Page 76 of Treacherous

"You grabbed my dick the very first day of school," he shot back angrily. "What's your point? And besides, I've touched more than your bra, Thorn."

"You shouldn’t have said that about goingworking," I shot back, furious. "You hurt my feelings."

"Oh, I'm sorry." His tone was highly sarcastic. "If you're that fucking sensitive then take care of yourself."

With that Noah dumped me on the floor, in the dark, on my own.

"Why weren’t you in school today?" I demanded, desperately trying to distract myself from the suffocating feeling engulfing me. "We had a test in English."

"I was supposed to be," I heard him say. "But something came up." He paused before adding, "I had… an appointment."

"At the STD clinic?" I shot back, breathing in through my nose and slowly through my mouth.

"Funny," he grunted.

"And another thing," I snapped, clinging onto my anger. Anger was good. Anger was better than fear. "Tell your asshole dad not to threaten me again."

"What?" Noah asked flatly.

"You heard me," I snarled. Why I was bringing this up was beyond me, but I was desperate to clutch at any straw that kept me angry with Noah because the alternative… The alternative terrified me."Stay on my side of the fence."I mimicked the creep's deep voice from weeks back. "You take after him."

"George is my stepfather," Noah corrected me in a soft tone. "He's not my real dad. That title goes to the scum bag who left me to clean up his mess."

"Go scum-bag dad," I muttered and I immediately regretted my horrible words.

"Noah, I'm sorry," I told him, but I already knew it was too late to apologize.

The atmosphere around us changed…chilled.

Noah was breathing hard and fast and was silent for so long I thought he would never speak to me again. But then he let rip. "Do you haveanyidea of what it feels like to have a stepfather just shoved on you when you're fifteen – one that hates your goddamn guts?" His body stiffened beside mine and I shifted away. "A guy who uses your mother'streatmentas a goddamn bargaining tool?"

"Noah…"

"Do you know what it feels like, Teagan?" he roared. "To be fucking alone in a family you don’t belong to – with people who make you sick to your goddamn stomach?" Noah jerked away from me and then I heard the sound of his fist pummeling the wall of the elevator.

"Do you know what it's like?" he roared. "Having to pay back the debt of the woman who spent the best part of your childhood shoving you into cupboards and locking you away in a basement for weeks on end because she's convinced the fucking world is against her?"

"Noah, please stop…"

"Or being the one to console her every time one of mydaddies– and those were a dime a dozen – left in the middle of the night?" he sneered. "Have you ever been afraid Teagan, truly afraid of your parents? Have you ever been cold or felt the absolute fucking agony that is hunger pains?"

"No," I replied quietly.

"No," he sneered. "Of course you haven’t. A good little girl like you wouldn’t have a clue…"

"It that where your mom is?" I asked him nervously. "Having treatment?"

"Yes, she's havingtreatment," he spat in a mocking tone. "George is out doing god knows what, fucking god knows who, and Ellie's probably following suit. Is that enough information for you, Teagan, or would you like to know some more so you can ridicule me and talk down to me like I'm a piece of shit?"

"I don’t know why I said that about your dad," I confessed, burying my face in my knees. I wasn’t good with the dark. I was less than good in enclosed spaces. I was two seconds away from having the mother of all panic attacks.

"I do," he muttered. "You said it because you're a heartless bitch who gets off on hurting me."

"No, I don’t get off on hurting you," I whispered softly, burying my face against my knees. "I'm sorry for what I said about your dad," I choked out. "I have a tendency to run my mouth off when I'm agitated."

My throat felt like it was closing up and I truly tried to stop what I knew was coming next. The second the first sob tore from my throat I felt a wave a bitterness settle over me. I wasn’t a crier and I really hated that Noah got to see me weak.

"Dammit, Teagan, don’t cry," Noah's voice wafted through the darkness. I heard his heavy sigh and that pissed me off even more.

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