Tirone (The Night Skulls MC #2)(59)

Motherfucker. Is that what happened to her that night? Is that what the Larvins did to her? “Jo, baby, please, nothing like that will ever happen to you again. You’re safe with me. I’m gonna fucking kill each one of them. You have my word, Jo. I’ll kill them all from what they’ve done to you.”

“I didn’t shoot! I didn’t shoot!”

“I know, baby. I know. You’re a good girl.”

“No. No. No. They killed her…because of me.” Her shudders became so violent we both fell on the floor. I protected her head before it clashed with the hardwood. Then I rested it on my thigh and held her tight. “I shouldn’t have fought,” she cried. “I should have never fought.”

“Doc!” I yelled while I tried to let the blood flow back into her fingers. “It’s okay, Jo. You did nothing wrong.” Fuck, I didn’t know what exactly happened that night, but it was torturing her. I’d never seen her like this before, and I didn’t know what to do to make it better. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You’re safe. You’ll always be. I’ll make sure of it. Doc!”

She didn’t stop shaking or crying, and her words turned incoherent. I carried her in my arms and set her on the bed, hurried knocking on the door. I ran to unlock it. Thankfully, it was Doc outside. I rushed back to Jo. “She’s having…I don’t know…a panic attack or a seizure or something. Fucking help her.”

He checked her, asking her to breathe, but she was just crying, her chest heaving and her body quivering as if she got the chills. “Hold her still. I’ll be right back,” he said.

My arms folded around her as I whispered in her ears how much I loved her. I didn’t know how much I truly loved her, how much I was willing to overlook and forgive to be with her, until I saw her like this. No matter what she’d done or would do, no matter what happened or would happen, I couldn’t lose her. “You’ll be okay, baby. I’ll do anything to make you safe and happy again. Anything.”





CHAPTER 31


Furore



I lit my first cigarette in months.

The burn in my throat took nothing away from the burn in my heart, though. The Larvins didn’t just go for a clean kill. They toyed with her and Madeline. They fucked my girl’s head, and it tortured her until now. Those fuckers had to fucking die, not just get kicked out of our town, and I had to be the one that sent them to their hell.

“Bandidos are a no go,” Molar grumbled as he joined me on the porch.

I blew out a puff of smoke. “Expected.”

“But they need to get their heads out of their asses and put our differences aside because this is their turf, too, they’re gonna fucking lose.”

“You know how they think they have the bigger cocks out here. They think they’re strong enough to take the mob down on their own.”

“Or they’re waiting to see who will win the coming war and strike a deal with, like everybody else.” He spat. “We need them, Prez. If we’re gonna kill those bastards, we fucking need them. We only have the Wicked Warriors, Hell’s Bastards, the Cruisers and the Untamed.”

“And the Skulls.” I took a long drag. “All of them.”

“All of them? In the country?”

“In the world.”

“But you said don’t tell the chapters in Europe because many of them have business with both mob families.”

“There’s been a change in plans. We ain’t just scaring those shit fucks away.”

He blinked for a second as he grasped what I meant. “Prez…that doesn’t mean only a war with the mob. It’s a war with our own, too.”

“The Night Skulls chapters here and in Europe should be on our side.”

“Loyalty doesn’t go that far when you cut off their business. It’s way easier for them to get rid of one chapter than two mafia families that make them rich.”

“The men that were sent to kill Madeline and Jo didn’t just do it. They were fucking playing with them for sport. Those fucking Larvins put a gun in Jo’s hand when she was eight and told her to shoot her mama if she wanted to live.”

Taken aback, he placed his hands on his hips and looked down. “Jesus.”

“They have to fucking die.”

He popped out his lighter and pack of cigarettes. “If we want the Skulls, we gotta offer them a replacement.”

Light footsteps came behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. Then when I saw Jo’s pale face, I flicked the cigarette in the air and hurried to her.

“Don’t forget to brush your teeth, y’all,” Molar snickered.

I rolled my eyes at him as I wrapped an arm around her waist. “What are you doing up, baby? You gotta rest.”

She smiled faintly. “I thought I’d get some fresh air.”

“Not so fresh out here,” Molar said, starting down the yard. “I’ll go poison someone else’s lungs.”

“Always the buzz kill.” She laughed under her breath. “I, not he.”

I helped her to a chair. “No, you’re not. How do you feel?”

“Fine. I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have…”

“You shouldn’t have what, baby? Told me what those fuckers did to you?”