Page 47 of Treacherous

I was halfway between the door and the bed when Hope turned around and glared at me. "No one died in here, Teagan."

"Right," I chuckled nervously and forced myself to walk over and sit on her bed. "Sorry."

"Don't sweat it." She smirked. "They died in the kitchen."

I jumped off the bed and Hope burst out laughing.

"That's not funny," I snapped. Grabbing a pillow from her bed, I chucked it at her. "I'm a little superstitious, okay?"

Hope cackled for a few more seconds before sobering. "On a serious note," she said as she forced herself to stop smiling. "I need you to come to the Ring of Fire with me."

Now I was the one laughing.

"I'm serious," she added before holding three fingers up. "Scouts honor."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not Katniss Everdeen," I told her, pointing at her three fingered gesture. "And I'm more of aWalk the Linekinda girl."

"I love that book," Hope said with a grin. "And I'm not joking. Ash texted me saying she heard Cameron talking about going to the freaking Ring of Fire with Noah tonight. And low and behold the douche is now M.I.A, therefore I need to go and bring him home before he lands himself in the middle of Noah's crap –again."

"How is it I'm not one bit surprised to hear Noah Messina's involved in something calledThe Ring of Fire?"

Folding my arms over my chest, I let out a calming breath before asking, "I'm probably going to regret asking this, but is thisRing of Firean actual place and what happens there?"

"It's a real place all right," Hope replied, her tone laced with disgust. "And from what the boys have told me it's like…" She paused and twirled her finger around as if trying to remember a word. "A playground for the shady and reckless."

"Meaning?"

"Meaningsome bad illegal shit happens there, shit I don't want my brother involved in," she snapped. "And my parents are due home tomorrow night."

Lovely. Sounds very enticing…

Rummaging in the bottom of her closet Hope starting tossing item after item of clothing behind her. "And I can't risk driving my car up there," she grumbled as she eyed a red boobtube dress skeptically before throwing it in a separate pile than the others. "Because dad more than likely has someone watching my movements." She sighed in disgust. "He's a serious control-freak, I don't know how my mother puts up with him….Ah, that's it." Hope grinned at what looked like a piece of cloth.

"Put this on," she told me, flinging it in my direction. "We need to blend it. Don't want anyone thinking we're cops."

"You can't be serious," I muttered, picking up the tiny white piece of stretchy fabric.

"Oh, I'm deadly serious." She tossed a beautiful pair of black leather boots in my direction. I caught them with ease before tossing them down on her bed.

"An illegal ring of fire?" I shook my head and gaped at her. "Let me get this straight. You wantmeto go withyouinto the middle of no-man's land so you can spy onyouridiot brother – who's most likely in the company ofmyarch-enemy – and make sure he doesn't get arrested?"

"Yeah," Hope replied as she blew a curl off her face. "Sounds about right."

"There's no way in hell I'm going anywhere Noah Messina will be – unless it's someplace mandatory like school or the footpath outside my house."

I forced myself to believe that Noah hadn’t hurt my feelings in the slightest when he tossed my concern for his wellbeing back in my face the other day. I'd have to care about what Noah thought in order for it to hurt me. I'd have to care about him. And I didn’t. I refused to…

"Are you hiding?" She laughed loudly, pointing her skinny finger in my face. "Oh my god." She leaned back in her heels and studied me with an astonished look on her face. "You're hiding from Noah Messina." She shook her head and mused, "You're letting him beat you."

"I am not hiding from him," I spat, my tone of voice defensive –waytoo defensive. "And I am not letting him beat me, I just…we were…and he just…" I wasn't sure what I was trying to tell my friend.

Hope's perfectly shaped eyebrows rose in surprise and I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks.

"He disturbs me, all right," I snapped. "He makes me nervous. Happy now?"

"Ecstatic," she shot back, clapping her hands. "Put that skirt on and makehimnervous."

I shook my head. "I'm not going. No way, no how, it's never gonna happen. I promised Max I wouldn’t fight with the neighbors." I stared meaningfully at my friend's face. "A promise I'm sure to break the second I lay eyes on Noah Messina."Ugh.

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