Thorn (Carter Kids #2)

by Chloe Walsh

  “Make sure you bring a photograph of her mother,” I told him. “There’s one on her nightstand.”

  Lucky nodded once before putting the phone to his ear. “Hey man, it’s me. I need a favor…” I heard him say before moving towards the window.

  “Noah!” Teagan’s voice boomed through my ears as she marched into the bedroom. “What are you hiding from me?”

  I couldn’t look at her face. It was too fucking painful.

  There was only one thing I could think of and that was Teagan was making it out of this mess alive.

  If I had to die in the process then so fucking be it.

  “NOAH!” I ROARED AS I STALKED through the suite towards the bedroom with my heart hammering in my chest.

  Stopping outside the bedroom door, I inhaled a deep calming breath, and braced myself before pushing it inward.

  “What are you hiding from me?” Clamping my hands firmly on my hips I drank in the sight of Noah, sitting on the edge of the bed with his head bent and hands hanging loosely between his legs.

  Lucky was standing by the window talking low and fast into his phone. When he noticed my presence, he nodded to Noah and walked out of the room, phone still welded to his ear as he barked orders to whoever was on the other line.

  “What’s going on, Noah?” I repeated. Him being unable to look me in the eye was my first warning of trouble. The swell of obscenities he muttered under his breath was my second. “I’m no wallflower, Noah,” I added in a shaky tone. “And I’m not stupid. I know you’re hiding something from me.”

  “I’m thinking here, Thorn.” Jerking off the bed, he stalked over to the window. With his arms braced against the sill, Noah hissed, “Give me a minute. Please.”

  “No,” I shot back, marching towards him. “I will not give you a minute.” Grabbing his arm, I forced him to look at me. “I’m being threatened. Some freak filled my bedroom with roses and put a bullet on my fucking pillow,” I screamed. “So talk to me, dammit.”

  Noah’s eyes flashed with anger and for a moment I thought he was going to explode. “I’m so fucking sorry for dragging you back into this,” he choked out.

  “Dragging me back into what, Noah?” I whispered, terrified.

  “JD is back.”

  “No.” The moment those words came out of Noah’s mouth I began to shake. “I thought that was over.” Tears filled my eyes. The ground fell out from beneath my feet as I spiraled into a full-blown panic attack. “Please tell me this isn’t true.”

  “This is my fault,” Noah choked out, eyes wild with fear and anger. “He’s using my feelings for you against me, making you a target…” his voice broke off and he groaned like he was in physical pain. “Making you the only fucking target.”

  “He’s coming for me?” I whispered in a small voice.

  “You think I’m gonna let him get near you?” Noah demanded, pulling me into his arms. “Not a chance, baby. You’re safe. I fucking promise you, I will not let anything happen to you,” he snarled, holding me tightly. “Why the hell do you think I want you on that plane with me?” Leaning back, Noah looked into my eyes. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to get you on there since I found out he was back.” He shuddered and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I need you with me, Thorn, so I can keep you safe. If anything bad happened to you because of me, it would kill me. I can’t be responsible for that.”

  “Is that why you came back for me?” I whispered, stepping out of his arms, my blood turning to ice in my veins. “Why you want me to go back to the states with you – out of duty?”

  “What?” Noah blanched and shook his head. “No. Of fucking course it isn’t,” he growled. “I want you to come so I can keep you safe.”

  “See, there’s that word again,” I muttered, taking a step back. “Safe.” Wiping my cheeks, I looked up at him and said, “I don’t want you to want me with you for those reasons.”

  Capturing my waist with his hand, he dragged me back to him, slamming my body to his chest. “Is needing you alive and fucking breathing not a good enough reason for you now?” Glaring down at me, I could feel his heart hammering in his chest. “Fine. Then how about the fact that I’ve only loved one person in my whole entire fucking life and that person is you.” Knotting his hand in my hair, he drew me closer. “Or the only time I’ve ever felt happiness was when I was in your presence, and I would gladly do a hundred lifetimes in prison if it meant you were safe. If it meant you were alive,” he added gruffly. “Do you want me to write my feelings down in blood, Thorn? Because I can tell you I love you, but unless you cut my heart out of my chest and hold it in your hands you’re never going to understand just how fucking much.” Exhaling heavily, Noah’s eyes flared with heat and raw passion. “Is that a good enough reason to want you with me?”

  “More than enough.” I could feel the change inside of me. It was acceptance of myself and of him. I was letting go of the pain of the past. I wanted to see this through with him.

  Noah had fought for me. He was my freaking solider and I never wanted to apart from him again. I needed to be with him more than I needed my next breath. That’s how important he was to me. That was how much I loved him. My heart had never beat so fast before. It was like it was leading me towards him, and I let it.

  Wrapping one arm around his neck, I cupped his cheek with the other. “I’ll follow you anywhere. I made a mistake by letting you go once, Noah,” I told him. “I won’t make the same mistake twice.”

  I was giving up everything for an uncertain future with the only person I was certain I wanted to be with.

  I was stepping into the unknown with Noah, taking a gamble and risking my future on the man they called The Machine. His enemies wanted me dead. I should be running in the opposite direction. But I couldn’t fight my fate, and he was my future. I realized that now. And I would follow him to the ends of the earth. Even if that meant trusting him not to let me lose myself in the process.

  Even if that meant putting my life in his hands…

  CUPPING HER FACE BETWEEN MY HANDS, I pressed my forehead against hers and sighed. “I love you,” I told her. “So damn much. I will do whatever I have to do to keep you safe.” I pressed my lips to her head and exhaled heavily. “So are we good now?” I hoped like fuck we were because I didn’t need Thorn getting cold feet on me. Not now JD had upped the stakes. That bastard was suicidal. He had to be to break into my woman’s home and put a fucking bullet on her bed. I appreciated the ammo, though. I planned on using that exact one on him when I blew his fucking brains out.

  “We’re good,” she assured me, breaking through my thoughts. Resting her cheek on my chest, she sighed heavily. “This is permanent, Noah. Isn’t it?”

  “Like a sharpie.” Hooking my hands under her arms, I picked her up and walked her over to the bed. “Now get dressed. We’ll leave for the airport from here.”

  “But I don’t have any clothes.”

  “Wear mine. Take whatever you want.” Sitting her down on the bed, I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, inhaling the smell of her, before pulling back. “I need to have a quick word with Jordan.”

  “But what about my stuff?” she exclaimed as she knelt on the bed. “My passport and my clothes. My pictures of my mother,” she blurted out. “Everything I own is back at the apartment.”

  “Lucky’s already taking care of it,” I assured her. “He’ll meet us at the airport. Everything’s been taken care of.”

  “So when you said come with you…” her voice trailed off and she grinned. “You didn’t mean a vacation?”

  “I’m not giving you back,” I warned her, unsmiling. “See this through with me, Thorn, and I’ll make you happy. I will sort everything with JD,” I promised her – I fucking vowed. “And then we can have it all, baby.”

  “YOU SHOULD GO SAY GOODBYE,” I told Hope when I walked back into the sitting area of the suite. “She’s coming with me.”

  Hope shook her head and groaned. “Noah, I swear to g
od if you hurt her again –”

  “I won’t,” I interrupted quickly, shutting her down. “Now go say goodbye.”

  I waited until Hope disappeared into the bedroom before turning my attention to Jordan.

  “You need to get her out of here for a while,” I told him in a low tone of voice. “I don’t care what you have to do,” I added. “Woo her. Take her on a holiday. I don’t care. Just keep Hope out of that building until I say otherwise.”

  “Jesus Christ, Noah,” Jordan groaned. He stood up and walked over to the window. “I’m not…I can’t be here,” he whispered with his head bent as he clutched the windowsill. “I’m supposed to be…fuck!”

  “Listen to me, dipshit,” I snarled, stalking over to him. Grabbing his shoulder, I swung him around to face me. “I know you’ve got some fucked up reason for walking away from her, but I also know that somewhere inside that stone heart you still love her. And the only reason I’m not kicking your ass right now is because I need you fucking mobile,” I added, resisting the urge to break his fucking jaw for breaking Hope’s heart. “I don’t give two shits about your daddy issues or who’s waiting for you back home. You make my niece your only priority.”

  Jordan stared at me for a long moment before nodding stiffly. “I’ll keep her safe,” he finally said, jaw clenched.

  “Good.” I nodded. “Glad we’re on the same page.” Glad he finally found his balls…

  “But if anything happens to Hope because of you, you won’t have to worry about your enemies,” he hissed, stepping closer. “I’ll kill you myself.”

  I snorted. “If anything happens to Hope because of me, you’ll be one of a long list of people ready to kill me.” Sighing, I added, “She’s not a target. She just happens to live with the only target.”

  “I’m ready,” Teagan called out as she strolled out of the bedroom arm in arm with Hope. I turned around to see her and my heart slammed against my chest. She was swallowed up in a pair of my sweatpants and a hoodie, looking so small and vulnerable that the protective instinct inside of me roared to life.

  “Are you sure about this, Teegs?” Hope asked her.

  “I’m sure about him,” she replied before walking straight into my arms. “I’m sure about you,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around my waist. “Whatever happens,” Teagan said, eyes locked on my face. “I’m not walking away from you again. I will be right by your side. I’m yours, Noah Messina. I’m in.”

  Fuck me, she was really with me on this.

  I looked down at her and smiled. “I know.”

  This woman was my best friend. She knew me inside out. She knew it all. The good, the bag, and the illegal. And for some fucked up reason she loved me anyway.

  I couldn’t let her go again.

  I fucking couldn’t.

  Two Weeks Later

  LIKE I HAD PREDICTED, NOAH WASN’T FIRED. He got a slap on the wrist and a huge fine for his part at Krash Bar that night, but that was it. My man was too important to the company. He was indispensable.

  He proved that tonight when he packed out the Odyssey Arena with an army of adoring fans. Fifteen thousand people were on their feet, screaming his name, myself included from the front row.

  JD had been quiet since we returned to the States. No roses, no bullets on pillows or unwanted phone calls, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew he was still out there somewhere, waiting for his opportunity. So did Noah, which was why I was being chaperoned tonight by his newly hired bodyguard, Lewis, who was currently sitting beside me. I understood the dangers that came with being stalked by a sadistic mob boss determined to kill me – and make it painful – which was why I didn’t protest having a bodyguard. I also knew that the only one that stood in his way of making good on his promise was my fallen angel. My savior. My fighter boyfriend. But I wasn’t going to dwell on JD tonight. In fact, I was determined to put that creep to the back of my mind.

  Tonight was all about Noah and I planned on savoring every second of it.

  The cage, the metal bars, the scent of sweat mixed with tobacco and alcohol was poignant as I watched Noah make his way to the cage.

  His entrance song Can’t be touched was blaring through the speakers, causing the momentum to soar.

  A line of security guards with their arms crossed over their burly bigger than life chests were all that kept Noah from being mauled by his overly zealous fans.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, for your pleasure, for one night only, we have a knockout fight,” the announcer called excitedly. “That’s right, folks. MFA veteran, and three times former heavyweight champion Roy the wringerrrrr Wicks. And going against him tonight, a crowd favorite, it’s your very own bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Noah the Machine Messsinaaaaa!”

  When he entered the cage, Noah bounced lightly on his feet; a challenge for a man who was 6’4” in height and 245 pounds of pure muscle.

  Ignoring his opposition who already in the cage and trying to taunt him, Noah rolled his shoulders and twisted his neck from side to side, loosening out.

  When the match official called both men to the center of the ring to touch gloves, the screaming and cheering went through the roof.

  The bell rang and Noah curled his lip up and smirked.

  And then he attacked.

  Noah and Teagan’s story concludes in

  Tame

  Due out late 2016

  The Broken Series & The Carter Kids Series

  Break my Fall (Broken #1)

  Fall to Pieces (Broken #2)

  Fall on Me (Broken #3)

  Forever we Fall (Broken #4)

  Treacherous (Carter Kids #1)

  Always (Carter Kids #1.5)

  Thorn (Carter Kids #2)

  The DiMarco Dynasty

  DiMarco’s Secret Love Child: Part One

  DiMarco’s Secret Love Child: Part Two

  Blurred Lines

  Blurring Lines

  Never Let me Go

  CHLOE WALSH is a twenty-six-year-old wife and mother of two from County Cork in the south of Ireland. The youngest of five children, reading and writing was her escape as a child.

  In January 2014, she started to write about a cocky, self-assured man named Kyle Carter, and five weeks later, on Valentine’s Day 2014, she self-published her debut novel, Break my Fall, for a handful of friends who had called over for tea, read bits and pieces of Kyle, and wanted to read the story on their E-readers rather than printed sheets.

  Shockingly – and no one was more surprised than her – the book was a huge success, reaching No.1 in the UK Bestsellers Lists. Chloe followed it up in April 2014 with the sequel, Fall to Pieces, vowing that this second book would be the final chapter for Kyle.

  The demand for a third installment was overwhelming and a series was born! The final book became two: Fall on Me, the third book in the accidental Broken series, was released in August 2014, and Forever we Fall was released in October 2014.

  Treacherous, the first book from her Carter Kids series was released in March 2015, followed by Always (Carter Kids #1.5) in June 2015.

  DiMarco’s Secret Love Child (Parts 1 & 2) were released in later March 2015.

  Blurred Lines was released in May 2015, followed by Never Let me Go, in December 2015.

  Thorn, is her eleventh book, and was released in February 2016, on the two year anniversary of her publishing career.

  An avid reader, Chloe enjoys lurking in a corner with her E-reader, and playing sports.

  Please feel free to contact her on her Facebook page.

  Catatonia – Road Rage

  Wyclef Jon – 911

  Lucy Spraggan – Last night

  Gavin DeGraw – Soldiers

  Walking on Cars – Always be with you

  Paramore – Still into you

  Chingy – One call away

  Coolio – Gangster’s Paradise

  George Ezra – Blame it on me

  James Bay – Hold back the river

  James Bay – Scars


  Jason Derulo – Want to want me

  Lady Gaga – You and I

  OMI – Cheerleader

  Roy Jones – Can’t be touched

  Shawn Mendes – Stitches

  Klaxons – It’s not over yet

  Three Days Grace – Painkiller

  Nickelback – I’d come for you

  Theory of a Deadman – Bad Girlfriend

  Saving Abel – Addicted

  The Fray – Never say never

  3 Oh 3 – Don’t trust me

  Nickelback – The Next Contestant

  The Verve – Lucky Man

  X Ambassadors – Unsteady

  Robert Pattinson – Never Think

  Rita Ora – Poison

  Sean Paul – Punkie

  Semisonic – FNT

  Avril Lavigne – Rock and Roll

  The Beatles – Don’t let me down

  Ben Howard – Oats in the water

  Rosey – Breathe

  Jamie Campbell Bower – Waiting

  Kings of Leon – Fans

  Barenaked Ladies – One Week

  Pink – Who Knew

  Creed – Stand Here With Me

  This is my eleventh book, and I’m slowly but surely beginning to find my feet. I need to acknowledge my faithful and devoted readers for their patience.

  Thorn has been on the back burner for almost a year now, and you guys gave me the time I needed, when I needed it, to step back and have me-time.

  You stuck by me when I hit my low point last year and you cheered me on when I came back fighting. You’ll never know how much you all mean to me. I am indebted to you all.

  Go raibh míle math agut.

  Tame

  By Chloe Walsh

  Inevitable

  By Chloe Walsh