Page 98 of Treacherous

"Did you mean what you said to Kyle?" I asked Noah as he pressed his forehead to mine. "That I'm your girlfriend?"

"Yeah," he husked and my heart soared in my chest. "But there's more stuff you should know about me before you decide to be with me," he whispered. "And I can't tell you…"

"Why can't you tell me?" I asked him.

"Because I want to keep you safe," he admitted in a vulnerable tone. "And I'm terrified the more you know the more danger you'll be in…"

A tremor of fear rolled down my spine.

He was warning me.

I should listen to him – to my gut instinct that was screaming danger…

But I didn’t.

Ignoring the spasm of fear I wrapped my arms around his neck and let out a sigh. "I'm happy I did what I did with you tonight." I closed my eyes and bit down on my lip. "I just wanted to tell you that."

"If we do this Teagan," Noah said in a gruff tone as his hands smoothed over my hips. "It's not going to be easy – being with me…" He paused and trailed his thumbs against my cheekbones. "It's gonna be rough, Thorn...I'm the worst kind of wrong for you."

"I'm well aware of that," I admitted honestly. "But I also know there's more good in you than there is bad, Noah."

Noah looked at me for a long time before letting out a weary sigh. "How the hell did we get here?"

"Get where?"

Pressing his lips to my throat, Noah ran his tongue over my pulse. "To the point where I can't fucking breathe without you."

His words shot a tremor through my body and I let out a sigh. "You broke my windshield," I breathed, tilting my neck sideways to accommodate his lips. "And I…"

My words were smothered by Noah's lips as they crashed down on mine, searing me and I was sure I'd never be the same again. I would never understand him, and maybe that was okay. I only had to accept him and my heart seemed to do that without consulting my brain so I figured that would be enough. I was taking a gamble with Noah – on being with him – but I knew in my bones I'd never feel like this with anyone else...

"Okay, break it up," a male voice – I recognized as Derek's – said in an amused tone. "I've been given instructions to walk this one home."

Reluctantly I pulled away from Noah. "I guess I'll see you…tomorrow or something?" I muttered, feeling flustered and a little unsure.

"You definitely will," Noah told me with a reassuring smile.

****

Chapter 20

Teagan

"Pass the milk, Teagan," Max grumbled during breakfast Sunday morning as he stirred his mug of coffee with a spoon. "Today if possible."

We were sitting opposite one another at the kitchen table. Max was testing my patience – and he was also marginally closer to the milk than I was – and he damn well knew it.

Reluctantly, I shoved the carton an inch closer to my uncle and I did so with as little enthusiasm as humanly possible before resuming my post of ignoring the enemy.

The jackass had grounded me for the duration of my Christmas holidays – and had even taken two weeks leave from work to observe me. The stipulations of my punishment included not leaving the house, no sleepovers, and the confiscation of my car-keys, phone and laptop. Max also made it perfectly clear that I was to have absolutely no contact of the physical form with the boy next door, be it fighting or fondling – his actual words.

So I'd basically spent the past two weeks staring out the window longingly. I hadn’t seen Noah since that night and the only thing keeping me slightly sane was the fact that he'd knocked on my front door every single day. I thought it was pretty great of him considering Max always answered and hurled abuse at him. But Noah always told him the same thing;you can try to keep her from me, but I'm not going anywhere…

On the upside, Max'semergency leavewas up and he was due back at the hospital today.

On the downside, the tension between us now was palpable and I knew in my heart and soul that we'd lost a part of our relationship that could never be repaired or replaced…

I was mentally counting down the minutes until Max left for work. I didn’t want to be around him anymore – not since the words 'I have absolutely no intentions of wasting my life raising another kid that's not mine'came out of his mouth two weeks ago. Betrayed didn’t even begin to explain how I felt around him now.

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