Hush - Fighting Fate #2 (40 page)

“Then show me,” I breathed.

Brushing his lips over mine, he bent down and lifted me into his arms, gently carrying me over to the bed and laying me down.

And w
ith my heart in a state of disarray, I let him love me.

***

Pulling my car up to Mia’s house the next day, I struggled to get my mind off Noah and everything that’d happened the night before. There was no doubt in my mind I was falling for him. It was impossible to stop, even if I wanted to. The only thing that worried me was whether Noah was ready for it.

After loving me the night before, he held me until the early hours of the morning, talking about his time in rehab and what the psychologist had told him about possible mood swings and emotional states. If anything, that only made it easier for me to love him.

After sleeping in each other’s arms for most of the day, neither of us wanted to let the other go when it was time for me to leave, but Mia had organized a girls get-together a while ago, and considering she was about to go on tour with the guys and I wasn’t going to see her for months, I knew I needed to make the effort.

The only thing that made it bearable was knowing Noah was going to be spending the time with his brothers.
I loved the close relationship they all seemed to have, and I loved that Noah had them to support him.

Letting myself in, I made my
way through the house, following the sounds of music and laughter I could hear coming from out the back.

Guilt flared inside me
when I realized I was the last to arrive yet again.

Mia and Amy were perched on the edge of the pool in their bikinis, while Amber and Jess bobbed up and down in the water in front of them. They were all laughing at something Amber was saying
, looking like they were having so much fun, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Who said you could all start having fun without me?” I yelled as I
dumped my bag and started stripping off.

All eyes swung around to look at me, and I laughed.

“We were all placing bets as to whether you’d turn up at all,” Amber said, laughing. “If I were you, I’d still be in bed. Noah’s freaking hot.”

Throwing my clothes on a chair, I moved towards the pool. “Jesus, I can barely walk as it is.”

They all laughed, but I saw Amy’s cheeks turn a light shade of pink, making me wonder if I’d been too crass.

“Oh my god, give me details,” Amber said. “That boy looks too hot to be bad in bed.”

I laughed, sliding down to sit beside Mia. “Uh…yeah, he’s pretty good.”

I wasn’t sure how much information I should give them. I wanted to talk about what had happened the night before. Not Noah’s melt down, but the dominant part. I
’d really liked it and I kind of wanted to get a feel for where they stood with that kind of thing.

“He’s…uh…he’s got a piercing…down there…”

Mia’s eyes bulged. “Holy shit! Are you serious?”

I laughed and gave her a nod.

“Can you feel it? Is it good?”

I felt like I should play it down, but I’d hidden things from Mia for too long. “It’s freaking amazing. I love it.”

“Damn,” Mia said, shaking her head. “I wonder if Jace would consider getting one?”

We all laughed at that, because we all knew she was seriously going to ask him.

Biting my lip, I glanced down at the pool. “Noah also kind of has a domineering side…”

Jess giggled. “Whoa.”

“No,” Amber said, her expression turning serious. “You need to stop right there.” I blinked at her, suddenly panicked I’d gone too far, but then she sighed. “Okay, no. I need to know. Tell us.”

I stared at her, unsure of what was going on.

“Wait, no. Don’t tell us. I seriously can’t know. It’s bad enough that he’s all inked up and pierced. He can’t be dominant as well. That’s not fair.” She growled as we all watched her with amusement. “Shit. Please don’t tell me he cuffed you. I forgot he’s a freaking cop. He has handcuffs!”

We all burst out laughing at her dilemma.

She begged me with her eyes. “Oh god. Just put me out of my misery!”

“Well, he didn’t use his handcu
ffs. Yet.” Amber groaned. “But he made me put my hands on the headboard and I wasn’t allowed to move them. And he teased me for what felt like forever. And that god damned tongue piercing-”

“He has a tongue piercing!?” Amber yelled. “Nope. I’m out.” With that, she turned and waded to the stairs, grumbling under her breath the whole way.

Mia and Jess were full on laughing at her then.

“Oh, Ambs,” Jess choked out. “We so need to find you a guy.”

Amber stomped over to the outdoor fridge and grabbed a soda before making her way back over to us.

Amy laughed and shook her head. “God, I feel so out of my depth with you guys. Is it wrong that I haven’t slept with Ryan yet?”

I glanced over at her. I was a little surprised actually. I’d just assumed that she and Ryan had already gone there considering they’d been going out for as long as Mia and Jace had.

“No way,” Jess said, shaking her
head to reiterate. “If you’re not ready, you’re not ready. I haven’t found anyone I’ve wanted to give it to either.”

Amy raised her eyebrows at Jess. “You haven’t? I thought you and Cain…”

Jess shook her head. “Everyone just assumed, and he never bothered to say otherwise.”

“Neither did you,” Amber said, folding her long legs onto the lounger.

“No one asked,” Jess retorted.

Mia eyed Amy. “Jess is right. You have to wait until you’re ready. Ryan’s okay with waiting, isn’t he?”

Amy looked down into the water, her eyes growing a little cloudy. “He’s getting frustrated with me I think. I guess I can’t blame him. We have been going out for as long as you and Jace have, which he likes to remind me of every time I say no. But…I don’t know…it’s just that when we get close, something stops me.” She shrugged.

Mia gave me a knowing look. I didn’t know Amy as well as I knew the others, but I did know she had pretty strict parents. Her dad was a lawyer, and her mom was a very successful realtor. They were high society, and they expected Amy to act accordingly.

Amber put her soda on the table beside her and leant forward. “Look, Amy, take it from a self-proclaimed slut. Your virginity is yours. No one else’s. Yours. When you decide to give it to someone, remember it’s the biggest, most personalized gift you could ever give. If someone is in a hurry to take it off you, then they obviously don’t understand the significance of that gift, which means that they’re probably not worthy of it.”

We all stared at Amber for a few heartbeats, surprised by the heaviness of her words, but then she simply shrugged and sat back,
picking up her soda like it was no big deal.

“Yeah,” Jess said, breaking the silence. “What she said.”

I laughed. Damn I loved these girls.

After that, we made sure any topic of the heavy kind was left out of conversation, and I swear I had the most fun I’d ever had. We swam, we danced, we joked, we sang. We had good food, good music, and good company. It was perfect.

It was dark by the time we started to wind down. The music was turned down to a low background noise, and we were happily floating around the pool on blow up mats, laughing at Amber’s stories of her search for adrenalin.

The only thing that marred it was the constant barking coming from the next door neighbor’s little yap yap dog. With the bushes occasionally rustling, we knew it was most likely a cat, but still. I wished the owner would just shut it up already.

I was just climbing out of the pool when I heard my phone ping with a new message. Not able to stop myself from smiling with anticipation, I quickly dried myself a little before picking it up.

The second I opened the text the smile fell from my lips.

It was a picture from an unknown number. Of me. Tied and bound to a chair.

My blood started pumping too fast and my hands shook. I knew exactly when that was. I knew who had taken that picture.

Aaron.

Before I could get my brain to
form a coherent thought, another picture came through. This time it was me, in my bikinis, holding my cell. Right where I was standing now.

I felt the blood drain from my face as I struggled to get my breathing to cooperate.

“Kaeli?”

My head snapped up to see the girls surrounding me. “We need to get inside.”

Without waiting for an answer, I turned and hurried inside, automatically rushing to lock every door that led to the outside. When I came back out to the living area, the girls had everything inside and were looking at me with panicked expressions.

Locking the door, I pulled the curtains and scrolled through my
cell for Noah’s number. “Aaron’s out there,” I said, hitting call and lifting it to my ear.

I didn’t look to see what their reactions were, I just walked back out to the lounge room.

Noah answered on the second ring. “Hey, gorgeous.”

“Noah…” I’d hoped my voice would come out strong and sure, but unfortunately, it didn’t. It shook, and quite frankly, sounded panicked.

“Kaeli? What’s wrong?” The urgency in Noah’s voice made me crumble even more.

“I…I think Aaron’s here…”

“Fuck. Where are you? Get inside and lock the doors. Do you understand? I mean it, Kaeli. Lock the fucking doors. You don’t open up for anyone. I’ll be right there.”

I heard rustling and movement, then low voices in the background.

“Okay,” I said, still shaky.

He sighed. “You’re okay, baby. Just stay inside. I’ll be there in a second.”

“Okay.”

I heard the
line click in my ear and I slowly lowered my arm, turning to see the girls watching me wearily.

Mia came closer and took my hand. “What happened? Why do you think Aaron’s here?”

Instead of explaining, I opened up my text messages and held up the phone for her to see.

“Shit.”

Yep. That about summed it up.

Six minutes later, I heard Noah’s car screech into the drive. Knowing he was close made my heart start to
settle. When the knock came, it was urgent.

“Kaeli, it’s me. You can open the door now.”

Flicking the lock, I pulled the door open and threw myself into his arms. Noah didn’t linger though. He carried me inside, followed by all four of his brothers.

As the door swung shut and Adam flicked the lock, I heard someone gasp, then Amber’s low groan. “Holy mother of amazing gene pools…”

Chapter
66

Noah

Adrenalin was pumping through me like I was tapped to it. I knew this was personal and I was worried about Kaeli, but my mind was as sharp as a tack. If Aaron was here, I was going to fucking take him down.

When the door was securely closed, I looked down at Kaeli and gave her a pointed stare. “What happened?”

She swallowed and lifted up her
cell. The second I saw the screen, anger flared. Snatching it from her, I opened the picture to see her fucking tied and bound to a chair in some dark, fucking dank room. When the fuck was this? And why didn’t I know she’d been fucking tied up?

Barely containing my fury, I levelled my gaze on Kaeli. “This was from when he took you?”

She nodded. I could see how scared she was, so I tried to rein it in, but fuck me, it was hard.

“We’ll talk about why you didn’t tell
me this later.” Flicking to the next picture, my blood ran cold. The fucking motherfucker had been out there watching her.

Without looking to see which one of my brothers was behind me, I shoved the
cell in their direction and took the gun from where I’d stashed it in my pants.

Kaeli took a step away from me.

“Whoa!” Adam said, coming closer. “Just wait, Noah.”

“Like fuck I’m waiting,” I growled. “The fucker was out there watching her!”

Eli passed Kaeli’s cell to Adam, who glanced at the screen before looking back at me, jaw clenched. “You can’t go out there without a clear head, man.”

I gave him a hard stare. “My head is clearer than it’s ever been.”

Not wanting to waste any more time, I started striding towards the back door.

“Noah!” Adam growled.

I spun, anger pouring off me. “Who the fuck is trained for this, Adam?! Just let me do my fucking job!”

“Fine!” he yelled back. “Then I’m coming with you.”

“Yep,” Isaac said. “Me too.”

“Fuck!” Knowing there was no way I was going to be able to stop them, and not wanting to waste any more fucking time, I turned my glare on Eli and Micah. “You two stay the fuck here and watch the girls.”

With that, I raised my piece and moved outside. Sticking to the shadows, I scanned the area, trying to get my bearings. I saw where Kaeli must’ve been standing when the cocksucker took her picture, and letting my gaze follow the projected direction he must’ve been to take it, I found a row of bushes that separated this yard from the neighbor’s.