Tirone (The Night Skulls MC #2)(62)

My guilt didn’t allow me to argue, and if I refused to come down with him, Laius would misinterpret the situation. It was best to be here when Laius told him the news, nonetheless. I might be able to soften things for Tirone or, at least, my presence could encourage them to control their anger and prevent any physical altercations.

When the door opened, my nose crinkled at the smell. Piss and blood. A stir in the dark rattled chains, followed by quiet breaths and the screech of a metal chair Laius had dragged in with him. He turned on the lights and entered. When he settled the chair in the center of the room, he nodded for me to come in.

Holding my breath, I stepped in. My eyes fell on Ty, who had one hand chained in a corner while he was naked, his knees marked from the rice, and my heart careened. After his actual attempt to kill his father, his declaration he’d do it again after I’d given myself to him, and disrupting my set intentions to tell Laius the truth with fabrications that would only benefit his selfish, deceitful plans, I shouldn’t have had any sympathy for him.

That wasn’t the case. No matter what Ty did, I never wanted to see him humiliated or in pain, even when he deserved it. Despite his disturbing, toxic behavior, not only did I empathize with him, but watching him like this hurt.

Tirone’s dark gaze darted daggers at Laius. “Why is she here?”

Laius flipped the chair backwards and sat on it. “She wanted to be the first to tell you the news…because you’re her friend, y’all.”

Ty’s nostrils flared as he glanced up at me. “What news?”

I wet my lips, holding the back of the chair for support with the ring free hand. “I told Laius everything. There was no point in lying.”

Laius’s jaw flexed. “You should have told me right from the start, and once you figured out she was mine, you should have stopped going after her. You shouldn’t have fucking touched her.”

Anger etched Ty’s face. “Those that are found guilty of theft among them are bound to make restitution to the owner, and not, as it is in other places, to the prince, for they reckon that the prince has no more right to the stolen goods than the thief.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

Ty snorted condescendingly. “It means I can argue the same. I saw her first. I loved her first. She. Was. Mine. You come here with the audacity to blame me for winning back what’s mine? It’s you who shouldn’t have fucking touched her. But you, with your fucked up logic, thief, say the prince has no right to her.”

“Can you please stop arguing?” I interfered. “I’m not a property you fight over.”

“The tattoo on your ass begs to differ. Did you tell him what I did when I saw it?”

Laius’s body lifted off the chair. I held his shoulder instead of the chair before he rose completely. “Tirone, you have to stop this. We’re not going back together. We have to find a way to put all of this behind us because I made my choice and we have to live together as a family.”

He tilted his head, blinking in confusion. Then his gaze fell on my fidgeting hand behind my back. He remained still for a few moments, and then his eyes tightened around the corners. “What’s the news, Jo?”

Laius forced my hand into Ty’s vision. “I proposed. She said yes. We’re getting married next Sunday.”

Ty glared at the ring as if he could dart laser beams and destroy it. “You’re marrying him?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

Tirone just stared at me, his eyes glassy yet darker than ever.

“Your ex-girlfriend teacher will be your stepmom,” Laius added. “She’ll have my name, and anybody who dares think about touching her—”

“Laius, please,” I begged, “The situation doesn’t need any more intensity.”

“He needs to understand how off fucking limits you are.”

“Please try to understand, Ty,” I urged him. “I want to be with Laius, but I can’t be happy with him if you keep trying to come between us. If you ever loved me, you would want me to be happy, right?”

Tirone went from irritated to eerily calm. Then emotions slipped out of his face and left it a rigid stone. “Of course.”

My heart squeezed. He was shutting down, and that meant he was in too much pain. It hurt and alarmed me at the same time. “Does that mean you can give me your word?”

“What word?”

“That you’ll respect the new boundaries?”

He seemed to be looking at something only he could see. “You chose him. I can’t protect you from him or the consequences of your choices anymore.”

“Ty—”

“I promise I won’t try to break you up ever again. Congratulations, Miss Meneceo.”

Part of me didn’t believe he’d give in that fast, but he did. He gave me and his father his word. If there was any chance for the three of us to be a family, I had to trust him. “Thank you.”

“Are you gonna get me out now?” he asked his dad.

“Yes. School starts tomorrow,” I answered for Laius, in case he had any intention to extend Ty’s punishment. He’d been through enough.

Laius pointed at the chains. “I’ll send someone to get you out of those. Just one more thing…” He flipped the chair to the side and smirked.