Page 16 of Ink & Reina

And I wanted to be with Jordan even more. I had missed him like crazy.

And Ink.God, I couldn’t believe him!

“I’ll come with you,” I told him. I didn’t even have to think about it. I had nothing here. My brother and Ink had done this fucked up shit behind my back, and they had both watched me suffer for it.

Jordan pressed a kiss to my lips. My soul melted. “Can you come back in a couple of hours and pick me up?”

Jordan smiled. “Of course, I can, babe.” He kissed me again, deeper this time, like he used to before he got locked up. “I love you.”

My heart warmed. “I love you, too.”

“What thefuckare you doing?” Johnny demanded when he stopped in my doorway.

“I’m leaving,” I told him, keeping my back to him, suddenly nervous to have this conversation. Johnny had a mean temper, and though he had never physically hurt me, that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t emotionally.

His words could leave scars.

“Leaving?” he quietly seethed. “With who? Because I know it’s not Ink. Hejustgot back in town. Passed him on my way here.”

I swallowed thickly, finally turning to face him. “With Jordan.”

Johnny was silent. It was a deadly kind of silence that had fear slithering through my veins. My heart knocked around hard behind my breastbone, sucking the air from my lungs.

I was terrified of his reaction.

“Ink’s brother?” Johnny finally asked. I nodded. “He’s finally out?” I nodded again.

Johnny scoffed. He looked defeated, and it tore at my soul. “Johnny?—”

“Nah,” he cut me off, shaking his head. “You want to go with him? Fucking fine. Go. Ruin your goddamn life, Reina, because you ride off with him? That’s exactly what you’re doing.” I flinched and swallowed thickly. “I’m done trying to save you. I’m done taking care of you.” His wordshurt. “You’re grown now. Figure this shit out yourself. But you leave here? I’ll make sure you’reneverwelcome back in Hope again.”

With that, he turned on his heel and jogged down the stairs. A few minutes later, I heard Dad yelling. I swallowed thickly when I heard his expensive shoes storming up the stairs.

“You’re leaving?” he demanded, his big frame taking up my doorway.

I tightened my grip on the shirt in my hand. “Yes,” I answered, my voice coming out much steadier than I felt.

Dad narrowed his eyes at me. There was no disappointment. No anger. Just cold indifference. And that cut more than anything else he could have done or said to me.

“If you leave with him, you areneverwelcome in this house again, you hear me? I’d rather you be with that biker boy than be with him,” Dad snarled.

With that, he stormed down the stairs.

Mom was the hardest to face.

She actually emerged from her room as Jordan came to pick me up the next morning. I hadn’t heard from Ink. So, either Johnny hadn’t informed him yet, or if he had, Ink was now ignoring me.

But I was still determined to go see him before I left town. I still needed him. He was my rock.

“Don’t go,” Mom pleaded, breaking my heart. “He’s bad for you, Reina. You’re my baby, and I can’t stand to see him hurt you.”

Tears welled in my eyes. For most of my life, Mom had never made an effort. It wasrarethat she did. She just couldn’t ever bring herself to. What about when I’d needed her? What about all those times she’d hurt me? But I didn’t voice any of that.

“I love him,” I told her. Her face fell. “I’m leaving with him, Mom. I need to get out of here, and he loves me, too.”

“Baby, please,” she pleaded.

I shook my head, looking over when Jordan cleared his throat, clearly ready to go. I stepped back, afraid if I hugged my mother goodbye, I would crumble.

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