Page 2 of Ruined

Tristan Groves.

My dead best friend’s brother that I had once been madly in love with.

But that was before he shattered my heart on my eighteenth birthday.

After last year, I was beginning to think my birthdays were cursed.

“Why don’t you go cool off, Joey?” Tristan suggested from behind me, his voice filled with so much coldness that some of the people around us stopped dancing and turned to see what was going on. They never paid Joey and I much mind. They knew we fought all of the time. But someone daring to stand up against Joey, another MC president at that?

It was very possible that blood was about to be spilled.

I flung Tristan’s hands off my shoulders, stepping closer to Joey. He reached out and turned me, pulling my back flat against his chest, his left arm wrapping around my shoulders, holding me protectively to his body. We might have been oil and water, but he didn’t rip my goddamn heart out of my chest. I couldalwayscount on Joey when it came down to it.

Tristan? He took one of the worst times of my life to fuck me up.

“How about you get the fuck out of my clubhouse,Grim?” Joey snarled at him, using Tristan’s street name. “And keep your fucking hands off of my woman.” His arm flexed around me. I slid my hands over his forearm, trying to keep him calm, to get him to hold me with him.

That was the one promise he made to me—that I wouldalwaysbe able to keep him with me, no matter what happened between us.

I squeaked in shock when Tristan quickly grabbed me and pushed me behind him before he stepped toe to toe with Joey, both of their heights evenly matched, though Joey was just a bit more muscular—and a little older. “I was here to make a deal, Joey,” Tristan snarled at Joey. “But I can always change my fucking mind and instead spill blood all over your fucking carpets.”

What the hell was Tristan talking about? A deal?

Joey had cut ties to the Sons of Death as soon as he found out what Tristan did to me. I hadn’t even been under Joey’s care for a week when he found out, but Joey quickly cut all connections, and they’d been enemies since.

Before I could begin to voice my questions, to try to figure out what the hell Tristan was on about, I leaned over and vomited all over the floor.

“Fucking hell, Adelaide!” Joey snapped as Jessie quickly gripped my shoulder and held my hair back out of my face. “You’re cleaning this shit up!” he barked at me.

“Ignore him, sweetheart,” Jessie told me softly, rubbing my back soothingly as I retched again. “You alright?”

I nodded at her, not admitting weakness. I never would, especially not in front of Tristan. Standing back up to my full height and taking a step away from my own mess, I glared up at Tristan. “Why are you here, Tristan?” I demanded. “This club doesn’t make deals with the Sons of Death. They’re actuallyloyalto the people they care about.”

Pain momentarily flashed in Tristan’s eyes, but honestly, I didn’t care. “I’m here to make a deal with Joey.” He turned his gaze to Joey, ignoring me. “In exchange for us leaving your crew and your territory alone, I want Adelaide. You deny me this and I’ll fucking wipe your goddamn club off the face of the earth.”

Joey’s face lit up with an almost uncontrollable fury, as did my own. This was my home. My family. My fucking crew just as much as it was Joey’s. “Over my fucking dead body, Grim,” Joey snarled. “Adelaide ismine.”

I swallowed thickly. Why the fuck did Tristan want me? He’d tossed me aside three years ago as if I had never meant shit to him.

Tristan’s eyes darkened with rage. “Let me make this clear, Joey,” Tristan said with chilling softness. My heart pounded hard in my chest, my eyes nervously flickering to Joey. This wasn’t the Tristan I remembered. This was amonster. “I will be leaving with Adelaide tonight with or without your consent.” I narrowed my eyes at Joey in a silent warning. He better fucking protect me. I wouldnotbe fucking leaving with Tristan.

An understanding passed between us as Joey flicked his eyes to me. Joey would do what he could to keep me with him. And that was all that I could ask for.

“We can do this civilly, or I can start dropping bodies until you give in,” Tristan snapped, not missing our silent exchange. “Which is it?”

“Hold on!” I shouted, holding up a hand. “Don’t I get a fucking say in this?” I snarled up at Tristan, my eyes blazing with rage.

Tristan shook his head at me. I sneered at him, and his lips twitched up into a smirk at my rage. I couldn’t fucking believe his audacity. I didn’t want him, and I sure as fuck didn’t want to be with him.

He had fuckingruinedme. Because of him, I was a mess of a fucking woman.

He turned his attention back to Joey. “Well, which is it?”

Suddenly, something hit me hard in my temple, and I let out a cry of pain, my vision quickly darkening as I began to crumple to the floor.

“Adelaide!” Joey roared.

The last thing I remembered was gun shots and Tristan’s muscular arms wrapping around my body before I could completely drop to the ground.

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