Tame: Carter Kids #3 (25 page)

"Hope called me this evening."

I watched Noah as he sat with his back to me at the table in the living area of our suite, inhaling a humongous portion of skinless chicken and green veg.

"She did?" Noah replied between mouthfuls, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah," I shot back, studying the bunched up muscles on his back. "She did."

I debated whether or not to torment him before coming right out and saying, "She told me you called her last week, Noah."

"Hmm." Dropping his fork down on his plate, Noah turned around and frowned. "Guess I should've have known she'd rat me out."

"She's my best friend," I told him. "Her loyalty is with me."

"Fair enough." Picking up the large glass of milk beside his now empty plate, Noah slugged it back, draining every drop before setting the glass back down in the table. "I only called her because I'm worried."

"I know and I love you for caring, but I'm fine." I was a liar. A huge one. But I wasn't going to be the one to throw Noah's title shot off track. One fight. One more win and he got to rest for a month. One more fight and I got a break for a month from his team.

"Bullshit." Shoving his chair back, Noah stood up and walked over to where I was lying on the couch. Reaching for my hand, he pulled me to my feet and walked me into our bedroom. "You don’t get weepy, Thorn. That's not you." Pushing me down on the bed, Noah laid down beside me, our bodies facing each other. "Something is wrong."

He was right.

Something was wrong.

Everything was wrong.

"Are you worried about tomorrow?" Noah offered out of nowhere.

We were supposed to leave for Boulder Colorado tomorrow morning and I wasn’t ready for it.

I didn’t think I ever would be…

"I think I'm going to make an appointment with a clinic when we get back," I said instead, choosing not to tell my husband about how terrified the thought of those mountains made me.

Noah's brows furrowed in immediate concern. "You're still feeling sick?"

All the time
. "Only sometimes," I offered. Tucking my hands under my cheek, I sighed. "But I'd feel better once I get the once over."

Noah didn't have a chance to respond because the sound of a door banging followed by a male voice saying, "I'm here, bitches" filled the room, distracting us both.

"What the…" I turned and gaped at Noah, who had jumped off the bed with fright. "Did that sound like who I think that sounded like?"

"Maybe," he offered, grabbing the metal lamp on his night stand. Wrapping the cord around his, he wielded the lamp like a weapon. "If I had the faintest clue of who you're talking about."

Scrambling off the bed with excitement, I rushed over to the bedroom door and flung it open.

"Teagan," Noah hissed, rushing after me. "Don't…"

"You!" I couldn't stop myself from grinning as my eyes took in the tall, handsome man standing in the middle of the living area, flanked on either side by two identical men.

"How's my Galway girl?" Cam Carter purred. Dropping his duffel bag on the floor, he held his arms out and said, "What? No hug for your favorite nephew-in-law?"

I didn't think twice about it.

Squealing with excitement, I lunged for the eldest of the Carter triplets. "My god, you're a sight for sore eyes," I choked out as I squeezed the life out of the man I hadn't seen since boyhood.

"Don't lie to yourself, brother," a familiar voice teased. "We all know I'm the favorite."

"Colt!" I cried out.

Breaking out of Cam's hug, I threw my arms around Colton Carter's waist, completely overwhelmed to see him.

"Hey, Beautiful," Colt chuckled. "See, Bro. I told you our
auntie
loved me best."

"I see you're as full of shit as ever," I shot back happily. My best friend's brothers had always been like family to me. "I've missed your egotistical ass."

"And I've missed that precious mouth," Colt shot back in amusement before looking behind me. "Uncle Noah," he squealed in a fake, high-pitched tone as he released me and held his arms out in front of himself. "It's me. Your favorite boy."

Noah grinned widely. "You fucking idiot," he chuckled before grabbing Colton Carter and squashing him in a massive hug – a hug that was quickly interrupted by the addition of Cameron.

The two boys – now men – looked like over-excited Labradors as they fussed over my husband. I stood back in a state of shock and unexpected happiness. "What are you guys doing here?" I couldn't stop grinning.

"What?" Colt laughed. "Did you honestly think we wouldn’t come visit when you're only a city away from us?"

Just then the door of the hotel swung inwards and in walked Logan Carter. Noah was instantly by his side, his love for baby Carter as obvious as the day is long.

My eyes roamed nervously over the youngest triplet; the deep one, the brutally honest one – the one with those lonesome grey eyes – as he hugged it out with my husband. The one who, when he was disappointed with you, could make you feel like the worst type of human.

The last time I'd spoken to Logan Carter, it had gone down like a lead balloon…

"…He’s going through hell inside, Teagan," Logan added. "And you checked out on him. Imagine how he feels."

"Logan, he cheated on me," I cried out in defense. "He fucked that girl right in front of me and he didn’t bat an eyelid doing it. What am I supposed to do? Run back to him and wait for it to happen again?" I shook my head and wiped my cheeks with my free hand. "He broke me, Logan."

"He knew they were coming for him," Logan hissed in tone of pure disgust. "And do you know the only person Noah was worried about? You. He could’ve been killed in there, and the only thing that concerned him was getting a fucking message to you. You don’t deserve him, Teagan," Logan hissed and I paled.

I tried to find the words to defend myself but Hope’s younger brother continued before I had a chance.

"This is on you," he added in a deathly cold voice. "If you hadn’t come around and fucked with his head, Noah wouldn’t be where he is today. He was protecting you that night, to keep you safe from JD and George, and you betrayed him, Teagan. You fucking buried him and you bailed when it got tough…"

I moved to give him a hug, but quickly came to a halt, unsure whether it would be well received or not.

"Come here, you little dope," Logan chuckled, noticing my hesitance. "Water under the bridge, okay?" he whispered in my ear when he had me wrapped up in his arms.

Nodding, I tucked my face into his chest and sighed.

"What the hell are you three stooges doing here?" Noah chuckled.

Stepping out of Logan's embrace, I moved quickly to Noah's side. "Yeah," I added, feeling happier than I had in months. I hadn't seen these boys for years. And even though they'd been here less than five minutes, things seemed better already.

"We are at your disposal." Colt added. Throwing himself down on the couch, he folded his arms behind his head and sighed happily. "At the request of your big brother."

Noah's cheeks reddened. "Huh?"

"Dad sent us," Logan interjected in that calm voice of his. "He wanted us to remind you that you have a family and a home waiting for you when you come off this leg of the tour." He turned to me and winked. "He wanted you to know that you
both
do."

Noah's face turned an even deeper shade of red as he listened to his nephews' ramble on.

"Basically, the old man knows you wrap up tonight," Colt explained. "He wants you home."

"Home?" Noah's tone was gruff and one of embarrassment. "Why?"

"Because you're his brother," Cam piped up. "And he loves you."

"We all do," Colt added with a chuckle. "And he's planning a family get together."

"So when Colt says Dad wants you home, he means tonight," Cam chuckled. "As in after the fight."

"Here." Logan reached into his jeans pocket, pulling out a set of brass keys and tossed them at us.

Noah caught them mid-air. "What's this?" he asked, examining the set of keys in his hand.

"The keys to South Peak Road," Colt offered up.

"You should see it, man," Cam muttered with a pout. "Fucking beautiful."

"To think of the parties we could have had there," Colt added with a sigh.

"Could have had?" Cam snorted. "Speak for yourself, dude."

"Can you two shut the hell up for a second?" Logan commanded before letting out a heavy sigh. "Our parents own several properties across the state," he explained in a calm tone. "The house on South Peak Road is one of them." Shrugging, Logan shoved his hands back into his jeans pockets. "They want you both to consider it their wedding gift to you."

"Are you shitting me?" I blurted out tactlessly. "They want to give us a
house
as a
wedding gift
?"

"We shit you not," Colt shot back with a grin. "The old man takes his family seriously. It's important to him. He wants to keep you guys close."

"Not to mention the fact that he's a control freak," Cam muttered under his breath. "With more money than sense."

"Why didn’t he come here himself?" Noah asked, tone gruff and thick with unshed emotion.

"And scare you off?" Colt offered. "You've been absent from our lives for years, Noah, and the old man's tactless." Shrugging, Colt added, "So he sent us to sway you."

"The three stooges?" Noah shot back with a smirk.

"I prefer the term
three musketeers
," Colt was quick to respond.

"Yeah," Colt snickered. "And consider Hopey-Bear
Dogtanian
."

"Bottom line," Logan interjected with a roll of his eyes, clearly unimpressed with his brothers. "He wants you home and has sent us here to make sure you do just that."

"I can't…" Noah's voice broke off and he shook his head. "You're all fucking crazy," he added with a chuckle. He dropped his gaze to my face. "Are you hearing this, Thorn?"

"Hearing it?" I shot back, jaw still hanging open. "I haven’t heard a word since
free house
."

"With a pool," Colt snickered.

"And a hot tub," Cam added.

"And a built-in, top of the range gym," Logan filled in swiftly.

My jaw fell even further open.

"We're not taking it," Noah was quick to respond – respond and ruin my hopes and dreams. "It's too much."

"But they said there's a
pool
," I pouted. My voice sounded whiney, but I didn’t care. "Don’t kill my dreams, Noah," I begged, the thought of turning down a house with a pool, hot tub, and gym almost brought tears to my eyes. The prospect of going home to Boulder was looking more appealing already. "
Please
."

"Yeah, Noah," Colt teased. "Don’t kill your new wife's dreams."

Noah looked down at me with a smirk. "Fine," he conceded. "We'll stay there."

"Yay." I clapped and squealed like a girl. Finally, an actual house instead of a hotel. I could hardly contain myself I was so excited.

"But we're not keeping it, Thorn," Noah warned me. "This is just temporary."

"Of course," I muttered flippantly, even though I knew full well that Noah would have to pry my cold, dead body from the house before I gave it up.

"So, why are you really here?" I asked Logan when Teagan had walked on ahead with the boys. I'd hung back, pretending I'd forgotten something in my room, when in truth I wanted to talk to Logan alone.

"What do you mean?" he asked, confusion etched on his face.

"Kyle didn’t really send you guys here, did he?" I'd been around the block enough times to know bullshit when I heard it.

“You're as paranoid as always." Logan smirked. "Why is it so hard for you to believe that people actually care about you, man?"

Because they didn't.

At least no one had before.

"So you're seriously telling me that your father sent you three here to coax me home?"

"Yes," Logan replied calmly as we jogged down the back stairwell. I was running late for my fight – nothing new there.

I shook my head when we reached the ground floor "I don’t get it."

"You don’t have to," Low chuckled, falling into step beside me as we walked through the foyer. "You just have to accept it."

"Yeah," I muttered, holding the door open for him. "Because I'm real good at accepting shit."

"Does she look pale to you?" Logan blurted out when we reached the street, interrupting my train of thought, as he pointed towards Teagan who was climbing into the awaiting limo.

"Yeah," I noted, as my thoughts quickly turned to worry. "She's been off for a while now."

Logan frowned. "How long's a while?"

"I don’t know." I shrugged uncomfortably. "Teagan had severe food poisoning back in May. She hasn’t been herself since."

"Have you guys been to a doctor?" I knew from Logan's tone that he was concerned.

"She said she was going to make an appointment when we get home."

"She should," he agreed, eyes narrowed in concern at my wife.

"What about you?" I asked quietly. "How are you doing?"

Logan never met my eye as he said, "I’m still here."