by T. O. Smith
“I’m not letting you stay in a fucking trap house – not when you’re of legal age now.” Joey had told me. “You’re coming home with me.”
“What the hell?!” I shouted at him. “Joey, turn back around! I’m not going home with you!”
He turned those dark eyes at me, settling the unease in my gut. I didn’t know how he did it, but those dark eyes had been soothing me all night. “Pretty girl, you’re eighteen now. Any man in that house could now take you, and you’d probably lose the rape case because men get away with that shit all of the time. I won’t let you be a victim.”
I helplessly tossed my hands up in the air before letting them drop down to my lap. “Well, I don’t have anywhere else to go, Joey.”
He smirked at me, melting my insides. “You do now, pretty girl.” He stopped at the stop sign at the end of the street and reached over, cupping my cheek in his hand. “You have me, pretty girl.” My bottom lip trembled, tears burning in my eyes. His words were so sweet, and I was doing my best not to cling onto them, but it was so hard. “You’ll always have me.”
He glanced behind us at the house we had left behind. “Besides, with how tormented your eyes have looked all night, I have no doubt in my mind that you’d lose yourself inside of every drug you can find in that house, and I won’t let you do that to yourself.” A tear slid down my face. I had actually planned on doing just that. How had he known?
He leaned forward and brushed his lips to my cheek, catching the tear. “I’m going to teach you how to breathe again, Adelaide.”
“Did Helene know?” Tristan demanded, the muscle in his jaw ticking with his outrage as he dragged me out of my head, out of that sweet memory with Joey.
A smirk twisted my lips, my heart squeezing painfully in my chest. “She told me it was a fucking great idea.” I retorted, lying straight through my teeth, but he didn’t need to know that. Helene had thought Joey would be a good rebound guy for me – nothing more. She hadn’t expected nor wanted me to get in so deep with him and his club. “She hated you for doing that to me.” I reminded him. He had always loved his sister; I knew that much. They used to be two little peas in a pod.
And I planned to use that to hurt him as much as I could. I was a sadistic bitch, but he had destroyed me.
His face fell the tiniest bit. “I know.” He said quietly. “I fucking remember.” He admitted.
I shook my head and slid off of the bed. “I need to get back,” I told him, not wanting to continue with our conversation. What happened between us was done – it was over – and I had no urge to rehash old feelings, to reopen those wounds deep inside of me. It would do nothing but make me destructive – self-destructive at that.
“You’re not going anywhere, Adelaide,” Tristan informed me, using my full name.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Who the fuck are you to dictate my goddamn moves, Tristan?” I sneered. His features darkened, but I wasn’t afraid of him. I had faced worse – much worse. Chills slid down my spine at the mere thought of the hell I had recently endured. “I’m fucking grown. I’m no longer that naive little eighteen-year-old girl that begged you to stay and love her.” He flinched. “I have shit I need to do, and I can’t fucking do that if I’m here.” I snapped.
Tristan glared at me as he shook his head. “You’re here now, Adelaide. You’re done in Joey’s crew, got that?”
I picked up the closest thing to me – which happened to be a lamp – and threw it at him. He ducked, letting it crash against the wall and shatter into pieces as it fell to the floor. “I’m not fucking done any goddamn where, Tristan Groves!” I shouted at him, my chest heaving up and down with rage. Who the fuck did he think he was?
He was not keeping me from Joey. I would lose myself if I lost Joey.
Tristan made it clear three years ago how he felt about me. I turned to someone else, and that someone else actually cared about me and loved me in his own fucked up way.
Joey and I may clash heads, but he had never fucking abandoned me – not like Tristan had done.
Tristan stormed over to me, his eyes almost black as they swirled with rage. I swallowed hard, remembering the kind of rage Tristan kept under the tight composure that he always wore. I tilted my chin up defiantly despite my heart pounding hard in my chest. Tristan had never put his hands on me before, but I’d seen what he was capable of doing to other people – had seen the aftermath – and it had never been a pretty sight.
If he put his hands on me, he would quickly realize why I was Joey’s woman.
I was fucking dangerous – lethal. Joey had created a monster to make sure I continued breathing. He had given me a purpose.
He gripped my chin in his grip, his face a mask of absolute rage. “Don’t you dare do something like that again, understand?” He softly snarled down at me.
I let a smirk twist my lips. “Or what?” I taunted.
I squeaked in shock when he gripped a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back, covering my lips with his. In one quick step, he had me pushed against the wall, his hand sliding around to hold the back of my neck as his other hand tightly gripped my hip. I gasped, opening my lips under his demanding ones as my body surrendered to his. My nerve endings curled tightly, and desire swept through my core, leaving me throbbing and wet as his tongue slid along mine.
Fucking hell, I had forgotten what it was like being with Tristan – being claimed and taken by him.
And I couldn’t resist kissing him back. All of those old, buried feelings rose inside of me, and I gripped his cut in my fists, kissing him back just as hungrily.
The shrill ringing of my phone jerked me out of the moment, and with a gasp, I shoved him back from me, my eyes widening in horror.
What in the hell had I been thinking – doing?
Tristan cursed, his chest heaving up and down as he tried to catch his breath. “What the fuck is that noise?” He heatedly demanded.
“My phone,” I grumbled, moving towards the sound only to find it on the floor beside the bed.
Jessie.
I answered the phone with a drawn-out sigh. “Yes?” I asked.
“Adelaide, you know I’ve tried protecting you from Joey for the last year since you went off the rails, but I can’t do anything this time.” She told me right off the bat, her voice sounding slightly panicked.
“What now?” I demanded to know.
“You’re with Tristan.” She told me. I grunted. It sure as fuck wasn’t by choice. “Joey is pissed, Adelaide. You can’t come back, Adelaide. Promise me that you’ll protect yourself.” She begged.
I snorted. “Jessie, Joey and I have fallouts all of the time -” I tried reassuring her, but she quickly interrupted me.
“No, Adelaide, this time it’s different.” She told me. I clenched my jaw, glaring at the sheets of the bed as I sat down, my heart thumping crazily in my chest. My throat burned with tears. He couldn’t be doing this. He promised me that I could always keep him with me.
“He’s destroyed your entire fucking room, and he’s got a meeting this afternoon with a hired hitman.” She informed me. I swallowed hard. My life just took a major downward spiral; Joey had officially turned his back on me. “You need to stay hidden.”
“Thanks, Jessie, but I can take care of myself.” I reminded her quietly.
I hung up, clenching my jaw to hold in my emotions. I quickly pulled up my texts and went to Joey’s number, a smirk twisting my lips as I prepared to piss him off even further. I couldn’t help it. I was hurting.
I was self-destructing.
Can’t wait to see what you’ve got planned, Joe- Joe. Love you! -Adelaide.
My phone pinged with a text message a moment later, and I felt Tristan hovering over my shoulder as I opened it and read it.
What the fuck are you talking about? -Joey
“What the fuck is going on?” Tristan demanded to know. When I didn’t answer him, he gripped my arm and swung me around to face him, his face a mask of rage. My heart w
as splitting in my chest, the pain billowing out through the rest of my body. “Fucking answer me, dammit.” He snarled down into my face, his eyes narrowed down at me.
I shrugged, moving back from him. My heart and mind started going nuts when he touched me. I hated it. I couldn’t let him affect me like he used to. I wasn’t that same young, foolish, naive girl anymore.
I wanted Joey, but he was giving up on me.
My phone pinged again, this time with a text message from an unknown number.
Wherefore art thou, Adelaide? Tick. Tick. Boom.
“Fuck!” I shouted, gripping Tristan’s wrist in my hand as I pulled him towards the bedroom door.
“Addy, what the fuck?!” Tristan shouted, trying to pull me to a stop.
“We’ve got to get out, Tristan. This place is about to fucking explode!” I barked at him over my shoulder, my heart pounding hard and fast in my chest as adrenaline rushed through my veins.
Something in my gut told me this wasn’t Joey’s doing. He wouldn’t have had time to have a talk with a hitman yet, nor to set up any kind of plan.
Someone was after Tristan.
Or me – there was no real way of knowing. I’d pissed off a lot of people in the past three years.
We rushed out of the old, rundown house right before the ground shook with an explosion. The last thing I remembered was Tristan throwing me to the ground and covering his body with mine before everything went dark.
TWO
I released a soft groan when I turned my head to look over at Tristan, a wince flashing across my face as pain stabbed through my neck from where I’d slept wrong. It was dark outside, and the only sound was the soft purr of the car engine and the tires rolling over the asphalt of the highway. Tristan was driving the car, one hand on the steering wheel, the other on the stick shift between us.
A pang pierced my heart for a moment as I remembered him always giving my knee a gentle squeeze before he used to switch gears.
He had always preferred manual cars over automatics.
“Good to see you awake.” He spoke up, glancing over at me before he focused his eyes back on the road.
I rolled my eyes and rolled my neck around, groaning as my neck popped, but that ache finally eased off. “Where are you taking me?” I asked him.
Tristan tapped the steering wheel with two of his fingers, looking in his rear-view mirror before he switched lanes to go around a slower car. “To my cousin’s since my house got blown up.” He informed me.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Should have kept your nose in your own business.” I retorted.
Tristan clenched his jaw. “You don’t belong with the Sons of Hell, Addy.” Tristan snapped at me. “You belong here – with me.”
I snorted. “One, stop fucking calling me Addy. You lost that privilege three years ago.” Tristan’s hand tightened on the steering wheel, his jaw clenching so tightly that the muscle in his jaw began to tick. “Two, I belonged with them a hell of a lot more than I belong with you.” I snarled.
Tristan shot a dark look in my direction. I only narrowed my eyes at him in return. He didn’t intimidate me anymore, nor did he scare me. “You never used to be like this, Adelaide.” Tristan snapped back at me. I snorted. He didn’t know who the fuck I was today. He’d been gone for three goddamn years. I wasn’t sweet anymore. I was a fucking monster. “What the fuck is going on with you?”
I rolled my eyes. “Did you seriously expect me to still be the same sweet, innocent girl you were with three years ago?” I asked incredulously.
Tristan shrugged, almost as if he actually had been. I rolled my eyes. “The Sons of Hell aren’t known for allowing their women to get caught in the dirty shit.”
I barked out a laugh. Tristan had no idea how shit operated with the Sons of Hell. I was not only Joey’s off-again-on-again girlfriend, but I was also his right-hand woman. “I was in the middle of all of the dirty shit, Tristan,” I informed him. He clenched his jaw at that information, his eyes flashing with anger. “I smuggled their drugs back and forth across the Mexico border, and I fought when I needed extra cash. I blew shit up, and I delivered hired hits. You don’t know a fucking thing about me.”
Tristan shook his head, fury lighting up his eyes as he changed lanes again. “I don’t know which to be more pissed about.” He growled. “You smuggling drugs, or you fighting. Helene refused to tell me about the shit that you were caught up in.”
“It wasn’t any of your fucking business.” I retorted. And it wasn’t. When it came down to it, Helene protected my secrets, even if she didn’t agree with them. And I knew she never spoke to her brother about what I was doing nor what was going on with me. She had at least agreed with me that Tristan didn’t deserve to know a damn thing about me after what he had done to me.
“It was my fucking business!” Tristan finally roared, slamming his hand on the steering wheel. I clenched my jaw, getting ready for a fight. “Goddammit, Adelaide, I broke your heart all those years ago for your own fucking good, but two weeks ago, I saw you attached to Joey’s hip, and he was introducing you as his fucking girl to Vin.”
I flinched at Vin’s name.
If I thought Tristan had ruined me, then Vin had fucking destroyed me – killed my soul.
Joey was trying to set up an alliance with Vin, and he knew Vin had a soft spot for me. I grimaced as I remembered that night, how I had barely escaped with my life.
Yeah, Vin had a soft spot for me alright.
“What’s that look for?” Tristan demanded as I grimaced.
Fuck, he was way too perceptive for his own good.
“Nothing.” I snarled, looking out the window. I was done talking to him. “Are we almost there?” I asked as Tristan took an exit.
“Almost.” He snapped, still aggravated and pissed off at me for being so secretive. He had no damn right to be pissed, though. Had he seriously expected that he would pop back up into my life and I would fall into his arms again as if he had never hurt me, as if he had never ripped my fucking heart apart and tossed the pieces at my feet? “We’ll be at Noah’s in about ten minutes,” Tristan informed me.
I sighed and leaned my head against the window, looking out at the darkness surrounding us. There were no lights off of this exit, leaving everything encased in a pitch-black color.
“Why couldn’t anyone from your crew take us in?” I asked him.
Tristan shot me a deadpan look. “My crew is the first place that whoever is after us is going to look. I need to keep you safe until I can deal with this problem, Addy.”
Every time he called me by my nickname, my heart skipped a beat in my chest, and I fucking hated it. I didn’t want to react to him at all. I wasn’t that weak girl anymore. I was stronger now.
“I can take care of myself, Tristan. I’ve been doing it for three years now.” I reminded him. He clenched his jaw angrily and tightened his grip on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. “And stop calling me Addy.” I snapped at him. “My fucking name is Adelaide. Start fucking using it.”
Suddenly, Tristan yanked the car over to the shoulder of the road, threw it into neutral, and pulled the emergency brake up. He firmly gripped my chin in his hand and brought his face close to mine. My breath hitched in my throat, nervousness filling my gaze.
“Three years ago, I let go of the most important person in the entire world to me to keep her safe from my enemies.” My breath hitched in my throat as my heart began to rapidly beat at his words. “Two weeks ago, I found that same woman in the middle of a deal with one of the most feared men of Mexico.” I swallowed hard, knowing he was talking about me.
“It took everything in me to not to put a bullet through Vin’s head that night, Addy. But that night, I vowed to have you back with me, in my arms, by my side, where you fucking belong and where I know that I can keep you safe. You can fight me on this all you want, Addy, but my mind is set, and I will get what the fuck I want.”
He ran his thumb over my bottom lip,
and I couldn’t help the little sigh that escaped my lips at his touch as I closed my eyes, hating that he still affected me so strongly, yet not being able to help leaning into him, wanting more of that strength and security that he was offering me. “And I will not stop calling you Addy, because you are mine, baby girl, whether you like it or not.”
With that, he threw his car back into first, put down the emergency brake, and pulled back into traffic. I drew in a shaky breath.
That, ladies and gents, is the possessive, controlling Tristan at his finest.
■ ■ ■
I released a tired sigh and stretched my body out as I stepped out of Tristan’s old ‘67 Mustang. Noah, Tristan’s cousin who I remembered as being more like a brother than a cousin to Tristan, stepped out of his small, brick house. I had always thought that Noah was extremely attractive even though Tristan had always held my heart, as much as I hated it at this moment. Noah was also a lot more laid back, and he enjoyed getting on every single one of my nerves.
