Page 26 of Ruined

“Anything else?” she asked him, looking a bit overwhelmed with all of the information he had just crammed into her brain.

He shook his head and gave her a warm smile. “I’m pretty sure Tristan will make sure you take care of yourself. I look forward to seeing you in a month, Adelaide,” he told her before he left the room.

It was real. My Addy was becoming a mother.

Chapter Thirteen

Adelaide

Iwas sprawled out on the couch in the clubhouse bar room with my headphones plugged into my ears, my music turned all the way up as I listened to an old hip-hop song. Tristan was sitting at the bar with Jesup, and the entire club was waiting on Tristan’s North Carolina charter to ride in for a run later in the evening.

The lyrics hit a sad note about someone passing away at a young age. I swallowed hard, realizing how hard the rapper’s words hit home for me. For three years, I’d watched numerous people close to me die.

Numerous people had even died at myownhands.

Joey was only twenty-four, and I had already lost him. I’d lost one of the closest people to me.

How many more people would I lose before all of this shit was over?

The clubhouse doors opening caught my attention, and I watched as Troy Hilton, the president of North Carolina Sons ofDeath’s charter, stepped in, his vice president, Kyle, following closely on his heels. A few of their other members followed in behind them.

Tristan stood up from his seat at the bar to greet his cousin, Jesup standing up as well. I pulled my headphones out of my ears, watching as Tristan walked up to Troy, both of them shaking hands and pulling each other into a one-armed, manly hug.

“Good to see you, bro,” Tristan said as he stepped back from Troy. “I appreciate you riding out here on such short notice.”

“Not a problem,” Troy assured him as his eyes moved over the room, not taking notice of me yet.

But when he would finally notice me, I would be ready. Troy and I had always butted heads, especially since he was already in the life of an outlaw with Tristan, and I was just the girl that grew up in a trap house, not part of anything in particular.

I had always been considered dangerous and unreliable. Guess he’d turned out to be right.

Emma strode over to me. With a sigh, I turned my attention to her. She had been wearing on my damn nerves ever since I had gotten here. “Are you going to help us serve drinks or just sit here like you’re better than the rest of us?” she smarted off, crossing her arms over her chest.

I arched an eyebrow at her. “Emma, why don’t you go fuck off?” I snapped up at her. She knew who the fuck I was to Tristan, and yet every time that she thought he wasn’t paying attention, she had some snide remark to say, or she sent me a nasty look.

I was getting damn sick of it. I was trying so hard to keep my cool, but my patience was already thin, and she was stretching it even more.

She sneered down her nose at me. “All of us women have been trying to get Tristan’s attention for as long as we’ve been here, so fucking forgive me if we don’t appreciate the special fucking treatment you get from him,” she snarled. I snorted. “You don’t belong here, Adelaide. You’re nothing more than Joey’s whore.”

Wrong timing, bitch.

I stood up, clenching my fists at my sides. The doctor may have told me no more fighting, but I didn’t give a fuck. I was about to knock this bitch right off of her fucking feet and onto her knees in front of me. “You want to fucking repeat that?” I demanded, my voice cold, my warning clear: she had better shut her mouth before I shut it for her.

She laughed. “Oh, you think no one knew?” she asked. “Why don’t you fucking run back to your fuckingmaster, Adelaide? I’m sure Joey fucking misses you. After all, he’s got to be the only man who will ever really want you. He did make you into his fuckingdog, after all.”

That was all it took.

My fist swung out, and I punched her in the nose, sending her crashing back against one of the tables. She shrieked in pain as she hit the floor with a thump. I yanked her up by her throat, my eyes glaring down into hers, ignoring Tristan, who was shouting at me to let her go. Her eyes were filled with fear, and blood ran down her lips and chin from her nose. I smirked down at her, watching as all of the blood drained from her face.

Tristan couldn’t protect her ass every fucking time, and unlike the rest of these bitches around here, I wasn’t afraid of Tristan.

Because she had one thing right. Joey had trained me, and he had trained mewell.

“Ican’tgo back, bitch!” I barked down at her. She flinched. “You want to fucking know why? Because he’s fucking dead!” I screamed down at her. I shook her, not giving a shit that her face was turning blue as she clawed at my hands around her neck. “You inconsiderate fuckingbitch!” I snarled.

I managed to land another punch to her face before Tristan grabbed my arms and yanked me up from her, forcing me to release her. I was seething, my chest heaving with my rage as Emma sobbed on the floor, blood trailing from her nose and down her chin.

Just for spite, I spat on her face.

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