Truly

by Carmel Rhodes

“Open your fucking mouth or I’ll force it down your throat.” “Noah, please, you’ve taken this too far already.” Tears and snot drip down my face.

I cant believe that I made it past this chapter.

I slip out my phone to text Becca that I’m out when a deep voice rumbles behind me. “You’re shaking,” Noah says.

“I don’t like seeing you cry.” I scoff, Noah has been the reason for my tears since graduation. “Your actions prove otherwise.” “It’s different when you’re crying for me.” His gaze lowers to my lips.

“You are the only person I’ve ever tree housed,” he tells me.

He glances over at me, a smug smirk parked on his smug face. “I might not know everything, but I know more than you think.”

“Is Ethan that for you?” I ask. “Hell if I know. I’m only eighteen, but I like him and I like being around him, so I’ll deal with the small dick because he makes me laugh and he’s real good at eating pussy.”

Dragging my nails down his back, I moan as he pumps pain and pleasure and damnation inside of me for what feels like hours. “Mine,” he grits, fucking me senseless, boneless.

“Oh, no. I’m not staying. I’m gonna go back to my room and crash for a bit,” I tell him standing. He laughs and points to the corner. “You’re in your room.”

“You’re shaking.” His voice is thick and smoky. His dick twitching to life between us.

it’s hard to know the real him. The guy from the treehouse? The boy who brings me waffles at breakfast. The man who spends a good chunk of his day worshiping at the altar between my legs. Maybe he can’t be quantified in such simple terms.

“Why don’t you?” He takes a step forward. “You finally stopped shaking when I touch you.” He takes another step, then another, and another until I can smell the whiskey on his breath. “I don’t want to go backwards.”

This damn book...I swear.

“Just remembering that time I went on a road trip with a psychopath.” “Something to show the grandkids.”

“Well, you did trap me in a treehouse.” “Stop bringing up old shit and tell me what you mean.”

“Truly—” He opens his mouth, then closes it, choosing his next words carefully. “I have always noticed you. You just noticed him first.”

think you have some stories to tell too, and it would be a shame if Truly Jr. missed out on them.” I blink up at him with tear filled eyes. “Truly Jr.?” He shrugs. “Whatever we decide to call her.”

“Noah, chill,” Becca says, tugging his arm. Ethan comes around and grabs her by the waist. “Let them work it out, babe.”

She sizes me up before relenting. “Okay, but if he touches you like that again, I’m busting his kneecaps.”

She probably lost interest when he showed his psycho side. I’m pretty sure I’m the only dummy who thinks it’s hot...in a totally toxic and fucked up sort of way.

🤣🤣🤣

“I was embarrassed the first time I met you,” he whispers against my throat.

“I like pain because I feel like I deserve it. You like inflicting pain because it gives you power.”

“Goddamn girl, I might have to put a baby in you tonight.” He smirks against my lips.

“Because I’m in love with you,” he says with so much conviction that I have no choice but to believe him. “Because I think I fell in love with you the first time I saw you.”

I’m Noah Tedesco. People don’t see me. They only see the idea of me, and that idea isn’t a kid who goes to the free clinic because his stepdad hits him.”

He wraps his hands around my face, pulling me in for a sweet kiss. “So I can put my dick here.” He squeezes my butt. “And my baby here.” His other hand presses against my flat stomach.

“Are you afraid of me?” “No, not anymore,” I tell him, honestly. “Do you trust me?” I nod because inexplicably, I do. Wordlessly, he takes my hand and leads me to the treehouse.

“Read to me.” “What?” I take it with shaky hands. “Why?” “Because I want to make new memories here to erase the bad ones. So, when we come back to this place with our kids in twenty years, this won’t be where Daddy nearly raped Mommy, but the place where they read together and fell in love.”

“It’s fucked up what you’re doing to her. I was selfish and insecure that I’d lose her. And I needed the money, so I let you buy me. You win. Go to Jameson. Be the big man on campus, I don’t care. But I refuse to let you manipulate her anymore. The deal is off. She deserves to know the truth.”

“No.” He cups my cheeks, forcing me to look into his whiskey eyes. “I’ve always noticed you, remember? I’ve always loved you. You just picked him.”

“Truly, don’t do this.” Tears leak from the corner of his eyes. “I love you.”

I thought if he lived with us, that I’d lose them both. So, I told him no. I told him I didn’t want him there. That we couldn’t afford another mouth to feed. I told him if he moved in with us, I’d hate him.

My body burns with familiarity. I don’t need to see his face to know who it is. “How did you know where I live?” I ask coming to a stop in front of him. “I know everything about you, Truly.” He looks up at me, his mouth tipped up in a grin.

“I had better be the only motherfucker who has ever been here.” Noah slaps my pussy with the head of his cock.

“I’m drunk and horny and despite my best efforts, still in love with you.” “Then why aren’t we together?” “Because I can’t keep letting you hurt me,” I say.

“I don’t even know if I ever really told you how much you mean to me.” He sucks his bottom lip into his mouth and looks down. “How much you helped me see my worth. Not

But seeing Tru cry, I know he’s full of shit. Her tears weren’t weak. They were breathtaking.

Being reminded of her, of what I lost, every fucking day feels like a stab in the gut. I lost my shit tonight. I broke down in front of Eddie, the power forward. Ugly fucking tears. Before Tru, I would have been ashamed of those emotions, but she taught me to embrace them.

“You said she deserves better. So, what have you done to be better?”

realized I don’t want to be the kind of man who makes you bend. I don’t want to change the person you are, Truly. I only want to change your last name.”

Noah nods towards the old treehouse, and we race over to it. It smells exactly the same as it used to. I run my fingers over the now empty shelves and let the memories of the time we spent reading and making love here wash over me.

Making love?????