Page 72 of Treacherous

Now there was something else.

The boy next door.

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Noah

Teagan wasn’t in school on Thursday or Friday.

She wasn’t answering her phone or the door to anyone, and knowing she was hiding because of me caused the guilt and frustration inside of me to fester to epic proportions. The entire weekend passed without me catching a glimpse of her blonde hair and by the following Wednesday I was growing anxious as hell.

Logically I knew I had bigger problems than Teagan being pissed with me. George was currently out of state visiting relations with Ellie which for me was like a fucking holiday, but I knew the shit would hit the fan when he got back. And he would be back before Christmas…

I needed to concentrate on watching my back. I needed to worry about the fallout for doing a job for Gonzalez – that was sure to be coming my way any day now – but logic wasn’t taking precedent in my head right now.

Teagan was…

"You look like you've been thoroughly sunk," a familiar voice said, rousing me from my daydream.

"What?" I asked in an amused tone as I climbed to my feet and jogged down the porch steps.

Kyle Carter stood at the end of my driveway dressed in sweats and ready to run. For a man in his forties Kyle had some serious stamina. I'd been running with the guy for about a year now – ever since Cam and Colt decided their father was attracting too much female attention. Low usually joined us though, but he had one of his appointments in Denver this morning which always drained his energy for a few weeks...

"You do realize that makes no sense, right?" I mused as I fell into step beside him as he pounded the pavement.

"Usually when a man looks like that it's because of a woman," Kyle taunted as he jogged beside me.

"Looks like what?" I muttered. Teagan's face infiltrated my mind and my step faltered.

"Confused, frustrated and undoubtedly petrified." Kyle laughed loudly as we rounded a corner. "So, who is she?"

"Believe me, you don’t want to know," I grumbled.

Kyle stopped abruptly and swung around to face me. "Is it Hope?" His blue eyes were livid as he stalked towards me. "Are you messing around with my daughter, Messina?"

"No, Jesus, no, she's like a sister to me." I held my hands up and backed away slowly all the while feeling a huge amount of sympathy for Hope's boyfriend Jordan.Poor fucker…"It's Teagan, Kyle." I admitted, knowing I needed to spill the beans or take an ass-kicking.

Kyle's whole demeanor changed the second I said Teagan's name. "Iknewthere was something going on with you two back in the summer," he chuckled, picking up pace once more.

I tentatively jogged along with him. "How so?"

Kyle chuckled. "I was young once, too, and there's only one woman who could've gotten away with doing that to my truck."

I stared at him. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," Kyle said with a smug grin. "My wife."

"Anyway," I muttered, moving on from that awkward statement. "Things are…complicated in my life right now. It wouldn’t work out between us." It couldn’t. Teagan would be used against me and I couldn’t let that happen. I needed to keep my eye on the donut – and ignore the stupid voice inside my head telling meshewas the donut. "Not that it even matters considering she hates me most of the time."

"You know what they say," he laughed. "Hate is the closest thing to love."

"I'm not good for her, Kyle," I told him quietly. "I don’t want to…." I paused and stopped running. "I don’t want to break her."

Kyle stared at me long and hard before finally speaking. "Be careful, Noah," he told me in an oddly serious tone. "It's a very long drop, kid and there's no coming back up. I hope she's worth the fall."

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Noah

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