Noah
I couldn’t look at my hands.
They wouldn’t stop shaking.
Javi's blood was smeared across my knuckles, my face, my fucking bare skin…
My stomach wretched even though there wasn’t a damn thing left inside it. I'd vomited more in the past twenty minutes than I had in the past eighteen years.
I didn’t think I could ever look myself in the eye again. What I'd done…oh Jesus… Clenching my eyes shut, I leaned against the bathroom mirror and forced myself to breathe slowly, but I started to gag again.
"Are you okay?" a familiar female voice asked from somewhere behind me and I didn’t have any fight left inside of me to tell her to go to hell.
"Noah," Ellie coaxed as she stepped up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You did what you had to…," She paused and sucked in a sharp breath before saying, "He would've killed you if you hadn’t…"
"Killed him first?" I managed to croak out. "Is that what you were gonna say, Ellie?" I turned and faced her and I could see the tears in her eyes. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"You didn’t have a choice," she argued. I knew in some sick way Ellie actually cared about me, that's why she was here trying to comfort me, but it wasn’t enough. She was a part of them. I didn’t want her comfort. And now, because of her father, I was no better than those scumbags in the bar… "You're a survivor," she told me. "You're…"
"I'm a killer," I snarled before shoving past her and staggering out of the bathroom. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t fucking think straight. My skin was crawling. I needed to get the hell out of here – get some fresh air, anything…
Pushing through the crowded bar, I kept my head down as I forced my way towards the exit. A few more steps and I would be…
"This is crazy…what the hell are we doing…You're so…wrong for me."
I stopped dead in my tracks as the sound of her voice resounded through me.
"Noah Messina, you are treacherous…"
As I turned slowly, I prayed with all my heart that I'd imagined her voice in my head. I was hallucinating. Fucking dreaming… I had to be.
But the image of Teagan's naked body writhing on the elevator floor projecting from flat screen television bracketed against the wall at the far side of the bar assured me I wasn’t.
My eyes were glued, fucking riveted to the screen in horror as I watched a naked version of myself plunging into my girlfriend…fucking her on the floor like a goddamn animal…
What the …
"I told you I'd make you sorry," Reese sneered as sauntered passed me. "You fucked her," she sniggered. "And I fucked you both. Enjoy the CCTV footage," she added cruelly. "Consider it the perks of working at the hotel and having access to the security cameras…"
That's why they wanted Teagan here tonight – to see this….
They wanted to rip my heart out of my goddamn chest…
The door of the bar opened inward then and JD came barreling through with Teagan in his arms. "Get your hands off me, jackass," she snarled as she kicked and lashed against JD's tight grasp. "You better run when I get my hands on you," she screeched before biting down on JD's arm.
"Bitch," he hissed, releasing her quickly, as he nursed his wounded arm.
"Noah," Teagan gasped the minute she saw me.
Staggering towards me in a pair of exceptionally high boots Teagan threw her arms around my neck and let out a cry of relief. "Oh thank god," she cried. "You're okay...you're okay…"
"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded as I held her against my body as tight as I could. This was my worst fucking nightmare coming true.
"I came to save you," she whispered and it was then the enormity of what I'd done impaled me. This girl had come to save me, but I wasn’t worth saving. Not anymore…
"We still have time," she rambled. "Just come with me now…Logan's gone to get his…." Teagan's voice trailed off as her attention fell on the screen behind me.
"That's us," Teagan hissed as she covered her mouth with her hand and backed away from me.
The hurt in her eyes was crippling as she stared in horror at the television screen. And when turned her gaze to me the betrayal I saw in her hazel eyes caused my heart to split clean open.
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