Page 22 of T-Bone (Steel Demons MC #11)

Faith

I spent all morning bent over Ashley’s journals, reading them carefully because I was hungry to learn everything I could about the woman who gave her life to protect Gemma.

Ashley was a good woman, happy and bubbly most of the time, able to take the bad things in life, the disappointments and find some positive element in every moment.

She lived for her art and was always searching for ways to show her creations to as many people as possible.

She volunteered at Steel City Community Center, teaching art to kids who came there to avoid getting sucked into trouble.

But like all of us, she had her secrets and one of them caught me by surprise.

She talked about one drunken night when she’d kissed T-Bone.

She called it bone-tingling, said she masturbated to it multiple times in the weeks after it happened.

My mind froze for just a second because I knew that particular brand of bone-tingling.

I still felt it down to my bones as I read and re-read her words.

There had been something between T-Bone and Ashley.

I knew he was hiding something from me, knew there was a reason for his hesitation inside her studio and her home.

My jaw clenched and pain turned the coffee in my belly to acid, cold and stinging.

I can’t trust him. The only thing I asked for was honesty and he hadn’t been able to give me even that. “Dammit.”

I was annoyed but I wasn’t surprised at all. Men lied, it was their default response in just about any situation, and especially when it came to sex. I didn’t care about the sex—not much—but I cared that he lied, and I wondered why he would.

What else was he hiding from me?

I couldn’t come at him with suspicion, or he’d shut down, but I needed to be extra cautious about what I shared with him. I needed to watch T-Bone carefully to make sure he wasn’t hiding anything else from me. Just because we slept together a few times didn’t mean I could trust him completely.

I set my suspicions aside and continued going through Ashley’s diary. I wasn’t sure what else T-Bone was hiding from me or why, but something told me it had nothing to do with her murder. I hoped. There were other things I found interesting, and I jotted notes as I read, still a detective at heart.

“What’s that?”

I held in a gasp at T-Bone’s question because I didn’t want him to realize he’d startled me. It was stupid and petty but now that I knew about his history with Ashley, I needed to be less open and less vulnerable. “What’s what,” I asked just to give myself time to gather my thoughts.

He snorted in response. “All of this shit. What is it?”

I inhaled deeply and let it out with a slow, heavy sigh.

“It’s Ashley’s diaries. I found them at her place, and I figured her brother might want them.

” He said nothing, simply stared. Waiting me out.

“And I figured it wouldn’t hurt to learn more about her before we handed them over.

” I raised my chin in defiance. I didn’t feel bad about reading them, it was an important part of the investigative process, and I wouldn’t let his reaction make me feel otherwise.

He was silent for a long beat before he spoke. “Did you find out anything?”

Color me surprised but his response. I shook it off and nodded. “Oh yeah. For starters, I learned that Ashley used to date Marcus.”

His gray eyes widened almost comically. “No shit?”

“No shit,” I assured him. “It was never very serious, but she was swayed by his charm. At first—but abusive tigers don’t change their stripes. He hit her the first time, and she made excuses because they were both drunk, but the second time she left his sorry ass.”

T-Bone let out a long, shaky breath. “I’m guessing he didn’t take it well.”

“Good guess. He called and texted her nonstop, followed her everywhere she went to get her to take him back. She refused and eventually, according to her diary, he gave up after a couple of weeks.” I let the words settle around us because I had to.

“And then?”

I shrugged. A few weeks after she noticed that he hadn’t reached out in a few weeks, she documented that he had started dating someone new.

A sweet and beautiful, if slightly na?ve, girl named Chloe.

” I shook my head as cold washed over me when I thought about the kind things she wrote about my sister.

Her worries too because she’d seen the evidence of Marcus’ true character.

“She notes black eyes, busted lips, and broken bones over the next few years. Then a baby, but the bruises remained.”

“Fuck,” he spat out and covered his eyes with both hands. I watched his reaction carefully, for what, I had no idea, but he genuinely seemed angry and shocked by the news. “What else?”

I blinked to clear the fog from my own damn brain. “Obviously, there’s something else because it’s clear you have something to say.”

Damn, I hadn’t counted on him being observant enough to notice. I watched him while he watched me back, both of us locked on each other to see who would break first. I could’ve held out longer, but I wanted to see his reaction when I revealed what I knew.

“Well?” He folded those massive arms across his chest and glared.

“You kissed Ashley.” I said the words simply, without accusation or emotion.

T-Bone said nothing at first but then he frowned.

Shook his head. “Shit, yeah, you’re right.

It happened once a long time ago,” he admitted with a shake of his head.

“She was drunk and said she had a crush on me, asked if I’d ever see her as a woman and then she kissed me. It was nothing,” he shrugged.

“It wasn’t nothing to her.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know what you expect me to say but it wasn’t anything to me, which was why I didn’t remember it until now.”

A convenient memory if ever there was one. “I should believe you, why?”

“Uh, because it’s the goddamn truth?” He let out a harsh huff of laughter. “Fine, you want to know the real reason? I wouldn’t have fucked around with Ashley unless I was in love with her. She was a nice girl but that was it. I’d never risk my relationship with Pike for a few fucks.”

That was a believable answer, especially considering the stupid biker code. Man code. Big brother code. Whatever. “Okay.”

He snorted. “Okay? That’s it?” He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it was that easy.

“Yeah, that’s it. Your answer sounds reasonable so I’m choosing to believe it. Plus your stupid machismo of dating best friends rings true.” And we needed to get to Shiloh Valley tonight.

“I’m not sure I believe you now.”

I shrugged. “Well I haven’t said anything for you to believe or disbelieve so that’s on you.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded. “We should probably get ready to head to Shiloh Valley.”

His nostrils flared and his jaw clenched, which meant he was unhappy about something. He didn’t speak for a long time but eventually he nodded. “Yeah. Fine.” He stormed off as if he was offended and I felt bad but only for a moment because he didn’t owe me anything and I didn’t owe him either.

We were two people with the same goal right now, when those goals were achieved, we’d go our separate ways.

I took a few photos of Ashley’s diaries, figuring they’d be gone when I got back to the clubhouse, back where they belonged, and then I packed a small backpack for the road. I wasn’t sure what I would need besides water and bullets, but there were other things in the bag.

***

“Ready?” T-Bone’s voice was deep and without emotion, but I could tell he was still upset about something.

I hadn’t a clue what had upset him. If anyone had the right to get upset it was me, learning he’d hidden the fact he was closer to Ashley than he’d let on.

Though what right did I have to get jealous?

I nodded and followed him out of the clubhouse, hitching my backpack on and fastening it around my waist before I settled behind T-Bone who smelled so good, so utterly masculine that I couldn’t help but lean into him a bit.

I held him tighter and enjoyed the feel of the wind as it whipped across my skin, the starry night sky as it blurred above us.

The first hour of the trip flew by. We stopped at a gas station at the one hour mark, once we were sure that we didn’t have any Ghost Riders following us. I hadn’t seen any, then again T-Bone had unilaterally decided that we were taking the bike. Again.

Bossy jerk.

Hot bossy jerk.

It was late. The gas station was empty except for one bored cashier who leaned against the counter scrolling on his phone. We didn’t need to go inside, T-Bone filled the tank while I sipped water and scanned the area in search of wayward bikers watching us a little too closely.

“Fuck, the damn card reader is broken.” His lips pinched with annoyance before he took off and stormed inside to pay for the gas.

I put the cap back on my water and slipped the backpack on when I heard the voice.

“I’m tired of waiting. Where the fuck is that fucking brat?” Nate or Blade, whatever name he was going by, stood a few feet from me with a smirk on his face. “Surprised?”

Hell yeah, I was. Where did he come from? “What do you want?”

His smile flattened into a straight line. “I want that goddamn brat. Just tell me where she is and we won’t have any problems.” To prove his point or maybe to intimidate me, he pulled out a gun. Not a blade.

I swallowed down the fear and then shoved what was left over down deep, and then I shrugged. “I don’t know where she is either.”

“Fucking liar!” He seemed half-crazed about my words, angry but also panicked.

My survival instinct pushed me back a step, but I wasn’t scared. I’d sized Nate up quickly, but his reaction now only confirmed that he was a bully with a weapon. Fear was the thing that fueled him, and he only thrived when he could instill that fear into others. “Why would I lie to you, Nate?”

“So I don’t fucking kill you, that’s why?”

I smiled. “But I thought the plan was to kill me either way?”

“Bitch,” he snarled and raised the gun to aim it in my direction.

“What the fuck is going on out here,” T-Bone asked as he walked up behind me and then stepped between me and Nate.

“Nothing,” I said and took two steps forward so that I was in front of T-Bone but just to the side of him. “Nate was just asking me if I’d found my niece yet.”

“I don’t fucking think so! Just tell me where she is and maybe I’ll let you live.”

I laughed and shook my head. “You all really are cowards, aren’t you?” It was starting to dawn on me now in a crystal clear way I hadn’t thought of before.

‘You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“No, I think I do. You want to kill a child, a sweet little girl because an abusive monster got exactly what he deserved. That’s not big man shit and it’s certainly not big dick energy.”

“Faith,” T-Bone growled low in his throat.

“Bullshit,” Nate spat angrily.

“I saw the evidence with my own damn eyes. The bruises. The broken bones and sprained joints. The split lips and black eyes. Chloe wanted to leave him because he used any excuse to beat her down and make her feel small just so he could feel big. Whenever she tried to leave, he would threaten Gemma to get her to stay.” I let out a laugh I didn’t feel.

“You and your brothers are just cowards. Scared little boys running around pretending to be men.”

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up.” His eyes were wide and glassy, but his gun hand was steady.

At that moment, T-Bone stepped in front of me and brandished his weapon.

“You don’t want to hear it because it’s true. He killed Chloe after torturing her for years and you allowed it to happen. And now to heal your broken heart you need to murder a child. Come after me, big man. I fucking dare you.”

He stood there, staring at me as if he couldn’t quite figure me out. “You’re talking a lot of shit for a bitch without a weapon.”

I smiled and then I nodded. “A real bitch doesn’t need a weapon to make you scared,” I began and then quickly pulled the gun from my hip holster.

“But if it makes you feel better, it’s now two against one and even though you look like a dumb shit, I don’t think you’re that dumb. Are you?” The words hung in the air.

Nate trembled with rage. He didn’t want to die tonight but he also didn’t want to leave just because a woman told him to.

“Blade,” T-Bone said, his voice lower and angrier. “You’re leaving either way man. Own your own or on a stretcher. Maybe in a body bag if you piss me off bad enough.”

Nate glared at me. “This ain’t over bitch.”

“You’re right about that. See you around, chickenshit.” I smiled and gave a small finger wave that was guaranteed to piss him off.

Silence settled between us while Nate rushed off. Minutes later his bike sounded in the distance and that’s when T-Bone finally spoke. “You are a cruel woman, Faith.”

I laughed. “He needed to hear it and we need him on edge. He’ll be more dangerous but also more reckless.” I hoped so anyway.