Noel

by Madison Stevens

  Noel had woken early, too early, to drive across town for a follow-up visit with his doctor. They needed to check on the general progress of his healing and his skin specifically.

  They’d run a whole load of tests, it felt like too many at times, but he knew they needed to be done. Still, they’d touched the skin. They made comments about peaks and flaws. He hated it. Not only that, it was far more draining than he would have thought.

  Noel looked up as the women took to the floor. He’d been surprised Haley wasn’t with them tonight. Actually, as much as he didn’t really want to admit it, he’d been looking forward to seeing her.

  After the dig about being a school teacher, she probably was pissed at him, and he deserved it, but seeing her always lit up the small part of him not consumed with destroying Anton. Of course, that same vendetta meant he had no business being near her.

  The conflict that raged inside confused him. All the other women who came into his life hadn’t been nearly as troublesome. But then, maybe that was because he never really thought any of them were going to stick around. With Haley, she was long-term. That idea scared him in a way that even being in a gunfight didn’t.

  “I thought you all might like a beer,” someone said, yanking him out of his thoughts.

  He looked up and saw Alyssa carrying a tray of beers.

  She set the beers on the table and smiled.

  “I told you not to carry drinks,” Finn said from behind her, his menace having no visible effect.

  “And I told you I’ll carry drinks if I damn well please,” she huffed. “You haven’t let me do anything for myself.”

  Finn looked to Riley and Noel as if they might be able to solve this for him.

  Riley snorted, and Noel looked down at the beer. Not his place and not his fight. He couldn’t even keep Haley away from him. There was no way he would be able to help Finn keep Alyssa under control.

  “I’m just trying to keep you safe,” Finn said. He sighed and took a seat at the table.

  “No,” she yelled, her voice even piercing through the din of the club. She slammed a hand on the table. “You’re just trying to boss me around like I’m one of your men.”

  She leaned down and gave him a wicked smile. Noel secretly wondered if she’d been picking up some of Finn’s traits.

  “I’m pretty sure I’m not one of your men,” she said. “Unless you want me to stop doing that thing you like.”

  Finn sat up a little more straight. “Fine,” he said and looked to the side. “Just don’t carry more than two.”

  Alyssa smiled as if she hadn’t just taken down the boss with a simple threat. She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  “Deal,” she said.

  She pinned Noel with the same look she’d just used on his boss.

  “So,” she said and moved in a little closer to him. “I hear you have something against school teachers.”

  Riley snorted loudly.

  “I wouldn’t really put it that way,” Noel said, looking away. Bringing down the wrath of the boss’s woman wasn’t really ideal.

  Alyssa raised a brow and then frowned.

  “If you aren’t interested in her, then why do you have a photo of her house?”

  Noel looked at the photo on the table, ready to refute the claim.

  He stared at the cute little house.

  “Shit,” he groaned.

  Fuck. One of the reasons he’d been pushing Haley away was to keep her away from this kind of trouble. Now that damned monster Anton wanted to pull her in anyway? He ground his teeth and clenched his fists.

  He could only hope that Anton saw this as some sort of joke. A way of fucking with him.

  “I’ve got to go over there,” he said.

  Alyssa frowned, but he really was waiting to hear from Finn.

  “Do what you need to,” the other man said with a nod. “I don’t think he’s going to do anything too ballsy. That’d require him to crawl out of his little hole. This is just about messing with you.”

  “What’s going on?” Alyssa said, looking between the two men.

  Finn turned to her and took her hand. “Anton knows about Haley.”

  Her face paled, but, to her credit, she didn’t pass out.

  “Why?” she said.

  Noel swallowed. Anton had seen her at his house. Maybe he’d even seen her when he was staying at the hospital and she visited. Who knew how long this sick fuck had been following him?

  “Me,” Noel said. “He’s not finished screwing with me. He’s out to get to me, and this is a way to do it.”

  Everyone at the table fell silent. He knew what they were thinking. That he had feelings for her and that’s why Anton had targeted her.

  Well, it didn’t really matter if he did or didn’t. Right now, all that mattered was that Anton thought he did. That placed Haley at risk.

  “I’ve got to go,” he said, clenching and unclenching a fist a few times.

  “Wait,” Alyssa said and grabbed him by the arm. “She can’t handle this. She’s not used to this sort of thing.”

  Noel glanced over to Finn. The other man nodded once, his face tight.

  “She grew up differently from you or me,” Alyssa said. “Haley was pretty sheltered. When I came to stay with them, it was a shock. White picket fence. Mom cooked dinner and Dad brought home the bacon. I don’t think she’d had her first kiss yet, and we were in high school.” She looked up to him, worry written all over her face. “I just don’t think she’d do well knowing she’s got the eye of some psycho. Can we do this another way?”

  Noel sighed and ran a hand over his shaved head. “I’ll figure it out. We’ll keep quiet for now, but we can’t do this long. If things get more serious, we’ve got to tell her. Best way to be safe is to know someone’s looking to mess with you.”

  Alyssa nodded. The relief washing over her face suggested she was happy they weren’t going to shatter her friend’s view of the world. Still, it didn’t really sit right with him. Not telling her could put her in even more danger. Anton wasn’t your standard-issue freak either.

  “I’ll take morning shift,” Riley said quietly.

  Noel looked over at him. Riley never did say much, but he could count on him. That was more than he could say for others.

  Without another word, Noel rose and pushed through the dancing throng until he hit the exit of the club. The longer he spent there, the more danger she was in, and something about that bothered him more than he wanted to admit.

  * * *

  Noel sat outside the quiet little house, watching for anything strange. There was nothing so far, and he had a feeling he wouldn’t see anything. Finn was right. Anton didn’t work like that.

  This was a tease, something to get his heart beating but not really something he’d go through on. At least for now.

  Still, Noel wasn’t going to take chances. Sometimes the only thing stopping a criminal from moving forward was a locked door. That’s just what he was.

  He looked over at the darkened house and wondered if Haley was sleeping soundly inside. It seemed so strange to him that she would have such a different upbringing than him. While he’d been training on how to kill a man a hundred different ways, she’d still been playing with her dolls. She’d had the parents he’d always dreamed of, people who cared about their child.

  It was no wonder she seemed so sweet and innocent. She actually was. It almost made him want to laugh. Why did someone so innocent want someone like him?

  That sweetness and innocent hadn’t stopped her from having the kind of lush curves that drove a man insane. How she’d gone into high school without even being kissed was beyond him. Maybe it was some sort of religious school or something. Or maybe all the guys she knew were gay. He could only hope that was the case at the school.

  He groaned and scrubbed a hand across his face. Over and over he kept coming back to the same thing. He wanted her. No question about it, he wanted to be the one she looked at, the one
she continued to look at and no other. The very thought that some other man might know something about her that he didn’t only made him more crazy.

  “It ain’t happening,” he reminded himself.

  Hell, he was camping outside her house because some Russian Mafia psycho was making veiled threats. If that didn’t prove why she should stay away from him, nothing did.

  Besides, she couldn’t handle him, especially not the ways he wanted to have her. Haley was innocent, and the last thing he wanted to do was strip her of that. He was too far gone into the darkness. She still had a chance.

  No, he’d keep this as business. He was offering protection in order to catch the bastard that had threatened them. She got protection. He got his revenge. The city lost one less monster. Everyone would win.

  He leaned back against the seat of his car. It was still going to be a while before Riley relieved him, and the last thing he wanted was Anton to catch him by surprise.

  Chapter Ten

  The house seemed smaller as she paced the length of the room, the atmosphere almost suffocating. The shadowy voices of doubt in her head wouldn’t stop, and her mother hadn’t even arrived yet.

  It was always like this when she spent the day with her mother. For whatever reason, she couldn’t seem to stomp out the insecurities that mounted every time they went out together. Given most of them were self-inflicted, it wasn’t like just talking to her mother would really accomplish anything.

  Haley knew her mother loved her, but her life had turned out differently. Somehow she felt like she’d let her down by being so different.

  Movement through the bay window caught her eye. She watched as her mother’s car pulled into the driveway. Haley snatched up her keys and purse. It was better to meet her outside than inside.

  Haley knew her mother would spot the yellowed patch on her ceiling where water had been getting in. And she also knew that her mother would be sure to mention that if Haley had a husband, he would be able to fix that for her.

  She snorted. As if she needed a husband to fix the roof. It’s not like she couldn’t just call for a repairman. Well, she could if she had the money.

  Haley locked the door and hurried to the car. When she opened the door, her mother frowned at her.

  “I could have come in for a bit,” she said, her tone more hurt than angry.

  Guilt filled Haley. She smiled at her mother as she stepped into the car and closed the door.

  “I just thought we should leave a little early, so we could get some shopping in.”

  A bright smile replaced the frown on her mother’s face. She had always loved her mother’s smile. It just seemed to make everything better.

  Haley hadn’t inherited her mother’s petite form, but she did receive her red hair and cute freckles. She looked down at her stomach and tried to suck it in to no avail.

  “So tell me about your summer,” her mother said. She drove slowly through the streets, and it was driving Haley insane. She wanted to remind her you could get ticketed for driving too slowly, but kept her mouth shut.

  Haley shrugged. “Not much to tell. School ended, but I’m helping take down classrooms for a few co-workers.”

  “Male co-workers?” Her mother glanced sideways at her. The hope was clear in her voice.

  Haley sighed. “Pregnant co-workers.”

  Her mother frowned slightly, likely disappointed that she wasn’t bending over backwards to nab a man.

  “What about dating?” her mother asked. Subtlety was lost on her mother when it came to her. “Isn’t there some man you like? Your friend mentioned him¸ remember?”

  Haley blushed. She really wished Alyssa had kept that to herself the last time they had visited her parents. Of course, she had been in the hospital and deflecting questions about Finn.

  “I don’t think he’s interested,” Haley said quietly.

  They stopped at a red light. Her mother turned to look at her.

  “Any man who isn’t interested in you is an idiot,” she said. “And my daughter shouldn’t be dating any idiots.”

  Haley started at the words coming out of her mother’s mouth.

  “What?” she asked and blinked a few time just to make sure it really was her mother and not some sort of doppelganger.

  The light turned green, and her mother faced forward again.

  “Listen, dear, I know you think I’m being pushy, but your father and I just want to see you happy,” she said. Her mother shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I also realize that it’s a different time then when I met your father. We were high school sweethearts and so it was easy. We got married young, so we didn’t have to wait for…”

  She trailed off and shifted in her seat. For the first time, she was seeing a different side of her mother. Even when she’d been in school and having the birds and the bees talk, her mother hadn’t been this open.

  “Well, you know your father, he’s not exactly the most patient man when it comes to something he wants.” A small smile appeared on her mother’s face.

  “Oh, Mom, so not the picture I want.” Haley wrinkled her nose at the thought of her parents doing the deed. Of course she knew better, but she liked to pretend her parents had sex the one time it took to create her.

  “Oh, please,” her mother said, rolling her eyes. “Don’t act like a child about this. I’m just trying to tell you that we want you to be happy however you need to be.”

  Haley swallowed hard, tears threatening her eyes.

  It was strange to think that at twenty-six she could get choked up by something so small, but it meant something. Even though she didn’t follow the same path as them, they still loved her. She’d always worried that if she wasn’t just like them, they might not want anything to do with her anymore.

  It was silly really. They knew that Alyssa lived with Finn without being married. Still, Haley was their only daughter, and she couldn’t help but worry. No one wants their parents to hate them.

  “I think I might just have to deal with being alone,” she said. The words hurt to say and even more so since she knew she was letting her mother down.

  She knew her parents were good people. It wasn’t every day that someone went to volunteer and came home with a teenager. Alyssa had been such a small girl then, beaten down by life and tossed aside by her family.

  Haley’s father took in the teen and helped her get ahead in life. When Alyssa had started seeing Mike, the abusive bastard that put Alyssa through the wringer, her father had wanted to step in, but there wasn’t much they could do.

  Still, they were there for her. Just like they always would be.

  Thinking on it, Haley knew they wouldn’t toss her aside if she wasn’t like them. Because, in the end, she was like them in all the ways that really mattered.

  “I love you,” Haley said.

  Her mother turned and gave a bright smile.

  “I love you, too.” She turned back to the road, the smile still lingering on her face. “One day, you’ll meet a man you can’t live without, who will treat you like you are the most precious thing in his life. When that happens, it will all just fall into place. Trust me.”

  Haley nodded and looked out the window. Right now, there was only one man that made her feel even a flicker of hope, and he wanted nothing to do with her.

  She sighed and let go of all the longing she felt in her heart. There wasn’t much she could do about it.

  If she wasn’t Noel’s type, that was that. Maybe he wanted someone more dangerous than a schoolteacher. At the moment, she didn’t really want to think about it.

  They pulled into a parking spot outside the mall.

  “Maybe we could find you an outfit to help—” her mother began.

  “I didn’t tell you the good news, Alyssa is pregnant.”

  Her mother’s eyes widened, and the bright smile returned in full force.

  “Oh, we have so many things to get,” she said and hopped out of the car.

  Haley sighed, glad to
have something else to talk about. Maybe the baby news could keep her mother busy for the rest of the day.

  Chapter Eleven

  Noel sat in his car, just within eyeshot of her house. It had been a long night for him, and when Riley showed up just before daylight, Noel had to admit he was glad to see him. Nothing had happened, but he knew that if they kept watching, Anton would slip up at some point and then they would have the bastard.

  The Russian was too damn cocky at this point. Maybe he thought he was really working Noel’s nerves, but the truth was that he was giving up the element of surprise, the only thing he had going for him. If he was confident he could take Noel without a bunch of other guys around, Anton would have already come at him a long time ago.

  So Noel drove home for a little sleep. Haley was in good hands with Riley. There weren’t many men he still trusted, but not many men could handle a bad situation like Riley.

  After all, he had been the one to find Noel the night the Russians had snatched him. Riley and Liam made it happen. No one was ever really sure how Riley knew where to look, but he had found him. Noel wasn’t even sure he’d still be alive if it weren’t for him.

  Noel looked over at the seat next to him and the card. He’d found it in his mailbox at his place. His hands tightened on the steering wheel. Maybe it didn’t matter that Riley was there. Anton had other plans.

  The bright red poinsettia stared back at him, taunting him just like Anton had intended.

  It wasn’t even like the bastard had the balls to bring it to his door. No, he likely knew Noel took security seriously and coming to the door at time like this would be risky. Fucking coward.

  Anger exploded through him as he opened the card and read the writing once again.

  Take care of your pretty flower.

  He knew what was being said, and it burned in him. It just meant that Haley was in more danger than he previously believed.

  With a flick of his wrist, the card sailed to the other side of the car. He didn’t need this shit. It was hard enough trying to track down this bastard without him involving innocent people. Of course, Anton didn’t seem to care about that. Everything was about taunting Noel.