"Talk to me, Noah," she begged. "I can help you."

How could I explain what Reese did to me that night with a straight face?

Who the h.e.l.l was going to believe a skinny little thing like Reese could force me into anything?

The cop I told sure as h.e.l.l didn't. a.s.shole broke his sides laughing when I tried to explain what she had done to me that night. His reaction had told me all I needed to know, so I kept my mouth shut from that point on.

The officer arrived back into the room then, letting us know visiting time was over.

Pushing her chair back, Lee got to her feet and, with a determined look on her face, she said, "I'm going to help you, Noah Messina. Not because you're my husband's brother, or my children's friend. I'm going to help you because you deserve to be helped. You deserve better than the life you've been forced into. Have faith," she added before she was led from the room.

KYLE CARTER WAS LIKE A HURRICANE, I decided as I watched him pace the Harte's kitchen floor, dominating the room and causing the air to crackle with electricity.

To be honest, my heart went out to Sheila as she pottered uneasily around the two huge American men in her kitchen, offering tea and brown cake a typical Irish mammy.

The attractive blonde haired man who had arrived with Teagan's father was unfamiliar to me, but Hope called him Uncle Mike.

Apparently, he was another one of Hope's grandfather's offspring, though he was the one that had been claimed and carried the surname Henderson.

From what I could gather, Mike Henderson lived in London, and was due to fly back to the states to discuss the newest member of the family when Kyle told him to meet him at Shannon.

"This is bulls.h.i.t, Hope," Mr. Carter all but roared, pulling at his tie and then ruffling his hair with his free hand. "You're not staying here. I forbid it... oh thank you, Sheila," he added, taking a tiny china teacup from Liam's mother.

Sheila blushed scarlet red before excusing herself from the kitchen, leaving us alone with Mr. Carter and his brother.

"You can't forbid me to do anything, Dad, I'm eighteen," Hope reminded him as she leaned against the doorframe. "And you can't force me to do anything either." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her father. "I'm not Mom."

That comment earned a chuckle from the uncle, who was much calmer than his brother.

"Help me out here, Mike," Mr. Carter begged, clearly distraught.

"Technically, she's right, brother," Mike announced, clapping him on the shoulder. "Hope is legally an adult."

Mr. Carter growled, shrugging Mike's hand off to resume his pacing. "I knew I should have brought Derek. You're f.u.c.king useless to me."

Mike grunted and Hope screamed.

"Don't you dare," she snapped, eyes wide and glowing with anger. "Keep anyone with the last name Porter far away from me."

"Good girl," Mike chimed in. "Those Porters are bad news."

"Shut the h.e.l.l up, douche," Mr. Carter grumbled, glaring at his brother before turning his attention to his daughter. "What the h.e.l.l did that little s.h.i.t do to you?"

Hope's cheeks turned bright pink. "Nothing."

"And what about your mother?" he accused, hands on his trim hips, as he towered over her. "Do you think Mom needs this kind of stress in her life; especially considering the circ.u.mstances."

Hope narrowed her eyes. "What circ.u.mstances?"

"Well..." he muttered, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. His cheeks reddened as he started to backtrack. "I didn't want you to find out like this."

"Find out about what, Dad?" Hope asked. The blood seemed to drain from her face and she roared, "Tell me you didn't!"

"I did," her father muttered with a grin, causing Hope to scream. "Mom's pregnant."

"Again?" Mike chuckled, patting his brother on the shoulder. "Congratulations, man."

"Thanks," Kyle replied proudly, "She is three months." Turning his attention to his daughter, he said, "We wanted to sit all the kids down and tell them together."

"Ugh, you complete freak," she wailed, holding her head with her hands in sheer dismay. "You guys are too old to be parents again," she groaned. "This is sick."

"I'm forty-one, Hope," Kyle shot back, wounded. "Your mother's only thirty-eight. We're hardly over the hill."

"You need to be sterilized!" Hope retorted angrily. "How many this time?" she added sarcastically. "Because we all know you don't shoot singles, Dad."

A laugh escaped my mouth and I had to smother it with a cough.

"Sorry," I mumbled, covering my mouth with my hand when she glared at me. There was no way I was getting on Hope's bad side, not while she was in this mood.

"Angel. Just come home with me," her father said with a sudden vulnerability in his voice a vulnerability that made Hope flinch. "And I promise you that I will fix everything. Just come home. Please," he added in a desperate tone.

"I can't go back there, Dad," she whispered. Her eyes welled up with tears. "Please understand."

Kyle Carter stared at his daughter for what felt like forever before turning his attention to me. "What about you, Blondie?"

I swallowed deeply. "What about me?"

"You're just gonna leave the kid to rot?" he demanded, and the accusatory tone in his voice caused my hackles to rise. "After all he's been through?"

"No offense, Mr. Carter," I seethed, grinding my teeth. "But what I do with my life is absolutely none of your business."

"Noah's my brother," he declared proudly. "The kid loves you, Teagan. He's going out of his mind worrying about you."

"Then you take care of him," I hissed, forcing myself not to flinch. "He's not my problem anymore." Not since he stuck his d.i.c.k in Reese f.u.c.king Tanner. I forced down the bile that was threatening to spill out of me. "And you can tell your brother that I am done!"

Noah didn't love me.

He didn't give a d.a.m.n about me.

If he did, he wouldn't have thrown everything we had away for a quick f.u.c.k.

"So it's like that?" Mr. Carter asked in a tone laced with disgust. "You're just going to carry on with your life and pretend your boyfriend isn't sitting in a jail cell right now?" He shook his head and shrugged. "I thought you were made of tougher stuff than to run at the first hurdle."

"He's not my boyfriend," I managed to choke out, feeling winded and completely broken. "I am protecting myself, Mr. Carter, from getting even more hurt than I've already been. So stop trying to make me feel bad for doing nothing wrong."

He shook his head in defeat. "You're making a mistake, Teagan," he told me wearily. "I may not know the ins and outs of what happened between you two, but if you loved the boy you would be standing by him now and not hiding out here like a coward."

"You're right about one thing, Mr. Carter. You don't know a d.a.m.n thing about me!" I hissed before stalking out of the room. Stopping in the doorway, I turned and glared back at him. "You don't know what happened between us but if you go and ask Reese Tanner, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to tell you everything."

Swinging around, I bolted from the kitchen and didn't stop moving until I was inside Liam's room.

Slamming the door shut, I rushed over and threw myself down on the bed. Tears burned behind my eyelids, but I refused to let them fall.

What if I'm wrong about Noah? The niggling voice inside my head asked, but I shut that b.i.t.c.h up swiftly.

It wasn't true.

They were making a fool out of me.

Aside from the fact that Noah had slept with Reese, he had also lied to me. He left me that night to go to the quarry.

I gave up everything for him and he threw it all away for a fight and a f.u.c.k.

Memories flooded me, visions of us on the flat screen TV f.u.c.king in the elevator of Noah taking away my innocence.

I was such a fool.

For all I knew, he and Ellie had planned this whole thing making me fall in love with him just so that he could break me and then kick me when I was down.

A sudden pain, intense and throbbing, hit me directly in my lower belly and I had to dive across the hallway for the bathroom. When I saw the blood tinged stain on my underwear I laughed and cried simultaneously.

All that worrying had been for nothing. All those sleepless nights that had been filled with anxiety and fear about the future had been pointless. Stress had been the reason for my late period. I wasn't pregnant, and that was that. There would be no unfinished business between us. No messy confrontations or reluctant phone call in nine months.

Noah was really gone from me.

Cleaning myself up, I went back to Liam's room and, curling up in a ball on his bed, I let my mind drift back to that night...

Climbing Noah's staircase, I walked straight to his bedroom and knocked lightly before twisting the k.n.o.b and pushing the door inwards.

My heart dropped the moment I saw him lying there.

My stomach churned and pained cry tore my throat.

Skin naked skin limbs and long red hair invaded my vision.

That's all I could see.

The blood rushed to my brain so fast everything became cloudy, and when I was eventually able to focus, the image that laid before me caused my stomach to churn.

Noah and Reese f.u.c.king like rabbits, right in front of my eyes.

Reese was straddling Noah, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g him like a f.u.c.king Duracell bunny, bouncing up and down, grinding her naked body on top of my naked boyfriend.

"Noah," I cried out as disgust churned inside of me.

He didn't even incline his face in my direction. He kept his eyes closed, grunting softly as Reese f.u.c.ked him.

"I'm leaving," I screamed, frantic. "I can't...I...I... how could you do this to me?" I was losing control of myself.

Tears were spilling from my eyes, I needed to get a grip, but every time I tried to grab onto the ledge of something rational, their sweat-soaked naked bodies fused together impaled me and I felt like bursting into flames.

I could forgive a lot of things, and maybe I had my priorities all wrong, but I couldn't forgive this.

I could never forgive this.

Noah didn't respond.

But she did.

Twisting her head to one side Reese glanced at me with a smirk. "Bye now," she sneered before lowering her mouth and claiming Noah's.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" I screamed, beating my fist against the mattress. My throat felt like it was closing in on me. "You ruined everything," I roared into the duvet, gasping for air. "You ruined me..."

I heard the door creak open and quickly close, but I didn't look up. I didn't care who was there. I felt the mattress dip beside me, and then warm hands pulling me onto a lap.

Liam's lap, I realized when I heard him whisper words of comfort in my ear telling me that I would be okay again.

Except I wasn't comforted, and I wasn't okay.

Truthfully, I didn't think I would ever be okay again.

YESTERDAY HAD BEEN ONE of the lower points in my life.

Having Kyle Carter tear strips out of me, and hashing up my personal life in front of a roomful of people was something I didn't care to experience ever again.

Even though a small part of me understood where he had been coming from, I was still feeling hurt and hugely resentful.

When I woke up this morning with a stuffy nose and puffy eyelids, I had decided I needed to take control of my life. It was because of the emotions that had poured out of me last night that I found myself lying on my stomach, as a tattoo artist drew on my body with needles.

I welcomed it the throbbing burn as the needle penetrated my flesh. This tattoo was a symbol of my freedom, and a warning of how close I had come to destruction.

Noah Messina was bad for me he was treacherous.

I needed to remember that, and this tattoo would be the perfect reminder.

I wouldn't cry over him again.

It was pathetic and I was not.

Not another d.a.m.n tear would I shed.

WHEN I ARRIVED BACK to the Harte's home later that evening, I spent a good twenty minutes standing in front of the bathroom mirror, ogling my back.

Getting a tattoo was so unlike me.

It felt sort of surreal.

"What the h.e.l.l have you done to your body?" Hope's yelp of outrage quickly turned into a squeal of excitement when she rushed into the bathroom for a closer examination. "Oh my G.o.d, Teegs, it's huge." She trailed her fingers over the black lettering that trailed in a vertical line down the entire length of my back.