Teagan
I had always been a fitness fanatic – nothing to do with losing weight, I just really enjoyed exercising.
Working out kept my body supple and my mind content. At least that's how I looked on the outside and felt on the inside.
I'd been a member of the local gym back home in Galway, but since moving to The Hill I'd been lacking in motivation. That had all changed because of Hope – and her sex-god dad.
Yesterday during lunch, when I asked Hope about good gyms in the area she'd texted her dad and within two minutes I'd been offered a lifetime membership with the gym in his hotel.
Free of charge.
Of course I had accepted and thanked the hell out of her before asking if she wanted to go work out with me at the weekend. Hope had then proceeded to kindly tell me no, not happening, never-ever.
Apparently Hope didn’t do exercise and the only thing that could make her run was the threat of Colton farting near her face.
The second I had walked through the doors of the Henderson Hotel in downtown Boulder I'd been impressed and a little intimidated.
I hadn’t realized the Carter's were rich people.
For one, they lived in a middle-class type home, and two, they were about as posh as a wellington boot. But yeah, I would never judge a book by its cover again.
My workout knocked the tension out of my body and by the time I finished I was feeling like a boss, right up until I walked into the parking lot only to find I had not one, but four flat tires.
Bizarre coincidence?
I think not.
The knife marks in my tires had Ellie and Noah's stench all over them and I wanted to be the bigger person and walk away – I really did – but my inner-child won the battle against my common sense, resulting in a brawl to beat all brawls breaking out the second I made it home…or at least that's what I had in mind as I made my way home to Thirteenth Street.
I marched straight up the neighbor's porch steps and hammered on their front door. "Get your ass out here right now, you knife-wielding lunatic," I shouted through the letterbox before continuing my door-pounding. "I mean it," I screamed, red-faced. "I'm not joking around…whoa…."
The door swung inwards and I barreled into a chest of wet muscle.
"Knife-wielding lunatic?" Noah rose his brow in amusement. "Is that your new pet name for me, Thorn?"
What the hell had happened to him?
One side of Noah's sculpted stomach was horribly discolored and I momentarily froze, struck dumb as I stared at him.
Was he bruised? Yep.
Did it make him hotter? Yep.
Did I still hate him? Decisively.
Stepping outside to the porch, Noah closed the space between our bodies, towering over me with a cocky expression etched all over his face. "What do I owe the pleasure?"
"Tell your sister she owes me for a set of tires," I informed him in a tight voice as I took a step backwards and regained some personal space. "I'm not taking this shit from either of you anymore."
"Step-sister, and what exactly are you accusing us of, Teagan?" Noah asked dryly, tightening his grip on his towel with one hand.
"Oh, I'm not accusing you guys of anything," I shot back, furious. "I'm telling you that your sister deliberately sabotaged my car." I kept eye contact with him and folded my arms across my chest. "Or are you the dick who goes around slashing girls tires?"
Surprise etched his features for a brief moment before the shutters closed. He gazed dispassionately at me for a long time before speaking. "You're a very hypocritical person, Thorn," he said in a tight voice. "You know that, right? Coming over here and tossing around slanderous accusations based on a flat tire?"
"Four tires." I balled my hands into fists and urged myself to calm down and not start a brawl with the half-naked sex god standing in front of me. "One of you slashed the tires on my car," I hissed through clenched teeth.
Lowering his face to mine, Noah stared into my eyes. "Prove it," he said with a smirk.
****