Page 35 of T-Bone
“What’s that?”
I held in a gasp at T-Bone’s question because I didn’t want him to realize he’d startled me. It was stupid and petty but now that I knew about his history with Ashley, I needed to be less open and less vulnerable. “What’s what,” I asked just to give myself time to gather my thoughts.
He snorted in response. “All of this shit. What is it?”
I inhaled deeply and let it out with a slow, heavy sigh. “It’s Ashley’s diaries. I found them at her place, and I figured her brother might want them.” He said nothing, simply stared. Waiting me out. “And I figured it wouldn’t hurt to learn more about her before we handed them over.” I raised my chin in defiance. I didn’t feel bad about reading them, it was an important part of the investigative process, and I wouldn’t let his reaction make me feel otherwise.
He was silent for a long beat before he spoke. “Did you find out anything?”
Color me surprised but his response. I shook it off and nodded. “Oh yeah. For starters, I learned that Ashley used to date Marcus.”
His gray eyes widened almost comically. “No shit?”
“No shit,” I assured him. “It was never very serious, but she was swayed by his charm. At first—but abusive tigers don’t change their stripes. He hit her the first time, and she made excuses because they were both drunk, but the second time she left his sorry ass.”
T-Bone let out a long, shaky breath. “I’m guessing he didn’t take it well.”
“Good guess. He called and texted her nonstop, followed her everywhere she went to get her to take him back. She refused and eventually, according to her diary, he gave up after a couple of weeks.” I let the words settle around us because I had to.
“And then?”
I shrugged. A few weeks after she noticed that he hadn’t reached out in a few weeks, she documented that he had started dating someone new. A sweet and beautiful, if slightly naïve, girl named Chloe.” I shook my head as cold washed over me when I thought about the kind things she wrote about my sister. Her worries too because she’d seen the evidence of Marcus’ true character. “She notes black eyes, busted lips, and broken bones over the next few years. Then a baby, but the bruises remained.”
“Fuck,” he spat out and covered his eyes with both hands. I watched his reaction carefully, for what, I had no idea, but he genuinely seemed angry and shocked by the news. “What else?”
I blinked to clear the fog from my own damn brain. “Obviously, there’s something else because it’s clear you have something to say.”
Damn, I hadn’t counted on him being observant enough to notice. I watched him while he watched me back, both of us locked on each other to see who would break first. I could’ve held out longer, but I wanted to see his reaction when I revealed what I knew.
“Well?” He folded those massive arms across his chest and glared.
“You kissed Ashley.” I said the words simply, without accusation or emotion.
T-Bone said nothing at first but then he frowned. Shook his head. “Shit, yeah, you’re right. It happened once a long time ago,” he admitted with a shake of his head. “She was drunk and said she had a crush on me, asked if I’d ever see her as a woman and then she kissed me. It was nothing,” he shrugged.
“It wasn’t nothing to her.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know what you expect me to say but it wasn’t anything to me, which was why I didn’t remember it until now.”
A convenient memory if ever there was one. “I should believe you, why?”
“Uh, because it’s the goddamn truth?” He let out a harsh huff of laughter. “Fine, you want to know the real reason? I wouldn’t have fucked around with Ashley unless I was in love with her. She was a nice girl but that was it. I’d never risk my relationship with Pike for a few fucks.”
That was a believable answer, especially considering the stupid biker code. Man code. Big brother code. Whatever. “Okay.”
He snorted. “Okay? That’s it?” He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it was that easy.
“Yeah, that’s it. Your answer sounds reasonable so I’m choosing to believe it. Plus your stupid machismo of dating best friends rings true.” And we needed to get to Shiloh Valley tonight.
“I’m not sure I believe you now.”
I shrugged. “Well I haven’t said anything for you to believe or disbelieve so that’s on you.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded. “We should probably get ready to head to Shiloh Valley.”
His nostrils flared and his jaw clenched, which meant he was unhappy about something. He didn’t speak for a long time but eventually he nodded. “Yeah. Fine.” He stormed off as if he was offended and I felt bad but only for a moment because he didn’t owe me anything and I didn’t owe him either.
We were two people with the same goal right now, when those goals were achieved, we’d go our separate ways.
I took a few photos of Ashley’s diaries, figuring they’d be gone when I got back to the clubhouse, back where they belonged, and then I packed a small backpack for the road. I wasn’t sure what I would need besides water and bullets, but there were other things in the bag.
