Torment (Carter Kids #4)

by Chloe Walsh

  When Teagan was out of the sight, the guy with the ponytail cocked his own gun and pulled the trigger, taking out the guy behind me before turning it on the other guy.

  They both fired at the same time and I watched, frozen in place as the guy with the ponytail collapsed on the ground. To my right the other guy collapsed too.

  Death filled the air and the only thing in my vision now was the end of a barrel as JD pressed his gun to my forehead.

  Closing my eyes, I accepted my fate.

  I accepted death.

  It was coming to take me.

  And I would face it like a man.

  ****

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Teagan

  The thought of him not existing anymore was too much pain to comprehend. It was what caused my body to jump into action.

  I wouldn't survive without Noah – I wouldn't want to

  I didn't care if that made me weak or pathetic.

  That was the truth.

  I loved my husband enough to live through the pain of losing Einín, but without him, I didn't have a reason.

  He was my reason for breathing through the grief.

  I couldn't see a future without him.

  All those years arguing and fighting our feelings. All I had been doing was fighting my fate. Fighting with the other half of me. He was my reflection.

  The beauty to my ugliness and the cold to my warmth.

  We fit and I didn't want to be here if he wasn't here with me.

  He was woven inside of me. An intricate part of my being. As irreplaceable as oxygen. I loved him with my whole heart, regardless of the risk and regardless of the consequences. He was mine and I was his.

  He was bleeding. His face. His chest. Scars opening and weeping.

  Every ounce of pain I'd ever felt before this moment fueled my actions.

  In a world full of uncertainties, I knew only one thing for sure.

  Noah Messina had to live.

  This man was my best friend.

  He was my fucking soulmate and JD Dennis wasn't taking him away from me.

  Knowing this was what made me scramble out from the corner I'd been hiding in and pick up Taz's gun. Everything else that happened afterwards was my body reacting on instinct.

  My hand was shaking so bad I wasn't sure if I could do this.

  But I wanted to.

  I wanted to take his life away from him.

  Why should someone so evil live when my angel was robbed of her first breaths?

  This man took my baby away from me. He stole her innocent life. Robbed me of my firstborn child.

  Enough, my battered heart screamed. Enough!

  With my finger on the trigger, I saw only one person.

  Noah.

  I felt only one emotion.

  Redemption.

  And then I pulled the trigger.

  ****

  Noah

  It was over.

  I was about to die.

  JD stood in front of me, not a tremble in his hand, as he cocked the gun and pressed it to my forehead.

  I watched in slow motion as his finger closed in on the trigger, while my heart thundered in my chest.

  Closing my eyes, I thought of Teagan.

  I prayed she wouldn't see this.

  The gun went off, loud and deafening, and taking with it every ounce of power I had left in my body.

  I felt a sudden wetness hit my face.

  My ears were in agony as the noise ricocheted through me.

  But I didn't feel any pain.

  And my heart was still beating.

  Opening my eyes, I watched in shock as JD's lifeless body collapsed on the ground at my feet.

  And then Teagan was in my vision, standing a few feet back from where JD had stood, hands shaking with a gun still aimed in front of her.

  My other half.

  Standing in front of me.

  Eyes wild and full of confusion.

  She was still aiming the gun; it was pointing at my chest.

  Shock encompassed her features.

  A million other emotions coursed through me.

  "I killed him," she whispered as her whole frame rattled violently. "I-I-I killed him, Noah."

  She did.

  She killed him.

  For me.

  Jesus fucking Christ.

  This woman…

  "Thorn," I croaked out, voice thick with emotion. Holding my hands up in front of me, I stepped towards her slowly. "It's okay, baby," I soothed, taking one slow step at a time. "It's okay."

  My fingers slid over the nozzle of the gun and I felt Teagan release her grasp. Taking it from her, I threw it on the ground a few feet away from us.

  "I killed him," she blurted out as her body shook violently. "I'm a…murderer."

  "Don't feel bad." A million different sentences could have come out of my mouth but that's what I spurted. "Don't, Thorn."

  "I don't," she replied, still shaking. "It was you or him. There was no choice. It's you. Every time."

  "It's okay." I soothed, shaking all over. "It's okay."

  "Fingerprints," she mumbled, tears pooling down her face. "I'm a murderer."

  ****

  Teagan

  Ripping off his already torn shirt, Noah draped it around me, covering my naked body from the cold. But the cold was inside of me.

  "I'm a murderer, Noah," I repeated. Looking at him, I searched his eyes for a sign that he saw me differently now. I didn’t find it. All I saw in his eyes was love.

  "I'm going to take care of this," he croaked out before dragging me into his arms. "I swear to god, Thorn. I won't let anything happen to you." Pressing a hard kiss to my head, my husband held me tightly as we stood together, surrounded by blood and death and fire. "I've got you, Thorn. I've got you."

  We were battered and broken, but we were still standing

  Still together.

  "I love you so much," I whispered, clinging to him like he was the only thing keeping me sane, and in many ways, he was. His strength seeped into me. His love cloaked me. His forgiveness gave me hope.

  "I love you too," Noah told me, as he wrapped me up in his arms. "So fucking much."

  "You came for me." Emotions I was internally dealing with bubbled over. "I thought I was going to lose you."

  "I'm here," he croaked. Cradling my head in his large calloused hand, he ducked his head towards me, gently pressing his head to mine. "And I'm never leaving you."

  "Please don’t," I sobbed, clutching his body like a lifeline, and in that moment, it was. He was my lifeline. Always him.

  The sound of footsteps came from behind us and immediately Noah pushed me behind him.

  "Aye, aye, aye," Mortico Gonzalez, the man I knew as Yellow Teeth, tutted as he strolled towards us, scanning the carnage and dead bodies. "What a mess." He walked over to Taz and sighed. "He was my cousin." I watched in amazement as Gonzalez pulled a crucifix out from under his shirt and kissed it. "He is a great loss to my family."

  "He was one of your men?" Noah asked.

  "Aye." Gonzalez nodded solemnly. "I made you a promise, Messina. One I had intended to keep."

  Noah opened his mouth to say something, but I got in there first.

  "We didn’t kill your cousin," I blurted out. I felt Noah's body tense in front of me and I braced myself for trouble. "He helped us." In the end…

  "Aye," Gonzalez mused. "But this piece of shit did." Walking over to where JD's body lay, Gonzalez kicked it and then looked up at Noah. "I see you took care of that favor, Messina."

  "What are you doing here, G?" Noah asked. "What do you want, man?"

  "From you?" Gonzalez looked straight at Noah and cocked a brow. "Take your little woman, Messina," he said, rubbing his jaw. "Get yourself out of this world."

  "I'm not leaving here owing you shit, Gonzalez," Noah said in a voice thick with emotion. He was shaking. I could feel it. "I'm done with this shit."

  "You are loyal, Noah Messina," Gonzalez t
old my husband. "It was always your strongest weapon." He looked around at the scattered bodies before saying, "Go now and go with a clean sheet. We will not speak again. We will not meet." Looking at my husband, Gonzalez stretched out his hand. "You have suffered enough loss, my young friend." His eyes flickered to my face before returning to Noah. "Consider this my way of repaying my debt to you. Go now. You have my word; you will not be traced for this."

  I watched in a state of almost surrealistic reality as Noah reached out and shook Gonzalez's hand, marking a significant moment in both of our lives.

  It was over.

  He was free.

  We both were.

  That night, we walked away from the Ring of Fire for the final time. Leaving behind many skeletons and secrets, Noah and I walked into our future.

  Together.

  The End.

  About the author

  Chloe Walsh is a twenty-seven-year-old wife and mother of two from County Cork in the south of Ireland. The youngest of five children, reading and writing was her escape as a child.

  In January 2014, she started to write about a cocky, self-assured man named Kyle Carter, and five weeks later, on Valentine’s Day 2014, she self-published her debut novel, Break my Fall, for a handful of friends who had called over for tea, read bits and pieces of Kyle, and wanted to read the story on their E-readers rather than printed sheets.

  Shockingly – and no one was more surprised than her – the book was a huge success, reaching No.1 in the UK Bestsellers Lists. Chloe followed it up in April 2014 with the sequel, Fall to Pieces, vowing that this second book would be the final chapter for Kyle.

  The demand for a third installment was overwhelming and a series was born! The final book became two: Fall on Me, the third book in the accidental Broken series, was released in August 2014, and Forever we Fall was released in October 2014.

  Treacherous, the first book from her Carter Kids series was released in March 2015, followed by Always (Carter Kids #1.5) in June 2015.

  DiMarco’s Secret Love Child (Parts 1 & 2) were released in later March 2015.

  Blurring Lines was released in May 2015, followed by Never Let Me Go, in December 2015.

  Thorn, is her eleventh book, and was released in February 2016, on the two-year anniversary of her publishing career. Tame followed in September of 2016. Torment, released in December 2016 is her latest release, bringing to thirteen, the number of books Chloe has under her belt.

  An avid reader, Chloe enjoys lurking in a corner with her E-reader, and playing sports.

  She has a deep love for paranormal romance and young adult fantasy and hopes to take the plunge into the genres in the not too distant future

  Playlist for Torment

  Music is one of the most important parts of my writing process.

  I create playlists for each individual character.

  Check out my Spotify where I make all my playlists for my stories:

  https://open.spotify.com/user/215l6ymtg7ulpype2otbeseji

  Ben Howard – Oats in the water

  Little Mix – These Four Walls

  Adele – Sweetest Devotion

  Picture This – Take my hand

  Nickelback – Trying not to love you

  Andra Day – Rise up

  Nickelback – I'd come for you

  Avril Lavigne – Hot

  Damien Rice – The rat within the grain

  Anne-Marie – Alarm

  TI, Rihanna – Live your life

  Empire Cast – Like my daddy

  Elle King – My neck, My back

  Declan O Rourke – Whatever else happens

  Lera Lynn – Ring of fire

  Banks – Beggin for thread

  Matthew Koma – Suitcase

  Leona Lewis – Stop crying your heart out

  Daughtry – Gone too soon

  Upcoming titles from Chloe Walsh

  2017/2018/2019

  Off Limits

  (Standalone)

  By Chloe Walsh

  Havoc

  By Chloe Walsh

  Holly's Story

  (Name to be confirmed)

  (Standalone)

  By Chloe Walsh

  Inevitable

  (Carter Kids)

  By Chloe Walsh

  Breaking Point

  (Broken Series)

  By Chloe Walsh

  Derek

  (Broken Series)

  By Chloe Walsh

  Cameron

  (Carter Kids)

  By Chloe Walsh

  Colton

  (Carter Kids)

  By Chloe Walsh

  Logan

  (Carter Kids)

  By Chloe Walsh

  Other books by Chloe Walsh

  The Broken Series:

  Break my Fall (Broken #1)

  Fall to Pieces (Broken #2)

  Fall on Me (Broken #3)

  Forever we Fall (Broken #4)

  The Carter Kids Series:

  Treacherous (Carter Kids #1)

  Always (Carter Kids #1.5)

  Thorn (Carter Kids #2)

  Tame (Carter Kids #3)

  Torment (Carter Kids #4)

  Books about Noah and Teagan:

  Treacherous (Carter Kids #1)

  Thorn (Carter Kids #2)

  Tame (Carter Kids #3)

  Torment (Carter Kids #4)

  Books about Hope and Jordan:

  Always (Carter Kids #1.5)

  The DiMarco Dynasty:

  DiMarco’s Secret Love Child: Part One

  DiMarco’s Secret Love Child: Part Two

  Blurred Lines:

  Blurring Lines

  Never Let me Go

  Follow Chloe on Social Media:

  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/momwritesbooks/

  Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/cwalshauthor

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorChloeWalsh/

  Chloe's Clovers Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/788242834605964/

  Website: http://www.chloewalshauthor.com

  Snapchat Username: cwalshauthr

  You can get in touch with Chloe through her many social media pages,

  or drop a line to the email address below:

  info@chloewalshauthor.com

  Sign up to Chloe's Mailing List:

  For updates on Chloe's upcoming works in progress and latest releases sign up to her monthly newsletter by clicking here.

  Or

  To order a signed paperback copy of Torment

  or any of Chloe's other books, visit her online store here.

  Acknowledgments

  As always, I want to thank my readers for hanging on in there with me. This is my thirteenth book and I honest to god couldn’t have done it without your support, guys, so thank you!

  To my girls in Chloe's Clovers: I love your bones guys. Thank you for making me smile and making this journey so worthwhile.

  Thank you to my family and friends for their endless support.

  I owe a huge thank you to my editor Aleesha Davis. This girl is my lifesaver and my rock. How she puts up with me, I'll never understand, but I love her to death and I'm so grateful so took a chance on me.

  Chloe xx