Page 84 of Treacherous

Instead I felt exhilarated, confused and incredibly reckless. My body was hosting a gymnastics competition between the contents of my stomach and my heart seemed to be winning, fluttering like a crazed butterfly inside my chest…"I'm just…I'm confused as hell about you – about how you make me feel," I admitted in a torn voice. "You scare me."

Noah's eyes softened as he pulled me closer.

Cupping my cheeks with the palms of his hands, he pressed a toe-curling kiss to my lips and I couldn’t stop myself from sagging against him. "I really don’t think you have a clue of what you're doing to me," he said gently as he looked into my eyes and tucked a tendril of hair behind my ear. "Of how far astray you're leading me." His eyes danced with humor. "You're a bad influence on me, Thorn."

"I'm the good one here," I told him with a smirk. "You're the one who partakes in criminal activities in a place ridiculously named theRing of Fire…"

"That's not my choice, Thorn," Noah replied in a serious tone. His brown eyes burned into mine. "Ihaveto do that."

"Why?"

The street lights illuminated a faint scar above Noah's right eyebrow and I couldn’t stop myself from raising my hand and cupping his cheek.

"Noah," I sighed as a heavy weight settled on my chest. "You're worth more than this bullshit life you're living," I told him, surprising us both when my voice cracked slightly.

Noah visually shuddered from my touch. He stared down at me like I was some strange creature he couldn’t remember the name of.

"Why do I…" I paused and asked myself what the hell I was doing, but the words just slipped out. "Why do I get the feeling that you need someone to fight for you as ferociously as you fight for those men…?"

The words were barely out of my mouth when Noah was pulled backwards and dragged away from me.

"We've been looking for you," a huge red-headed man snarled as he grabbed Noah by the back of his neck.

"Teagan, get in the car," Noah managed to say before he was shoved face down on the sidewalk by the huge man who'd dragged him away from me.

I didn’t get in the car.

Instead I screamed like the banshee and prayed someone somewhere would have the common sense to call the police.

"My father wanted us to remind you what happens to defectors," the man added before nodding his head in my direction. "Consider this your first, last, and only warning."

He then held Noah down as another three men came forward and formed a circle around his body.

"Hey, get the hell off him," I roared, my tone frantic, as I rushed towards the men who were now kicking and punching him.

"Noah," I screamed as I thumped my fists against one man's back, desperately trying to break through and get to him.

My stomach lurched when I saw Noah being held face-down by the scruff of the neck and beaten to a pulp.

There was blood caked all over his hair and face.

An overwhelming feeling coursed through me, urging me to shield him –save him– without thinking twice about it, I scrambled over to where he was laying and, shoving the man's hand away from Noah's neck, I covered his head and shoulders with my body.

Some asswipe managed to catch the side of my face with his boot and I cried out in pain, but remained exactly where I was.

"You got your pussy fighting your corner, kid?" One of the men – the one whose leg's I managed to squeeze under – sneered. "George told you…"

"You can tellGeorgeto go fuck himself," I snarled, not having a goddamn clue who I was talking about. I looked up at their faces and grimaced. My eyes locked on the man in the blue shirt with the red hair. He looked familiar, but I just…I couldn’t remember where I'd seen him. "Because if I ever meet the man in the flesh he's going to be walking like a constipated cowboy with a boot shoved up his ass."

"Teagan," Noah warned in a quiet tone as he slowly pulled himself to his feet, taking me with him. He warned me into silence with one look and the slightest shake of his head.

"Teagan?" Blue Shirt whistled in surprise. "The next-door neighborTeagan?"

Noah stiffened beside me.

"You've got more balls than brains, kid," the man chuckled. "You saw what happened to Kruger's career when he got involved…"

"Thishas nothing to do with her, JD," Noah said stiffly, limping forward so that he was blocking me from the men's view. His stance was protective more than aggressive. "And you can tell your father that I haven’t forgotten a damn thing."

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