Page 17

Chapter Seventeen

Tristan

J essie slid off the back of my bike, wincing in pain as she did so. Charles had fucked her up pretty badly, leaving her beaten and bloody. When we made it to the Sons of Hell’s clubhouse, it had been vacant, but I’d found Jessie tied up in the basement, bloody, beaten, and naked.

Honestly, had Joey not come to Adelaide for help, Jessie might have died there. I didn’t even want to think about what she’d endured at his hands.

And the woman had no idea that her brother was still very much alive. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if she was aware that she was still alive. Jessie was basically a shell of herself. She hadn’t uttered a fucking word since I unbound her and Jesup gave her clothes to put on.

But hell, none of us had known Joey was even alive. If any of us had known, it would have saved Adelaide all of the pain and heartache she had gone through.

It had killed a part of her to think that Joey was dead.

When she had dragged him into the clubhouse, her beautiful, dark eyes had lit up with a true fire—a fighting fire. Something I was beginning to realize only Joey could bring out in her.

I was beginning to wonder if he had become the other half of her soul.

And that shit cut me deep.

“How did you know where I was?” Jessie finally asked me as we strode towards my clubhouse, her voice rough and weak.

“Your brother,” I informed her. She swung her wide, shocked eyes to mine. I released a quiet sigh. “He’s alive, Jessie. He came to Adelaide for help.”

“How is he alive?” she choked out, disbelief coating her voice as tears glistened in her dark eyes.

I shrugged at her. “I don’t know,” I told her honestly. “He only woke up long enough to inform me and Adelaide of where you were.”

I strode into the clubhouse, my eyes instantly landing on Adelaide, who was still sitting on the couch. She was talking to Joey. He looked to be mostly awake, but he looked exhausted and in a shit ton of pain. He had taken a hell of a beating, too. That was for sure.

“Joey!” Jessie exclaimed.

Joey jerked his head up to look at his twin. “Holy shit, he fucked you up good,” he breathed as he pushed himself up off the couch with a pain-filled grimace, opening his arms up to his sister.

“I’ll be fine,” she choked out as she leaned down to wrap her arms around him.

I walked over to Adelaide. “How are you feeling, Addy?” I gently asked her, knowing her morning sickness was beginning to seriously kick her ass. Instead of it being only in the morning, it was becoming a fucking all-day thing.

She leaned her head back against the back of the couch, a tired, weary look in her dark eyes. “Exhausted,” she admitted, her tiredness seeping into her voice.

I kneeled in front of her, running my hands over her jean-clad thighs. Her eyes flickered toward Joey for a moment as he moved to sit up, but she didn’t push me away, for which I was relieved. I knew shit between us was about to get complicated once again. In my gut, I knew I’d always come second to Joey, and it cut.

“Have you eaten anything yet?” I asked her.

She nodded. “I just threw it up right back up, though.” I frowned at her. “My stomach has been upset since two this morning,” she reminded me as if I could forget spending half the night sitting in the bathroom with her.

“You need to rest,” Joey said to her. “You always had a problem with resting to get better.”

Adelaide snorted. “Going to take me about another eight months to get over this,” she told him, her dark eyes clashing with his as she dropped the bomb of her pregnancy like it was nothing.

Joey sucked in a harsh breath at her words, and then, he narrowed his eyes at me, anger flashing in his dark depths. “That goddamn fast you got her knocked up?!” he roared at me.

I clenched my jaw, reining in my temper. I wouldn’t fight with him, not over this and not with Adelaide sitting there to witness it. She had just gotten him back. I wouldn’t put her through the stress of us fighting. But it didn’t mean that I wouldn’t put him in his goddamn place and give him a reality check. “Not me,” I snarled at him as I stood up to my full height. “ You fucking did.”

Joey looked like I had punched him in the gut. His wide, shocked eyes snapped to Addy. Adelaide clenched her jaw and stood up from the couch, running her hands down her face in exhaustion.

“How far along are you, Adelaide?” he asked her quietly.

“Six weeks,” she said, her voice quiet.

He swallowed hard as he stared at her. “ Fuck ,” he finally managed to utter.

Addy suddenly gagged, her hand flying up to her mouth as she rushed past me and down the hall to the bathroom. I rushed after her, getting there right as she dropped to her knees in front of the toilet, throwing up stomach acid since she hadn’t been able to keep anything down all day.

Once she was finished, I reached forward and flushed the toilet, lifting her into my arms despite the small noise of protest she made. “I think it’s time for you to get some rest.”

Deciding not to fight me on it, she nodded in agreement, resting her head against my shoulder. “Don’t let him leave,” she pleaded, already beginning to drift off. “I don’t want to lose him again.”

Her words sent pain lancing through my chest, but I quickly reminded myself that I was the one she was currently with, not him. But I couldn’t deny that she loved him, that she would always love him.

And it was going to take me some time to come to terms with that.

“I won’t, Addy baby,” I promised her as I laid her on my bed.

But she was already passed out, not hearing my words.

When I walked back into the bar, Joey was swallowing a mouth full of beer, and Jessie was helping Zyla clean up, though they seemed to be holding a pretty good conversation. I understood Jessie’s need to do something, although she looked like death rolled over. She was trying to have normalcy. It was a normal reaction after surviving something so traumatic.

“Bit early to be drinking, isn’t it?” I asked Joey as I took a seat next to him.

He just shot me a dark look. “I just found out I’m going to be a dad, not to mention the fact that the woman I’m madly in love with is carrying that kid and that she’s in love with another man.” He chuckled but it lacked humor. He shook his head as he took another swallow of the beer in his hand. “I always knew I would lose her to you someday,” he admitted, sounding like he had just lost one of the greatest fucking things in his life.

Fuck, I was going to need a beer for this conversation as well.

I got up and walked around the bar to the fridge, grabbing two beers, one for me and another one for Joey since he had just finished his off, and it looked like he was definitely going to be needing a second.

“What’s your plan for her?” I asked him.

Joey popped the top off of his fresh beer with the bottom of a lighter he pulled from his pocket. “I’m doing what’s right by Adelaide and that baby. She may be with you, Grim, but I will be there for her as well.” He let his dark eyes meet mine. “You’re going to have a miserable relationship with her if you make her give me up,” he warned.

I clenched my jaw, jealousy sparking in my veins. I smothered it though. There was a baby in the picture now. I had to learn to get along with Joey for the baby’s sake… and Adelaide’s. Because Joey was right. I couldn’t ever force her to give him up. She would choose him over me.

“I’d be pissed if you weren’t,” I told him. “Takes two to tango and all that shit. This baby is your responsibility, too.”

“Which means you and I are working together from now on, Grim.” I grunted in agreement, though I didn’t like it. “The past? Out the fucking window. Clean slate.”

He was fucking serious about this shit because Joey didn’t let go of grudges for anything, not unless he gave a fuck about something.

And if I knew there was one thing in this world he gave a shit about, it was Adelaide.

“And your club?” I asked him.

Joey smirked—a cold, calculating smirk that chilled my bones. Sometimes, it was hard to forget just how ruthless and destructive Joey could be. He was clearly softer around Adelaide, which had led to me letting my guard down around him.

“I’ll put a bullet in the head of every mother fucker that dared to follow Charles, that dared to fucking cross me wrong,” Joey swore. “And I’m taking my mother fucking club back.” He swallowed another mouth full of beer. “No one watches over Adelaide unless it’s me, you, or Jesup. I won’t take any chances with her safety. She’s our priority. Not a goddamn thing comes before her.”

I nodded in agreement, glad that we could at least agree on something. Jesup came out of the back, but he halted in his steps when his eyes landed on Zyla. His jaw clenched so tightly, I could see the muscle there ticking from my position at the bar. Cursing, I set my beer down, already knowing this was about to get ugly.

He had no idea that his ex-wife was back, nor that she was back seeking refuge from her crazy ass husband. Right when both he and Zyla turned eighteen, they went to the courthouse and got married. We hadn’t even graduated high school yet. And only a few months after their marriage, she left him for another richer man.

“What in the hell are you doing here?” Jesup snarled at her.

“Ooh, drama,” Joey said as he grinned at the scene in front of him. I glowered at him. He only shrugged. “What? I’ve been getting the shit beat out of me for the past few days. Cut me some slack,” he grunted.

“J—” Zyla started, but I cut her off.

“Jesup, let’s go talk,” I told him as I slid off of the barstool.

Joey got off his stool, too. “I’m going to go check on Adelaide. Where is she?” he asked me.

“My room. Can’t miss it. It has ‘president’ on the door.” I pointed a finger at him. “Don’t disturb her,” I ordered.

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not a fucking idiot,” he smarted off before he strode toward the hall. I glowered at his back. Joey always ran by his own book, and he never gave a fuck whose toes he stepped on in the process.

These next few years were going to be fucking exhausting and a real damn test of my patience.

“How the fuck are you even alive right now?” Jesup demanded as Joey walked past him.

Joey shook his head at Jesup. “I did die, but they were able to revive me. I told them not to tell anyone I was alive because I’ve known for a while that Charles has been plotting against me.” He clenched his jaw, looking over at his sister. “And he’s been working with Vin this whole fucking time,” he quietly snarled, not letting his voice trail beyond us three.

“Fucking hell,” I swore. If Vin had been working with Charles, then that only meant that the entire time Joey had been trying to protect her, Vin had been one step ahead, and he might still be depending on where Charles was.

Joey nodded. “It’s why my sister looks like she does. Charles and Vin have been selling her out.”

With that, he walked down the hallway to go check on Adelaide.

I stared after Joey for a moment, trying to make sense of what might be going through his head, but I knew it was useless. Joey was unpredictable and dangerous.

I looked over at Jesup. “Come on,” I told him, pushing open the chapel doors. I knew this was going to be a tense conversation. Jesup had loved—hell, still did even if he wanted to deny it—Zyla with every fiber of his being. She had cut him deep when she took off with Rodney.

“Why is she back here?” Jesup demanded to know as soon as the doors were closed back behind us.

“She came to me last night. Showed up during the party. She’s lost everything, Jesup. She just needs a place to stay until she can get back on her feet,” I told him.

Jesup shook his head. “Not here, Grim,” Jesup snarled. “She fucking left . She demanded the divorce. She can figure her shit out on her own.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Jesup, it’s just for a little while, alright?” I told him. Zyla hadn’t told me what happened, but the look in her eyes as she begged me for help? She was looking for safety, too. Something had happened, and I wouldn’t turn her away if she needed help. “You don’t even have to converse with her.”

Jesup clenched his jaw. “I don’t even want to see her fucking face, Grim.” When it was clear I was standing my ground, he growled. “She’s got one fucking month. That’s it. If she isn’t on her feet in a month, I want her gone,” he snapped.

With that, he strode out of the room, not giving me a chance to respond.