“Got it.” I can almost hear the glee in her voice.
We all peel out into the hall, my own feet still trying to get me in the middle of them, as Landon follows Noah.
“Please, Landon,” I beg.
“Boys, this isn’t helping anyone.” Blake passes me, but it doesn’t slow Landon down.
“I warned you, Locke. I fucking warned you, and you did it anyway. You’ll pay for this, I swear.”
“Don’t you dare, Landon. All he did was help me - work with me so I could put the pieces of this puzzle together.” I catch up, my hand reaching for his arm. “I just wanted to prove my innocence and salvage the mess I’d caused. There’s no blame or consequence for Noah.”
He shrugs me off, glaring between me and where Noah's gone. “And fucking him was helpful to your quest?”
“For God's sake. Lewis is coming for us. He wants his share of what he thinks is his, and he’s not going to stop. He set the fire at the stable, which means he’s close. So, let’s stop fighting and end this for all of us.”
“I’ll say when this ends, Neve, and it's far from fucking over at the moment.”
“Landon, please-”
“Leave. Now. I need space to deal with Locke, and I don't want any one of you in front of me while I do it.”
Chapter Twenty One
NOAH
I’m going to do something fucking stupid in a minute if he doesn’t stop. Makes me tighten my fists up again and keep walking away, determined to get out of here. One more push, and I’m likely to explode on him. Not going to help anyone, certainly not my brother. The first punch was stupid enough, but damn, him going at Neve set my nerves on edge. Any more now would be damn close to suicide for Stefan.
I glare at anything in my way, pissed that the safety I’ve tried to protect is probably fucked anyway. I can hear his damned feet following me, though, as I get out onto the drive. Dumb move.
“We haven’t finished, Locke,” he shouts.
I keep walking straight for my car. I’m done here. What the fuck is the point anymore? I might as well get on with my plan to get Stefan out of Benthill before this dick does it for me.
My hand grabs for my keys, the other one going for the door.
And then he shoves my back.
My chest rebounds off it, body spinning quickly to him because of the impact. “Don’t. You’ll fucking lose, Landon.”
He doesn’t look like he gives a shit about that fact. He should. He’s no brawler, and he won’t know what to do with someone like me getting rowdy in his face. His size over me doesn’t matter. Neither does his fucking logic.
We fight – he goes down.
The fist he tries throwing at me misses, and I’m quick to off-balance him and push him away. He still doesn’t give up, and the second punch does land hard against my ribs. I duck, move, and punch sharp and fast to his windpipe. The strangled gasp sounds out loud, and his hand goes to his throat to try improving his fucking chance at breathing. Not gonna happen, especially when I send another jab at his stomach followed by an uppercut to his jaw.
The sight of him falling is a welcome fucking image in my life. In fact, regardless of Neve and whatever feelings I’ve now got for her, it’s something I’ve wanted to see for a long time. I step back away from him, watching as he hits the deck in those thousand-pound clothes and keeps trying to breathe. He will eventually. He’ll pull in a clear breath and maybe a clear fucking head with it. Stupid fucking move. Stupidest thing he’s ever done in his life, I should think.
Leaning on the car while he struggles for air, I stare back at the house, wondering where she is now. Probably crying again. Pisses me the fuck off. And he didn’t help with his attitude, didn't look fucking pleased with her explanation either. Guess I wouldn’t be if I was him. She lied, schemed, made the family's life hell, and played a part in getting her father killed. Shame he hasn’t seen the other side of her – the one who’s been trying to put her mess right.
“You’re a little cunt, Noah.” I look back at the sound of his almost clear voice, a brow arched at the word he’s associating with me. And little? Everyone’s little compared to him.
“Yeah, well, that’s what you’ve been paying me for all these years. I'm good at it.”
He looks up at me from the ground, still rubbing his throat. “I was not paying you to sleep with my sister.”
“No, she offered that as her way of outpricing you. Her idea. Kind of. Clever.” His eyes widen, and he goes to get up. “Before you bother, think instead of acting stupid again, Landon. I won’t be so careful with you next time. Didn't have you down as a dense fuck.”
He gets up anyway, almost trembling with the rage he’s trying to contain. I understand it. Might even be the same if I had a sister and this shit was said in front of me, but I don’t, and after all the crap he’s made me do, and all the times I’ve bent over for his whims, he can take a bit of it back for once.
