Page 7

Chapter Seven

Tristan

I gently pushed the blonde woman away from me, clenching my jaw as I watched Adelaide disappear down the hall into one of the rooms with Joey. I wanted to rush after them and fucking rip him away from her. And maybe bash his fucking face into my knee.

The blonde pouted up at me. “Tristan,” she whined.

I was so sick of club women. The only fucking woman I wanted was Adelaide, and she didn’t fucking want me.

Every rejection from her cut me deep, even if I never let her see it.

“No,” I snapped at the blonde, unable to control my temper. She flinched back from me, her eyes widening with fear. “I’m not fucking interested. Go fucking bother someone else.”

She glared up at me as she recovered from her shock. “Getting tangled up with Adelaide will only get you killed,” she spat up at me.

This girl was treading on dangerous fucking waters. She had no fucking clue what kind of woman Adelaide was.

Do you even know who she is ? my mind snapped back at me.

I took a dangerous step toward the blonde, my eyes narrowing. Her face paled, and she quickly stepped back from me. Her pulse jumped erratically at the base of her throat in fear. “Unless you’ve got something nice to say about Adelaide, I’d advise you to keep your fucking mouth shut,” I quietly warned her, my voice deadly and frightening. A clear warning that talking shit about Adelaide was off fucking limits.

I turned on my heel and stormed over to the bar, not interested in playing pool anymore. Jessie arched an eyebrow at me as I plopped onto one of the bar stools, a scowl settled over my features. “Something strong?” she guessed.

Wordlessly, I nodded. She grabbed a glass and filled it with ice, pouring hundred-proof vodka into the glass afterward. I caught the glass as she slid it toward me, the ice making a clanking sound in the glass. “If it makes you feel any better, she only went to fuck my brother to make you jealous,” Jessie informed me as she raised her dark eyes to meet mine.

I arched an eyebrow at her. “Who said I give a shit about Adelaide?” I retorted.

Jessie smirked and leaned forward on the bar, propping her chin up on her hand. “It’s written all over your face, sweetie.” She leaned back up and shrugged. “Adelaide saw you with Lacie, and she got pissed.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose with a rough sigh. Most of the time, I didn’t know how to even begin to deal with Addy. She was so different from the girl I fell in love with so many years ago. I missed the old her so fucking much, missed the girl who was sweet and kept me grounded.

Adelaide now? She was wild and untamed. Completely fucking dangerous.

“I love that woman more than I should,” I grumpily admitted, swallowing some of the vodka in the glass, not even making a face as the alcohol burned down my throat.

Jessie shrugged. “I could see the love you have for her when you laid your eyes on her the night of her birthday party,” Jessie told me. I grunted. “But I’m going to warn you now that Adelaide has been through some shit, and she doesn’t love easily anymore. Not after what you did to her, and especially not after your sister died.” I couldn’t hold in my flinch. The loss of my twin sister was still fresh.

“When Helene lost her fight to cancer, it seemed like Adelaide lost the last part of her that made her human. Sometimes, I swear she doesn’t feel anything.” Jessie’s eyes lifted from the bar and met mine. “Well, until you came along, that is.”

“Helene was always her rock,” I remembered, that familiar sadness ringing through me as I thought of my younger twin sister. She’d been the light of everyone’s life, and she had been Adelaide’s only friend. Growing up in a trap house like Adelaide had, friends were few and far between, and having someone that she could trust was even rarer.

“Look, I love my brother to death,” Jessie began, “but I’m going to be honest with you here. I love Adelaide. She’s like the sister I’ve never had, and I want what’s best for her. She and my brother are toxic as fuck together, but he also knows how to keep her grounded and keep her alive. If it weren’t for Joey always bringing out that fire in Adelaide, I’m not even sure she would be alive today.” I swallowed thickly. “But Adelaide also needs someone to bring her out of that fucking hole she’s in, and I know that you can do that if you can just manage to get past that wall that she’s built up against you.”

“How did she even get like this?” I asked, almost afraid of the answer. “She used to be so sweet and innocent.”

Jessie sighed, and judging by her face, I knew I wasn’t going to like whatever she said next. “Not going to lie to you, Tristan, it all started with you.” I flinched. “When you broke up with Adelaide on her birthday, Joey met her, and he gave her the freedom that she needed, but he also got her caught up in some fucked up shit to bring her out of her funk. Adelaide was dead inside. You killed a part of her.” Pain lanced through my chest. “The first time I met Adelaide, she and Joey had been together for three months, and she was snorting a line of coke up her nose.”

I roughly ran a hand down my face, hating myself now more than I ever had before. I had left Adelaide so that I could protect her. I had destroyed her heart to keep her safe.

But I only drove her into the arms of just another form of the devil that I was already trying to protect her from to begin with. I never wanted this life to touch her.

Fucking hell.

“Apparently, Adelaide had been doing runs for Joey for a while.” I shook my head in disgust. Women weren’t meant to be a part of this shit. “I met Helene that same day. Your sister had come into the clubhouse to find Adelaide, and she instantly started yelling at Adelaide for doing hard drugs. Helene helped her get clean, but your sister wasn’t enough to help her heal.”

“Adelaide told me that Helene got her caught up with Joey. Said she even encouraged Adelaide.”

Jessie shook her head with a bitter laugh. “She thought Joey would be a great rebound guy for Adelaide but nothing more. She was pissed as hell when she found out that Adelaide was caught up in this life, but by the time Helene found out, Adelaide was already in too deep to get out, even if she wanted to. But she didn’t. Adelaide needs this now.”

“Fuck,” I whispered. What the fuck had I done to the sweet, innocent girl that used to be Adelaide?

“The two years between her eighteenth birthday and Helene’s death, Adelaide seemed normal for the most part after she got clean. She did the runs for Joey, and she fought when she needed extra money.” Jessie released a sad sigh. “But Adelaide lost the last part of herself that kept her sane when Helene lost her fight to cancer on the morning of Adelaide’s birthday.”

I fucking remembered that day like it was yesterday.

I had been sitting in my clubhouse, staring at Addy’s picture on the background of my phone, wishing I had everything figured out so that I could go back and claim her as mine again. I had been daydreaming about the day that Adelaide would be mine again.

Then, I had received a call from the hospital.

Helene was pronounced dead when paramedics got to her apartment.

“She won’t celebrate her birthday anymore, Tristan,” Jessie sadly informed me.

I swallowed past the sudden lump in my throat. “I can guess why,” I muttered. Not only had Helene passed away on her birthday, but I had destroyed her.

I wouldn’t want to celebrate my birthday either after that kind of luck.

“She was so happy when she got up that morning and drove over to Helene’s apartment. I was with her,” Jessie told me. I swallowed thickly as I stared down at the bar. I knew this was shit I needed to hear, needed to know if I wanted any chance of understanding Adelaide any better, but it sure as fuck didn’t make it any easier to hear. “We were all going to go shopping, eat out, and party our hearts out at a club that night, but when we got there, Helene wasn’t responding to the knocks on her door.”

I swallowed hard. “Don’t tell me,” I whispered, my chest aching.

“Adelaide unlocked the door and found her on the couch, but Helene was already gone,” Jessie continued. My chest tore wide open. “I called 9-1-1, and Joey had to come to get Adelaide because she was losing her fucking mind. She was screaming and crying, not making any sense. I didn’t know how to help her.” Jessie drew in a deep breath. “Joey saved her that day. She was ready to end her life to be with Helene.”

She’d found my sister, and on the same day without ever knowing it, I’d almost lost Adelaide, too.

I dropped my face into my hands, blowing out a harsh breath.

“Are you okay?” Jessie asked me, as if I deserved any kind of kindness after the hell I had put Adelaide through.

I nodded. “I hadn’t realized it was her that found Helene,” I admitted. I should have known, though. “The doctor only told me that a friend of hers found her and called 9-1-1. I can’t even begin to imagine what the fuck that did to her.”

“The girl you saw beat the fuck out of Rachel earlier, that’s the Adelaide we all know now. She’s a fighter, and she’s vicious as fuck. Deadly, even. Even Joey treads carefully around her sometimes, but Tristan… be careful around him. Joey will destroy the fucking world over her. They may scream and yell at each other, and sometimes, Adelaide might even throw shit at him, but Joey loves her in his own twisted, fucked-up way. He made her into a monster to help her, and she is a monster, Tristan. She’s destructive.”

“That scary?” I asked her.

Jessie shook her head, looking over toward the hallway as Addy emerged, her face twisted into a scowl as she hollered something over her shoulder.

“Nope. Just that unpredictable,” Jessie muttered.

“Don’t fucking be a bitch when you were the one fucking using me to get to him!” Joey roared after her as he came out of the hallway as well, his eyes narrowed on her back.

“Go fuck yourself!” Adelaide yelled back at him.

“I don’t need to fuck myself, sweetheart, when there’s plenty of other women in this clubhouse willing to fuck me in your goddamn place!” he roared down at her as he gripped her arm and spun her around to face him. She glared up at him, jealous rage shining in her eyes at his words. My heart sunk to my feet. Even fighting, she still wanted him. How the fuck was I meant to compete with what they shared? “I am second best to no one , Adelaide. You best fucking remember that,” he growled.

“Well, fuck,” Jessie grumbled, watching the scene unfold in front of us. I clenched my fists, wanting to bash Joey’s face in for the way he was treating Adelaide.

Adelaide’s hand came up and flew across Joey’s face with a resounding slap that sent his face swinging to the side. “Fuck!” I heard Jessie yell.

I lurched to my feet at the same time Jessie jumped over the bar, rushing toward the two of them. Joey roughly shoved Addy away from him, sending her crashing into a table and down to the floor.

I saw fucking red .

I stormed over to Joey and slammed my fist into his face, sending him crashing back into one of the pool tables. Joey spit out blood, glaring up at me. “What the fuck?” he snarled up at me.

“Keep your fucking hands off of her,” I snapped down at him.

He chuckled, spitting out more blood as he pushed himself off the floor and rose back up to his feet. He looked deadly, like the monster everyone described him to be. “You go ahead and deal with that fucking whore,” he snarled, jabbing a finger at Adelaide. “I’m done with her.”

That time when I punched him, he slumped to the floor, knocked out cold, though I was pretty sure it had more to do with the liquor in his bloodstream rather than my fist hitting his face. Joey never went down easily.

I turned to Addy, only to see Jessie already helping her up from the floor. “You sure he didn’t hurt you too badly?” Jessie gently asked Addy.

Adelaide nodded. “Yeah. I’m good,” she grumbled, her eyes flickering to Joey for a moment before she shut her eyes, drawing in a deep breath.

I walked over to her and let my eyes run over her, checking to make sure that she was truly okay. “If he ever touches you again, I’ll fucking put a bullet through his skull,” I snarled, drawing her into my arms once she was steady.

She sighed, relaxing into me. I tightened my arms around her, not one to let a moment like this pass me by. I knew there would be very few of them. “I hit him first,” she defended him.

I sighed. She fucking loved him, and that shit gutted me. “Addy, baby, if you hit me, the most I would do is put you over my knee and spank you into submission.” I heard a low moan release from the back of her throat, and I smirked. I could still affect her, just as I had when we were younger. “You don’t deserve to be treated like that, Addy.”

She shrugged. “You get used to it.”

I clenched my jaw, wanting to break Joey’s neck at that moment, but I restrained myself, knowing that if anything would drive Adelaide away from me, that would be it. “You should have never had to get used to it, Addy.”

She stayed silent, and I tightened my arms around her again, pressing my lips to the top of her head. We stayed like that for a moment, letting her draw strength from me.

After a minute, I leaned down, so my mouth was at her ear. A shiver ran down her spine as my hot breath blew over her lobe. I smirked. “I bet I could have you scream my name a hell of a lot louder than he did, Addy.”

Her fingers twisted into my shirt as her breath hitched in her throat. I silently pressed a kiss to her rapidly beating pulse.

Patience. I had to have patience.

I knew I would have her where she belonged soon enough.