Page 44 of Treacherous

Mr. Dennis let go of my arm and he let go quickly. "We need to talk,son," was all he said before storming into his house and slamming the door.

"What the hell are you doing, you little nut?" Noah demanded the second the front door shut and the momentary relief I'd been feeling was quickly replaced with heated anger. "Telling George I was kidnapped?" he shook his head and glared at me. "What the hell is the matter with you?"

"Little nut?" I stalked forward and cusped the back of his neck, pulling his face down to my level. "Youwerekidnapped, you fool."

I touched the cut on Noah's face, his eyes blazed with something other than anger and I quickly let go – the surge of electricity tingling through my body was too much. "Who was that guy in the hummer?" I asked him. "Where did he take you? Why didn’t you kick his ass for doing that to you?" I shook my head and stepped closer to him. "Noah, what's going on with you?"I want to help…

"You need to stay away from me, Thorn," Noah rasped in a husky tone as he brushed past me. "As far as you can."

****

Noah

I stood outside the red-bricked, two-story house across the street, feeling more pain than I'd ever imagined I could feel – or endure. I had waited until well after midnight before I dared leave the house. It was pitch black outside now and I could only hope they hadn’t noticed me leaving.

The rain battered down on me but it did little to cleanse the feeling of dread looming in the pit of my stomach. Pressing the palm of my hand against the timber frame of the door, I managed to keep upright as I closed my eyes and prayed for a do-over life.

The door opened inwards and I was greeted by a pair of intense gray eyes.

"Hi," I mumbled, red-eyed and hoarse. Using one hand to hold my aching ribcage, I used my other to push my drenched hair out of my eyes, shivering violently from the cold. "I need somewhere to crash for the night."

Low lunged forward, grabbed onto my slumping body and helped me inside. "Jesus Christ, Noah," he hissed as he led me into the living room and sat me on the couch. "What happened this time?"

"Thanks, man." I sank onto the couch and watched as Low disappeared from the room only to return a few minutes later with a towel, an icepack and a first aid kit. "What do think happened this time, Low?" I held the icepack to my swollen jaw and leaned back. Logan knew what happened to me as well I did. "Life happened."

"I can't sit back and watch much more of this, Noah," was all he said as he sank onto the couch and dropped his head in his hands. "Remember what I told you – about graduation?"

I nodded. That was all I thought about. I clung to Logan's words like a lifeline.

"I think it needs to happen now," he replied quietly.

"No." I held the icepack to my eyebrow. "No goddamn way, Low." There was less than three weeks to Christmas…"I'm not having your mother's broken heart on my conscience."

"Nobody's asking you to have anything on your conscience, Noah," he shot back evenly. "I want to help you."

"You are, man," I sighed. "More than you know."

"Goddammit, Noah," he hissed as he jerked to his feet. "Why did this have to happen to you?"

"I had the bad luck of being born into a family of fucking predators," I replied in a weary tone.

"That's not your fault, Noah," Low countered as he ran a hand through his hair and paced the floor. "You didn’t choose this life – it was chosenforyou..."

"You think?" I let out a shaky breath and blocked out the mental image of several pairs of fists pummeling into me tonight. "And then I had the unbelievable misfortune of having Teagan fucking Connolly move in next door."

"Are you saying Teagan had something to do with you getting the piss knocked out you?" Low asked me as he stood with his back to me, staring out the window. "Because I find that really hard to believe, man."

I balled my hands into fists. "I'm sayingthey'vesomehow come to the conclusion that Teagan is my weak spot."

"And is she?" Low turned and looked me square in the eye. "Is Teagan your weak spot?"

"Look at me, Logan," I shot back, gesturing to my smashed up face. "What do you think?"

****

Chapter 10

Teagan

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