Page 64 of Treacherous

I held my hands up in retreat. "I'm out," I told him, feeling crazed and irrational as I backed up the steps of my porch. "I'm not going to fight with you anymore."

"Your key?" His face was a mask of indifference but I could have sworn I saw pain in those brown depths for the briefest of moments.

"I don’t give a damn about my car," I screamed dramatically, pushing my wet hair back from my face. "And if it means you'll leave me alone then have the fucking thing. Consider it my white flag. I'm bowing out of this war." I turned my key in the door before looking back at him. "Tell your sister she won," I said coldly as I stepped inside. "You both have."

****

Chapter 14

Noah

"Tell your sister she won," Teagan shouted, eyes filled with tears. "You both have," she added and her voice broke.

I knew I should go after her. Stop her… Apologize… Convince her that I wasn’t the heartless bastard she thought I was. But the truth wasn’t something I could talk about. Not to her. Not to anyone…

The girl…dammit she meant something to me. I was steel reeling from that kiss we shared in the car.Jesus, her lips felt like heaven.I felt a huge urge to protect her – shelter her from the bullshit of my life.

How the hell would she understand something I didn’t understand myself. And her knowing the truth would put her in worse danger than she already was in. I couldn’t allow that.

I couldn’t fucking bear it…

Instead I stood like a dummy with the key of her car in my hand, feeling more useless than I had in years as Teagan walked away from me.

The house was eerily quiet when I let myself inside and the power still wasn’t back. The storm had probably blown down a mast or something.

After lighting a shitload of candles, I grabbed my phone and slipped outside and walked down to my makeshift gym, bracing myself for the phone call I had no doubt was coming.

****

Teagan

The second I closed my front door I stripped my pajamas and socks off in the hallway, desperate to be rid of the icky sensation before switching on the light.

Nothing happened.

I tried the light switch in the lounge and then the kitchen before admitting defeat.

I was in the middle a power cut.

Panic tore through me.

Here I was, naked as the day I was born, in the dark….

I managed to find a clean t-shirt of Uncle Max's in the laundry hamper and shrugged it on before feeling my way over to the sink to root for a flash-light. Thankfully I found one and switched it on.

The relief I felt from that tiny yellow orb of light was huge and I sagged against the counter. The wind was picking up outside, the sound of trees swaying against the heavy breeze was growing louder and louder, bringing with it a whole truckload of memories I didn’t care to entertain.

What the hell was I supposed to do now?

Sit in the dark and wait for daylight?

I wasn’t afraid of a bit of wind and rain, it was a given where I came from, but Iwasterrified of the dark – especially being alone in the dark.

The walls of the kitchen began to close in on me, crushing my windpipe, pressing hard against my skull, and I didn’t think twice about reaching for the backdoor and escaping outside.

It was pitch-black when I stepped outside, the night air was sharp and cutting, but the relief of not being enclosed was enough to calm my nerves.

A loud noise startled me to the left of the bed of petunias and I froze. The sound of a man's voice broke through the silence and I found myself drawn to his voice –Noah'svoice.

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