Page 51 of T-Bone
She said I was a good man, I reminded myself. She trusted me enough to do the right thing, to save her niece. But I didn’t think she was sure she could trust me with her heart.
I don’t blame her. What the fuck do I know about love and romance and shit? Relationships and me weren’t exactly compatible and it wasn’t a skill I’d worked on at all in my thirty-odd years on this fucking ball of fire we call a planet. But now, the shit I felt for Faith was making me think about it.
A lot.
Too much.
I pushed it aside—for now—and focused on what needed to be done right now. Get Gemma first and then Faith and I can figure our shit out.
Maybe.
Hopefully.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Faith
My throat burned. My lungs screamed. My legs were on fire and every single step felt like it might be my last. On top of all of that, I was lost in the woods. Deep in the woods if I’d been running from the crazy bikers for as long as I thought I had.
Why did I head into the trees?
It provided excellent cover, that was why, but it had backfired because now I was lost.
I didn’t know which way would lead me out of the woods or deeper inside, but I knew which way the bikers were. I heard them clearly, whispering loudly as they tried to figure out where I was hiding. They didn’t step lightly either, which worked out for me. Mostly.
I double checked my gun and then the extra clips, confirming I had two backup clips just in case I had to shoot my way out of the goddamn forest.
Crouching behind a giant tree, I slowed my breathing and listened to the heavy-booted footsteps of the bikers. From what I could gather, there were three of them now, Nate, and two of his club brothers.
“Where the fuck is she?” One of them asked.
“How the fuck should I know? Shut the fuck up, she’s around here somewhere.”
They were frustrated and growing desperate. “Faith, I know you’re out there. We can do this all night. Canyou?” Nate’swords were taunting. He was trying to draw me out, but I wasn’t some rookie cop, easily goaded by a criminal. He laughed, the sound was dark and menacing. “It’s too bad you’re gonna die without knowing the truth about your niece.”
I moved positions while Nate talked, loud enough to scare all the night critters. Their sounds masked my movements, but I moved enough that I was now positioned behind him, which didn’t help because I didn’t know if that put me closer to the edge of the forest or the center.
“Faith, don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” I heard the smile in his voice, and I couldn’t let it stand.
If I was going to die tonight then it would be on my terms, and I’d not go without a fight. I shouted out, “You know, it’s too bad you’re going to die still thinking your buddy Marcus was a good guy.”
“Fuck you,” he shouted even louder, his anger getting the better of him. “Don’t you fucking talk about him!”
I smiled to myself. “Can’t handle the truth, huh?”
The sound of the gun clicking echoed in the forest and I took shelter behind a tree just in time. The next shot sent me diving onto the forest floor. He shot again and I got to my knees, crawling away from the direction the bullets were coming from as quickly as I could. “I was gonna take it easy on you, since my beef ain’t with you. But now I’m gonna make you suffer.”
“That’s what you guys do right?” I moved away from my last position after I shouted at him. “Beat up on women who are too small or too scared to fight back? Makes you feel like a big man?”
“Stop fuckin’ lying!”
His frustration mounted and though it wasn’t ideal, it was better to have him off-kilter than to have him thinking clearly, if that was something he was even capable of doing. “Oh come on Nate, don’t act like you didn’t know.” He shot the bullet off before I could duck and it sliced right through my left side, not penetrating any organs just enough to hurt like a son of a bitch. I bit back a groan and dropped to my knees. “Fuck,” I whispered quietly.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Don’t talk shit about my brother,” he shouted. “Me and Marcus grew up together. We worked together to make this MC what it is today. He loved Chloe.”
I breathed in through my nose and let out the pain through my mouth on the exhale. “He never loved her. He wanted to own her. To control her. And when he couldn’t, he beat the shit out of her.”
“Lies!”
