Teagan
"That bastard," I hissed as I stalked across the street and banged on the Carter's front door. I didn’t care if Kyle answered – I was too bloody furious.
The Carter's front door swung inwards and Logan's face smiled back at me. "Hey there, jail-bird," he teased. "How's the life-sentence going?"
"Where's Hope?" I demanded as I rushed inside.
"Out on a date with Jordan," Logan said, closing the door after me.
"I need your help," I told him in a no-nonsense tone of voice before pushing past him and making for the stairs.
Noah had given me the slip.
The dirty snake must have crept out when I was asleep – after many hours of against-the-rules-frolicking – because when I woke up my bed was empty and his car was gone. What the hell was I supposed to do now? Let Noah stay with those creeps and wreck his entire future?
I couldn’t. I physically couldn’t stand here and let that happen to him.
He was worth more than that.
He deserved better.
"Where's the fire?" Logan asked.
"At the quarry," I told him. "Noah's gone to the Ring of Fire to fight some guy named Javi and I need you to help me talk some sense into the idiot."
Logan's face paled, his entire frame stiffened and then he let loose a string of F-bombs that would've made his brothers proud.
"Javi – Gerome Javi?" Logan roared as he followed me up the stairs. "Jesus fucking Christ, Teagan, why didn’t you stop him? Javi's a butcher. He fights to the fucking death. He's a goddamn psychopath."
"I thought I had," I shouted back as I rushed into Hope's room and began rummaging in her closet. "He lied to me, Logan," I snapped as I pulled out a pair of denim shorts, a white tank-top torn at the mid-riff, and Hope's infamous thigh-high black boots. "We're supposed to be leaving tonight."
"Leaving?" Logan stood in the doorway of Hope's bedroom with his arms folded across his chest and a look of pure rage on his face. "Where?"
"Ireland," I told him as I pulled off my clothes and dressed quickly. "I can't watch his life unravel like this a second longer," I grumbled. I didn’t care that Logan was in the room while I was undressing. I presumed there was nothing I had that he hadn’t seen before and he'd never looked at me like that anyway. Besides, I had way bigger problems than Logan Carter catching a glimpse of my ass. "It's too unfair, Logan, and Noah deserves better. A shot at a future."
"I know," Logan whispered quietly. "I've been saying that for years."
"Our tickets are booked," I rambled. "He told me he was coming…" Sinking onto the bed, I pulled the boots up my legs and tucked our tickets and passports inside. "Why the hell would he go to the fight when I gave him a way out?"
"Because there's no way out, Teagan," Logan told me in a sad tone. "Not for him and he knows it."
"What the hell does that mean?" I demanded as I got to my feet and rushed over to Hope's closet and pulled out a black, tight-fitting leather jacket. I took a quick glance at my reflection in Hope's mirror and cringed. Yep, I was all kitted out for the Ring of Fire – not that I relished the thought of going to that hellhole again.
"Do you know why he fights for George Dennis and his family, Teegs?" Logan asked me in a soft tone.
"Yeah," I grumbled. "To keep his mom in treatment. He fights for her." I was mad as hell at Noah actually, but pissed or not I wasn’t going to sit back and do nothing. Doing nothing made me feel helpless and I didn’t do helpless. I was an action-type girl. "So get your keys," I told Logan as I brushed passed him and made for the stairs. "Because that's where we're going – to fight for him."
****
"His mother's illness isn’t his only reason, Teagan," Logan told me as he put the pedal to the metal and floored it.
I was sitting in the passenger seat of his dad's Mercedes and feeling completely badass as Logan navigated the beast of a car through the mountains like a boss.
"What do you mean?" I muttered as I kept my eyes glued to the windscreen. Logan turned onto the dirt road and a rush of fear trickled through me. Holy crap, I was about to barge into an illegal fighting ring and kidnap the star of the show.
Did I have a gun at my disposal, or a knife, or even a freaking nail file?
Nope…
But what I did have at my disposal was far deadlier to a man than a gun and much more alluring than the blade of a knife.
I had boobs and a vagina.
I figured those particular popular body parts would come in handy when trying to entice my boyfriend to leave with me considering he spent as much time with his mouth on those parts as he did communicating with me.
"Did Noah ever tell you about his father?"
I stilled and turned to look at Logan. "I know his name was Antonio Messina," I told him. "I know he's dead."
"Do you know that George killed him?" Logan asked me in a level tone and I swear my heart stopped beating in my chest. "Do you know why?" he added in a soft tone, taking a quick glance at me.
"No," I whispered, clenching my hands together. "I didn’t know that…"
****