Tirone (The Night Skulls MC #2)(10)
Laius scoffed. “You think your mom is innocent? You think I ruined her fucking life?”
“Don’t even think about saying anything nasty about Mom. I don’t think you ruined her life. I know.”
“Well, if you think I’m all kinds of shit, what are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d give you a fucking chance after that fucking letter,” Tirone glanced at me, “which I know now you didn’t write. I thought maybe, just fucking maybe, if I was here with you like you said you wanted, you’d find it in you to change, to make things right.” He threw his hands in the air, and I flinched, thinking he was going to attack his father. It was just a gesture of frustration, though. “But look at you. Some things never change.”
Shaking, fighting the fog threatening to take away my consciousness, I slipped my arm around Laius’s. “I’m begging, please, just let it go and let’s leave this room. Tirone, your son, has nothing to do with this situation.”
Laius jabbed a finger in the air between them. “You don’t know the first thing about anything, but you’ll learn.” He lifted his arm only to wrap it around me. “When I said I had to do whatever it took to protect my family, I meant it. It’s my job to protect each one of you,” he glanced down at me and kissed me on my forehead, “starting with you, Jo.”
I dragged my blurry gaze up to him. “What?”
“You’re my family, too, baby. What, you think I’m just a pussy that will give you to those fuckers to save my ass?”
“No. No, Laius. You can’t jeopardize your club and your son for me. Believe me, I’m not worth it.”
He held me tight, showering me with tiny kisses all over my face. “You’re worth everything, baby girl.”
“But—”
“No buts. I made you a promise I intend to keep until the day I die. You’ll always be safe with me. I’ll protect you no matter what.” He peered at Tirone. “You, too, dickhead. I just have to figure out a way to keep those Lanza fucks away.”
CHAPTER 6
Tirone
“Her thorns were my only delight,” I said under my breath as fire gnashed at me with every touch, every kiss of his sickening lips on her skin. He wouldn’t understand that quote, but she would. I said it so she’d make him stop before I snapped because, God help me, I’d fucking kill him and destroy the three of us. How was I supposed to just watch and pretend it was okay for another man to leave his mark on her when she was mine? Mine! Fucking MINE!
She swallowed when she read the fury in my eyes. “Can we get out of here? This place is so creepy, and I still don’t feel well.”
“Sure, baby. How about you rest, and I’ll send Doc to check on you, okay?” Furore fucking kissed her again. My fist balled, ready for a punch. He darted a glance at me. “You come with me. I’ll show you your room.”
My fists clenched and unclenched a hundred times as he led us back up, as his arms wrapped around her when it should have been my arms holding her.
Keep it together. Don’t you see how much she’s ready to sacrifice for him? If you kill him now, she’ll never forgive you.
I don’t care about her forgiveness. I don’t care if she fucking hates me. All I care about is having her. She’s mine, Goddammit. He stole her from me. I can’t let him have her. Not for one second. I have to get her back. NOW.
Not like that. You’re gonna lose her if you hurt him. A new plan is in order. Just keep it the fuck together.
I recited Pushkin in my head. Poetry had always managed to shift my focus when my head roamed into the darkness. Weird for the popular player who rode a bike and wore leather? Yeah, but I didn’t give a fuck. I recited I Loved You until I reached that part.
In diffidence, in jealousy, in pain;
I loved you so tenderly and truly,
As let you else be loved by any man.
Fuck you, Pushkin. I’d be damned before I let her be loved by another man.
What if I don’t hurt him first? What if I keep him for last? Jo was a good person. She’d care about innocent lives. She’d just said she didn’t care about her own life if she couldn’t be with him, though. I had to play a different game.
In his room, he helped her lie down on his filthy bed. The sight of her alone in another man’s bed made my heart bleed.
When I came here, I had a plan; force Jo to go back with me. I thought when she knew the full truth about who I was and why I left, she’d stop playing this stupid game and come back home to me. I thought even if she didn’t, I’d threaten her like I did two days ago, and she’d be scared enough to do what I said. Yet her reaction to all my moves startled me, even shook me.
Fuck, I was ready to kill for her, and she was ready to kill herself for him. How could you think like that, Jo? How could you feel that way for him?
The black fire wrapping around my heart and soul were enough to eat me and them alive, but I wouldn’t surrender to the darkness, not yet. I wasn’t going to give up that easily. I’d never give her up. She was mine, and she knew it. I still had a few tricks up my sleeve, and I’d play till the last card.
I needed a new plan to win her back, but how could I have the patience and tolerance to watch her with him every day, to just stand there when he touched her, when she lay in his fucking bed?