Page 89 of Treacherous

"Teagan?" Max demanded from somewhere behind me. "What's wrong?"

"Just leave it, okay?" I mumbled, feeling thoroughly confused.

What the hell had just happened?Too much in one night, that's what…

"No, I won't leave it. You're upset – something has obviously happened," Max continued, playing the role of the concerned uncle superbly. "And I want to know what it was."

Well, let's see, I let the next-door neighbor fuck me in an elevator shaft…oh yeah, and get this, his stepdad is some major crime-lord who gets off on abusing sick women and blackmailing their sons. My heart feels like someone took a razor to it. My virginity is driving off in a black Lexus. My body is throbbing and all I want is a hug from a guy who won’t tell me the truth…"I have a headache, that's all." I lifted my head and forced myself to make eye contact with him. "I'll be fine after a shower."

"A headache," Max repeated in a disbelieving tone. He stared at me for a long moment before shaking his head. "Whatever you say," he grumbled as he shrugged on his coat. "I have to go to work – oh yeah, and don’t forget to call Hope," Max added as he grabbed his keys and made his way towards the door. "She wants to know if you're still planning on sleeping over."

Great, that was all I needed...

"I'll do that," I called out, but the sound of the front door slamming let me know Max hadn’t waited for my reply.

****

Chapter 18

Noah

I watched Teagan storm into her house and slam her front door, knowing full well I couldn’t go inside my house tonight. JD showing up outside the hotel meant I needed to steer clear of the house until he calmed down.

Hell, I'd taken a risk even coming back to the street, but there was no way Iwasn’tdropping Teagan home after what had happened between us in the elevator.

I sent a text to Low, asking if it was okay to crash at his place as I sat in my car staring up at Teagan's house until her bedroom light came on. And then I had to clench my eyes shut and force myself to stop imagining what she was doing up there…

A virgin…

I hadn’t been expecting that – hadn’t even realized it until afterwards when I saw her thighs. I'd never been with a virgin before and that knowledge did nothing to stem the confusing emotions raging inside of me.

Dammit, I screwed up big time by taking that job from Gonzalez. George was going to make me pay for it and that was fine. I had no problem paying for my mistakes, but I fucking knew in my heart that the stakes had changed.

Tonight had changed everything and I'd unintentionally managed to put the one person who meant something to me in danger…

Reluctantly cranking the engine of my car I reversed out of Teagan's driveway and decided to drive the familiar route eastwards – the one I both craved and dreaded – to the Haven-Bay Clinic while I waited for Low to reply.

As I sat in the visiting room of the Haven-Bay rehabilitation center my mind kept drifting back to Teagan and what she'd said to me...

"Why do I get the feeling that you need someone to fight for you as ferociously as you fight for those men?"

God, those words caused me to shudder and I dropped my head with a sigh. Teagan didn’t know how right she was…

"Hello Noah."

My entire frame stiffened from the sound ofhervoice.

Exhaling slowly I stood and faced the frail blonde woman standing in the doorway – the woman who was partially responsible for my train wreck of a life.

"Hello mom."

"What are you doing here?" my mother asked me as she looked around the room. Her gaze landed on my face and she looked through me with indifference…there was no love or even fondness in her eyes and that hurt like something fierce. "Where's George?"

"Fuck George," I snapped, feeling infuriated beyond belief. It was a fucking disgrace that I had to ask his permission to see my own mother, but then again it was her fault the bastard had so much power over us. "I needed to see you," I told her in as calm a tone as I could muster. "We need to talk."

Her brown eyes were wide and cautious as she pushed the rim of her glasses higher on her nose – a nervous trait – and slowly moved further into the room. "Why didn’t you write me?" she asked as she lowered herself onto the brown leather couch opposite me. "You know I don’t like seeing you."

You would think after eighteen years of hearing shit like this I would be immune to her lack of feeling towards me, but no it still stung like a bitch.

---