Thorn (Carter Kids #2)

by Chloe Walsh

  “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 calle
d 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.

  I was fairly certain that my mouth was hanging open as I watched our friends all squeeze into the booth to get their picture taken with Noah. “Did she just…”

  “Sit on his lap? Yep.” Sean filled in for me, watching the same spectacle unfold, as Stephanie sank down on Noah’s lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, flaunting her big breasts in his face like a weapon of male destruction.

  “Come on, Babe,” Sean said in a determined tone of voice, reaching for my hand. “Let’s squash this.”

  I shook my head when he took my hand to lead me over. “I’m not going over there,” I told him as panic clawed its way out of my stomach and into my throat. Tonight, I was determined to be on my best behavior. No outbursts and no slapping, but Stephanie was pushing me. Seriously, that woman was number one on my throat punch list. I watched Noah as he smiled and placated his admirers. Envy swirled inside of me. It was a natural emotion for me and when it came to Noah Messina, jealousy was my middle name. Tugging on his hand, I dug my heels into the plush carpet. “I mean it, Sean. I…I need to go.”

  “No,” he countered, dragging me across the dance floor to the booth where our friends were fan-girling all over my ex. Shoving me forward, Sean kept a death grip on my hand. “You need to step up,” he argued. “That is your man, Teagan Connolly. So get off your high horse and go claim him.”

  “What if he doesn’t want to be claimed?” I asked, admitting my deepest fears. “What if we go over there and he ignores me?” Or worse, walks away again…

  “Well, it looks to me like you have two choices,” Sean grumbled. “You can either go over there and face him like a woman, or be a coward and let Stephanie sink her claws into him. Pick your poison, Teagan.”

  “Okay,” I whispered, steeling myself for rejection and giving up the fight of trying to breakaway from Sean. I was going to have to face Noah sometime. I knew I didn’t deserve him, but I wanted him badly enough to make a fool of myself trying. Noah was worth swallowing my pride and, as Sean had so sweetly pointed out, getting off my high horse for. I wanted to be the woman who went home with him tonight. Pathetic or not, there it was. I wanted Noah Messina more now than when I was seventeen and I was, once again, willing to bend my morals in order to be with him.

  I was in serious shit.

  NICK AND HIS MEN DIDN’T STAY LONG, just long enough to sign and raise a toast to my extended contract, before leaving to catch his flight.

  He’d put a tab on the bar for us for the rest of the night, with strict instructions for me to let loose and enjoy myself before the grueling training started up next week.

  Letting loose and enjoying myself was a fucking impossible thing for me to do after the information I had received tonight, but I was trying.

  It was like Lucky had said; if they knew where she was, they would have got to her by now. Teagan was safer here than anywhere else, and I needed to calm my ass down.

  Quincy was celebrating the good news by drinking himself into a stupor and mauling every woman that looked sideways at him. For a man in his forties, Q had the stamina of a horned up teenager.

  Lucky was being his normal self; cool, calm, collected and completely unfazed by the multi-million dollar contract I had just signed – or the women who were throwing themselves at us.

  I watched in amusement as he continued to drink it up, all the while fending off overly friendly female admirers, grinning and politely declining every offer, like I knew he would.

  I had met the kind of women he messed around with and I knew full well that none of the women that had approached us tonight would work out for him.

  The guy had two rules he lived and fucked by – never bring them home, and never go back for seconds – and none of these women fit that bill. The women here tonight were good women, horny and up for a good time, but no way in hell would they be up for the kinds of things he was.

  To be fair to Lucky, it was a good fucking rule, guaranteed to keep feelings and emotions out of it, but sometimes it bothered me that nothing seemed to faze him. It was like that part of Lucky had checked out years ago when his girl was killed and he was just…blank inside.

  Sitting back with a beer in my hand, I felt on edge as I studied everything that was going on around us. As much as I tried, I couldn’t fucking relax. I was coiled tight with tension, waiting for that prick to make his next move...

  “You’re Noah Messina, right?” a smoking hot redhead asked, stepping into my line of vision and distracting me from my thoughts.

  “The last time I checked,” I replied dryly. Never mind the fighting; I deserved that huge ass pay rise for putting up with this constant fucking interruption into my life.

  Stifling back a growl, I put on my professional face and asked, “what can I do for you, Red?” even though I already knew what she wanted. They only ever wanted two things; my dick and a photograph. Well, one of those was out of bounds, so I gave her the nod for the picture.

  Squealing, she flagged down her gang of friends and waved them over before squeezing past Quincy and Lucky and landing her ass down on my lap.

  “I watch all your fights,” she purred as she wrapped her arms around my neck and posed while her friend snapped away with her phone. “You are so much bigger in real life.”

  “I bet,” I grumbled, resisting the urge to toss her on the floor. “Are you done?”

  “Just one more,” she promised before calling out, “Guys, come here. I want a photo of all of us with The Machine.”

  “Jesus Christ,” I muttered under my breath. “Fine.”

  “Excuse me,” the brunette who was taking the photos said to Lucky. “Would you mind taking a photo of all of us with Noah?”

  “Sure thing,” Lucky chuckled standing up and taking her phone, highly amused at my discomfort. “That’s what I’m here for.”

  I glared at Lucky who was laughing his ass off at my expense. He knew I hated this shit. Within seconds of calling her friends over I was surrounded by three guys and the brunette, who had settled down beside Red. I tolerated the photographs, I even did the small talk and pretended I was interested, but when Red dropped her hand, I’d had more than enough.

  “No chance, sweetheart,” I growled in her ear. I wasn’t putting out. She needed to discover some boundaries and learn not to put her pussy on a taken man’s lap. “Up. Now.”

  “What’s the problem?” Red purred, clearly not taking the hint, continuing to massage my dick with her hand. “I’m not looking for anything serious,” she added, “just one night with no strings.”

  I wasn’t fucking buying, but from the hungry gaze Quincy was giving her, he was, so I stood up and dumped her on his lap before sitting back down.

  �
�Not interested?” Lucky chuckled, bumping my shoulder with his when he sat down beside me.

  “If I’m getting my dick wet, I can guaran-fucking-tee it won’t be her pussy around it,” I growled, feeling pissed off and flustered.

  Swiping a bottle of Bud off the table in front of me, I chugged it back, draining it dry. “I need to go see her, man,” I hissed, slamming the empty bottle back down on the table. “I can’t fucking sit here and pretend nothing’s wrong.”

  “Your luck just rolled, Messina,” Lucky replied in a low tone, inclining his head towards the dance floor. “Looks like the bait has come to you.”

  My eyes scanned the room and locked on Thorn. She was huddled next to a lanky, blonde – clearly gay – guy who was trying to force her over to our table.

  All of my anger over the way she had treated me the other day evaporated the second I laid eyes on her, which was what always happened; I couldn’t stay mad at her and I couldn’t stay away from her.

  I wished she would hurry the fuck up and make her decision. I needed to know whether I was chasing after her ass tonight or not.

  A burning ache settled in my chest and I found myself rubbing the skin over my heart as I watched her. Jesus Christ, she looked like an angel, dressed in white with that blonde hair of hers flowing down her body. All she was missing was the halo.

  “An angel with a devil tongue,” Lucky piped up, reading my thoughts, and I smirked. Teagan had a tongue like a cobra; venomous and posed to strike when threatened. She was constantly on guard and I loved the fact that I had always been able to penetrate those walls she built around herself. From day one I had gotten underneath those walls she put up to keep people out. Problem was, it was the same for me. At some point between wrecking my car and breaking my heart, she had gotten under my skin and had become my greatest weakness.