Noah’s face falls and he hardly has a chance to register the look on my face before I storm into him, throwing the bag of food down at Tully’s feet, and slamming my hands into his chest, forcing him back a step. “Is it true?” I demand. “Do you work for Anton?”
Surprise overtakes his features as he sucks in a breath, his eyes focused heavily on me, which is enough to tell me exactly what I need to know. “How fucking stupid could you be?” I all but scream at him. “Anton Fucking Mathers? You realize who he is right? What he’s involved in?”
“Spitfire,” Noah says, reaching out to me.
“Don’t ‘Spitfire’ me. I can’t fucking believe you. Are you trying to get your ass thrown in jail?” I look across at Tully who’s watching us with bated breath and it hits me that she knew this all along. I mean, I know that she knew, but she really knew. She knew exactly what these idiots were up to and that makes her just as bad, especially as she would continuously tell me to trust them, saying it wasn’t ‘that bad.’ “What do you do for him?” I demand, slamming my hands into his chest once again. “Steal cars? Run drugs? Hired fucking muscle?”
He hesitates and it’s damn clear he doesn’t want to tell me what I already know.
“What is it?” I cry. “Be fucking real for once, Noah.”
He lets out a heavy sigh and I shrug him off when he tries to reach for me again. His eyes drop, unable to keep looking at me, but whether that’s because he wants to mask a lie or because he’s ashamed of what I know…I don’t know.
“Everything,” Noah murmurs. “Whatever he needs. I do.”
I fall back a step, looking at the man before me as though he’s some kind of stranger. My head shakes, unable to comprehend what I’ve just been told as images of Noah getting around Haven Falls doing drug deals and jacking cars rush through my mind.
His phone goes off in his pocket while we stand, staring at each other. He lets it ring out, but when the caller immediately calls right back, he cringes and slips his phone out of his pocket, holding it to his ear and answering in short, one word replies.
I listen to his conversation and it’s clear he doesn’t want me knowing who’s on the other end but at the same time, it’s so damn obvious.
Noah ends the calls and looks at me with pools of regret and guilt within his eyes. “I have to go.”
A breath escapes me. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I’m sorry, Henley,” he sighs. “Believe me, I wish things were different, but this is how it is.”
Noah steps into me and hastily presses a kiss to my forehead before disappearing up the beach, leaving me behind feeling more lost than ever with way too many questions and accusations flowing through my head.
I turn on Tully. “How could you not tell me that?”
“I…it wasn’t my place to say.”
“Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? What they’re doing?”
“Believe me, I know exactly what they’ve got themselves into. Do you really think they listened to me when I told them to get out? They can’t. It’s not like they want this. They sold their souls and now they’re living with the consequences of that.”
“What the hell do you mean they sold their souls?”
She just shakes her head. “Why don’t you go home and cool off a bit?” she suggests. “You need to talk to Noah about this shit, not me. I’ll watch Ari for you.”
I pull in a deep breath, hating even more that she’s dismissing me, but she’s right. Yelling at her about something that’s out of her control isn’t helping anything. I look across at Ari to see her eyes already on mine, filled with concern and just a little bit of fear. Regret pulses through me. I bet she saw me push Noah.
“Shit,” I whisper.
“She’ll be alright,” Tully murmurs. “I’ll bring her home in a bit.”
I nod my head as the tears start to fill my eyes. With one last look at Aria, I turn on my heel and walk away.
Chapter 17
I stand in the foyer of the biggest mansion I’ve ever been in. I mean, what kind of rich bastards have enough money to have a foyer in their home? This shit is ridiculous.
But one thing’s for sure I seriously underestimated Broken Hill’s ability to throw a party.
It’s Kaylah’s eighteenth and just as she had told me, Jesse has offered up his home for the best damn party Broken Hill and Haven Falls have ever seen. Kaylah’s birthday is kind of like finding that happy medium for both towns to come together and actually get along.
All her friends and family from Haven Falls are here and all the new people in her life from Broken Hill are here. Though, apparently, they didn’t really need an excuse to come over here. Since Jesse became top shit at Broken Hill High, his home has turned into the place to be.