Thorn: Carter Kids #2 (23 page)

“I WISH I NEVER MET YOU
…No, scratch that, I wish you never made it out of that car. Because you, Noah Messina, are by far the worst thing that ever happened to me…”

Goddammit, I had been in Teagan’s company for ten damn minutes and already my skin was burning, my heart was fucking hammering in my chest, and I had a hard on that wouldn’t lie down.

I walked away from her – I fucking
had
to – because if I had stayed, I would’ve spurted the same cruel shit she had thrown at me; except mine wouldn’t have been a bullshit fabrication of the truth, and Teagan and I tearing strips out of each other wasn’t going to fix a damn thing.

Jesus Christ, all I had wanted her to do was shut the hell up for ten seconds and let me speak. All I wanted to do was lay it out there. Have her hear my truth. Make her understand that she had believed a bullshit lie for the best part of a decade.

I knew I’d be better off with a quiet woman; a nice, soft spoken, understanding woman. Hell, even a fucking grown up woman would do. But no, I wanted that little fruitcake. The little nut that never grew up. Thorn had a mouth like a sailor and the heart of a goddamn pit-bull terrier.

Stalking back to the bar, I shoved my way through the crowd, ignoring every come hither gaze from every barely dressed female that approached me.

I couldn’t look at another woman now.

Ordering a whiskey from the bartender, I chucked it back, enjoying the burning sensation in my throat as the alcohol settled in my stomach.

“Don’t bother wasting your words on me because what we had, it’s dead and gone.”

Like hell it was.

Signaling to the bartender for a refill, I dropped a couple of fifty euro bills on the counter before taking the bottle out of his hand and pouring myself another.

“We’re done. We never happened. We never met. You don’t know me…”

I got why Teagan was mad – but it didn’t change the facts. And the facts were she believed a lie.

I
was the betrayed one.

I
was the fucking innocent one.

Swallowing the contents of my glass, I grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the counter and pushed my way back through the crowd towards the exit.

No fucking way was I going down like this.

Never in my life had I walked away from a challenge, and I sure as hell wasn’t about to start now. Teagan Connolly was a thorn in my fucking side, but I couldn’t walk away from her. She had left a permanent mark on me, and no amount of women, booze or fighting filled the hole she had left inside of me.

I wanted her again and I would have her at
any
cost.

AS I SHOVED A DRESSER
in front of our doorway, my feeble attempt to safeguard our door-less apartment, I was tormented with a feeling in the pit of my stomach that told me that I had done something terribly wrong.

I didn’t have much time to ponder about my feelings though, because seconds after rearranging the dresser, it was shoved out of the way.

“I thought monsters had to be invited in,” I exclaimed when Noah stepped through my doorway with a bottle of whiskey in his hand and a look of determination etched on his face.

Stalking into the lounge, Noah slammed a bottle of Jameson on the coffee table with a loud bang before turning around and glaring at me.

“We’re not done here,” he told me in a low, warning tone, eyes locked on my face, daring me to push him.

“I think we are,” I shot back, red-faced, as I backed into the kitchen and far away from the professional fighter in my apartment. Anger was radiating off Noah in waves and suddenly I wasn’t feeling as brave as before.

“No, Thorn, we’re not.”

With eyes dark and full of bad intentions, Noah took a step forward and I automatically took a step back. I felt a shiver of fear run down my spine. If he touched me again I was fucked. If he touched me, I may as well break my own heart. That’s how toxic he was to me.

That trickle of fear quickly faded when he crouched down and lifted Hope into his arms. “Which room is hers?” he asked me, standing slowly with my best friend snoring loudly, cradled in his arms.

Ignoring the weird fluttering I had in my chest from the sight of Noah taking care of his niece so tenderly, I muttered, “first door on the right,” before busying myself with draining the contents of my wine glass. I quickly refilled it, only to guzzle it down again.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as Noah marched down our small hallway and used his foot to nudge open Hope’s bedroom door before slipping inside.

He returned a moment later, looking calmer than he had when he arrived. His presence was still overwhelming me, but he wasn’t being hostile. In fact, his mood seemed eerily calm and I found myself easing my finger off the mental defensive trigger inside of my brain – the one I kept cocked and ready to strike when threatened.

“I was going to do that,” I garbled, with my lips around my glass. Actually, I had planned to cover her with a blanket because there was no way I could lift Hope by myself. Skinny as she was, Hope had at least four inches on me, and twenty pounds of bone weight – but he didn’t need to know that.

His dark eyes traveled past me, looking around briefly, before returning to my face. “It’s done now.”

“You’ve changed,” I blurted out, taking in his beautiful, hard features. He was crueler now. Prison had turned him darker. Meaner. “You’re…different.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice, Thorn,” Noah replied in a flat tone. Wandering over to the coffee table, he retrieved his bottle and put it to his mouth, swallowing deeply. “It was fight or die in there.”

Like always…

“I’m not talking about that, Noah.” Clasping my hands in front of my stomach, I studied the beautiful, cold man standing in my apartment. “You’re different…with me.”

Cocking his brow, Noah seemed to ponder my reply for a moment before nodding his head and taking another deep swig from his bottle. “But you still want me.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a boldfaced statement and one I venomously rejected. “I do not,” I snapped, red-faced and lying through my teeth. “I stopped wanting you a long time ago, Noah,” I added shakily.

“Of course you did,” he surprised me by saying as he walked around aimlessly. “This is a good apartment.” He stopped at the window and took a slug out of his bottle before looking out. “Nice view.”

Oh, so we were doing pleasantries now?

Fine, I could do that too.

“Hope owns the place,” I replied, squeezing the stem of my glass so hard I was surprised it didn’t crack in my hand. Normally, I wasn’t much of a drinker, but with Noah in close proximity, there wasn’t a brewery in the country that could have stocked enough alcohol to keep my frazzled nerves at bay.

“I just rent the spare room,” I heard myself say before swallowing down another gulp. The wine hit the pit of my stomach and created a pooling burning sensation. I felt myself growing lightheaded.

“Does she do that often?” he finally asked. Wiping the corner of his mouth with his thumb, Noah gestured to the coffee table – to where Hope had passed out.

“No she does
not
make a habit out of getting inebriated and passing out.” Hope was my best friend and I felt incredibly protective of her. Having Noah question her morals irked me. “She’s in a bad place right now,” I found myself explaining. “Don’t be so quick to judge her, Noah – not when you don’t know the facts.”

With a hiss of annoyance Noah shot towards me, faster than I anticipated, and I had to force myself not to squirm. The second he slapped the bottle down on the countertop beside me and stepped into my personal space, the atmosphere around us crackled with intensity. “Like me?” Noah asked me in a heated tone, stepping closer, backing me up against the fridge. His dark brown eyes penetrated me, cracking me clean open, making me feel more exposed than if I were naked and spread open for him.

Suddenly, the air around us became thick and muggy.

“What do you mean like you?” My question was a breathy whisper and my skin flushed with heat; I had to suppress the urge to fan my face.

“You were quick to judge me without knowing the facts.” Noah’s breath flooded my senses and I could practically taste the mint and alcohol on his tongue.

Leaning forward, Noah placed his hands on either side of my head, surrounding me, caving me in. “You left me in Thirteenth Street to rot,” he whispered softly. “Threw in the towel when I needed you most.”

“You cheated on me, Noah,” I choked out, red faced and eyes watering with temper. All the emotions I felt when I was seventeen came back full force, smothering my heart and sabotaging my ability to rationalize the situation. “I can’t get over that.” Turning my face away from him, I felt my whole body shudder. “I never will.”

Reaching out one hand, Noah trailed his thumb down my cheek before catching my chin and forcing me to look him in the eyes.

“I was a fuck up back then,” he told me, his brown eyes searing me. “And I know that I’ve purposefully hurt you – on more than one occasion – but I
never
cheated on you. Not once.”

I wanted to believe him, so damn much, but it didn’t make sense.

Nothing
made sense when it came to Noah.

“Noah, I saw you.” I closed my eyes and felt the hot sting as my tears trickled down my cheeks. “Naked on your bed – with her on your lap.” Throwing my hands up between us, I placed them on his hard chest and pushed, desperately trying to regain my personal space. “You betrayed me.”

“Reese fucked me over, Teagan,” he snarled. “She took advantage of me when I was too fucking weak to know what I was doing. Goddammit, you were my whole life, Teagan. Why the fuck would I have touched her when I had you – a
future
with you?”

“I don’t know why you would do that to me, okay,” I screamed as my emotions threatened to overturn my sanity. “I don’t know why you ripped me open and humiliated me like that.” Fury swished inside of me and I had to steady myself or my pain would spill over and morph into nasty words and cruel remarks. “I’ve had seven years to torture myself with that question, and I still don’t know!”

“You don’t know because you were
wrong
about me, Teagan. You made a mistake.” Noah breathed harshly against my mouth, eyes still locked on mine. “Admit it.”

“No, I didn’t.” He was lying to me again just like before. Spinning a web of lies, and enticing me like a spider would its prey. “I
know
what I saw.”

“You’re wrong about me, Thorn,” Noah countered coolly. “And one of these days you’re going to realize that.”

Tipping my chin up, I looked Noah straight in the eye and said, “I. Don’t. Believe. You,” enunciating every word clearly.

“And I don’t trust you,” he shot back evenly, not missing a beat. “Yet here we are.” Smirking, he added, “Why do you think that is, Thorn?”

Shaking my head, I managed to squeeze around Noah and make a break for a quick getaway – or at least it would have been quick if Noah hadn’t once again grabbed the back of my nightdress and pulled me to an abrupt stop. “You had to know this day was coming,” he said from behind me. His lips brushed against my ear lobe, one of his hands splayed across my stomach, and every nerve in my body exploded in a frenzy of tingling sensations. “You had to know I would come for you.”