Thorn: Carter Kids #2 (37 page)

THE MOMENT NOAH STEPPED
into my vision I felt my body sag in relief.

He looked like an avenging angel, dressed in black, dark, dangerous and poised to inflict pain.

I watched as his eyes drifted from my torn dress to Ciarán’s hand on my arm.

His eyes clouded over with pure unadulterated rage.

His expression turned murderous.

And then he attacked.

Noah moved so quickly I barely had a chance to jump of the way when he charged Ciarán, knocking him to the ground. Straddling him, Noah let loose, unleashing his fury, as he pummeled him.

“Noah,” I choked out, pulling on his shoulder, trying to stop him from doing something he couldn’t come back from. “It’s okay,” I coaxed, trying and failing to pull him off Ciarán. “I’m okay –”

“You’re not okay,” Noah seethed. “He put his hands on you. He put his hands on what’s
mine
!”

“I didn’t touch her,” Ciarán spluttered, covering his face with his hands, protecting himself from Noah. “Not the way you’re thinking... Teagan, tell him.”

“Don’t speak to her,” Noah roared. “Don’t fucking look in her direction, you pathetic sack of shit.”

The sound of police sirens filled the air, but Noah didn’t stop. I didn’t think he could stop.

Climbing off him, Noah stood up and dragged Ciarán to his feet. “Hit me,” he ordered, holding his hands up in the air. “Come on, you piece of shit. You wanna hit someone, then hit me.”

“Get the hell away from him!” Liam’s familiar voice trickled through my ears seconds before he barged past me with Eoin hot on his heels. I watched in horror as Eoin grabbed Noah from behind and held him up as Liam and Ciarán attacked him.

“Get off him, you bastards,” I screamed as I rushed over to where they were triple teaming Noah and pulled at the back of Eoin’s shirt, grunting in pain when his elbow connected with my stomach.

Noah broke out of Eoin’s hold but not before Liam’s fist connected with his jaw. Spitting a mouthful of blood, he smiled, his white teeth stained red. “Savor that,” he told him before lunging forward and head butting him. Noah’s forehead connected with Liam’s nose and when his blood sprayed I felt a little lightheaded.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see a crowd forming in the alley and panic clawed through me. “Noah, we need to go,” I called out shakily. “We need to go now.”

He couldn’t fight outside the cage.

It was against the rules and we were causing a scene.

He could lose everything he worked for because of this.

Because of me.

Wrapping my arms around his waist, I tried to force him away but it was like trying to move a mountain. “Please Noah,” I begged. “They’re not worth the shit on your shoes.”

“She wasn’t saying that when I had my cock buried inside her,” Liam called out.

Noah snarled and charged forward, taking me with him because there was no way I was letting him go.

When I noticed Lucky rushing down the alley towards us, I almost wept with relief.

“What the hell happened to the plan?” Lucky hissed as he wrapped his arm around Noah and helped me drag him backwards in the direction of the street.

“I changed it,” Noah growled, chest heaving, as he pushed against us, eyes locked on Liam and the guys.

“I gathered that,” he replied dryly. When we reached the street, Lucky steered us over to a waiting taxi before shoving Noah into the back seat.

Turning around, Lucky looked me straight in the eye and said, “get in there and do whatever you need to do to calm him down. The driver’s taking both of you back to the hotel. Do
not
leave him on his own tonight.” Looking back towards the alley and the crowd that was watching us, he sighed heavily. “I’ll go do some damage control.”

I didn’t wait to ask questions. Instead I nodded and scrambled into the backseat.

Wrapping my arms around Noah’s neck, I straddled him, clinging onto him for dear life as the driver pulled away.

Noah didn’t say a word to me the entire drive to the hotel. He didn’t touch me either. He just sat in the backseat with me on his lap and stared out the window as his chest rose and fell quickly.

And I got the instinct impression that trouble was brewing.

THE MINUTE WE STEPPED FOOT
in the hotel suite the adrenalin and pure fucking rage that had been bubbling up inside of me came to a head. Pulling at my shirt, I ripped it off my chest and slung it over the back of the couch in the sitting room area before stalking off in the direction of the bedroom.

Slamming my hands against the double doors, I stalked inside and away from Teagan.

I couldn’t be around her right now.

I was out of control and every time I looked at the bruise forming under her left eye and that fucking ripped dress, a little more of my sanity disappeared.

Images of the prick touching her were all I could think of.

How long had it been going on?

Did she love him?

“Fuck!” Grabbing the lamp on the nightstand next to my bed, I flung it against the wall, watching as it shattered to pieces. It wasn’t enough to dispel the anger inside of me. Not enough by half. Ripping the nightstand out of its slot, I tossed that too, and then the television, the laptop, and everything that wasn’t nailed down.

I should have come back for her sooner.

I should have boarded a plane the day I was released and dragged her home kicking and screaming.

Goddammit, I was so jealous I could taste it.

The thought of him touching her, being inside her, fucking putting his mouth on her drove me batshit crazy.

The door opened inwards and I tensed.

“Are you going to talk to me?” Teagan asked in a quiet tone. “Or do you want me to leave?”

Like hell she was leaving me again.

We were having this out.

Right fucking now.

THE MINUTE WE STEPPED FOOT
in the Presidential Suite at the hotel, the shit hit the proverbial fan.

Pulling at his black shirt, Noah ripped it off his chest and slung it over the back of the couch in the sitting room area before stalking off in the direction of the double doors at the far side of the room. Slamming both doors open, he disappeared from view.

Slipping out of my shoes, I crept over to where Noah had disappeared, and listened to the carnage occurring on the other side of the wall. The sound of glass shattering and furniture overturning filled my ears and I cringed.

Steeling my resolve, I stepped inside. The bedroom looked like a tornado had passed through it. There was furniture overturned and glass on the floor. In the middle of the wreckage stood Noah, looking more furious than I’d ever seen.

“Are you going to talk to me?” I straight out asked him, watching him tense when I spoke. “Or do you want me to leave?”

“When?” he finally asked, jaw clenched.

“A few months back. It only happened one time,” I whispered, knowing full well what he was asking me. He wanted to know about Liam. “I was drunk and lonely and trying to move on from you,” I added quietly, thinking back to the worst mistake of my life.

“How long?” he managed to grind out as a vein throbbed in his neck.

“How long what?” I whispered, feeling nervous and unsure.

“How long did you wait before you let him put his dick in what’s mine?” Noah snarled, chest heaving. “How long have you been messing around with him? How. Fucking. Long, Teagan?”

“It wasn’t like that,” I shot back, feeling both embarrassed and rejected. Noah was losing control, he was barely holding onto his temper by a thread and I wasn’t going to push him over the edge.

“Then how was it?” I watched as a vein ticked in Noah’s neck. His words were laced with sarcasm and pain as he shook his head and laughed humorlessly. “Don’t tell me; you fucked him and thought of me?”

“Yes,” I hissed back. “But you need to understand I thought you betrayed me.”

“How many goddamn times do I have to tell you,” he growled as he stalked towards me. Backing me up against the door, Noah leaned down and hissed, “I
didn’t
fucking betray you.”

“Don’t you think I know that by now?” I demanded, pressing my hand to his chest, feeling all his heat and hardness. “God, Noah, don’t you think I’ve realized that I’m to blame for all of this?” Knowing Noah was innocent only made this conversation ten times harder. I had abandoned him. I had left him to rot in a prison cell for five years and I had slept with Liam. I had forced him to the back of my mind and I had carried on with life. I had left him behind. It made me want to scratch my own eyes out. I was royally sickened with myself. And still, when I was in trouble, he was the first one to defend me. To jump in and save me over and over again. I could live a thousand lifetimes and never deserve him.