Thorn: Carter Kids #2 (32 page)

Memories of my mother locked away in that institution flooded me and I jerked to my feet. “You don’t want any part of this,” I told him as I paced the floor. “Trust me.”

“You seem to have confused me with a man who has something left to
lose
,” Lucky snapped, standing up and shoving me hard in the chest. “All I got in this whole damn world is you, Noah. And I’ll be fucked if I sit back and let you handle this on your own. So it’s like I said earlier,
what’s the plan
?”

If this was anyone else I wouldn’t think twice about refusing their help, but Lucky could handle himself. He’d seen the ugly side to life. He knew what it felt like to drain a man of his life, and he would do it again without a second’s hesitation if I asked him to, and he knew that I would do the same for him. That was a fucking bond like I’d never experienced before. It was like he said; he was my brother.

“It’s gonna be close to impossible to find him,” I told him. “He has a remarkable talent for going to ground and disappearing.”

“Fair enough, but you’ve got one thing going for you that you didn’t have before,” Lucky replied, strategizing. “You’re Noah fucking Messina. You’re a celebrity man, in the public eye. JD can’t get to you directly and he knows it, which means…” He paused mid sentence and shook his head.

“Which means?” I demanded, heart hammering in my chest.

“Which means he’ll have to use another method to flush you out,” he replied in a flat tone. “He’s gonna bait you, man. Spider web tactics. Have you come to him.”

“Bait me with what?” I hissed, furious. “Those fuckers took everything from me seven years ago.”

“I can think of one exception,” Lucky shot back. “Teagan.”

“No!” I shook my head, rejecting the thought that I had once again put her in danger. “No goddamn way. It’s been seven years. She’s off their radar.”

“You sure about that?” he countered. “It’s like you said, Noah, no one is ever truly off their radar, not men like JD, so why would he forget about the girl you walked away from his father for?” Shaking his head, he sighed heavily. “I hate to tell you, man, but whether you want to admit it or not, that woman is your kryptonite and your enemies know it. That makes her the only target.”

“Fuck,” I hissed, pulling at the ends of my hair in frustration. “I need to get her out of here. Someplace safe.”

“Look around, Noah. We’re in the back ass of nowhere in Ireland, man. There’s nowhere safer for her to be,” he interjected. “JD obviously hasn’t traced her down here,” he added, “so let’s concentrate on keeping it that way –”

Lucky paused when the door flew inwards, slapping against the opposite wall.

“Come on, you pussies,” Quincy snarled, glaring at us. “You don’t keep Nick Leversteen waiting.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Q,” I roared. “Give me a damn minute.”

“We’re coming,” Lucky interjected, patting my shoulder. “Calm down, man. We’ve got this,” he whispered in my ear before pushing me out the door.

ON THE WALK TO THE PUB
, I made a silent vow to
not
cause any scenes, but the dynamics of the night changed drastically when I walked into Reilly’s bar and locked eyes on none other than Ciarán fucking Crowley perched at our usual table with Eoin, another hurler but less touchy feely than his captain, Stephanie the cougar, Imogen, a girl I was only vaguely familiar with, and Liam.

Three rounds in and I was quickly learning that coming out tonight had been a massive mistake. Aside from the evil glares and snide comments Ciarán was throwing my way, Liam was in a horrible mood. He dutifully ignored me and froze me out of every conversation, purposefully keeping his back turned to me, which was quite a feat considering we were sitting at a round table. Besides Sean who was his loving self, Imogen was the only other person who made a conscious effort to include me, but it was clear that I wasn’t welcome.

When my phone rang just as I was draining my fifth Cosmo, I felt like weeping in joy. Slipping out of my seat, I shoved through the throngs of people inside the bar and out the front.

“Hi, Teegs.”

“Hope!” I sagged in relief at the sound of my roommate’s voice on the other line. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” I heard her say quietly.

“Are you crying?” I asked, appalled, sticking my finger in my other ear to drown out the bustle around me.

“Oh, Teagan,” she sobbed down the line. “He’s engaged.”

“Who’s engaged?” I asked, confused.

“Jordan.”

“What? No he isn’t.” I shook my head, rejecting this mind fuckery. “Hope, he can’t be.”

“He is,” she sniffled. “Oh god.”

“Where are you?” I asked, worried.

“I just landed at Shannon,” she told me. “I should be home in a few hours –”

“Dammit,” I muttered when the line went dead. I slapped my piece of crap phone with my hand in frustration before trying to switch it back on but it was lifeless.

“Having a good night?” Stephanie’s husky voice came from behind me and I jumped before swinging around and receiving a mouthful of second hand smoke.

“I’ve had better,” I spluttered, waving my hand in front of my face to blow the smoke away from me. “Happy birthday, by the way,” I offered as an after thought. “You look great.” She did look great and it sucked. Stephanie was wearing a red bodice style dress that emphasized her large bosom and killer curves, complimenting her flaming red hair.

“Can I give you some advice, sweetie?” she asked, before sucking on her cigarette. “Woman to woman?”

“No, but I get the feeling you’re going to give me some anyway,” I muttered under my breath as she closed the gap between us, dwarfing me by a good four inches.

“Stop stringing Liam along,” she said cattily. “He’s one of the good ones and you made him look like an idiot.”

“Excuse me?” I blanched, not sure I was hearing this right.

“You’ve led him on for years.” Stepping closer, she brushed a tendril of my hair back off my shoulder and smiled sweetly. “Sleeping with him only to break his heart.”

“Whoa,” I interrupted her, having heard quite enough. “Just back up a minute.” I held my hands up, backing away from her, determined not to make a scene.

Liam and I weren’t together and, with the exception of that one drunken night months ago,
nothing
had ever happened between us. But I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t fuming that Liam had discussed it with
her.
This outing was really starting to show the wolves from the lambs and I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth.

“I have no idea why you’re bringing up my personal history with Liam into this conversation, Stephanie,” I told her, forcing myself to remain calm. “But if it’s because you want to get with him then by all means be my guest. He’s a free agent.”

“It would have been nice of you to let him know that before your dirty laundry was splashed all over today’s papers,” she hissed.

“What?” I shook my head and gaped at her. “Seriously…what?”

“Oh come on, Teagan,” she sneered, rolling her eyes. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“I’m not pretending,” I shot back, feeling the heat creep into my cheeks. This woman was on some special sort of drugs. What a freak. “I genuinely have
no
idea what you’re talking about.”

“There you are!” Sean’s voice filled my ears seconds before his arm came swooping around my shoulder. “You ready to hit the club?” he asked as the others filed out of the bar.

“That woman is such a bitch,” I muttered as I watched her walk arm in arm down the street with both Ciarán and Liam.

“Now, now, Babe,” Sean chuckled, tucking me into his side and protecting me from the cold. “Jealousy is an ugly trait.”

“I’m not jealous of her, Sean,” I shot back, disgusted he would even think that. “She’s welcome to Liam, since he apparently likes to talk about his bedtime antics.” Knowing Liam had told her about us made me sick to my stomach. Memories of how he had treated me when we were teenagers flooded me. He was the same rat bastard who had dumped me during my very first blowjob, then jumped into a relationship with another girl from school before the bed was cold. I was far from pristine but Liam was no knight in shining armor either.

“Then what’s the problem?” Sean asked when our friends were well out of earshot.

“I’m mad because she had the cheek to corner me outside the bar,” I grumbled. “And start spurting all this crap about how I should have thought about Liam’s feelings before my dirty laundry was splashed on the papers.” Shaking my head, I leaned closer into him. “That woman is warped.”

“Ahh…about that,” Sean chuckled nervously when we reached the entrance of Krash Bar. “You kind of made the front page of today’s papers with Noah.”

“What?” I shrieked, twisting around to gape at him. “And you didn’t think to tell
me
?”

“I thought you already knew,” he replied, grinning shamelessly as he paid us into the club. “And that’s why you were holed up in the apartment.”

I removed my jacket and took Sean’s one out of his hands before handing them into the cloakroom attendant, along with my bag.

“No,” I hissed following after him as he stepped into the club and made a beeline for the bar. “I didn’t fucking
know
. If I knew I wouldn’t be
here
.” I gestured around and then back to myself. “And especially not dressed like this!”

“Well we’re here now,” he said cheerfully. “And you look fierce. So let’s just enjoy the night.”

“Fine,” I muttered, ordering a round of tequila and paying for it with the emergency twenty I had stuffed into the cup of my dress. “But I’m getting drunk,” I told him as I sprinkled a dash of salt on the back of my hand and then his before quickly licking it off and tossing my shot back. Grabbing a slice lemon, I shoved it in my mouth and sucked, cringing when the salty tang was overpowered by the bitterness of the lemon juice.

“Guys, are you coming?” Imogen called out, waving us over to a security guarded door. “Stephanie just talked us into the VIP section upstairs.”

“We’re coming,” I called out before snatching Sean’s shot and tossing it back. “Consider it compensation for your omission of the truth,” I slurred, patting his chest with my hand.

Sean raised his brow and smiled. “Come on you little firecracker,” he chuckled, taking my hand and helping me over to the door. “Let’s get you away from the bar for a while.”

Surprisingly, security did let us up the staircase to the VIP section and I snickered when we reached the top of the stairs. “I wonder which one Steph the Cougar slept with to get a free pass in here.”

“Never mind which one of them she slept with,” Sean muttered, pointing towards the far corner of the room.

My gaze trailed over to where Sean was pointing and my heart sank into my ass. “Oh crap,” I whispered, coming to an abrupt stop the second my eyes landed on Noah. He was in one of the leather booths on the other side of the dance floor, surrounded by staff, fans and
our
fucking friends.

Disgust and envy flooded me as I watched Stephanie squeeze past the other men who were sitting in the booth. When she reached Noah, I watched like a hawk as she leaned into his ear. I couldn’t hear what she was saying to him, the music was drowning everything out, but when Noah nodded once and Stephanie pulled out her phone, gesturing for the others to follow her, I quickly figured it out.