Capturing my waist with his hand, he dragged me back to him, slamming my body to his chest. "Is needing you alive and f.u.c.king breathing not a good enough reason for you now?" Glaring down at me, I could feel his heart hammering in his chest. "Fine. Then how about the fact that I"ve only loved one person in my whole entire f.u.c.king life and that person is you." Knotting his hand in my hair, he drew me closer. "Or the only time I"ve ever felt happiness was when I was in your presence, and I would gladly do a hundred lifetimes in prison if it meant you were safe. If it meant you were alive," he added gruffly. "Do you want me to write my feelings down in blood, Thorn? Because I can tell you I love you, but unless you cut my heart out of my chest and hold it in your hands you"re never going to understand just how f.u.c.king much." Exhaling heavily, Noah"s eyes flared with heat and raw pa.s.sion. "Is that a good enough reason to want you with me?"
"More than enough." I could feel the change inside of me. It was acceptance of myself and of him. I was letting go of the pain of the past. I wanted to see this through with him.
Noah had fought for me. He was my freaking solider and I never wanted to apart from him again. I needed to be with him more than I needed my next breath. That"s how important he was to me. That was how much I loved him. My heart had never beat so fast before. It was like it was leading me towards him, and I let it.
Wrapping one arm around his neck, I cupped his cheek with the other. "I"ll follow you anywhere. I made a mistake by letting you go once, Noah," I told him. "I won"t make the same mistake twice."
I was giving up everything for an uncertain future with the only person I was certain I wanted to be with.
I was stepping into the unknown with Noah, taking a gamble and risking my future on the man they called The Machine. His enemies wanted me dead. I should be running in the opposite direction. But I couldn"t fight my fate, and he was my future. I realized that now. And I would follow him to the ends of the earth. Even if that meant trusting him not to let me lose myself in the process.
Even if that meant putting my life in his hands...
CUPPING HER FACE BETWEEN MY HANDS, I pressed my forehead against hers and sighed. "I love you," I told her. "So d.a.m.n much. I will do whatever I have to do to keep you safe." I pressed my lips to her head and exhaled heavily. "So are we good now?" I hoped like f.u.c.k we were because I didn"t need Thorn getting cold feet on me. Not now JD had upped the stakes. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d was suicidal. He had to be to break into my woman"s home and put a f.u.c.king bullet on her bed. I appreciated the ammo, though. I planned on using that exact one on him when I blew his f.u.c.king brains out.
"We"re good," she a.s.sured me, breaking through my thoughts. Resting her cheek on my chest, she sighed heavily. "This is permanent, Noah. Isn"t it?"
"Like a sharpie." Hooking my hands under her arms, I picked her up and walked her over to the bed. "Now get dressed. We"ll leave for the airport from here."
"But I don"t have any clothes."
"Wear mine. Take whatever you want." Sitting her down on the bed, I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, inhaling the smell of her, before pulling back. "I need to have a quick word with Jordan."
"But what about my stuff?" she exclaimed as she knelt on the bed. "My pa.s.sport and my clothes. My pictures of my mother," she blurted out. "Everything I own is back at the apartment."
"Lucky"s already taking care of it," I a.s.sured her. "He"ll meet us at the airport. Everything"s been taken care of."
"So when you said come with you..." her voice trailed off and she grinned. "You didn"t mean a vacation?"
"I"m not giving you back," I warned her, unsmiling. "See this through with me, Thorn, and I"ll make you happy. I will sort everything with JD," I promised her I f.u.c.king vowed. "And then we can have it all, baby."
"YOU SHOULD GO SAY GOODBYE," I told Hope when I walked back into the sitting area of the suite. "She"s coming with me."
Hope shook her head and groaned. "Noah, I swear to G.o.d if you hurt her again "
"I won"t," I interrupted quickly, shutting her down. "Now go say goodbye."
I waited until Hope disappeared into the bedroom before turning my attention to Jordan.
"You need to get her out of here for a while," I told him in a low tone of voice. "I don"t care what you have to do," I added. "Woo her. Take her on a holiday. I don"t care. Just keep Hope out of that building until I say otherwise."
"Jesus Christ, Noah," Jordan groaned. He stood up and walked over to the window. "I"m not...I can"t be here," he whispered with his head bent as he clutched the windowsill. "I"m supposed to be...f.u.c.k!"
"Listen to me, dips.h.i.t," I snarled, stalking over to him. Grabbing his shoulder, I swung him around to face me. "I know you"ve got some f.u.c.ked up reason for walking away from her, but I also know that somewhere inside that stone heart you still love her. And the only reason I"m not kicking your a.s.s right now is because I need you f.u.c.king mobile," I added, resisting the urge to break his f.u.c.king jaw for breaking Hope"s heart. "I don"t give two s.h.i.ts about your daddy issues or who"s waiting for you back home. You make my niece your only priority."
Jordan stared at me for a long moment before nodding stiffly. "I"ll keep her safe," he finally said, jaw clenched.
"Good." I nodded. "Glad we"re on the same page." Glad he finally found his b.a.l.l.s...
"But if anything happens to Hope because of you, you won"t have to worry about your enemies," he hissed, stepping closer. "I"ll kill you myself."
I snorted. "If anything happens to Hope because of me, you"ll be one of a long list of people ready to kill me." Sighing, I added, "She"s not a target. She just happens to live with the only target."
"I"m ready," Teagan called out as she strolled out of the bedroom arm in arm with Hope. I turned around to see her and my heart slammed against my chest. She was swallowed up in a pair of my sweatpants and a hoodie, looking so small and vulnerable that the protective instinct inside of me roared to life.
"Are you sure about this, Teegs?" Hope asked her.
"I"m sure about him," she replied before walking straight into my arms. "I"m sure about you," she whispered, wrapping her arms around my waist. "Whatever happens," Teagan said, eyes locked on my face. "I"m not walking away from you again. I will be right by your side. I"m yours, Noah Messina. I"m in."
f.u.c.k me, she was really with me on this.
I looked down at her and smiled. "I know."
This woman was my best friend. She knew me inside out. She knew it all. The good, the bag, and the illegal. And for some f.u.c.ked up reason she loved me anyway.
I couldn"t let her go again.
I f.u.c.king couldn"t.
Two Weeks Later.
LIKE I HAD PREDICTED, NOAH WASN"T FIRED. He got a slap on the wrist and a huge fine for his part at Krash Bar that night, but that was it. My man was too important to the company. He was indispensable.
He proved that tonight when he packed out the Odyssey Arena with an army of adoring fans. Fifteen thousand people were on their feet, screaming his name, myself included from the front row.
JD had been quiet since we returned to the States. No roses, no bullets on pillows or unwanted phone calls, but I wasn"t stupid. I knew he was still out there somewhere, waiting for his opportunity. So did Noah, which was why I was being chaperoned tonight by his newly hired bodyguard, Lewis, who was currently sitting beside me. I understood the dangers that came with being stalked by a s.a.d.i.s.tic mob boss determined to kill me and make it painful which was why I didn"t protest having a bodyguard. I also knew that the only one that stood in his way of making good on his promise was my fallen angel. My savior. My fighter boyfriend. But I wasn"t going to dwell on JD tonight. In fact, I was determined to put that creep to the back of my mind.
Tonight was all about Noah and I planned on savoring every second of it.
The cage, the metal bars, the scent of sweat mixed with tobacco and alcohol was poignant as I watched Noah make his way to the cage.
His entrance song Can"t be touched was blaring through the speakers, causing the momentum to soar.
A line of security guards with their arms crossed over their burly bigger than life chests were all that kept Noah from being mauled by his overly zealous fans.
"Ladies and gentlemen, for your pleasure, for one night only, we have a knockout fight," the announcer called excitedly. "That"s right, folks. MFA veteran, and three times former heavyweight champion Roy the wringerrrrr Wicks. And going against him tonight, a crowd favorite, it"s your very own bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Noah the Machine Messsinaaaaa!"
When he entered the cage, Noah bounced lightly on his feet; a challenge for a man who was 6"4" in height and 245 pounds of pure muscle.
Ignoring his opposition who already in the cage and trying to taunt him, Noah rolled his shoulders and twisted his neck from side to side, loosening out.
When the match official called both men to the center of the ring to touch gloves, the screaming and cheering went through the roof.
The bell rang and Noah curled his lip up and smirked.
And then he attacked.
Noah and Teagan"s story concludes in.
Tame.
Due out late 2016.
The Broken Series & The Carter Kids Series.
Break my Fall (Broken #1).
Fall to Pieces (Broken #2) Fall on Me (Broken #3) Forever we Fall (Broken #4).
Treacherous (Carter Kids #1) Always (Carter Kids #1.5) Thorn (Carter Kids #2).
The DiMarco Dynasty.
DiMarco"s Secret Love Child: Part One.
DiMarco"s Secret Love Child: Part Two.
Blurred Lines.
Blurring Lines.
Never Let me Go.
CHLOE WALSH is a twenty-six-year-old wife and mother of two from County Cork in the south of Ireland. The youngest of five children, reading and writing was her escape as a child.
In January 2014, she started to write about a c.o.c.ky, self-a.s.sured man named Kyle Carter, and five weeks later, on Valentine"s Day 2014, she self-published her debut novel, Break my Fall, for a handful of friends who had called over for tea, read bits and pieces of Kyle, and wanted to read the story on their E-readers rather than printed sheets.
Shockingly and no one was more surprised than her the book was a huge success, reaching No.1 in the UK Bestsellers Lists. Chloe followed it up in April 2014 with the sequel, Fall to Pieces, vowing that this second book would be the final chapter for Kyle.
The demand for a third installment was overwhelming and a series was born! The final book became two: Fall on Me, the third book in the accidental Broken series, was released in August 2014, and Forever we Fall was released in October 2014.
Treacherous, the first book from her Carter Kids series was released in March 2015, followed by Always (Carter Kids #1.5) in June 2015.
DiMarco"s Secret Love Child (Parts 1 & 2) were released in later March 2015.
Blurred Lines was released in May 2015, followed by Never Let me Go, in December 2015.
Thorn, is her eleventh book, and was released in February 2016, on the two year anniversary of her publishing career.
An avid reader, Chloe enjoys lurking in a corner with her E-reader, and playing sports.
Please feel free to contact her on her Facebook page.
Catatonia Road Rage.
Wyclef Jon 911.
Lucy Spraggan Last night Gavin DeGraw Soldiers Walking on Cars Always be with you.
Paramore Still into you Chingy One call away Coolio Gangster"s Paradise George Ezra Blame it on me.
James Bay Hold back the river James Bay Scars Jason Derulo Want to want me.
Lady Gaga You and I OMI Cheerleader Roy Jones Can"t be touched Shawn Mendes St.i.tches.
Klaxons It"s not over yet Three Days Grace Painkiller Nickelback I"d come for you Theory of a Deadman Bad Girlfriend Saving Abel Addicted The Fray Never say never 3 Oh 3 Don"t trust me.
Nickelback The Next Contestant The Verve Lucky Man.
X Amba.s.sadors Unsteady Robert Pattinson Never Think Rita Ora Poison.
Sean Paul Punkie Semisonic FNT.
Avril Lavigne Rock and Roll The Beatles Don"t let me down Ben Howard Oats in the water.
Rosey Breathe Jamie Campbell Bower Waiting.
Kings of Leon Fans Barenaked Ladies One Week Pink Who Knew.
Creed Stand Here With Me.
This is my eleventh book, and I"m slowly but surely beginning to find my feet. I need to acknowledge my faithful and devoted readers for their patience.
Thorn has been on the back burner for almost a year now, and you guys gave me the time I needed, when I needed it, to step back and have me-time.
You stuck by me when I hit my low point last year and you cheered me on when I came back fighting. You"ll never know how much you all mean to me. I am indebted to you all.
Go raibh mle math agut.
Tame.
By Chloe Walsh.
Inevitable.
By Chloe Walsh.
Breaking Point.
By Chloe Walsh.