Page 17 of Ruined

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.

Chapter Eight

Adelaide

Ibounced on the balls of my feet as I swung my fist forward, connecting it with the punching bag in front of me. I quickly swung my other fist forward, bringing my leg up right after.

I was aggravated beyond belief.

After everything that happened yesterday with Vin, I was on lockdown. To say that I was already going stir crazy in less than twenty-four hours was a bit of an understatement.

Joey had even left me behind this morning when he went on his run. We woke up everyone in the clubhouse during our shouting match because usually, he took me with him. Now, he was going to be gone for three days, and the last words I’d said to him were that I fucking hated him.

I was sorely regretting my words now. I knew he wasn’t ever guaranteed to come back from a run, and if something were to happen to him, I would hate myself. Because no matterhow much we fought, Joey was one of my rocks. He kept me grounded. Fuck, he kept mealive.

After I’d shouted at him that I hated him, he had simply left me with strict instructions to not leave the clubhouse. And to ensure that I followed the rules that Joey set, Tristan had set up one of his men at each entrance and exit of the clubhouse, which included the fucking windows so that I couldn’t escape like last time.

I’d sent Joey a text to apologize since I knew he wouldn’t answer his phone while he was on a run, but he hadn’t responded to me yet.

“Beating the hell of that punching bag isn’t going to make you feel any better, love,” Jesup stated as he stepped into the workout room, a beer held loosely in his grip as he watched me take out my aggression on the swinging bag in front of me.

I clenched my jaw, hating that he was disturbing me when all I wanted was to just be alone. “It’s better than punching some people in the fucking face,” I retorted, swinging at the bag again.

“You tried talking to anyone instead of just letting all of that aggression simmer inside of you?” Jesup asked as he took a seat on the bench across from me while I continued hitting the bag.

I shook my head. “All I want to do is beat Joey’s face in until he’s not so fucking handsome anymore for locking me in here, but I want him to fucking talk to me as well. We left shit on a bad note.” I swung again as Jesup grunted. “And I also want to beat the hell out of your perfect fucking president and boot him and the rest of you mother fuckers back to where you came from.”

Jesup took a swig from his beer, unbothered by my words. “You mean that?”

I clenched my jaw, grabbing the punching back as it swung back toward me. I turned my head to glare at him. “I was handling myself just fine before Tristan dropped back into my life and snatched me up,” I told him. “Tristan did all of his damage three years ago. He me know how he fucking felt the night of my eighteenth birthday. He should have fucking stayed gone.”

“Tristan has always loved you, Adelaide,” Jesup told me. I snorted. That was fucking laughable. “He never stopped.”

I narrowed my eyes at the VP, clenching my jaw so hard that my teeth audibly ground together. Three years later and that wound was still raw as hell. Tristan had sent me on a downward spiral. The only fucking reason that I was still standing there was because of Joey.

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