by Chloe Walsh
Okay, so maybe I hadn't thought this entirely through.
My goal was to get Noah's shirt, not lose mine in the process. Now I get that I was butt-naked in the middle of the man's kitchen and all I was concerned about was getting that damn shirt off him.
My priorities were all kinds of messed up…
Noah was breathing hard through his nose as he balled and then un-balled his fists, his entire focus riveted on my body – my very naked body. His eyes never left my body as he reached one hand behind his head and tugged his shirt off.
Biting down on my lip, I allowed myself to eyeball his skin, taking in the toned plains of his stomach, the dark trail of hair, those rolling-pin abs and the nasty looking bruise on the left side of his torso…
My nipples puckered tight. My skin prickled with goose-bumps and my legs, my stupid, traitorous legs were shaking like ivy leaves.
Holding his plain white shirt in his hand Noah made no move to pass it to me. Instead he lifted his gaze to meet my eyes, his expression hungry.
I let out a shaky breath when I saw the intensity in his eyes.
"Do you think I'm stupid, Teagan?" Noah husked, taking a step towards me.
My body stepped towards him without my brain's permission and I watched as Noah's stomach muscles rippled. It took all my self-control to stay where I was and not step closer and touch that smooth toned skin. My hands dropped to my sides and I thought I heard Noah growl.
"No," I breathed, trembling. "I don't think you're stupid, Noah."
He stepped closer, causing me to swallow deeply. "Do you think I couldn't feel you when we were outside?" He tilted his head to one side and took another step until we were chest to chest. "Pulsing against me?" His hips caged me in. "Throbbing?" Bending at the waist, he grabbed my thighs and hoisted me onto the kitchen table.
Closing my eyes, I let out a soft moan as my legs wrapped around his hips.
"You're aching right now," he purred. His hands slid up and down my bare thighs, the friction of his jeans against my clit was torture. "Aren't you?"
"Not for you," I moaned. The pressure in my core was so tight I thought I'd explode if I didn't come.
Noah pressed against me hard and my mouth fell open. His dark hair was soaking and falling into his eyes, those charcoal eyes were burning me.
I suddenly realized that I didn’t dislike Noah and that was a huge problem for me. I didn’t dislike him and I definitely didn’t trust him, but my god did I want him…
"Only for me," he corrected as he slipped a hand between our bodies and slowly thumbed my clit.
"How can I trust you?" I whispered, rocking against him. He felt so damn good, all I wanted to do was let go of the grudge I'd been holding and embrace what Noah was offering me. "I make you angry. You're…always mad at me…"
"You make me hard as fucking rock," he corrected me in a husky tone. "Jesus, you smell so good." Noah pressed himself against me, his hardening cock bulging in his jeans. He felt so very familiar, his touch on my skin felt so incredibly right, like his was the only touch my body would ever need – ever crave.
My mind knew this attraction – and my behavior – was all kinds of fucked up and irrational, but there was this draw I hadn’t felt before – or maybe I had and refused to consider it as anything other than my body's heated response to his assholeness.
"Goddammit, Teagan, you've been driving me crazy for months," he husked, running his nose up and down my jawline. "You're a thorn in my goddamn side."
I groaned loudly but was silenced by Noah's lips as he devoured me. I wasn't sure if I was dreaming because Noah kissing me and rubbing my clit was causing sensations inside my body that were entirely too good to be true.
"You know what this means," he purred as he licked and nibbled my neck, tracing his tongue all over my jaw, plunging into my mouth to duel with mine. "I win," he said against my lips. "And you're the prize."
I moaned when Noah's lips claimed mine, barely noticed the sound of the wind howling outside or the bright flashes of lightening when they lit up the room. My fingernails dug into his back, my heels pressed against his ass, urging him on…
"I always knew she was desperate, but this is a new low for him."
I froze before a huge wave of humiliation engulfed me.
A horribly familiar voice sneered followed by another snickering voice. "Well, if it's handed to the guy on a plate…"
Pulling my face back from Noah's, I blinked rapidly, clearing my vision before seriously wishing I hadn’t.
Ellie, Jason, and a red-faced Reese stood in the kitchen doorway staring straight at us, and the only thing protecting my naked body from being a full display was Noah's partially naked body– though all three still had a pretty good view… and yep, to top it all off I was indeed sitting on a dinner plate.
Oh god…
"What the fuck do you think this is, a peep show? Get the hell out of here," Noah roared as he lifted me off my back and pressed his body tightly to mine.
I wanted nothing more than to shove him away and run for the hills, but that would involve me giving Ellie and Jason full view of my puss and that was something I was unwilling to do.
"Wow, Noah, I didn’t think you'd actually go through with it," Ellie snarled.
"With what?" I asked, staring up at Noah's face. "Go through with what, Noah?" A horrible feeling crept over my skin as I continued to stare up at Noah. "Well?"
"His own execution," Ellie spat. "Because that's what you represent, slut." She turned on her heel and sauntered out of the room with Jason hot on her heels.
My attention fell on the red-headed pervert still standing in the doorway. "Do you mind?" I glared Reese's face. She looked furious. "This is kind of private."
"How could you do this to me, Noah?" Reese demanded, glaring at Noah. "And with that skinny freak …."
"You knew the rules, Reese," Noah said in a weary tone.
"And do your rules apply to her?" she shot back cattily.
"No," Noah replied coldly, tightening his hold on me. "They don’t apply to her."
"You'll be sorry," Reese sobbed before rushing from the room. "You both will."
"They were here," I stated coldly as I pushed him away and got to my feet. I wasn't prepared to delve into the whole Reese conversation. It was pretty obvious something was going on between them – or at least had been…
Picking up my soaked t-shirt, I slid my arms through the sleeves and covered myself. "You said you were alone, but you weren’t. They were all here. You lied to me."
"Teagan, calm down and listen," Noah said in a husky tone as he fastened his jeans before holding his hands up as if he was dealing with a wild animal. "I didn't plan any of this, baby."
"Baby?" I shook my head in disgust as I backed into the hallway. "Have I got a pacifier in my mouth or something? I'm not your baby."
Noah looked sincere, his eyes burned with the truth, but I just couldn’t be sure.
He stepped closer to me. "Come on. I was with you all night. I didn’t fucking plan this."
Reaching a hand out, he snagged the hem of my shirt and pulled me into his arms. His arms snaked around my back, resting on my hips. "Don’t jump to conclusions again," he whispered, dropping his lips to my neck and kissing me softly. "Come upstairs. I'll find you something dry to wear."
His fingernails dug into my skin so erotically that I almost agreed – almost. But then I remembered the summer of hell I'd endured because of the members of this household and the darkness looked oddly appealing.
"I need to go," I muttered as I pulled away and rushed for the front door. "This was a huge mistake."
"Teagan," Noah growled, slamming his hand on the door just as I opened it.
A deep guttural growl rolled deep in chest… a sound that caused the muscles in my pelvis to tighten as he turned me around and pressed me against the door. "I'm not done with you," he husked before lunging at me, kissing me fiercely. Hips lips were severe, hungry and it cost me a lot to p
ush him away.
"I'm not," I gasped. "Doing this." Ducking under Noah's arm, I rushed through the hallway and swung open the front door.
A cry of relief left my body the moment my eyes landed on the headlights pulling into my driveway.
"Keep running, Teagan," he called after me. "Because you're not worth the fucking hassle," was the last thing I heard Noah say before I took off, running towards the sanctuary of my uncle.
****
Noah
"Keep running, Teagan," I roared with my chest heaving as I locked my muscles into place so I couldn’t chase after her.
Rain poured down on me as I stood in my driveway shirtless, watching the most beautiful fucking creature I'd never known existed run away from me. Frustration, wounded pride and a huge amount of terror made me call out, "Because you're not worth the fucking hassle."
She was worth the hassle…. Dammit she was worth a lot more than I'd sanctioned and that terrified me.
I almost nailed her on my kitchen table…what the hell was wrong with me?
Reese, Jason and Ellie… goddammit this night had gone to hell.
Confused didn’t come close to explaining how I was feeling. I was up in a heap – smothering in a concoction of scorching emotions for the girl who pissed me off worse than anyone…
I liked her.
Holy shit, I liked her a hell of a lot and the sudden realization of my feelings for Teagan was something I could have done without. I didn’t need another person to worry about. I didn’t want to need her or like her or even fucking think about her. But fuck she was there now, stuck in my head, causing all types of anxious feelings to grow in the pit of my stomach until I felt I would puke. She was the one person who could shake me. Fuck, she was the one person who could ruin it all...
"Leave me alone, Noah," Teagan cried, running through the rain towards her uncle. She threw herself into her uncle's arms and jealousy swirled inside of me. She shouldn't be running from me ever…
"What's wrong…Teegs, what the hell happened to you?" her uncle demanded.
The light coming from his car head lamps illuminated the concern etched on his face.
He seemed to register she was wearing nothing but a t-shirt because even the darkness I saw him visibly stiffen. He looked around and locked eyes on me.
"What did you do to her?" he hissed in a menacing tone of voice.
Not enough by half, I thought to myself as I stood still as a statue as Teagan's uncle looked me over like I was a piece of shit.
"Nothing," she sobbed, pushing her uncle up the porch steps towards their front door. "He didn’t do anything to me, I locked myself out…it's too dark…let me inside please, Uncle Max."
Regret churned inside of me. I needed to know she was okay … and I needed to apologize for being a prick to her.
"Teagan, I didn’t mean that…" I started to say, but she cut me off quickly.
"Yes you did, Noah," she spat, rushing past her uncle as he held the front door open for her.
"I don’t know what happened tonight between you and my niece," her uncle said in a tight voice, waiting until Teagan was inside to speak. "But stay away from her," he snarled. "She doesn’t need the likes of you sniffing around her."
His words struck a nerve inside of me and my hackles rose. "Isn't she old enough to make that decision for herself?"
"She's seventeen years old, you little shit," he hissed. "She has a bright future ahead of her. I know your score, Messina, and she doesn’t need you dragging her down to your delinquent level."
Know my score? "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means I know who your mother is," he snarled. "And who your father is."
"Was," I managed to grind out through clenched teeth. "Who he was."
"Keep your poison away from my niece," he warned me. With that he slammed his front door and left me standing in the driveway feeling smug as shit that he'd let his car lights on.
A dead battery was the least he deserved for being a judgmental snob.
****
Chapter 15
Teagan
I learned pretty quickly that there wasn't enough body wash in the world that could rid my body of Yellow Teeth's groping hands. No amount of scrubbing erased the dirtiness I felt from allowing Noah to touch me the way he had, but the worst part was knowing deep down that I liked Noah touching me like that – and I wanted more… I was sick. How the hell could I have enjoyed something as degrading as what had happened?
When the power finally returned I must have sat on that shower cubicle floor for hours, at least until the water ran cold. And then I wrapped a towel around my body and moved on to the guest bathroom before filling the bath with scalding hot water.
I felt disgusting and I was fuming because I had let him win.
Noah Messina had hurt me.
I had sworn to myself I wouldn’t let him in and the bastard had crept under my barriers anyway. Now Noah was on my mind constantly and I couldn’t stand it. He was not good for me, not good at all. He was involved in an illegal fighting ring dammit, that alone should've had me running for the hills. So why was I obsessing about him?
Because he kissed you and made you feel it…
Because when he was touching you it wasn’t fake and you know it…
Because he saved you twice, even though you've been a grade-A bitch to him…
Because he put your key through the letterbox…
Uncle Max stayed at home with me on Wednesday night – and gave me a very thorough talk on the evil mind of the teenage male – but he was gone again by breakfast time Thursday. I knew that because I had to hide in bed until he left for work. Max was a pretty cool guy, but he'd lose his shit if he thought I was skipping school.
I avoided Hope's texts and calls.
I avoided everything.
Someone rang the doorbell a couple of times on Thursday, but I didn't answer. I wasn't interested in talking. Instead I stayed in my bed, under the covers, with my headphones on my ears and the most depressing music playing on my phone.
To be honest I wasn’t sure how I was ever going to be able to face school again – especially now there were four people in my class who had seen me naked. I felt mortified, guilty and a huge chunk of me wanted to rock in a corner. I'd been exposed…
So much had happened in such a short space of time that I felt like my life was railroading.
When people were told to define the word fear, it usually dredged up some deep dark secrets from their past, whether it's the drunken kiss they shared with a colleague in the corner of the stuffy cloak room at the New Year's Eve office party, or the folded up credit card statement in the bottom of their purse with the final reminder stamp etched in bold ink. Yeah, sure, some people had phobias of spiders, or heights or heck even public bathrooms, but for me fear was never something I had to internalize or think too much about. I craved adventure and I had a very nice newspaper folded up and ready for every furry, eight legged freak that dared come too close.
There used to be only one thing that could scare the life out of me.
The darkness.
Now there was something else.
The boy next door.
****
Noah
Teagan wasn’t in school on Thursday or Friday.
She wasn’t answering her phone or the door to anyone, and knowing she was hiding because of me caused the guilt and frustration inside of me to fester to epic proportions. The entire weekend passed without me catching a glimpse of her blonde hair and by the following Wednesday I was growing anxious as hell.
Logically I knew I had bigger problems than Teagan being pissed with me. George was currently out of state visiting relations with Ellie which for me was like a fucking holiday, but I knew the shit would hit the fan when he got back. And he would be back before Christmas…
I needed to concentrate on watching my back. I needed to worry about the fallout for doing a job for Gonzalez – that was sure to be coming my
way any day now – but logic wasn’t taking precedent in my head right now.
Teagan was…
"You look like you've been thoroughly sunk," a familiar voice said, rousing me from my daydream.
"What?" I asked in an amused tone as I climbed to my feet and jogged down the porch steps.
Kyle Carter stood at the end of my driveway dressed in sweats and ready to run. For a man in his forties Kyle had some serious stamina. I'd been running with the guy for about a year now – ever since Cam and Colt decided their father was attracting too much female attention. Low usually joined us though, but he had one of his appointments in Denver this morning which always drained his energy for a few weeks...
"You do realize that makes no sense, right?" I mused as I fell into step beside him as he pounded the pavement.
"Usually when a man looks like that it's because of a woman," Kyle taunted as he jogged beside me.
"Looks like what?" I muttered. Teagan's face infiltrated my mind and my step faltered.
"Confused, frustrated and undoubtedly petrified." Kyle laughed loudly as we rounded a corner. "So, who is she?"
"Believe me, you don’t want to know," I grumbled.
Kyle stopped abruptly and swung around to face me. "Is it Hope?" His blue eyes were livid as he stalked towards me. "Are you messing around with my daughter, Messina?"
"No, Jesus, no, she's like a sister to me." I held my hands up and backed away slowly all the while feeling a huge amount of sympathy for Hope's boyfriend Jordan. Poor fucker… "It's Teagan, Kyle." I admitted, knowing I needed to spill the beans or take an ass-kicking.
Kyle's whole demeanor changed the second I said Teagan's name. "I knew there was something going on with you two back in the summer," he chuckled, picking up pace once more.
I tentatively jogged along with him. "How so?"
Kyle chuckled. "I was young once, too, and there's only one woman who could've gotten away with doing that to my truck."
I stared at him. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah," Kyle said with a smug grin. "My wife."