I make my way into the station and the first person I see is the cop who tried to hit on me the last time I came in here looking for my boyfriend. He explains that Noah is out back and that I won’t have any access to him until they’ve finished doing everything they need to do, which could take a while.
He insists that I go home and come back later, but like hell I’ll be doing that. I won’t be leaving this station until I know exactly what’s going on and I don’t doubt that Noah would do exactly the same thing for me.
I thank the officer and take a seat in the waiting room. After fifteen minutes, Violet comes through the door and has exactly the same conversation with the officer before taking a seat next to me. Next up, a fancy looking lawyer comes strolling in who is let through to the back after Violet demands that he tells Noah that she loves him and not to do anything stupid.
Before I know it, I’m sitting amongst Violet, Eddison, Tully, Aiden, and Spencer. Every single one of them here to support Noah and do whatever they possibly can to get him out of this fucked up situation. To be honest, I’m not surprised at all.
Four hours pass before a door is opened down the hallway and I see Noah being led out by the two cops who showed up at his home. Violet sucks in a breath, clearly not enjoying the sight of her son being led around by cops, but unfortunately for me, this isn’t a new thing.
Noah sees me first and gives me an encouraging smile before realizing that the room around me is packed with his loved ones. He shakes his head but the amusement is clear in his eyes.
Both Eddison and Violet are on their feet in seconds, anxiously waiting for Noah to get a move on and get his ass over here. An older guy murmurs something to him and Noah nods but there’s an uncertainty in his eyes that puts me on edge.
Noah comes through to the waiting area and I get to my feet as Violet and Eddison crowd him.
“What happened?” Violet rushes out as Noah’s lawyer comes up behind him. “What kind of trouble are you in?”
Noah shakes his head ever so slightly before taking my hand. “Not here,” he murmurs low. “We’ll talk at home.”
Both Tully and Violet’s brows pull down and they somehow manage to look exactly the same. Everyone glances to the lawyer who gives a firm nod, agreeing that whatever needs to be said, needs to be done in privacy and just like that, we all start for the exit.
“Are you ok?” I question, leading Noah out to my Supra as his mom stands on his other side, needing to be close.
“Yeah, fine,” he says, giving his mom a reassuring smile that doesn’t meet his eyes. “I just want to get out of here.”
With that, we drop down into my Supra and the drive home is excruciatingly silent.
By the time we step through the front door of his home, Tully is already there with the rest of the family, demanding to know what the fuck is going on. “What happened?” she rushes out, throwing herself to her feet as her need to know outweighs her need to be cool, calm and collected. “What’s going on? Are they going to charge you, or what?”
Noah lets out a breath and makes his way into the living room and stands before everyone. I hurry over to stand beside Tully so I can see his face because hearing the words aren’t going to be enough. His eyes are going to speak volumes and I don’t want to miss a single thing.
Noah looks to me with that same uncertainty I saw in him earlier before turning to his parents. “They want to offer me a deal.”
“What kind of deal?” Eddison says slowly.
“They want to bust Anton’s operation wide open and if I tell them what I know, they’ll drop all my charges.”
Violet’s face brightens as though it’s the best news she’s ever heard. “That’s incredible,” she beams before attempting to throw her arms around her son.
“Mom. No,” Noah says, pushing her back. “Don’t you understand what this means? I’d be a rat and if this doesn’t work and Anton finds out what I did…I’d be fucked.”
“You can’t,” Tully says, her eyes flicking to mine before focusing back on her brother. “It’s too risky and not to mention, things have changed now. He’s not just the guy who took advantage of you as a kid anymore, he’s Henley’s father and the man who saved Aria.”
“I know,” Noah says, his eyes cutting back to mine, showing me that this is the exact reason for his uncertainty. “What do I do?”
I shake my head as emotions begin to overwhelm me. Tully is right. This is my father and the man who saved my little sister. I owe him my life and that’s exactly what I’ll be paying with, but on the other hand, he’s the man who destroyed Noah and the man who will have no issue taking him out if he was to find out what the hell was going on.
“I can’t. I…I don’t know, I can’t answer this for you,” I tell him, struggling to find the words I need to explain what the hell is going on in my head.
“What happens if you don’t take the deal?” Eddison questions. “What kind of trouble are we looking at?”
Noah looks to his parents before letting out a heavy breath. “If I don’t take the deal, they will charge me with everything they’ve got. They’re going to throw the fucking book at me and I’ll be spending the next eight to ten years behind bars.”
Violet sucks in a sharp breath. “They can’t do that.”
“They can and they will,” Noah says. “I did the crimes, mom.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “What exactly is it they want from you? If you do this, what are the chances that they get him? Because they’ve tried this so many times before and have failed over and over again.”
Tully nods. “Not to mention that Anton boasts about the cops he has in his pocket. It’s too risky.”
“They know about that,” he says. “Their investigation is on the down low. Langston and Thomas are the only two working the case. Between them and their Chief, nobody knows about this. And when I say that they want to bust it wide open, I mean that they want to take down the dirty cops too. Everyone who’s ever been involved with Anton is going down and it looks like they actually have some solid evidence on the guy.”
I step into Noah’s side. “So, what you’re saying is that you’re backed into a corner here. If you don’t do it, you go to jail, but if you do, there’s a chance that you get caught and Anton retaliates.”
“But there’s also a chance that he finally gets to put this all behind him,” Tully murmurs.
Noah nods. “Exactly.”
Violet steps forward and places her hand on her son’s shoulder. "So, what’s it going to be? What do you want to do?”
Noah turns to me. “If I do this and his whole empire is burned to the ground then you’ll be free of him too.”
I shake my head. “I don’t care,” I tell him. “He saved my sister. The idea of going and living with him makes me sick, but that’s the deal I made and I’d pay it a million times over for Ari. Being under Anton’s thumb is my debt, so don’t make this decision on my mistakes. I’m content with what I’ve done and I can live with myself because of it. You need to decide the right thing for you. I’m going to support you either way, but you need to figure out if you can deal with the idea of putting a man behind bars for the rest of his life because that’s a decision that’s going to stay with you forever. You also need to figure out if you’re prepared to handle the backlash that could come if this all goes south.”
“No,” Noah says, shaking his head. “You’re what matters to me, Henley. I know what I have to do, but I need to know how you’re going to feel about me if I put your father away. I’m prepared to do it and to deal with what I’ve done, but what I’m not prepared to do is lose you over this.”
I raise my chin and brush my lips over his. “You will never lose me, Noah. Anton may be my blood, but he is not my father. I will always be grateful for what he did for Ari and because of that, I don’t know if I could put him away, but when it comes down to it, his one good deed does not outweigh the many bad ones. He deserves to rot in prison for the rest o
f his life and I will never hold it against you if you were the one to put him there.”
“Then it’s settled,” Noah murmurs, brushing hair back off my face. “I’ll do it. I’ll tell them everything they need to know.”
Chapter 12
I lift my strawberry milkshake to my lips and suck the milky goodness through the straw, loving how refreshing it is. It’s been a huge day. Tully and I have walked from store to store handing in employment applications so Tully can secure a job that’s going to help her pay for college. I even handed a few in myself realizing that if Anton goes down, I’m back to paying for college myself. I guess the more I think about it, the more I want to be able to do it myself. I don’t want any of Anton’s handouts especially as it gives him another thing to hold over me.
We’ve stopped by the cinemas to hand in applications, café’s, restaurants, even the library though something is telling me that we’ve left it way too late. No businesses are looking for staff as everyone already secured their summer jobs before the end of high school, but we were a little too focused on staying on our own two feet than our futures.
I guess we’re all a little lucky to be coming out of this with our futures still intact. This past year has been crazy and I’m so glad that it all seems to be over. Well, mostly over. There’s still the big question of Anton hanging over our heads.
Noah’s still working at the fire station and swears that he overheard the chief making a call about employing him and officially taking him off volunteer status because he’s just that good. I mean, who knew the rebel from Haven Falls Private who illegally raced cars and worked for Anton Mathers would end up kicking ass like that?
Don’t get me wrong. I always knew Noah was going to be a force to be reckoned with, but no one could have known that he’d find so much joy being a firefighter. It’s dangerous just like everything else Noah seems to do in his life, so really, I should have seen this coming. I should have known that Noah was going to choose a profession that has a bad habit of getting his adrenaline pumping every single day.
Noah’s hardly talked about racing all summer and something tells me that’s because he’s finding that rush from work, though that doesn’t mean he’s given up entirely. After all, we’re heading out to the races tonight and Noah is going to kick ass as usual and I’m going to stand back getting hot watching him do it.
God, I love when he races. It’s a part of the reason I love him. He’s not afraid to stand out and show the world exactly who he is. Though it could also have something to do with the fact that he looks incredible while doing it, especially when that cocky smirk spreads across his face when he knows he’s going to win.
Tully groans as she props her feet up on the seat beside her. “Mmmm, this is good," she says, swirling her milkshake around with her straw. “We should have ditched the last two stores and come here earlier."
I grin, recalling the last two stores we walked into. One was a produce store and the guy instantly got offended when we asked about working there. Apparently, he doesn’t need any help running his store. He’s been doing it for thirty years and doesn’t need kids like us coming and screwing it up. The second store was one of those places you go to buy crystals and oils which has some woman out the back doing palm readings and tarot cards. It seemed like something Tully could get into until I saw a man walking in with a hard-on who headed straight for the stairs. I quickly realized that there was a brothel upstairs and we got our asses out of there.
Hard pass, but it’s nice to know that Haven Falls can still surprise me.
“Yeah, that was a waste of time,” I laugh. “What’s the plan for the rest of the day? Are we going to keep looking?”
Tully scrunches up her face and shakes her head. “Nah, we’ve already wasted too much of our summer and besides…I sort of invited someone to ha-”
As she talks, the door of the café swings open and Spencer strides in, already searching out Tully. My eyes cut across the table to her with a raised brow and suspicious grin. “Hanging out with Spencer again, are we?”
“Shut up,” she says, kicking me under the table as he makes his way towards us. “We’re just friends.”
“Uh huh.”
Tully rolls her eyes and I look back to Spencer who’s looking at Tully as though she’s his queen. “Do you think he knows that you’re just friends?”
Tully doesn’t respond as Spencer gets too close to risk answering. She beams up at him. “You came.”
“Of course, I did,” he tells her, pulling out his wallet. “Are you guys good? Do you want anything else?”
Tully shakes her head before flying to her feet. “Nope. No way. You bought lunch yesterday. Sit your ass down.”
Lunch yesterday? Geez. What is this? Are they dating and she just doesn’t realize?
Spencer rolls his eyes. “Yeah right. I’m not about to let you buy me a milkshake. I’m a gentleman.”
I scoff up at Spencer. “Tully and I have both had the uh…pleasure of getting down and dirty with you and we both know for a fact that you are no gentleman, so sit your ass down. You know just as well as I do that Tully isn’t going to give in that easy so save us all from having to sit through this fight and just let her buy your damn milkshake.”
Tully grins down at me. “Well said,” she says before skipping off proudly.
Spencer shakes his head and drops down into the seat Tully just had her foot propped up on. He only just gets comfortable when Tully’s voice comes shooting across the café. “Chocolate?”
Spencer looks back and nods and she instantly turns towards the girl standing behind the counter and gets busy putting the order in, only Spencer is having a hard time looking away.
I can’t help but grin. “See something you like?”
Spencer whips back around, realizing he’s been completely caught out. “Oh, um…nah. It’s not like that.”
“You can lie to her all you like, but you can’t lie to me. I see it all over your face, in your actions, and your need to be near her. It’s the same with me and Noah. You like her, don’t you?”
He shakes his head but the truth is in his eyes. He’s falling for her hard. Hell, he’s probably already fallen. “We’re just friends,” he tells me, using that same line that Tully throws around all the time, only when she says it, she’s mostly telling her truth, whereas right now, he’s lying through his teeth.
I see through him and something tells me he knows that I see it. “Why don’t you just tell her how you feel?”
Spencer looks back, taking her in as she chats away to the girl making his milkshake, distracting her from her work and probably making the process twice as long. “I can’t,” he tells me. “She’s not ready.”
"How do you mean?”
“She’s still in love with Rivers. I see it on her face every time his name is mentioned and it sure as hell didn’t help when he came back here after boot camp. It was like she took a massive step back,” he explains but really, there’s nothing to explain. I already know. “He hurt her in a big way and she’s not even close to wanting to feel something like that for someone else. Fuck, even if we were to happen, I doubt she’d ever feel that way about me. I’ll always be second place to him. He’s her grand prize and I’m just the guy who happens to be clinging on for second place.”
“You’re being a little hard on yourself, don’t you think? Without you here, she’d still be sitting in her room day in and day out wondering what she did wrong to make him go away, but look what you’ve managed to do with her. She just needs a little time to heal so she can move on.”
“I don’t know,” he says. “I think she’s happy to keep me friend zoned, but just know, I’m going to put her back together and the second she’s ready, I’m going to be the one she comes to.”
"How could she not?” I question, sitting back and taking him in. “You’ve helped her more than she could possibly know. Noah and I’ve been so caught up with all this Anton crap and Ari going missing that we
haven’t been able to be there for Tully as much as we’d like, but you and Aiden were there and you’ve pieced her back together better than I could ever have done.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” he says. “There’re still some pretty major cracks that I don’t think a day at the beach or a few smiles are going to fix, but I’ll get them eventually and when I do, she’ll be good as new.”
“Yeah,” I scoff, “that is until Rivers shows up and undoes it all.”
“Look, I’m not going to lie. Your brother is a cool dude and I applaud what he’s doing, but I kind of hope he doesn’t come back for a while. You know, just long enough to give Tully the space she needs to move on.”
“I know,” I sigh. “I do miss him though and I don’t doubt she does too.”
He lets out a sigh and I see the struggle within him. It’s killing him that she’s going through this and there’s nothing more he can do for her. It’s probably killing him more than the girl he’s falling for is in love with another man, one who’s not even here. “What’s your take on her fixing up his place?”
Spencer shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know to be honest. I think it could go either way. It could help give her a little closure knowing she’s done everything she could to help him and that he’s not some kid without a proper home to live anymore, or she could just be trying to hang onto something that’s never going to happen.”
“Yeah…I don’t know. I guess we’re going to have to wait and see what happens as I have a feeling she’s going to change her mind about it.”
“I just don’t know if it’s healthy for her, but at the same time, how can I ask her not to do this when she’s trying to help someone to have a brighter future?”
“You don’t. You need to remember that this is Tully Cage we’re talking about and if you try to ask her not to do it, she’s going to start pulling away. You need to let her make her own mistakes and move on from this the best way she knows how. I know it’s going to suck for you, but you just need to stand by her side and support her in every way. All she needs is time.”
Unbreakable: Haven Falls (Book 6) Page 11