Page 40 of Ruined

I slid into the passenger seat of the van with her still cradled in my arms, and Jesup jumped in the driver’s seat. “It’s c-cold,” Adelaide stuttered.

Twisting, Jesup leaned back and grabbed my jacket, silently tossing it to me before he cranked up the van and pulled onto the highway. I covered her up with it, cradling her closer to me, unable to bring myself to care about the fact that I was covering the side of her body in Vin’s blood.

“You’re covered in blood,” she grumbled after a moment, her eyes roving over my torso and face.

I shrugged. “Shit happens,” I said bluntly.

“You do that a lot now?” she asked, looking up at me with her gorgeous, dark eyes.

I just grunted. I had turned into a ruthless bastard when she left, and I wasn’t the same man she’d left behind. But I wasn’t the only one who changed. Adelaide’s soul had gotten ripped apart. It was laid bare in her eyes.

I just didn’t know how fucking bad yet.

When we got to the clubhouse, I carried Adelaide straight to my room, not giving two shits about the numerous eyes thatfollowed me as I did so. “Why are you bringing me back here?” Adelaide asked, sounding a bit pissy.

“This is your home, Addy,” I gruffly reminded her. This clubhouse wouldalwaysbe her home.

She stayed silent, which was unnerving. The Addy I was used to would have at least tried biting my head off. But silent Adelaide? It made my gut twist with anxiety.

I set her on her feet, watching as she slipped off her heels, making her height drop almost six inches. “It’s not my home anymore, Tristan,” she finally spoke up, but there wasn’t fire in her voice anymore. She sounded lost and broken, and it shredded me. “I’m not the same woman that left.”

“Like hell that this isn’t your home, Addy,” I growled. “This willalwaysbe your home.”

She looked up at me, slowly undoing the buckles and chains to her outfit. I damn near swallowed my tongue as I let my eyes trail over her. Her skimpy outfit dropped to the floor, leaving nothing to the imagination any longer. God, even though she’d lost so much weight, she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my life.

My cock strained against my zipper, begging to be buried deep inside of her.

“What do you want from me, Tristan?” she asked softly, stepping toward me. She ran her hands under my cut, gently pushing it off my shoulders. I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything until I figured out what the hell she was trying to do. She wasn’t even giving a fuck about the blood.

“You want to fuck me, don’t you? Want to sell me out?” she asked huskily. “I’m a fantastic way to earn the club some extra money.”

And there it was. I let my eyes meet hers, but hers were dead and lifeless. She was cold. Detached.

My blood roared in my veins. Whereas I had just been ready to let her have her fucking way with me, now I was seeing fucking red.

I stepped back from her, watching as she just let her hands fall back to her sides, not even giving a fuck that she was naked as she stood in front of me. “What the fuck has gotten into you, Addy?” I demanded.

She shrugged. “I told you that I wasn’t the same woman that I used to be.” A cold smile tilted her lips. “Vin made damn sure of that.”

“I could shoot him a second fucking time,” I snarled, my hands tightening into fists at my sides.

She shrugged carelessly. “It’s not his fault that I’m like this.”Like hell it wasn’t.“I went to himwillingly, Tristan. I asked him to make me forget who I was.” She let those beautiful eyes meet mine. “I was tired of hurting.”

I didn’t believe that shit for a second. She’d beenterrifiedof him. Why would she just give herself over to him?

I shook my head and walked over to my dresser, rage like no other roaring through my veins. I yanked open my drawers, grabbing one of my t-shirts and a pair of my sweatpants. “Get a fucking shower,” I snarled, shoving the clothes against her chest.

Refusing to grab the clothes from me, she crossed her arms over her chest, that old spark lighting up in her eyes. There she was.Therewas my woman. “Make me,” she seethed,finallygetting angry.

Without a word, I moved to the bathroom, knowing my door was locked and Jesup had put two men outside of my door and my window. She wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. She wasn’t escaping again.

After turning the shower on, I stripped out of my clothes and walked back into the bedroom. I didn’t miss the way her breath caught in her throat as she ran her eyes over me, but I was beyond giving a shit anymore.

She wanted me tomakeher get a fucking shower? Fine. I wasn’t being the fucking nice guy anymore. Being nice to her when she was like this wasn’t going to damn work.

I gripped her wrists and shoved them behind her, thrusting her chest out so her nipples brushed against my chest. My dick instantly went hard, but I pushed down my desire for her, instead grabbing a pair of cuffs from my dresser.

“Tristan, what are you doing?” she screeched, panic flashing through her dark eyes and bleeding into her voice, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. She was always pushing buttons. That, at least, had not changed in the year she’d been missing.

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