Page 46 of Tripp

Whipping my head in her direction, my feet quickly followed until I loomed over her. Her head was lowered, her eyes either closed or staring at the goddamn ground. I couldn’t tell, but either way she was gonna look at me and tell me what the hell was goin’ on. No way she was married, and to that fuckwit to boot. My brain refused to believe it. Plain and simple.

“Reece,” I bit out, anger, adrenaline and confusion battling for first place. “Tell me what’s goin’ on,” I demanded, the bite in my tone obvious. Still no movement from her, except for the shudder of her shoulders. Trying a softer approach, I lifted her chin with my finger until she finally looked me in the eyes. Hers were filled with unshed tears, but as soon as she saw the look on my face, an expression I wasn’t sure was clear as I battled with pinging emotions, they fell down her cheeks.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, grabbing my arm.

“Tell me it’s not true,” I pleaded, brushing off her hold before finally backing up. She cried harder before looking toward the ground again. “Tell me, Reece. Tell me right now that it’s not true,” I repeated. “Tell me you’re not really married.”

“She is,” the bastard behind me yelled.

Desperately needing privacy, I instructed Hawke and Ryder to take him to another room and wait for me. I refused to acknowledge that he was her husband, even though I knew in my heart it was true. And even though I was sure she had a good explanation, it didn’t change the sting of betrayal that sliced me in half.

Reece and I didn’t know each other that well, this was true, but the connection I’d found with her was unlike any other I’d ever experienced. I knew the feeling was reciprocated. I saw it in her eyes when she looked at me, felt it in her kiss when she demanded more from me. But to think that she was hiding such a huge secret made me question everything I’d been feeling for her.

Once we were alone, I paced in front of her, silence compounding the tension which now existed between us. Finally, after what felt like forever, a soft sound drifted through the air and caught my attention.

“Tripp, I’m so sorry,” she whispered, the lilt of her voice softening my anger toward her and the entire situation. “I wanted to tell you . . . but I didn’t know how. I just wanted to forget.”

“Forget you were married?” I crushed the small distance between us and crowded her personal space once more, giving her no other option than to look me in the eye while she tried to explain. Trust me, the last thing I wanted to do right then was deal with this shit, but I knew it would only fester and drive me insane, making me even angrier if we didn’t have the damn discussion.

“Yes.” Because of her anguish, her eyes took on a deeper hue of blue than gray. “I’ve left Rick a few times, but he always finds me.” I hated the sound of his name on her lips, but I did my best to rein in my simmering fury. She slowly raised her hand and traced the scar on the bridge of her nose. “He threatened to kill me if I ever left him again. He probably would’ve had Mike not interrupted him.

“Was he the one who broke your nose?” I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear it from her.

“Yes.” She blew out a pent-up breath before quickly revealing what’d happened. “He’d come home drunk, like he often did, and accused me of cheating on him. Even though I wasn’t, and never had. It was the first time he’d punched me.” A few tears escaped and trailed down her cheeks. “Before, he would only grab me and slam me against the wall, or slap me across the face. But he never balled up his fist, not until that time.”

The silence was deafening as I continued to try and process everything Reece had just told me. My emotions had me feeling like I was on a damn roller coaster, jolting me back and forth between sadness, anger, betrayal and, oddly enough, possessiveness.

“I knew I should’ve never let you leave my house,” I mumbled more to myself than her. But she’d heard me loud and clear.

“There’s no way you could’ve known. I didn’t lie to you, per se, but I did omit certain things about my life.”

“Which is the same as lyin’, by the way. Just so you know.” I couldn’t help the anger in my tone, pushing to the forefront of my tangled emotions. “You definitely should have told me before we fucked.”

My crassness startled her, and the look of regret on her face tore at me. A deep sadness shrouded her eyes. It’d been there the first time I saw her, but I’d dismissed it to the lifestyle she’d chosen. Apparently it hadn’t been from her choice of profession but from years of being beaten down so much she never thought she was worth anything. While I was still very upset with her for not confiding in me, I knew I had to protect her from her husband.

Fuck! I hated even thinking that word, but there it was.

Reece was married.

But that wouldn’t stop me from claiming her.

Tripp

As if I didn’t have enough shit to deal with, now I had to take care of the issue with the shitbag who’d made Reece’s life a living hell. Even though she’d only divulged a small amount of their life together, I knew there was much more to that damn story.

The last thing I wanted to do was leave her alone, so I instructed Mike to stay with Reece until I returned, knowing damn well she was still scared after what happened.

Striding toward the room where Rick was being held, I took a deep breath before turning the handle, knowing I had to control myself so as not to kill him right then and there. Don’t get me wrong; I had no problem snatching his life, but taking such a rash step wasn’t smart. If it came down to whether or not he had to die, I wanted to make sure everything was set in place before he drew his last miserable breath. Killing was never something I aspired to do, but I knew it was necessary sometimes.

Rick was slumped over on the small couch set against the far wall. Drawing my brows close together, I stared at Ryder with a questioning look, since he was the one closest to him.

“What?” Ryder asked, shrugging. “I saw Reece’s neck. Just thought I’d make him see the error of his ways.” The slow smirk on his face would have been comical had I not been so torn up inside over the whole situation.

Nodding, I approached. I slapped the side of Rick’s head, a groan escaping him before lifting his head up. His eyes rose to mine briefly before closing. He was coherent enough to hear what I had to say. “You are never to come near Reece again. Do you hear me?” No response from him except an incoherent grunt. “I know you understand what I’m telling you, but let me break it down for you, just in case. If I so much as see you anywhere in the same vicinity as her, I’ll kill you. Slowly. If you don’t believe me then just test me, although it’ll be the last thing you ever do.” I stood to my full height. “Reece is mine now. Forget you ever knew her.”

Jerking my head toward Ryder and Hawke, I instructed, “Break his legs.”

“Both?” Ryder asked.

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