It’s too new for me to send it off for an insurance claim. I mean, I’d miss it too much. I’m not done showing it off as I drive around Haven Falls like a bad bitch.

  My fingers curl around a blanket that I think should do the job and I race back outside, holding it above my head to avoid being hit by the hailstones. Who knows how long this storm is going to last for. It’s been going all day, raining on and off since I first woke up this morning.

  Aria thought it was great as she finally got a chance to wear her rainboots today. I gave her a rain jacket and within seconds she was racing out the front door, jumping in all the puddles and begging me to take a second rain jacket for her friend. It was great watching her enjoy herself, but having the water splash up all over my jeans wasn’t exactly thrilling for me. Let’s just say the fact that she’s out of my hair, having a play date with a girl from school is an absolute miracle, otherwise, my day would have been spent standing out in the rain, getting myself sick as she happily ran around. I can only imagine what she thinks about this hail. I’m sure I’ll be hearing about it when I pick her up later.

  “Come on, babe,” Noah yells from my car. I glance up from the ground and take him in. He’s absolutely soaked from head to toe. Water is literally running off him as he cringes with each hailstone that comes down on him.

  I hurry as best I can without falling over and breaking a leg. I finally make it to the car and Noah instantly helps me spread it out. We pull it over the car as hailstones slam into my back. It takes all of two seconds to realize that the blanket is far too short.

  “Shit,” I curse as the whole hood of the car remains exposed, making me cringe with each stone that rebounds off of it.

  Noah bounds forward and throws himself over the hood, laying on it and spreading both his arms and legs out wide. “Save yourself,” he cries.

  “What are you doing?” I laugh, running back towards the house so I can stand under the porch.

  Noah yells out to me from the car, shaking his head as water drips down into his eyes with a massive grin taking over his lips. “If your dad comes home and finds hail damage all over this car, he’s going to somehow find a way to blame it on me, so I’ll be damned if I let this car get ruined.”

  “Dramatic much?” I laugh.

  “I ain’t kidding,” he shoots back as the water threatens to slide him right off the hood. He latches on as best he can and I briefly wonder if his weight on the hood is going to dent it, but then, he’s smarter than that. He would never do anything that would potentially harm my baby.

  “You know, all that ice is probably good for your face,” I chuckle as over the last few days, he’s refused to ice his black eye. He did it for about three seconds with a packet of peas when it first happened, but then we got talking and it was forgotten about. When I finally remembered, it was a no-go zone.

  “Shut up,” he throws back at me. “This isn’t exactly enjoyable.”

  “Oh, trust me, it’s definitely enjoyable,” I laugh. "Who would have thought I’d find myself a guy who’d willing throw himself over my car during a hailstorm?”

  “Hey,” he demands, sputtering around the water that drips into his mouth. “Don’t think I’m doing this for you,” he says. “I’m doing this to save my own ass. Your dad keeps showing me that new shotgun and I have a feeling he’s looking for a reason to use it.”

  “Oh, come on,” I laugh. “You know my dad is all talk. He’s like a big marshmallow, just like you.”

  “I can assure you, Spitfire. Your dad is definitely not all talk. When it comes to protecting his baby, he’d do just about anything, even if that means shooting me in the ass.”

  I roll my eyes. He’s kind of right, but I’m not going to admit it. Dad would do anything to protect me against the world even though I’m constantly arguing that I can take care of myself. I’m his baby and that’s just his natural instinct as my father. Aria though, she better watch out. He’s had a world of practice with me. I can only imagine what life is going to be like for her when boys start showing up at our door.

  After a short wait, I sense the hail beginning to slow down and I decide enough is enough. Noah is probably going to have welts and bruises covering his back from this silly stunt. I race out into the rain, still getting hit with the odd hailstone, but it’s nowhere near as bad as it was before.

  “What are you doing?” Noah demands, seeing me darting towards him. “Get back under the shelter.”

  “It’s stopping,” I tell him as I reach him and start grabbing for his arm. “You need to get off. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

  “No, it’s not over yet,” he tells me in a show of defiance.

  I laugh as I start tugging on his arm, hoping to slide him off the hood.

  “Cut it out,” he yells at me, clutching onto the hood with one hand and trying to push me off with the other.

  “Nuh uh,” I laugh. I grab hold with my other hand and give a hard tug. My eyes widen in horror as the tug has him slipping straight off the hood and stumbling towards me. Noah tries to throw himself off the hood so his clothes don’t scratch the paint but all that does is have him shooting towards me that much faster.

  “Fuck,” he shouts as he crashes into me. Noah tries to break my fall but it’s no use. We’re both fucked.

  We tumble down into the soaking wet grass and my ass goes down into the massive patch of mud that Aria had made sure to make bigger this morning.

  Uncontrollable laughter takes over me as Noah watches me in horror, shaking his head. So, I do what any other respectable girlfriend would do and grab a handful of mud and slather it onto his face.

  Noah sucks in a shocked gasp and holds me down with everything he’s got. “You’re dead, Spitfire.”

  I squeal out and try to desperately hurry away from him, but it takes him all of three seconds to have me covered from head to toe in mud. The hail comes to a complete stop, but the rain is still happy to stick around as I chase Noah around the yard, intending to get him back.

  Ten minutes later, I stand against the brick wall of my home as Noah holds the freezing cold hose on me. The rain wasn’t enough to wash the mud off and instead of letting me go inside for a hot shower, Noah insisted that he hose me down first. After all, he wouldn’t want me walking mud all through the house and giving dad another reason to want to shoot him in the ass.

  Noah laughs as the water washes over my skin, making me squeal out. “Just remember, whatever you do to me, I’ll be doing to you right after.”

  “Bullshit,” he laughs. “I’ll hose myself down.”

  “No way,” I screech, throwing myself off the wall and racing towards him. He holds the hose just out of reach as he keeps the spray of cold water trained on my body. “Stop it,” I beg, unable to stop the laughter shooting out of me.

  He finally gives in and turns the hose on himself, still refusing to let me be in charge, but I don’t know why I was expecting anything different.

  We get ourselves cleaned up and are just about to head inside to get ourselves dried when a big black SUV pulls up outside my place and Tully and Aiden both shoot their heads out of the windows on the passenger side, Tully naturally in the front. “Get your asses over here,” Tully hollers, banging her hand on the side of the car.

  “What the fuck?” Noah laughs beside me.

  I stare at the SUV in confusion. “Whose car is that?” I ask him as he takes my hand and starts pulling me towards it.

  “Maxen’s,” he explains, though it’s not necessary as Tully moves and gives me the perfect view of the guy. Noah and Maxen have been hanging out quite a bit since he started building his new racetrack. I still haven’t had a chance to see it, but I don’t doubt that it’s going to be awesome. Noah’s talking about it all the time, and if he’s excited about it, that means it’s going to be incredible, though I have a feeling it’ll be a while before I see it. It’s only two weeks into the build.

  Noah walks right up to Tully’s window and looks past her to say ‘hi’ to Maxen. “What’s going on?” he says. “I thought you’d be working on the track today.”

  “Nah, it’s too fucking wet for that shit,” Maxen says. “The machines were bound to get stuck, so we’re just fucking around instead. I went by your place but these idiots told me you were out with your girl.” With that, Maxen turns to me and gives me one of those weird chin raises that guys always seem to do.

  I give him a small smile as Noah responds. “You’re not chilling with Nate today?”

  Maxen scrunches his face up. “Nah, he’s got a big job that needs to get done and while I know a bit about cars, it’s not the kind of help he needs. I’ll probably just be in the way.”

  I listen in. During the week, Noah had said something about Maxen having issues with his girl, Brooke and I wonder if all this is something to keep his mind busy.

  Noah nods before looking to his sister through narrowed, suspicious eyes. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  She holds up her hands in innocence, knowing perfectly well that Noah’s mind has just placed the two of them together, both single and both hurting, though anybody in their right mind would know that Tully is so off the market despite the fact that there’s no man in her life. “We’re going wakeboarding,” Tully grins, knowing that’s bound to make him stop and wonder if he heard her correctly.

  “The fuck?” Noah grunts as Aiden grins in the backseat.

  “You heard me,” Tully laughs. “Now, hurry the fuck up. You’re up first.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  With that, Maxen jumps out of the car and grabs a rope before tying it around the tow hitch. Next up, he grabs an old surfboard out of the back which has had the fins broken off.

  I watch in wonder. What the fuck is he doing?

  “Get fucked,” Noah laughs, shaking his head in astonishment.

  I catch up a moment later when my eyes trail down to the stream of water sailing down the road and flooding the curb. “No way,” I laugh. “You don’t seriously expect Noah to wakeboard behind your car with a surfboard.”

  Just as the words come out of my mouth, Noah excitedly takes the surfboard from Maxen’s hands. “For fuck’s sake,” I groan. “You’re going to kill yourself!”

  Noah turns to me and bounces his brows with that cocky, too-sure-of-himself grin that I love so much. His green eyes sparkle and I know that whatever is going to come out of his mouth is going to change it all. “Bet I could last longer than you do.”

  Damn it. Out of all the things he could have said, he had to go and say that.

  I shake my head as a wicked smile takes over. “Screw you. You and I both know that I could whip your ass.”

  “You’re on, babe.”

  “What’s in it for me? I’m not doing it unless I know I’m going to get something out of it.”

  “Anything you want,” he tells me. “But just so you know, if I win, I want you in that red corset with the matching thong, the thigh high stockings, and the heels, and then, Spitfire, you’ll be dancing for me.”

  “Really, now?” I laugh, knowing that no matter if I win or lose, I’ll be doing that for him anyway. “If I win, you’ll be digging that pink thong out of the trash and giving me a repeat performance, only this time, minus the alcohol, I have a feeling it’s going to be a little harder to get through your routine.”

  He grins at me. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

  Noah goes as far as to make me shake on it before demanding I get my ass in the car. He practically pushes me towards the back door where I climb in beside Aiden after he launches a towel at my face. The door is closed and a second later, Maxen climbs back in and looks out the back window.

  Aiden grins excitedly as Tully spins around to watch the show. “I swear, if my boyfriend dies right now, you three are going along with him,” I promise.

  “No way,” Tully laughs. “If anyone can make this happen, it’s Noah.”

  I spin around, bracing myself against the door and the headrest, watching Noah like a hawk. I mean, I’ve stood by and watched him do stupid shit before, but never this stupid. Though, our Ultimate Truth or Dare game was pretty bad.

  “You ready?” Maxen calls out the open window to Noah.

  “Fuck, yeah,” he hollers back.

  A second later, Maxen takes off and Noah braces himself. The surfboard instantly lifts over the stream of water and he takes off as though he’s done this a million times. “Yes,” Tully squeals, laughing for the first time in nearly a week.

  Hell, even if Noah hurts himself, it’ll all be worth it just to hear Tully laughing like that.

  My eyes are wide as I continue watching Noah and the massive, childlike grin on his face. I’m pretty sure Aiden is timing it to be the judge of our little bet, but all I can concentrate on is the fact that a corner is coming up.

  Noah easily sails around, but I don’t know why I’m so surprised. All the kids from Haven Falls grew up at the beach. I was probably the only one who preferred to sit out in the sand while the rest of them screwed around in the surf.

  “Fuck,” Maxen laughs, calling out the window. “Drain.”

  I spin around and look ahead to find a massive drain where all the water instantly disappears. Oh, no, no, no, no. That’s bad.

  I turn back to Noah as he quickly approaches the drain. He’s not stopping. Why isn’t he stopping?

  Within the blink of an eye, Noah tilts the surfboard upwards and the board sails up over the curb and into the rain soaked grass as he bypasses the drain. Not a second later, he forces himself back down into the curb. “Woohoo,” he shouts before wobbling and saving himself.

  “No way,” Tully laughs in awe. “You better get that red corset ready. There’s no way you can beat that shit.”

  Damn it. I don’t like losing, but I have a feeling this is one that I haven’t even got a chance to win.

  Noah suddenly jumps from the surfboard and drops into a forward roll on the grass beside the curb and Maxen brings his car to a stop before practically falling out the car door. “That was fucking awesome,” he laughs as he gives Noah a high-five. “I’ve got to get the boys down here.”

  Maxen instantly gets on the phone as I climb out of the car. Noah’s green eyes find mine and the challenge is still bright and clear. “I can’t wait to watch you try to beat that.”

  “Is it too late to take it all back?”

  “Damn straight it is, babe,” he grins. “Now, get that perfect ass of yours over here and let me show you what to do.”

  I groan and make my way over to him and listen carefully as he tells me how to hold on and how to keep control of the surfboard. I listen intently but know that it’s not going to be anywhere near as pretty as Noah’s turn.

  Feeling less than confident, I get into position as the boys climb back into the car. "Go slow,” I call out.

  Maxen holds his hand out the window and gives me a thumbs up before calling out. “You ready?”

  No. Cringe. “Yeah.”

  With that, he takes off and I feel my soul leave my body. Somehow, I manage to hold on as a high-pitched squeal comes tearing out of me. Noah’s booming laughter comes sailing out the window and now that I’m up and holding on, I do what I can to win this bet. Two seconds later, I wobble and fall face first into the grass.

  Aiden has a go and then Noah drives so Maxen can get out there. Tully sulks in the front seat, hating that she’s still in a cast and unable to prove her dominance, but she’s still having an incredible time, and even better for her, she’s the only one of us who is still dry.

  We make a day of it and before we know it, all the boys from Broken Hill are here, even Nate who said there was no way in hell he was missing this shit despite all the work he has to get done. I guess watching Jesse fall and eat dirt is too good of an opportunity to pass on.

  After everyone has had a third and fourth turn, we stand out the front of my place, drying off as most of the guys admire my new car.

  Tully and I sensibly stand under the porch, watching the guys towel off while they stand out in the rain. Fucking idiots. She glances across at me with one of those mischievous looks that I’m constantly getting from her brother and not a second later, she snatches the towel from my hands and races towards him.

  I watch on in curiosity, wondering what the hell she’s doing and wondering if I should be warning Noah as his back is to us, deep in conversation with the boys about Maxen’s new racetrack.

  Within the blink of an eye, Tully whips the towel around Noah’s ankle, catches it in her other hand and tugs as hard as she possibly can.

  Noah’s feet come out from under him as I stare on with wide eyes. He goes down like a sack of shit and I slap a hand over my mouth, desperately begging my laugh to remain inside my body, but it’s not possible. This is the kind of shit she would have done to Rivers, but I guess with him not around, she’s found herself a new target, one that I’d happily watch any day of the week.

  Tully runs and not a second later, her brother is barreling after her, promising a killer payback.

  Chapter 14

  Tully and Noah sit on my couch at either end, refusing to talk to each other after Tully accidentally kneed him in the balls when he attempted to put mud all through her hair. To be fair though, she only has one arm to work with at the moment and washing her hair like that couldn’t be easy. Naturally, they got into one of those twin fights and apparently, Tully offering to get him a packet of frozen veggies to place on his junk wasn’t the right thing to say.

  It’s not so bad though, Aria sits between them, annihilating a piece of pizza as she tells them all about her day. They both happily chat away to her, answering her questions so it’s not as though she can actually tell the two haven’t spoken a word to each other all night.

  With an exhausted sigh, I squish between Aria and Noah and get myself some dinner. Noah leans back into the chair and throws his arm up over the backrest behind me, though in doing that, his fingers brush over the back of Tully’s head and sets her off once again.