Thorn: Carter Kids #2 (8 page)

Maybe I was a heartless bitch, but I couldn’t forget it, and I knew in my heart and soul that I would never let it go.

I would
never
forgive him.

When I got back to the apartment and saw who was sitting on our couch next to Hope, I could have cried. Like big, fat, raindrop sized tears.

“I’m not in the mood for you,” I warned him, closing the flat door behind me. “I’m having a really bad day, so if you could refrain from the insults, I’d appreciate it,” I added, moving towards the kitchen to get a glass of water.

Mr. Carter stood up and seemed to dominate the room with his presence alone. “Nice to see you too, Teagan,” he acknowledged coolly.

“Sure it is.” I rolled my eyes and fought the urge to poke my tongue out at him. Kyle didn’t like me, and he didn’t hide it well. He tried to be civil for the sake of his daughter, but I was fairly certain he thought about throttling me on more than one occasion. We tended to stay out of one another’s way whenever he visited. I was still struggling to get past the crap he’d spewed that night he arrived at the Harte’s home, and Mr. Carter? Well, I guess I was big fat reminder of why his daughter was living abroad.

Turning his attention back to Hope, Kyle asked, “Have you thought any more about coming home for Christmas?”

She shook her head and sighed wearily. “We’ve already talked about this, Dad. I’m staying here with Teegs.”

“I know,” Mr. Carter grumbled. “But Christmas is a time for being with your family. And the twins haven’t met their big sister.”

“How are the little guys?” Hope gushed and I couldn’t help but smirk. She had been dead set against her parents having another child, but when her twin baby brothers were born three months ago, she had gone straight out and gotten a picture of them blown up. That photograph was now pride of place on the wall in our lounge.

“They’d be a lot better if they met their sister,” Kyle grumbled. His gaze flickered to me and I reddened in embarrassment. I could feel the anger radiating off him in waves – directed towards me.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that,” I found myself saying, dropping my glass in the sink before holding my hands up in defense. “You can blame Jordan ‘the dickhead’ Porter for this.”

Mr. Carter’s brows shot up in surprise and then he did something I didn’t expect him to.

He actually cracked a smile.

“Jordan the dickhead Porter,” he snickered, “I knew there was a reason I liked you, Blondie.”

Having Kyle Carter actually compliment me was a strange feeling. I wasn’t stupid though. I knew full well the only reason he wasn’t throwing jibes or snotty comments at me was because we shared a hatred for Jordan Porter.

Hope’s ex boyfriend was number one on Kyle’s shit list.

I was a close second.

“Thanks…I think?” I replied uncomfortably before returning my attention to making a sandwich.

“How long are you staying this time, Dad?” Hope asked, and I was as eager to know the answer to that particular question as she was.

Kyle checked his watch and sighed. “I fly out later on this evening.”

“Oh, that soon?” I piped up, sarcasm evident in my voice

Purposefully ignoring my comment, he focused on Hope. Pacing around the sitting room area, he began to speak. “Your brother called me earlier,” I heard him say in a hushed tone, “Logan’s worried about Noah’s frame of mind. He declined his visit –
again
.”

That was where I checked out.

Leaving them to talk about Noah, I left my untouched sandwich on the countertop and headed in the direction of the short hallway towards my bedroom.

I couldn’t listen to this.

I couldn’t deal with
him
.

“You should hear this too, Teagan,” Kyle called out, stopping me in my tracks. “Oh wait, I forgot, you don’t give two shits about Noah anymore.”

See, this was
exactly
why I didn’t stick around when Hope’s father visited.

He held a grudge against me.

“I’m not doing this again,” I warned him. “I’ve told you a million times, what goes on with Noah is none of my business.”

“Hope told me what you saw that night; what you
think
you saw,” he countered steadily. “But I’d bet every dime I have that you’re wrong.”

I froze, unblinking, as I registered what Kyle had just said to me. “Are you calling me a liar, Mr. Carter?”

Kyle folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. “No, Teagan, I’m not calling you a liar. I’m telling you that you are wrong about him.”

“Dad, shut the hell up,” Hope snapped, her voice a tone of pure disgust, as she leapt off the couch and stood in front of her father. “Don’t do this to her. She’s been through enough already.”

“She needs to hear this, Hope,” her father replied evenly. “Lee went to see him before the sentencing – before he banned everyone who cares about him from the fucking prison – and the kid was a total mess.” Straightening his spine, Kyle looked over Hope’s head and directly into my eyes. “My guess is that somehow that Tanner girl played you both, and you fell for it hook, line and sinker.”

A wave of hysteria burst to the surface, causing me to laugh humorously. “Are you trying to ruin my life?” I demanded, delirious with a raging mixture of rage and heartbreak.

My whole body shook violently.

I couldn’t seem to stop.

“It takes two to tango, Kyle, and from what I remember, Noah was more than a willing participant,” I snarled, refusing to believe the bullshit dripping from his mouth. “He fucked her. Right in front of me.”

“I know how it looks, Teagan,” Kyle shot back heatedly. “I know how it sounds too, but come on. That’s not Noah. You
know
him. He wouldn’t do that to you.”

“Why are you doing this to me?” I whispered, paling. “It’s been nine months. Why bring all of this up again?”

“Look,” Kyle sighed, rubbing his face with his hand. “I’m not intentionally trying to upset you here. But if you could just visit the guy…talk to him.”

“No,” I refused, backing all the way down the short hallway to my bedroom. “I won’t do it.”

As soon as the door was closed behind me, I threw myself down on my bed and cried like a baby.

LATER ON, WHEN MR. CARTER
had left for his flight, Hope came into my room.

“I’m not going to ask you if you’re okay,” she told me, coming to sit on the edge of my bed. “Because that’s a stupid question when it’s obvious that you’re not.” Stroking my head, Hope sighed heavily. “I’m so sorry about my dad, Teegs.”

Leaping off my bed, I began to pace. I couldn’t sit still and take her pity. I couldn’t fucking sit on this pain. Swinging around to face Hope, I begged, “Please tell me I did the right thing.”

I closed my eyes and fought back the voice inside of me telling me that I had been wrong about him. I never wanted to break away from my life more than I did in this moment.

Was it pity making me feel like I was wrong?

Wrong for jumping to conclusions without hearing him out?

Was I a huge fool for even contemplating that my eyes had deceived me?

I was so confused.

“Tell me I didn’t misjudge the situation,” I blurted out, unable to handle the emotions churning inside of me. “Please, Hope, tell me your dad is wrong.”

“I don’t know, Teagan,” she groaned. Climbing to her feet, she walked over to my bedroom window and looked out through the curtains. “I want to believe you misjudged him,” she told me after a long pause. “My heart is telling me you did…”

“But?” I offered, sensing there was a very big but to come.

“It’s just too shady,” she admitted. Swinging around to face me, Hope scrunched her nose up. “You saw him and Reese with your own two eyes, and it’s not like they haven’t been together many times before.”

“Exactly,” I exclaimed wearily. “I
saw
them. I didn’t make it up.” Even though I wished I had.

Hope sighed. “Look, I’ve known Jordan my
entire
life,” she told me. “And if he could do what he did to me, butcher my heart and betray me, then I’m sorry, Teagan, but I’m not holding out much hope the rest of the male population.”

“Yeah,” I whispered, taking in her words, feeling my heart break all over again. “Neither am I.”

LIGHTS OUT HAD BEEN HOURS AGO,
and I had been lying in the darkness ever since, listening to the noise coming from the cells on either side of ours. The assholes on our left were arguing over a missing pack of cigarettes. The ones on our right were fighting because they could; because there was nothing else to do in this place.

I remained perfectly still on my bunk, quiet as a mouse, as I racked my brain and tried to come up with a plan that wouldn’t get me killed in this place. I’d been challenged to a fight this morning. I refused.

Now, I was biding my time, trying to figure out how the fuck I wouldn’t have to use my fists in this place. I was surrounded by assholes, many of which knew my background as a street fighter. That made them curious. It made them want to take me down a peg or two. I wasn’t afraid of any dick in this place, but I didn’t want the trouble. I was fucking weary.

“What was she like, Messina?” Lucky asked, breaking the eerie silence, and the question threw me. I had thought the guy was asleep.

Rolling onto my back, I folded my arms behind my head and stared up at the metal bars above my head. “Who?”

“Your girl.” I heard him twisting around on the bunk above me. “You never told me her name.” The sound of a match striking filled the silence followed by the aroma of nicotine wafting through the air.

“Teagan,” I whispered, feeling the burn in my chest that came with saying her name aloud. “And she was…different.” Teagan was the only one who had ever known me – like really known me. She had gone to the trouble of digging deeper, finding the screw-up inside of me, and loving me anyway. That wasn’t normal.
She
wasn’t normal. “She was a pain in my ass,” I added with a smirk, thinking back to the numerous times Thorn had caused me nothing but trouble.

“She love you?”

“Not enough.”

“You still love her?”