Teagan
I was trying really hard not to freak out, but the more I thought about the shitty way Noah had been treated for quite possibly the majority of his life the angrier I felt. "If you're mother's as sick as you say," I mumbled. "You know, with the drugs and stuff, then why did they get married?"
"Why do old guys marry younger women?" Noah shot back tightly. "Looks and submission, Teagan."
I'd been wrong about Noah. All this time I'd thought… when he was nothing like Ellie or her father…wait. "Is Ellie really George's daughter?" I asked him all of a sudden.
Noah brows rose in surprise. "Yes," he drawled slowly. "Why would you ask that?"
I shrugged awkwardly. "After what you've just told me, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if she was his second wife or something screwed up like that."
Noah's eyes darkened, but when he blinked he was back to me. "That's gross, Teagan," he grumbled. "She's his youngest child – daddy's little girl – there to do her father's dirty work and get all the staff on board…"
"He has more children than Ellie?"
"Several more littered across the country," Noah replied dryly. "But only two that he acknowledges – Ellie and JD."
"Who's JD?"
Noah sighed heavily. "JD is the overgrown bastard you thought kidnapped me that day we had detention – the guy in the blue shirt who kicked my ass back there."
"I knew I saw that guy before tonight," I hissed in disgust.
Noah shrugged and said, "JD will be George's successor – when the scumbag eventually kicks the bucket."
"His successor of what?" I dared to ask.
"The Ring of Fire, the Hub, the business – everything George owns," he husked.
"And you?" My hands tightened on his shoulders. "What about you, Noah?"
"And me," Noah confirmed with a sigh. "The Dennis family fucking own me and they know it."
"How can your mom allow this?" I demanded, feeling outraged for him. "Why the hell did she marry that scumbag?"
Shaking his head, Noah rubbed his face with his hand and let out a weary sigh. "She's forty-six and beautiful, Teagan. He's sixty-eight and powerful. It's a match made in hell. Besides she has no choice in the matter. It's this or end up like..." Noah stopped abruptly and turned his face away.
"Like who?"
"Look, Teagan," he snapped. "There are some men out there who are desperate to dominate. And some women who are desperately dominated."
"How did they meet?" I asked him cautiously, aware that he was growing more agitated by the minute.
Noah's body stiffened beneath me and I watched as the shutters closed in his eyes. "My dad worked for him." He didn’t meet my eyes when he spoke and his jaw was clenched tight.
"Is that all?" I asked in a level voice, knowing deep in my bones he was lying to me.
"Is that not enough?" he sneered.
Defensive…yeah, there was definitely more. "You tell me, Noah."
"There's nothing more," he replied, again not meeting my eyes.
"Liar," I hissed.
"Believe what you want," he husked. "That's all you're getting from me."
"I'm an all or nothing kinda girl, Noah," I told him. "Complete disclosure – or nothing at all."
Noah got my meaning because his eyes narrowed. "Don't give me an ultimatum, Teagan," he warned me. "You won't win."
"I just did, Noah," I shot back heatedly.
"I'm not the type of guy who takes orders from his girl, Teagan," Noah muttered, jaw clenched.
"Well aren’t we lucky I'm not your girl?" I spat as I opened the door and climbed out.
Swinging around, I leaned in the car window. "You told me earlier you weren’t the kind of guy a girl brings home to meet the family."
Noah frowned at me in confusion. "Yeah… and?"
"And just so you know, I'm not the kind of girl who asks her family for permission," I told him before slamming his car door and marching up my porch steps. "Congratulations, Noah," I called out shakily. "You've won and you've hurt me all in the one night."
"What did that door ever do to you?" Uncle Max asked when I slammed the front door and stalked into the kitchen. As soon as I reached the table I sank onto the chair closest to me and dropped my head in my arms.
"Teagan?" Max demanded from somewhere behind me. "What's wrong?"
"Just leave it, okay?" I mumbled, feeling thoroughly confused.
What the hell had just happened? Too much in one night, that's what…
"No, I won't leave it. You're upset – something has obviously happened," Max continued, playing the role of the concerned uncle superbly. "And I want to know what it was."
Well, let's see, I let the next-door neighbor fuck me in an elevator shaft…oh yeah, and get this, his stepdad is some major crime-lord who gets off on abusing sick women and blackmailing their sons. My heart feels like someone took a razor to it. My virginity is driving off in a black Lexus. My body is throbbing and all I want is a hug from a guy who won’t tell me the truth… "I have a headache, that's all." I lifted my head and forced myself to make eye contact with him. "I'll be fine after a shower."
"A headache," Max repeated in a disbelieving tone. He stared at me for a long moment before shaking his head. "Whatever you say," he grumbled as he shrugged on his coat. "I have to go to work – oh yeah, and don’t forget to call Hope," Max added as he grabbed his keys and made his way towards the door. "She wants to know if you're still planning on sleeping over."
Great, that was all I needed...
"I'll do that," I called out, but the sound of the front door slamming let me know Max hadn’t waited for my reply.
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