting with the neighbors."
****
"So what's up?" I asked, prying my arm out of Hope's grasp when we stepped outside.
It was dusk on the hill and the sky looked illusory darker than normal. I was hoping this was a sign of snow. I couldn’t freaking wait for the snow…
"I need you to come with me somewhere," she mumbled as we crossed the street towards her house.
Hope pushed the door inwards and I froze when it creaked spookily.
There's no such thing as ghosts…
There's no such thing as ghosts…
Hope, noticing my reaction, rolled her eyes and pulled me inside. "Who told you?" she asked as she pushed me up the staircase.
"Layton," I whispered, clutching her sleeve.
Hope huffed. "He's such a gossip."
"Is it true?"
"All of it and more probably," she mused as she pushed me down the hallway, stopping outside the last door on the right. "Relax," she added as she pushed the door inwards.
"There are no ghosts in this house, Teagan. They wouldn't get a minute's peace with my brothers," she added dryly, gesturing me into a yellow painted bedroom.
"Besides," she grumbled as she walked over to closet and pulled the door open. "We've got bigger problems."
"Like what?" I tentatively took a step into her bedroom, and when nothing bad happened I took another step.
I was halfway between the door and the bed when Hope turned around and glared at me. "No one died in here, Teagan."
"Right," I chuckled nervously and forced myself to walk over and sit on her bed. "Sorry."
"Don't sweat it." She smirked. "They died in the kitchen."
I jumped off the bed and Hope burst out laughing.
"That's not funny," I snapped. Grabbing a pillow from her bed, I chucked it at her. "I'm a little superstitious, okay?"
Hope cackled for a few more seconds before sobering. "On a serious note," she said as she forced herself to stop smiling. "I need you to come to the Ring of Fire with me."
Now I was the one laughing.
"I'm serious," she added before holding three fingers up. "Scouts honor."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm not Katniss Everdeen," I told her, pointing at her three fingered gesture. "And I'm more of a Walk the Line kinda girl."
"I love that book," Hope said with a grin. "And I'm not joking. Ash texted me saying she heard Cameron talking about going to the freaking Ring of Fire with Noah tonight. And low and behold the douche is now M.I.A, therefore I need to go and bring him home before he lands himself in the middle of Noah's crap – again."
"How is it I'm not one bit surprised to hear Noah Messina's involved in something called The Ring of Fire?"
Folding my arms over my chest, I let out a calming breath before asking, "I'm probably going to regret asking this, but is this Ring of Fire an actual place and what happens there?"
"It's a real place all right," Hope replied, her tone laced with disgust. "And from what the boys have told me it's like…" She paused and twirled her finger around as if trying to remember a word. "A playground for the shady and reckless."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning some bad illegal shit happens there, shit I don't want my brother involved in," she snapped. "And my parents are due home tomorrow ni
ght."
Lovely. Sounds very enticing…
Rummaging in the bottom of her closet Hope starting tossing item after item of clothing behind her. "And I can't risk driving my car up there," she grumbled as she eyed a red boobtube dress skeptically before throwing it in a separate pile than the others. "Because dad more than likely has someone watching my movements." She sighed in disgust. "He's a serious control-freak, I don't know how my mother puts up with him….Ah, that's it." Hope grinned at what looked like a piece of cloth.
"Put this on," she told me, flinging it in my direction. "We need to blend it. Don't want anyone thinking we're cops."
"You can't be serious," I muttered, picking up the tiny white piece of stretchy fabric.
"Oh, I'm deadly serious." She tossed a beautiful pair of black leather boots in my direction. I caught them with ease before tossing them down on her bed.
"An illegal ring of fire?" I shook my head and gaped at her. "Let me get this straight. You want me to go with you into the middle of no-man's land so you can spy on your idiot brother – who's most likely in the company of my arch-enemy – and make sure he doesn't get arrested?"
"Yeah," Hope replied as she blew a curl off her face. "Sounds about right."
"There's no way in hell I'm going anywhere Noah Messina will be – unless it's someplace mandatory like school or the footpath outside my house."
I forced myself to believe that Noah hadn’t hurt my feelings in the slightest when he tossed my concern for his wellbeing back in my face the other day. I'd have to care about what Noah thought in order for it to hurt me. I'd have to care about him. And I didn’t. I refused to…
"Are you hiding?" She laughed loudly, pointing her skinny finger in my face. "Oh my god." She leaned back in her heels and studied me with an astonished look on her face. "You're hiding from Noah Messina." She shook her head and mused, "You're letting him beat you."
"I am not hiding from him," I spat, my tone of voice defensive – way too defensive. "And I am not letting him beat me, I just…we were…and he just…" I wasn't sure what I was trying to tell my friend.
Hope's perfectly shaped eyebrows rose in surprise and I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks.
"He disturbs me, all right," I snapped. "He makes me nervous. Happy now?"
"Ecstatic," she shot back, clapping her hands. "Put that skirt on and make him nervous."
I shook my head. "I'm not going. No way, no how, it's never gonna happen. I promised Max I wouldn’t fight with the neighbors." I stared meaningfully at my friend's face. "A promise I'm sure to break the second I lay eyes on Noah Messina." Ugh.
"Please, Teagan," Hope begged. "I really need your help."
I felt my will buckling under her persuasive kneading. I knew that I was going to cave in and she knew it too.
And then Hope used an evil-bastard of a trick.
She used the puppy eyes.
****
Chapter 11
Noah
*Winning's not enough tonight. Put him out of commission and I'll arrange Christmas visitation. *
I reread the text message I'd received from George once more before deleting it and tossing my phone into the passenger seat of Tommy's Subaru.
Keep your eye on the donut, Messina, and not the hole…
"You ready for this, dude?" Tommy asked as he leaned against the side of his car, watching me with a hooded expression etched on his face.
The quarry was packed tonight and Tommy's adrenalin was obviously pumping. He was jittery as fuck – why, I had no clue because he wasn’t the one who was about to take a beating.
"That guy Kruger looks pretty intense," Tommy said with a frown.
He was.
Last time I came up against Kruger I was sixteen and the guy handed my ass to me. Shawn Kruger was like a fucking tornado in the ring – blowing his opponents to smithereens.
The only advantage I had tonight was the fact that Kruger had brought his girl with him.
Big mistake.
You never brought your weak link to work.
I knew the second I saw the curvy brunette sidling up to Kruger that I was onto a winner.
Pulling my shirt over my head I tossed it into the car with my phone. "It is what it is, T," I replied, holding my hands up for him to tape. "I appreciate you being here tonight."
Tommy rolled his blue eyes in exasperation as he concentrated on taping my knuckles. "Dude, we're friends. That's what friends do – they help one another out in shitty situations."
"Yeah," I said with a sigh, flexing my wrists. "But you know the drill." I stared into his eyes. "No matter what happens tonight, don't get involved."
A vein ticked in Tommy's neck but he nodded stiffly and I sighed in relief. He understood. The last thing I needed was someone I cared about getting involved in this mess. It was bad enough I had brought him here in the first place.
****
Teagan
We took my car to the Ring of Fire, which, may I add, was in the back ass of nowhere, although Hope drove – which was probably for the best since I lost feeling in my toes by the time I reached the bottom step of Hope's staircase.
I'd never looked skankier or felt shadier than I did right now.
I had on a skin-tight white mini-skirt that was so short I was fairly certain the cheeks of my butt were on display, and a pair of black thigh-high fuck-me-boots.
My top – if you could call it that – was worse. All that covered the girls was a silver sparkly bandeau that literally just covered my chest. I was bare from my ribs to my hipbones and from the bottom of my ass to my thighs.
Boy did I feel good about myself.
We travelled away from the hill, the city, the street lights and basically all human civilization. Hope pointed out a few different places as we travelled higher into the mountains – where she used to live, where she used to camp – none of which I remembered because I was too nervous. It was dark, I was freezing, and we were traveling into the unknown – the unknown didn't bide well with me.
After spending twenty minutes driving in silence down a secluded dirt-road, Hope took another sharp left and suddenly a huge abandoned quarry pit came into view.
The further we drove into the quarry the more suffocated I started to feel. Walls of resolute rock over eighty feet in height surrounded us. Burnt-out shells of cars lay scattered on either side of us as we drove and within seconds my eyes locked on…oh yeah we were here.
I was staring at a ring of fire.
I kid you not, a circling blaze of red-hot flames blew high into the night-air. Several smaller bonfires were scattered around the clearing surrounded by crowds of people, and I really did not want to get out of this car without a fire-extinguisher.
"Are they insane?" I hissed as Hope parked my car at the edge of the clearing where all the other cars were parked. "I mean really, are they seriously crazy?" I gaped at the side of Hope's face. "This place is a death-trap."
Hope was right.
This was the playground for the shady and reckless…
"I guess they don't care," she whispered, staring straight ahead at the scene unfolding in front of us. I wasn't sure if we'd landed ourselves into the middle of a brothel, a fighting ring, or a bloody car chase.
Shit was happening…like everywhere.
Nickelback's Burn it to the ground was blaring from the humongous pair of speakers sitting on the back of a truck, pumped no doubt by the huge generator next to it.
Women wearing far less clothing than us were parading themselves around in front of men.
There were people in cars doing donuts and all types of dumb shit, and a huge mob of people were forming a circle in the center.
"You owe me, Hope," I grumbled as I climbed out of the passenger seat and adjusted myself as best I could. I caught my reflection in the car window and glared at the back of Hope's head. "You really, really owe me."
"I know," she replied in a serious tone as she tried to walk in a pair of sky-scraper bl
ack stilettos. She was wearing a flimsy red-dress and the only thing comforting me in this moment was the fact that there was as much of Hope on display as there was of me. But as much as I detested what I was wearing – and I loathed it – Hope had been right to make us dress up. At least we blended in. And the way I saw it blending was good, it meant we could get in and out of here without being noticed.
"Can you see him?" I asked, taking the key of my car from Hope and popping it into my top, while I spied the crowds for Cameron and prayed I wouldn't see Noah or worse, Ellie.
Jesus, knowing my luck she was here too.
"No," Hope muttered as she bit down on her lip nervously. "He looks tough, Teegs," she whispered, clutching my hand in hers. "And he is, but he's got this horrible temper that makes him vulnerable. That temper fuelled with his ADHD makes for a very unpredictable Cameron."
"We'll find him," I coaxed, feeling a huge chunk of sympathy for my fiery friend. Hope acted so tough and carefree, but I could tell by her eyes that she was scared to death for Cam.
The ground was littered with stones and I was finding it incredibly tricky to keep my balance. I spotted something – more like heard someone's name being called out – to the left and groaned.
"Hope."
I caught her attention and pointed over to where a group had formed a circle around two guys fighting.
The stench of cigarettes even outside in the fresh air was overpowering and I had a feeling these people were smoking more than tobacco. Everyone was rowdy, jittery even, and there was this buzz in the atmosphere.
We made our way over to the crowd and I could have wept when I saw who was in the center of the circle fighting.
"Messina," people screamed and cheered, meanwhile I swallowed some vomit. There was blood on the ground, mixed in with dirt, and Noah…Noah was bleeding from his eyebrow.