Page 25 of Treacherous

For one, they lived in a middle-class type home, and two, they were about as posh as a wellington boot. But yeah, I would never judge a book by its cover again.

My workout knocked the tension out of my body and by the time I finished I was feeling like a boss, right up until I walked into the parking lot only to find I had not one, butfourflat tires.

Bizarre coincidence?

I think not.

The knife marks in my tires had Ellie and Noah's stench all over them and I wanted to be the bigger person and walk away – I really did – but my inner-child won the battle against my common sense, resulting in a brawl to beat all brawls breaking out the second I made it home…or at least that's what I had in mind as I made my way home to Thirteenth Street.

I marched straight up the neighbor's porch steps and hammered on their front door. "Get your ass out here right now, you knife-wielding lunatic," I shouted through the letterbox before continuing my door-pounding. "I mean it," I screamed, red-faced. "I'm not joking around…whoa…."

The door swung inwards and I barreled into a chest of wet muscle.

"Knife-wielding lunatic?" Noah rose his brow in amusement. "Is that your new pet name for me, Thorn?"

What the hell had happened to him?

One side of Noah's sculpted stomach was horribly discolored and I momentarily froze, struck dumb as I stared at him.

Was he bruised? Yep.

Did it make him hotter? Yep.

Did I still hate him? Decisively.

Stepping outside to the porch, Noah closed the space between our bodies, towering over me with a cocky expression etched all over his face. "What do I owe the pleasure?"

"Tell your sister she owes me for a set of tires," I informed him in a tight voice as I took a step backwards and regained some personal space. "I'm not taking this shit from either of you anymore."

"Step-sister, and what exactly are you accusing us of, Teagan?" Noah asked dryly, tightening his grip on his towel with one hand.

"Oh, I'm not accusing you guys of anything," I shot back, furious. "I'mtellingyou that your sister deliberately sabotaged my car." I kept eye contact with him and folded my arms across my chest. "Or are you the dick who goes around slashing girls tires?"

Surprise etched his features for a brief moment before the shutters closed. He gazed dispassionately at me for a long time before speaking. "You're a very hypocritical person, Thorn," he said in a tight voice. "You know that, right? Coming over here and tossing around slanderous accusations based on a flat tire?"

"Fourtires." I balled my hands into fists and urged myself to calm down and not start a brawl with the half-naked sex god standing in front of me. "One of you slashed the tires on my car," I hissed through clenched teeth.

Lowering his face to mine, Noah stared into my eyes. "Prove it," he said with a smirk.

****

Noah

"This isn’t over, Noah," Teagan hissed as she reached a hand up and tugged on my hair hard and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to throttle her or throw her over my shoulder and take her upstairs.

First, she marched her stuck-up ass up my steps and accused me of slashing her tires – something I had not, did not, and would never do – and then she pulled on my hair like a goddamn toddler.

"I'm not taking yours or Ellie's crap anymore," Teagan snarled, chest heaving, her hazel eyes narrowed on mine. "I don’t need proof. Iknowit was one of you."

My crap? I hadn’t done a damn thing to her. Girl was paranoid as fuck. "Take your hands off me, Thorn," I warned her.

I had no idea what happened to her tires, but what I did know was I was going to lose what was left of my patience if she didn’t back the hell up.

I was tired, my ribs were aching from last night, and miss prim shouting the odds in my face was something I could do without.

Hot or not, I didn’t need this crap from her or anyone else.

Teagan didn’t let go. Instead she tugged harder, forcing me to lower my face to hers. "Don' threaten me, you tattooed junkie," she snarled. "I could have you arrested for vandalism to property."

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