Tame: Carter Kids #3 (13 page)

I couldn't feel my ass.

Never mind being asleep, I was fairly certain my butt cheeks were flat out dead.

Sitting on an upturned crate in the corner of a downtrodden gym for the past eight hours wasn't exactly my idea of fun times, but Noah was on fire tonight.

I'd never seen a man do so many chin ups in my life.

I'd stopped counting at eighty-seven – I'd had to because if I had to watch Quincy punch Noah in the gut one more time during a chin up I was going to kick some ass of my own.

It was a masochistic training regime; taking a beating while working every muscle in his body to the max – but it worked for Noah.

He seemed to thrive on the pain and intensity.

We had arrived in Dallas just before noon this morning, and just like he'd always done in every new place we'd stayed since we arrived in the states, Noah went straight to the gym to check out his latest facilities.

It didn't matter what city we were in, Noah always sought out the gyms populated by lower middle class to work out in.

It was obvious that he preferred being around people similar to those he'd grown up with. Fancy equipment and shiny boxing rings weren't my husband's thing.

He was a backstreet fighter, he made no apologies for who he was and how he was raised, and his fans loved him more for it. 

And me being the pathetic, career-less woman I was, tagged along with him.

It was now a quarter after eight in the evening and I was bloody starving.

The fans that had been in the gym earlier had graciously dispersed an hour or two ago, giving Noah some time to focus on his training for his upcoming fight tomorrow night.

The only ones left now were Noah, Quincy, Tommy, Beau, Lewis, and three other men whose names I didn't know – or care to learn.

I'd met so many new people lately that I'd quickly given up trying to remember names. The only ones I kept count of were the ones who were continuously present.

As usual, I sat alone in the corner, and as usual, no one spoke to me. I was dutifully ignored by every member of Noah's team.

At least they were consistent in their treatment of me.

Lucky was out running 'errands'. I knew what kind of errands Lucky was running and they involved the illegal kind.

He was hunting around every lowdown bar and strip joint in town for JD and his men.

He did the same thing every time we arrived in a new place, and to be fair to Lucky, he was very thorough because none of us had gotten so much as a whiff of JD or his gang of goons since Ireland.

The guys thought I didn’t know about their little
routine
, but I was blonde, not stupid.

"Teagan?"

Lifting my head, I noticed Beau walking towards me and I think I withered a little inside.

Oh god, this was all I needed…

It was a real pity Beau was such an asshole.

His good looks and pretty blue eyes were overshadowed by that horrible personality of his.

"Yes?" I forced myself to say when Beau was standing in front of me, clad in his standard gym attire that consisted of shorts and a wife beater.

"You're distracting him," Beau said coldly, arms crossed over his chest. "Quincy's wants you out of here while he's training."

What was new? "Quincy never wants me anywhere Noah is," I replied in a weary tone.

Yeah, being unwanted was a joy to behold...

Inhaling a calming breath, I placed the paperback that I had been reading down on my lap before answering him.

"Look, Beau." I was trying real hard to stay out of these assholes' way. "I'm not bothering anyone. I'm sitting in the corner." Picking up my book, I waved it in front of my face. "
Reading
."

"Don’t get comfortable, Teagan," Beau hissed in a low tone before slowly backing away. "Your time here is temporary."

"Yeah, yeah," I shot back, smothering my hurt with sarcasm, as I waved him off with my hand. "I'm nothing but a whore draped in Noah's money." Refocusing on my paperback, I pretended that I didn't care that nobody liked me and in all honesty, I'd endured worse bullies in my life. Beau and the guys were a litter of kittens in comparison to Ellie Dennis and Reese Tanner.

Ugh, the mere thought of Reese's name caused every nerve in my body to stand on end.

One of these days I was going to cut that bitch.

It was a silent vow I had made to myself when I discovered she had raped my husband – one that I re-pledged when I discovered she would inevitably show up on this tour at some stage.

Unable to push the
she-bitch
from my mind, I tucked my book into my purse and stormed through the gym in the direction of Noah. I had too much anger burning inside of me, and Beau's taunts and threats only antagonized me further. "Will she be there tomorrow night?" I demanded when I reached my husband.

Stopping the punching bag he had been pummeling from swaying, Noah wiped a fine layer of sweat from his brow with his forearm. "Will who be where tomorrow night?" He was breathing hard and was dripping in sweat.

"That bitch Reese Tanner," I all but snarled. Anger burned inside of me. "Do you know when we'll see her again?" Noah had a fight tomorrow night. Those fights were always followed by after parties. I needed to know if I was going to run into her again. I wanted to be prepared…

"I couldn't care less about that woman, Thorn," Noah told me in a breathless tone. "And neither should you."

"She's going to get her comeuppance for what she did to you." I rested my hip against the huge training bag, and mentally patted Noah on the back for being able to make this two-hundred-pound bag bend like his bitch.

"I've been known to throw a mean right hook, you know," I added, making a conscious effort not to drool over my husband. He wasn't making it easy though.

Bobbing back and forth on his bare feet, Noah looked inhumanly beautiful. Clad only in a pair of black shorts, his muscles were on full display, not to mention his sinfully sexy tattoos.

On Noah's back was a huge crucifix with wings sprouting out of each side. The wolf on his left calf had been there for as long as I'd known him. His arms were covered in swirls and loops.

My eyes wandered over his stomach to the Celtic scribe on his hipbone and then to the red rose on his side with a jagged lone thorn sticking out.

Letting out a grunt that sounded like a mixture of impatience and lust, Noah hooked his hands under my arms and lifted me out of the way.

"Stem the homicidal notions, Thorn." Pressing a quick kiss to my forehead, he fell back into stance, fists up. "She's not worth the hassle."

"No," I countered evenly. "But you are."

"Am I?" he muttered under his breath. "Could've fooled me."

Ouch…

I would
not
cry.

I refused to give any of these bastards the satisfaction of knowing they were getting to me.

I could handle their jeers and their hate, but I couldn't handle that from Noah.

He hadn't thrown shit at me for a while and I'd honestly hoped that we were over that part…

"I'm here," I offered, loathing myself for my weakness. "I'm with you." Folding my arms across my self protectively, I forced back a cold shiver. "I've given up my whole life to follow you."

So let me back in…

Stopping the punching bag once more, Noah turned and faced me. "I'm sorry, Thorn." He was slightly breathless. Sweat trickled from his brow as his eyes roamed over my body. "I shouldn’t have said that," he added before falling back into a furious pattern of uppercuts and body blows.

"No," I whispered in defeat before turning away and heading back to my crate. "You shouldn’t."

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Lucky had returned from his errands and was prowling towards me with a pair of boxing gloves.

I sagged in visible relief.

Lucky was fast becoming my best friend around here.

His eyes met mine and he smirked. "Ready for round two, Blondie?"

I forced a smile and crooked a finger towards him. "I was born ready."

My wife was too damn sexy for her own good.

Teagan looked fucking gorgeous as she bounced around on the gym mats, fists primed in front of her face – like a spunky little kitten – poised and ready to pounce on Lucky.

My former cellmate who was enabling this sparring session, was grinning at Teagan fondly – too fondly.

In fact, he was too fucking close to her altogether.

He needed to back up and quick.

This playacting friendship those two had quickly struck up was riling me up.

I was beyond agitated and I didn't like it.

Not one fucking bit.

"Concentrate, Messina," Quincy snapped, drawing me back to the task at hand.

Shaking my head, I dropped back and began jabbing the speed bag furiously. I couldn’t concentrate worth a damn when she was here, and when she wasn’t, my concentration levels were even worse.

I was a fuck up.

Sabotaging my goddamn marriage with cheap jabs and pathetic fucking grudges.

Goddammit, I wanted to kick my own ass for being such a dick to her…

I'd been trying so hard to put it all behind me, and hell, I'd been doing a good job.

"Good. Good. Good. Atta boy. Now…Release!"

I did.

Putting every ounce of strength I had in my body into my left fist, I slammed it against the bag, enjoying the feel of pressure in my muscles as the bag jolted back and forth violently.

"Good, now switch," Quincy ordered, breaking through my thoughts, and immediately my foot pattern changed.

I fell into stance, jabbing with my left, a sensation that was fucking alien to me.

Jabbing viciously, I worked myself up until my last ounce of energy released in the form of a right hook.

"God fucking dammit, Messina," Q snarled, tossing a bottle of water at me. "You couldn't beat on a pussy with that right hook."

"You don't beat on a pussy, Q," I shot back, stopping the bag with my hands. "You worship a pussy." Reaching down, I picked up the water bottle and took a deep swig. "You make that pussy yours."

Moving over to the heavy bag, I fell into stance, throwing punch after punch, enjoying the pain rippling through my body with every blow.

"You fuck pussy." Slamming my fist against the bag, I turned my head towards Quincy and smirked. "If you're fighting a pussy then you're doing something very wrong."

"You're a smart ass, aint you?" Quincy shot back, red faced. "Think you're the only one who's been at the top of the food chain?" Snarling, he turned his attention to the bag. "I was the king of this world long before you were a twinkle in your daddy's eye, Messina," he growled, slamming his fist into the bag. "Remember that."

I watched as Quincy stalked out of the gym, followed by Pepe, Fornez, and Kabrich, three suits from one of my main sponsors. 

My attention quickly landed on Thorn and Lucky playacting around.

Immediately, I was incensed with this visceral urge to mark my territory.

Jesus Christ.

My feet were moving towards her before my brain could catch up. 

"That wife of yours is like a miniature ninja," Lucky chuckled as he dodged Teagan's flawing fists.

"Can you give us…" I let my words trail off as Lucky nodded, quickly getting my drift.

"Okay, time out, Blondie," he called out to Teagan. Holding his hands up, he slowly backed away from us. "I need a smoke."

"Can we talk?" I asked, turning my attention on Thorn when Lucky was out of earshot.

I needed to fix this, somehow.

I just wasn't sure how.

"Nope," Thorn huffed. "I'm busy."

"Doing what?" I shot back, amused. "Looks like you've lost your sparring partner."

"Keep on walking, King Dick," she countered, face red. "I've had enough verbal sparring for one day."  

"I'll let you hit me," I offered, feeling like the king of dicks for hurting her.

"Fine," Teagan growled, turning to face me. "I'll spar with you if you promise not to go easy on me."

Cocking a brow, I smirked. "I don't hit girls,
baby
."

"Let’s go, Messina," she growled, holding her fists up all fucking wrong as she danced around the mat. "Hit me with your best shot."

I stood with my hands on my hips and a shit eating grin on my face as I watched my little Thorn stalk me, pouncing at me like a playful kitten and then skipping a few feet out of my reach, concentration etched on her pretty face.

"Careful," I teased, blocking one of her jabs with the palm of my hand. "You don't want to break a nail."

Teagan's face reddened in frustration and I let her pound me.

"I'm going to K.O your ass," she hissed, throwing her fists wildly towards my midsection.

I considered it foreplay for later when I would return the favor and pound into her. 

Stepping closer, Teagan faltered when I reached out and clenched her hip with one hand.

Hooking my foot under hers, I toppled her with one clean sweep.

She hit the mat with a thud, with me landing on top of her.

"If you were a gentleman you'd let me beat you," she groaned, eyes closed, as she lay on her back on the mat. 

"I thought you said I wasn't supposed to take it easy on you?"

Straddling Teagan's hips, I pinned her arms above her head and smiled. "And whatever gave you the impression that I was a gentleman?"

Her sweat glistened chest was rising and falling quickly, causing me all sorts of problems.

Lowering my face to hers, I pulled her swollen bottom lip into my mouth and sucked.

"You…-ake…-e…so… -ad," she growled, struggling to speak. "The… - orst… kind of… -oad… –age."

Chuckling, I released her lip and claimed the soft skin on her neck that was covering her hammering pulse. "Road rage?" I teased. "We're in a gym, Thorn."

"And now you're laughing at me, and making me even madder," she moaned. "Perfect. Thanks for that, asshole."

"I'm sorry," I confessed guiltily.

Teagan tensed beneath me.

Pressing a soft kiss to her skin, I tucked my face into her neck and sighed. "About earlier…about everything."

"Don’t do it again, Noah," she whispered. Sighing heavily, she wrapped her glove covered hands around my neck. "I'm tired of having my past thrown in my face."

A sudden shadow fell over us, followed by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Are you going to get some actual training done today, Noah?" Tommy asked, annoyance evident in his tone, as he glared down at us. "Don't make me ban her from the gym – because I will."

"I bet you'd love that," Teagan muttered under her breath, eyes narrowed on Tommy.

Slapping her hands against my chest, Teagan pushed against me and said, "I'm going back to the hotel. I'll see you after training."

Reluctantly, I rolled off Teagan and let her up. I remained on the mats, watching until she had stalked out of the gym, followed closely by Lewis.

"Was that necessary?" I asked, climbing to my feet.

"She's screwing with your form, Noah," Tommy shot back, unapologetically. "You've been missing training sessions. The ones you show up to, you're constantly distracted. You have a fight tomorrow, man."

Shaking his head, he added, "If you don't start getting your head in the game, Conroy is going to hand your ass to you."

"The only person who's gonna get his ass handed to him is you if you don't start being nicer to her." I had enough problems without having to worry about this crap.

He was convinced she would be the prime ingredient in my downfall.

Either way, I wasn’t giving her up again.

I loved her harder than I knew what to do with it.

"Everything and everyone she knows is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean and you need to start being a little more welcoming."

"I am being nice to her," Tommy shot back with a glare. "Nicer than she deserves after all the shit she's pulled on you."

"Be.
Nicer
," I warned him. "I mean it. Teagan is my wife. I won't have you disrespect her."

"We'll see how long that lasts," Tommy muttered under his breath.

"Don't make me choose," I snarled before turning my back on my best friend. "You won't win."