Furore (The Night Skulls MC #1)(51)

I plopped down on the next chair because my feet could no longer carry me. He squatted in front of me. “Baby, you okay?”

I was stuck in an obsession as dark as hell with no way out. “I…I don’t feel so well. I’ll go to the bathroom.”

“Let me come with you.”

“The fuck, Tirone? I can’t get some privacy even in the bathroom?”

“You can have all the privacy you want. I’m not holding you captive. I just wanted to help in case you were gonna be sick. You know, hold your hair or something.”

I staggered out of my seat. “Thanks, but I’ll manage.” Locking the bathroom door behind me, I whimpered. I couldn’t live like this for the rest of my life. Something had to be done.

I took off my wig fast, my stomach acting up. Nausea hit me hard, and I emptied my guts in the toilet. I washed up and looked for something to ease the nausea and anxiety in the medicine cabinet.

Knock! Knock!

My whole body jumped, and I almost fell off my feet. Shit. I needed to pull myself together if I had any chance to survive this.

“I’m worried about you, baby. Please let me in. Let me take care of you.”

The genuine care in his voice messed me up. Every word he said no matter how sweet came from a dark place, but he believed it was all real. Fuck, I believed it was real. In his twisted way, he still cared about me. In my fucked up way, I wanted him out of harm’s way. How could he still sound so sweet? How could I care about him when he’d just ruined my life?

“Jo?”

“I’m fine. I’m coming out in a minute.”

When he was assaulting me, all I could think of was ways to get him off me without accidentally setting the gun off. I could have easily attacked his eyes, and then used the gun on him, yet I couldn’t do it. I was too scared to permanently hurt him.

Now, after I’d learned his awful plan, the only viable solution to this whole situation was to call Michele. He’d know how to scare Ty off and get me away from him, except Michele Pagani was a made man. His solution was painted red. The odds of Ty making it out alive were slim, and my stupid heart wouldn’t accept it.

What did that say about me?

Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! “Please let me come in.”

My fists clenched as I swore at him under my breath. Then I opened the door. “I said I was coming out in a minute. Here I am.” I moved past him and glanced at the bed where one of my outfits was splayed on the sheets. “I see you chose my clothes for me.”

“If you want something else—”

“It’ll do. How about you let me change so we can get out of here?”

His hands fondled my waist. “You’re shy of me now?”

I fucking slapped him. I couldn’t take this anymore, and my palm rang across his face.

“What the fuck, Jo?”

I slapped him on the other cheek. “If you think you’re gonna see me naked or lay a hand on me any time soon, you’re delusional.”

He fumed, his chest heaving, his face crimson with my fingers marking it. He looked like he was about to pounce, but he just closed his eyes and nodded. “I get it. Of course, you need time. I’m sorry. I just miss you.”

“Close the door on your way out.”

When he did, I locked it and changed. Then I gathered my personal belongings in a purse. I glanced at the note I’d left Laius, tears threatening to spill. “I’m sorry. I hope one day you’ll forgive me and understand I did this for you,” I whispered, lifting my chin so I wouldn’t cry, and headed out of the room. “I’m ready.”

Ty was on the phone, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. Then he hung up and wiped under his eyes. Was he crying?

Tirone wasn’t a man afraid of his tears, and I hated it when he did that because…I was a sucker for it. He tore me apart every time I saw his tears, and I couldn’t feel anything soft for him right now. “Who are you talking to?”

“Mom. I was asking her to get my things ready for me to pick it up so we won’t be late. It’s almost eight, and the movers will be here at nine.”

“Did you…tell her about me?”

“I told her everything this morning, but, for your safety, I didn’t give her your name or told her you were my teacher. Don’t worry. We have her blessing.”

I was neither worried nor did I care about her blessing. That ship had sailed weeks ago. But I saw a little window of opportunity here. “Ty, if you’re that attached to your mother, you have to stay with her. You’re her only son, and both of you went through hell with the attack. You can’t just take off. We can work out a different plan that doesn’t involve—”

“Nice try, but you can’t get rid of me that easily.” He grimaced, and I cursed my luck. “I wasn’t crying because I was leaving Mom. I'll see her again soon, and she’ll be fine with my stepdad. My prick of a father can’t hurt her anymore. I’ll make sure of it. I was crying because I never thought there would come a day when you wouldn’t let me touch you. I was crying because I screwed up and almost lost you, Jo.”

I hated that my first reflex was to hug him, and that tears pricked my eyes. Ty was my first everything, and a few weeks ago, he was my only everything. Despite what he’d done, the things that connected and bonded us, the things that attracted me to him and eventually made me fall in love, the dark before the light, were pulsing in him. The part of me that loved him to death was still there and couldn’t be denied.