Thorn: Carter Kids #2 by Chloe Walsh Page B

me sound.
    “That was your choice, Teagan, not mine,” Max replied coolly. “But I presume you already know you made the wrong decision by shacking up with that criminal.”
    “I am not shacked up with Noah,” I snarled, rising onto my knees.
    This was the crux of it all; Max would never get over me choosing Noah over him all those years ago.
    “Because in case it hasn’t crossed your attention, Noah’s in prison.” My voice was full of pain and sarcasm. “And it wasn’t his fault,” I added.
    He might be a cheating bastard, but Noah wasn’t a criminal – not through choice at least. He had been thrown into a world of crime and had done the only thing he could do. Survive. “Hate Noah if you want, Max,” I growled. “But don’t call him that.”
    “I’m simply calling a spade a spade,” he replied, not giving an inch.
    Sighing heavily, I struggled to rein in my emotions and make the peace. “Look,” I coaxed in as reasonable tone as I could muster. “It’s been almost five years. Can’t we just bury the hatchet and call a truce?”
    “And when Noah gets out?” Max countered, ignoring the olive branch I was offering him. “What happens then?”
    “What do you mean what happens when he gets out?”
    “How long will this so called truce last when lover boy gets released from prison?”
    Shaking my head in confusion, I opened my mouth to defend myself but Max jumped in before I had a chance.
    “I will not condone you being in any sort of relationship with a criminal, Teagan,” he told me in that snotty, superior tone I had forgotten he loved to use when talking down to me. “I will have no part in it.”
    “Oh my fucking god,” I hissed, “Max, do you realize how insane you sound right now?” Jumping off my bed, I stalked my floor, feeling angrier than I had in months. “This conversation is pointless because Noah and I are over .”
    “We’ll see how over you two are when he gets out, won’t we?” he shot back coolly.
    “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I demanded, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration.
    “Don’t act so stupid, Teagan,” my uncle snarled, finally losing his cool demeanor. “That thug was obsessed with you! Do you honestly believe he’s not going to come looking for you when he gets out?” he all but roared down the line. “Bringing with him all the danger and trouble that comes hand in hand with gang members.”
    “George Dennis is dead,” I informed him angrily, reciting the words that had kept me sane since I found out all those years ago. “It’s over, Max. The Ring of Fire is gone, and when Noah is done serving his time he will be a free man. And besides, Noah and I have had no contact,” I choked out. “Not one phone call in all these years.” I blinked away the hot tears that were burning my eyes. “For all I know, he’s forgotten about me –”
    “It will never be over and you know that,” Max interrupted, ignoring my protests. “There is always another low life waiting in the wings to swoop in and take the reins in a gang.”
    “You’re wrong,” I countered shakily. “It’s over.”
    “Look at what he dragged you into, Teagan,” Max snarled, clearly furious. “Illegal fighting rings. Drug lords. Car chases. Police stations. Brothels.” I could hear the outrage and disproval dripping from his voice. “You’ve taken beatings for him. You’ve been bullied because of him – he bullied you, Teagan. For Christ’s sake, that man took your innocence and he uploaded it to the Internet for the world and its mother to see.”
    “He didn’t do that.”
    “Keep defending him.”
    “I’m not. I’m stating facts.”
    “And you will go back to him,” Max added condescendingly. “Because that’s what women like you do.”
    “Women like me ?”
    “Weak women,” Max informed me. “Dependent women. Women who bend their morals and go against everything they’ve ever believed in for a man. And just like your mother,