Part 10 (1/2)

With shaky hands and a nervous disposition, I clicked receive and held my phone to my ear. ”h.e.l.lo?”

”You have a collect call from an inmate at the Colorado State Penitentiary, would you like to accept the charges?” a prerecorded voice asked me.

”Yes, I do,” I replied immediately. ”I mean I will accept the charges.” The line went silent for a moment, and then there was a high-pitched buzzing sound.

”Hope,” a deep, gravelly, familiar voice said down the line. ”I got your messages. What's wrong?”

”It's me,” I replied, hyperventilating at the sound of his voice.

Breathe, I told myself. Just breathe.

There was silence; a drawn-out pause before finally he spoke. ”And who is me exactly?”

”Teagan.” I closed my eyes and tipped my head back, stifling a groan.

More silence followed, longer this time, until I couldn't stomach it a second longer.

”Uh...Teagan Connolly,” I added, voice high and squeaky. ”From Thirteenth Street”

”I know who you are!” he responded with a bark. ”What I want to know is why you're calling me now?” The bitterness in his voice stunned me and I took a moment to steel myself.

”I'm so sorry about your mother, Noah,” I blurted out, biting the skin on my knuckles anxiously. ”I wanted to call you and...well, I just wanted to tell you that.”

I heard his cruel, harsh laugh seconds before his voice was bellowing in my eardrum. ”Let me get this straight,” Noah sneered. ”You're calling me, after five years of nothing, to offer your condolences?” He laughed again, crueler than before if that was even possible, before saying, ”You're some piece of work, Thorn calling me now, with less than three weeks left to serve.”

”That is not why I called you and you know it,” I snapped, feeling fl.u.s.tered and hurt. ”I was worried about you. G.o.d, Noah, I know how you felt about your mother.”

I opened my mouth to say something else, but he beat me to it, and with his words he buried any hope I ever had for us.

”Don't worry about me,” he sneered. ”In fact, don't f.u.c.king think about me at all. Forget I even exist, Teagan, just like I forgot about you!”

The line went dead, and I sat, frozen to the bone, as his words of malice began to slowly sink in.

All the years I had held myself back from moving on had been pointless because Noah Messina hated me more than I hated him.

It was really over for us.

And my heart was breaking all over again.

”THAT IS NOT WHY I CALLED YOU and you know it,” Teagan hissed. ”I was worried about you. G.o.d, Noah, I know how you felt about your mother.”

”Don't worry about me,” I interjected, feeling more furious than I had in years. She had some nerve, calling me up after all this time. ”In fact, don't f.u.c.king think about me at all. Forget I even exist, Teagan, just like I forgot about you!”

And then I hung up on her.

”G.o.ddammit to h.e.l.l!”

Slamming the receiver down over and over again, I tried to rein in the tsunami of emotions raging through me.

”That f.u.c.king woman!”

Anger, pain, and most predominately l.u.s.t, hit me straight in the chest like a f.u.c.king wrecking ball. Followed swiftly by a huge churn of regret.

Why the f.u.c.k did I hang up on her?

Grabbing the receiver I held it to my ear. ”Thorn, you still there, baby?”

Nothing.

f.u.c.k.

Slamming the receiver back down, I stalked back to my cell.

That night, instead of having nightmares about my mother's last moments on this earth, I dreamt of Thorn.

One phone call.

One f.u.c.king call after five years and I was a mess.

Christ, I felt like a dog that had been thrown a bone, a sc.r.a.p of hope.

Somewhere, deep down inside, there was a part of Teagan that still cared about me and I held onto that thought like it was my last lifeline.

Thorn was still out there, thinking about me, worrying...waiting.

All of a sudden, the prospect of my impending freedom was more appealing than ever.

All of a sudden, I had a goal.

I was getting out of here next month, and when I did, I was going to sign any contract or deal the MFA threw in my direction I knew they were still interested.

When I had all of that done, I would go and get my Thorn, because there was no way in h.e.l.l I was turning up empty-handed and broke. No, I was going to make something of myself, something good.

And then I was going to make her regret walking away from me regret leaving me high and dry when I needed her most.

Knowing I could never trust her again wasn't enough to deter me I was going to make her love me so hard she would never contemplate leaving me again.

I was taking back what had always been mine, and Thorn was mine.

I just needed to make her remember that.

LIKE TOMMY HAD PREDICTED, I was signed to the MFA exactly two weeks to the day that I was released from prison, with a six-figure salary that within three months had turned into seven figures. One year had pa.s.sed since I had been released from one cage and thrust into another.

Except this one was different.

This was on my terms and I was the f.u.c.king king. The MFA were paying me a s.h.i.+t ton of cash to do the only thing I was good at doing inflicting pain.

The sweat that dripped from my brow screwed with my vision as I stalked my opponent my prey. I couldn't see properly, not that poor sight ever affected me.

Fighting for me was primal.