Tirone (The Night Skulls MC #2)(36)

“Oh.” I took the beer, dazed. “Thanks.” Then I labored a glance at Laius. “Did you know about this?”

“Know about this? He arranged for the whole thing.” Fort cackled. “He ordered fucking cake.”

Laius smiled at me. “I didn’t know what flavor you liked, but I saw you eating a chocolate muffin one day at the Arena, so I got chocolate cake.”

“I love chocolate. Thank you,” I said, still dazed. “When did you have the time? You said you had to meet someone.”

Laius kissed my temple, and a guilty chill ran through me. “Yeah, the baker.”

Fort gave Ty a cold one, too, and winked in the direction of a cluster of girls in shorts and bras. “It’s your party, too. Welcome to the Night Skulls.”

My body tensed conspicuously as I exchanged a quick glance with Tirone. Shit. No one should notice the jolt of jealousy that zapped me at just the idea of Ty being with someone else, someone as hot as those girls I’d never look like, someone available and fun and not life-threatening. I shouldn’t have had that jolt of jealousy. Period.

“Awesome.” Ty took the glass from Fort, eying the girls, but then he glanced at me. “Can’t dig in, though. I have a girlfriend back home.”

“No, you don’t,” I said quickly.

He glared at me. “Excuse me?”

“You broke up with her right before you dropped out. The poor girl was devastated. Everybody at school knows it.”

“But I apologized, and we’re back together. At least, I’m working on it.”

“How? Do you see her here anywhere? Because I don’t.” Despite the ridiculous jealousy and the pain of what felt like another breakup, I had to end things before they got out of hand. It was the right thing to do. “If you want my advice, Rex, go live your life and have some fun with girls that are here, girls that suit your new lifestyle. Look around you. How long do you expect to be faithful to your long-distance girlfriend when this is your home now and all this is at your fingertips?”

He gritted his teeth. “When you’re truly in love with someone, you don’t care. You don’t see anybody else.”

I nodded and grinned at Laius. “I agree. You don’t see anybody else when you’re in love. Only him.”

Laius returned the smile, and then he devoured my lips. Suddenly, he carried me over his shoulder, the beer in my hand spilled all over the floor, and a loud round of applause and whistles erupted and trailed behind us as he hauled us to our room.

A wave of sweat attacked me. Could he taste Ty off my lips? Could he smell his own son on his girlfriend? If he didn’t now, he would later when he tried to undress or touch me.

His lips took mine again the second he locked the door behind us. “I fucking missed you.”

We hadn’t touched since the fight, which wasn’t long, only a couple of days, but the heat in his kiss and the bulge in his jeans begged to differ.

“I missed you, too.” I did. But I was a mess inside and out. “What about the party? It’s rude to just—”

“It’s your party. You’re their queen now. They’ll wait.” His lips traveled down my neck. “But I can’t.”

Queen? Only one person called me that. The one person that continued to mess me up.

Laius’s fingers raced to unbutton my shirt. Blood rushing out of my body, I pulled away. “I’ll hit the shower first. I’m so sweaty.”

“I don’t give a shit.”

“I do. I…can’t stand the way I smell.” Infidelity stank. The rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended nostril.

His stare scrutinized my face. Can he see it? The lies? The guilt? “You okay, Jo?”

“Yes. Why would I not be?”

“I don’t know, but something is off. Did something happen at the mall?”

My knees shook. “Something like what?”

“Anything. Did someone upset you? Rex?”

“Why…would you say that?”

His piercing gaze saw through me. I wanted the floor to crack open and swallow me. “Because he’s an ass, and he’s his mama’s boy. She has her way of poisoning anything. She could be asking him to give you a hard time.”

I allowed myself to breathe. “He’s…the way he’s always been. Nothing I can’t handle.” I hoped.

“Okay. I just want you to know that if anything happens from him or anyone, you can tell me. Anything at all.”

If only…

“Even if it’s me.” He touched my face ever so gently, his lips pursed. “Are you still mad at me? Because if you are, I’ll fix it. I know I’m no angel, but I’ll always fucking fix it. You just have to tell me. Always be honest with me.”

Here’s your fucking chance to be a decent person and do right by this man you obviously don’t deserve. Take it.

“I…I…” My throat was constricted with shame.

“You’re what, baby girl? Something is troubling you, and I can see it. Just say it. Whatever it is.”

How? How could I tell my overtly jealous boyfriend with a very bad temper that I used to be his son’s forbidden lover, I fucked him when he was seventeen, and he’d just come on me in a dressing room?