Furore (The Night Skulls MC #1)(50)

I snorted. “All right, get your ass over here and give me that letter. Jo, do your thing, and I’ll see you in a few hours.”

I texted Molar, telling him the plan had changed. Fort wouldn’t be the only one coming home tonight.





CHAPTER 30


Jo



“The whole point of my going to the school was to take Fort away from the area and you can leave without being seen. What are you still doing here?” I asked Tirone, who was still in my apartment, sitting in a corner in the dark like a creep.

“Staying at my girl’s place for the night. You used to be happy when I did. You couldn’t fall asleep without me, Jo. You told me I scared away the nightmares.”

“Until you turned into one.”

He inhaled deeply as he rose from the chair. I flipped on the light switch and flinched when he came closer. “Are you literally scared of me?” he asked in disbelief.

“I want you to leave, Ty.”

“Why are you still mad at me? Why can you not see that I only left to protect you and came back as soon as it was safe to be by your side again?”

You put a gun in my vagina and threatened to kill the one person that made me happy. “You came back for you not for me. You only reappeared in my life when you saw me being happy with someone else. You couldn’t stand it because you’re sick.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You’re not happy with him. Any feelings you have for this man comes from your anger at me. Once it’s gone, you’ll see I’m the only one you love. The only one that can make you truly happy, not give you the illusion of it.”

“If I told you I was no longer mad at you because I genuinely don’t care about your abandonment anymore, if I told you my feelings for Furore were real and so was the happiness I only felt with him, would you change your mind and let me go?”

He placed his palms on either side of my face, and my stomach tied in a knot of bile. His thumbs stroked my cheeks as he bent and laid a kiss on my neck. I shuddered at the touch I used to melt under yet now made my skin crawl. Then he looked at me with a smirk. “Never, little faerie.”

My eyes squeezed shut as pain seared me. Was this my destiny? A lifetime of punishment and pain and fear just for falling for the one person I should never have had?

“Did you do as I said?” he asked, the dark notes in his voice evident.

“I told him I was going away with him tonight and sent Fort away. Furore will be here at midnight, where he’d wait for me only to find out I was long gone.” I fought my tears. “Then he’d see that note you made me write that told him you and I got back together.”

“Good girl.”

My skin crawled at the two words I loved the most. I didn’t want to hear it from him ever again. Only from Furore. My eyes roamed at the boxes I hadn’t either unpacked or finished packing since the time I was about to leave the city. Only now there were fully packed. “What did you do?”

“Surprise,” he sang.

I batted my eyelashes in confusion. “You packed for me?”

“Yes. And the moving truck is on the way.” Excitement dripped from his tone. “You get dressed, we’ll pop quickly at my place to pack a backpack, then we’ll be off on our way, baby, just like old times. I promise it’ll be the ride of our lives.”

My heart felt like ice. “What are you talking about?”

“We’re moving out. Together. Did you really think I was gonna let you go by yourself even for a little while? Are you silly? I just got you back, and I’m never leaving you ever again.”

My head buzzed, and my vision blurred like I was about to pass out. “Tirone, this wasn’t the plan. We agreed that I’d break up with Furore in this hideous way so he’d hate me and stop trying to be with me, and only I would go away for a little while to convince him I did run off with you. You didn’t say anything about coming with me.”

“How stupid do you think I am, Jo?” His excitement vanished, and all was left was his dark side. “Not stupid enough to make believe once you step out of that door, you’ll come back to me. I know you’re planning to run away. I can’t let that happen, baby.”

I swallowed, the muscles around my heart squeezing. “What about your mother and school? It’s starting soon. You can’t waste another year.”

“Schools are everywhere, and I’ll find a way to convince Mom to come live wherever we’re gonna be.”

“What about work? My teaching job, if I still can get one somewhere else, can’t support us both.”

“Baby, have you forgotten who I am? I’m Tirone Wisely. My stepdad is loaded. Don’t worry about money at all. I got it all covered.”

“How, Tirone? Do you have any idea where we’re even going?”

“Yup. But I’m not gonna tell. It’s gonna be a surprise.”

I wiped my hands over my face, many times, trying to stay conscious and to wrap my head around all this, around the trap I fell right into and had no clue how to get out of. “Wow. You had it all figured out, huh?”

“I’ll do anything for you, Jo. This is me keeping my promises. I’m your man, and I’ll take care of you, make up for all the mistakes I made. We can be together out in the open. You’re no longer my teacher, and I’m eighteen. Nothing is gonna stop us now.”