Page 46 of T-Bone
“He’s not my mister and yeah, you could say we had a fight.”
“People who don’t mean anything to each other, rarely fight.”
“Yeah well, we’re in the small percentage who do,” I shot back, face hot with humiliation for believing his lies. I’ll bet him and his buddies had a good laugh at keeping me chasing my tail. “Liars lie, I shouldn’t even be mad.”
“But you are, because you care.” Ginger patted the seat beside her, but I was too amped up to sit so I paced. “Men are stupid, and they are liars, that’s a fact. But we have to listen carefully because they are stupid which means they do stupid things, but sometimes they have noble reasons.”
I snorted disbelief. “Those reasons are called rationalizations.”
Ginger laughed and got to her feet. “Come on inside.” She disappeared inside without waiting, confident I’d follow.
And I did. “It’s no big deal. I thought I could trust him, and I was wrong. Story of my life. Maybe I’ll learn the lesson the next time.” Not that there would be a next time with him or anyone else. I’d have my hands full raising a traumatized little girl, a task that wouldn’t leave any room for a man. Lying or otherwise.
“You might be wrong. I know men and Terrence is one of the good ones, he’s just got a really rough outer shell,” she said, laughing at her words.
“He is a good man, but also a liar. That’s a deal breaker for me.”
Ginger opened her mouth to respond but her lights flickered twice and then the room was plunged into darkness. Seconds later the sound of glass breaking next door drew my attention.
“Shit.” I patted my sides and found myself without my gun.
“Here.” Ginger rushed to the table near her front door and handed me a pink nine millimeter Glock. “Extra clip is in there too.”
I smiled. “You are just full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“Gotta keep the world on its toes,” she replied with a smile. “Now go help your man.”
I nodded and put on my game face. “Stay here and stay down, yeah?”
“Got it.” She got down on the floor and waved me off. “Be careful.”
I closed her door behind me and crept back over to T-Bone’s place, listening to the direction of the noises though I knew they were heading upstairs. Inside the lights were off, of course, and I heard the distinct sounds of fighting, fists hitting bone, grunts and bodies falling to the floor. I moved forward cautiously with the gun in my hand as I quietly went up the steps.
Inside T-Bone’s bedroom, he was taking on two men in Ghost Riders gear. He was still in nothing but a pair of jeans and from what I could tell he was trying to get to his gun. The other guys were relentless, punching and kicking him nonstop. I had to get closer, moving cautiously because surprise was my only advantage.
T-Bone was a good fighter and a kick to the stomach sent one man flying backwards into his dresser. He scrambled to his feet quickly, pulling out a knife as the other rushed T-Bone.
This is it.
I raised my gun and squeezed off two quick shots at the man with the knife. Both landed center mass and he crumpled to the ground before his brain got the memo.
He took care of the other guy with a well-placed hook to the jaw.
“Are you okay?” I stepped over the obviously dead guy to get to T-Bone, checking the bruise that was starting to form on one cheek. His torso had a nasty slice in it too. “You’re not.”
He smacked my hand away. “I’m fine.”
“Yeah okay, tough guy.” I shook my head. “Let’s get you bandaged up so we can get the hell out of here.”
“Now you care?” His tone was gruff and almost hurt.
“Of course I care. I came back, didn’t I?” I shook my head and grabbed the first-aid kit from under the bathroom sink. “I don’t want you dead, I just don’t think I can trust you.” I cleaned the slice on his side, satisfied that it wasn’t as deep as it looked.
“I never lied to you Faith.”
“You just forgot you knew the man who killed my sister?” That was mighty convenient.
“I didn’t know him,” he insisted. “Go back and look at the photos, there are plenty of people in ‘em I don’t fucking know. We go to bike events all the time and people document it, doesn’t mean I know all of them.”
