Page 13

Chapter Thirteen

Adelaide

I was sprawled out on the couch in the clubhouse bar room with my headphones plugged into my ears, my music turned all the way up as I listened to an old hip-hop song. Tristan was sitting at the bar with Jesup, and the entire club was waiting on Tristan’s North Carolina charter to ride in for a run later in the evening.

The lyrics hit a sad note about someone passing away at a young age. I swallowed hard, realizing how hard the rapper’s words hit home for me. For three years, I’d watched numerous people close to me die.

Numerous people had even died at my own hands.

Joey was only twenty-four, and I had already lost him. I’d lost one of the closest people to me.

How many more people would I lose before all of this shit was over?

The clubhouse doors opening caught my attention, and I watched as Troy Hilton, the president of North Carolina Sons of Death’s charter, stepped in, his vice president, Kyle, following closely on his heels. A few of their other members followed in behind them.

Tristan stood up from his seat at the bar to greet his cousin, Jesup standing up as well. I pulled my headphones out of my ears, watching as Tristan walked up to Troy, both of them shaking hands and pulling each other into a one-armed, manly hug.

“Good to see you, bro,” Tristan said as he stepped back from Troy. “I appreciate you riding out here on such short notice.”

“Not a problem,” Troy assured him as his eyes moved over the room, not taking notice of me yet.

But when he would finally notice me, I would be ready. Troy and I had always butted heads, especially since he was already in the life of an outlaw with Tristan, and I was just the girl that grew up in a trap house, not part of anything in particular.

I had always been considered dangerous and unreliable. Guess he’d turned out to be right.

Emma strode over to me. With a sigh, I turned my attention to her. She had been wearing on my damn nerves ever since I had gotten here. “Are you going to help us serve drinks or just sit here like you’re better than the rest of us?” she smarted off, crossing her arms over her chest.

I arched an eyebrow at her. “Emma, why don’t you go fuck off?” I snapped up at her. She knew who the fuck I was to Tristan, and yet every time that she thought he wasn’t paying attention, she had some snide remark to say, or she sent me a nasty look.

I was getting damn sick of it. I was trying so hard to keep my cool, but my patience was already thin, and she was stretching it even more.

She sneered down her nose at me. “All of us women have been trying to get Tristan’s attention for as long as we’ve been here, so fucking forgive me if we don’t appreciate the special fucking treatment you get from him,” she snarled. I snorted. “You don’t belong here, Adelaide. You’re nothing more than Joey’s whore.”

Wrong timing, bitch.

I stood up, clenching my fists at my sides. The doctor may have told me no more fighting, but I didn’t give a fuck. I was about to knock this bitch right off of her fucking feet and onto her knees in front of me. “You want to fucking repeat that?” I demanded, my voice cold, my warning clear: she had better shut her mouth before I shut it for her.

She laughed. “Oh, you think no one knew?” she asked. “Why don’t you fucking run back to your fucking master , Adelaide? I’m sure Joey fucking misses you. After all, he’s got to be the only man who will ever really want you. He did make you into his fucking dog , after all.”

That was all it took.

My fist swung out, and I punched her in the nose, sending her crashing back against one of the tables. She shrieked in pain as she hit the floor with a thump. I yanked her up by her throat, my eyes glaring down into hers, ignoring Tristan, who was shouting at me to let her go. Her eyes were filled with fear, and blood ran down her lips and chin from her nose. I smirked down at her, watching as all of the blood drained from her face.

Tristan couldn’t protect her ass every fucking time, and unlike the rest of these bitches around here, I wasn’t afraid of Tristan.

Because she had one thing right. Joey had trained me, and he had trained me well .

“I can’t go back, bitch!” I barked down at her. She flinched. “You want to fucking know why? Because he’s fucking dead!” I screamed down at her. I shook her, not giving a shit that her face was turning blue as she clawed at my hands around her neck. “You inconsiderate fucking bitch !” I snarled.

I managed to land another punch to her face before Tristan grabbed my arms and yanked me up from her, forcing me to release her. I was seething, my chest heaving with my rage as Emma sobbed on the floor, blood trailing from her nose and down her chin.

Just for spite, I spat on her face.

Jesup began to help her up from the floor as Tristan roughly swung me around to face him. I glared up at him, my eyes gleaming with rage. “What the fuck happened?” he demanded to know.

“Why don’t you ask the fucking whore who told me to go back to my fucking master?” I snarled up at him, still absolutely furious. She had no fucking idea what Joey and I had together, and it pissed me the fuck off that she thought she had the fucking right to assume shit about me and the man who had honestly saved my goddamn life.

“What goddamn master?” he asked me, clenching his jaw as anger sparked in his dark eyes—anger on my behalf.

“She doesn’t belong here!” Emma screeched. Tristan tightened his hands on me, keeping me rooted in my place as I made a move to face her again. I was seething. “She’s Joey’s bitch?—”

“Shut your fucking mouth!” Tristan roared at her, making her flinch and cower back against Jesup, who shot her a dark look for talking shit about me. “I didn’t ask you a goddamn question! Speak only when you’re spoken to!” He looked at Jesup. “Get her the fuck out of my sight. I’ll fucking deal with her later.”

“Tristan—” Emma began again, but he growled, his eyes flashing dangerously as he turned his gaze on her again, effectively shutting her up.

Jesup steered her down the back hall. Tristan brushed my hair out of my face. “Are you alright?” he asked me gently, his mood doing a complete one-eighty on me.

I nodded, blowing out a soft breath as I flexed my fisted hands, forcing them to relax. “I’m fine,” I grumbled. “She just caught me by surprise.”

Tristan pressed his lips to my forehead, and I closed my eyes, drawing in the comfort that he was offering me. “Have you eaten anything for dinner yet?” When I shook my head no, he shot me a disapproving look. I scowled. “You’re not just looking after yourself anymore, Adelaide.”

I rolled my eyes, heaving a tired sigh. “I’ll eat when I’m ready to, Tristan,” I told him, placing my hands on my hips.

“She’s a hell of a lot feistier than I remember,” Troy commented as he strode over. “Not the same, sweet Adelaide we all remember, huh?” he asked, looking down at me.

I bristled, putting my guard up against Troy. “You should know the answer to that considering it was your VP that I shot in the shoulder,” I snapped at him.

Kyle scowled down at me, but I only smirked in return. Tristan sighed as he ran a hand down his face. “Thanks for that, by the way,” Kyle snapped at me. My smirk only widened. “It took me three months of physical therapy to be able to properly use my shoulder again.”

“Why did you shoot Kyle in the shoulder in the first place?” Tristan asked me, his eyebrows pulled low, a disturbed look passing over his face before it became practically impassive again.

I shrugged before I crossed my arms over my chest. “I was at a drop, and Troy was there with Kyle and a couple of their men waiting to sabotage the entire exchange and lose the Sons of Hell one of our best clients,” I informed him. “It was a million-dollar deal. I wasn’t letting anyone fucking sabotage it.”

Tristan clenched his jaw and shook his head. “I keep forgetting that Joey had you in the middle of all of that shit.” I glared up at him, a silent warning for him to tread carefully. He clenched his jaw, dropping the subject before he turned to Troy. “She’s no longer with the Sons of Hell,” Tristan informed them. Pain sliced at my chest because not being part of that club wasn’t my choice.

Troy shrugged. “Guessed as much by the fact that she’s here with you,” Troy commented. “I heard Joey is currently MIA.”

I swallowed past the sudden lump in my throat, hating the swarm of emotions that warred inside of me at the thought of Joey being dead.

God, I fucking missed him. Hell, I fucking needed him.

Without a word, I turned on my heel and stormed off toward the bar. I could feel Tristan’s gaze on my back, but I ignored him, not even bothering to turn to face him. “Fucking hell, I wish I could have a drink right now,” I muttered as I made my way behind the bar top. I looked up at Jhenna as I reached up to rub my temples where they were beginning to throb. “Hey, darlin’, get me a cold water,” I told her.

She arched an eyebrow at me. “Just a water?” she asked, almost as if she couldn’t believe that I would want water on the night we were having a club party.

I narrowed my eyes at her. She instantly cowered back from me a little. “Did I fucking stutter?” I snapped at her. Her face paled the tiniest bit. “I said to get me a fucking water.”

With a nod, she spun around to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, handing it to me. I strode away from the bar and headed for my room. However, before I could reach it, my phone began to vibrate in my back pocket. With a disgruntled sigh, I pulled it out.

Unknown:

Time is ticking, gorgeous.

“Fuck!” I yelled, dropping to the floor as the ground beneath my feet shook, and the glass from the windows exploded, raining down all around me like rain.

Whoever had exploded this place did it with perfect timing. They had to have been watching because they’d made sure I was away from everyone else first.

“Addy!” Tristan roared, his voice filled with panic.

I coughed, the air quickly filling with smoke. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the building was on fire from whatever had exploded outside. I quickly pulled my shirt up to cover my nose and mouth, desperately trying to see through the smoke.

Heat wrapped around me like a suffocating cloak, and I cursed. I couldn’t see past any of the flames and the smoke. I coughed again, my eyes burning from the smoke and the heat.

Was this really how I was going to go out? What a fucking cruel way to die.

“Adelaide!” Tristan roared. “Baby, if you’re alive, please fucking answer me!”

“Tristan?!” I called out, coughing again.

“Fuck, Addy, where are you?” he yelled, his panic increasing.

I screamed when a board fell from the roof, and I jumped out of the way just in time before it collapsed on top of me. “I’m trapped!” I told him just as I realized it myself, fear gripping my chest.

I placed my hand over my belly as I began coughing so hard that I was gagging, my shirt not doing much to help with the smoke in the air. “Tristan, it’s hard to breathe!” I managed to choke out.

“I’m coming, Addy. Just hang in there, baby,” Tristan told me.

I couldn’t fucking breathe.

I dropped to my hands and knees, clawing at my chest.

Joey, babe, I’m so fucking sorry that I couldn’t protect your kid.

Everything went dark.