Furore (The Night Skulls MC #1)(47)

I pulled my pants up to run out of the apartment, but he barreled down on me, bringing me back to the floor. His ironclad arms fully immobilized me. “Do you not remember what happened the last time some fuck tried to touch you?”

I did. At a bar we went to on one of our trips out of town, one guy tried to grope me, thinking I was alone. Ty beat the shit out of him, took his wallet, threatened to tell his wife and register him as a sex offender in ten different states. Then Ty broke the guy’s hand.

I thought it was one of the nicest things someone did for me.

Click.

My heart thrashed at the sound. The memory of the night I’d lost my mother flashed behind my eyes because I’d heard a similar sound back then. That click belonged to a gun. Was that my gun?

“I’m sorry, Jo. It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I should’ve been here to protect you, to stop that piece of shit before he took something that didn’t belong to him. But it’s okay, baby. I’m here now. I’ll fix it. It won’t be just his hand I’ll break. I’ll kill the son of a bitch.”

“The fuck, Ty? Are you crazy?” I inclined my neck toward him, and I glimpsed the gun barrel poking from his hand, knowing beyond doubt it was real. It was mine. “Put the gun down.”

“You have to tell me who it is so I can make things right.”

“No, Tirone. You can’t do this. Oh God.” I began to sob. How had I ever been in love with someone as dark and dangerous and psycho as Tirone? How had I been pretending he wasn’t deeply disturbed and in dire need of professional help? Obviously, I needed the same for loving him and his darkness.

How did I get myself and Laius in this situation?

I had two choices. Try to fight, just like I did with the club whore, using everything Michele had taught me to defend myself since that night he saved me from the men of my father’s wife. Or give up my life for the man I loved. Option one—if I didn’t get myself shot dead—would buy me some freedom, but then what? Tirone wouldn’t just let me go. He’d come after me, and that would lead him to Laius. Then one of them would be dead and the other would be in prison for life. Same thing if I asked Michele for help. Blood. Tirone would be dead. Perhaps Laius, too.

I couldn’t live with myself if Tirone died because of me. I cared about him still, as my former student and as a man I used to love. He was young, and with the right help, he had his whole life ahead of him. I couldn’t let Laius get hurt because of me either. I loved him, and he had a son to live for.

I, on the other hand, was unwanted from the day I was born. I brought nothing but trouble to the people who loved me. “Listen, Ty. The other guy at the bar tried to touch me against my will, and you made him pay for it. This time, it’s different. I wanted it. I fell in love with another man and gave him myself. It was all my fault. If you have to kill someone, then kill me.”

He flipped me on my back, scowling at me. “How could you say that?”

“It’s the truth. You left me. Still, I waited for you. I thought you loved me like I loved you. I thought you meant it when you said I was yours. Until I saw you that night at Belle View and realized how much of an idiot I was. So I fell in love with someone else.”

“Shut up.”

“No, I won’t. I don’t love you anymore, and I love him, you know why? Because you’re just a boy, and he’s a real man. He knows how to take care of a woman.”

“I said shut up.”

“Shoot me, Ty. Do it. I betrayed you. I let another man fuck my pussy, your pussy, and I fucking loved it. If you’re a man, shoot me. Now.”

He shook his head, growling. “No. No!” He pressed the gun to my temple. “How could you say that?” He slid it along my cheekbone and then down to my neck. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, knowing it was my last. A shiver took over me that I could barely control. Fear, self-preservation, or just desperation, I didn’t know or care. My life meant nothing. It was a trivial price to pay to save the person I loved.

As tears spilled down my face, I said goodbye to Laius in my head.

“How could you say that?” The cold barrel left my skin. “You know I can never hurt you, Jo. No matter what you do, I’ll never hurt you, baby. You’re my little faerie.”

His breath fell on my lips. My eyes snapped open as he took my lips between his. “No.” I pushed him off my face. “I’m telling you I’m in love with someone else. You kill me now or you fucking leave me be.”

“You’re smart enough to know that’s never gonna happen. I can’t live without you, Jo.” The back of his hand brushed against my face. “I forgive you, baby. Always. That twat you call a man, though,” he smiled darkly, “will still be dead.”

“No, Ty, no,” I sobbed.

“Hush.” He pulled down my pants again. “Now, where were we?”

“If you touch me, I swear to God I’ll kill you myself.”

He pressed the gun on my mound, and my heart dipped. “You just fucked another man. You think I’ll just dive in after him?” He sighed, shaking his head. “I have to clean you up.”

“I’m not dirty, Tirone. If I ever was, it was because of you. You treated me like a dirty whore and dumped my ass, leaving me to rot in fucking shame and guilt and hate. I’m proud of being his girl now, and I’ll hold his cum inside me as long as I can.”