Page 36 of T-Bone
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“Ready?” T-Bone’s voice was deep and without emotion, but I could tell he was still upset about something. I hadn’t a clue what had upset him. If anyone had the right to get upset it was me, learning he’d hidden the fact he was closer to Ashley than he’d let on. Though what right did I have to get jealous?
I nodded and followed him out of the clubhouse, hitching my backpack on and fastening it around my waist before I settled behind T-Bone who smelled so good, so utterlymasculine that I couldn’t help but lean into him a bit. I held him tighter and enjoyed the feel of the wind as it whipped across my skin, the starry night sky as it blurred above us.
The first hour of the trip flew by. We stopped at a gas station at the one hour mark, once we were sure that we didn’t have any Ghost Riders following us. I hadn’t seen any, then again T-Bone had unilaterally decided that we were taking the bike. Again.
Bossy jerk.
Hotbossy jerk.
It was late. The gas station was empty except for one bored cashier who leaned against the counter scrolling on his phone. We didn’t need to go inside, T-Bone filled the tank while I sipped water and scanned the area in search of wayward bikers watching us a little too closely.
“Fuck, the damn card reader is broken.” His lips pinched with annoyance before he took off and stormed inside to pay for the gas.
I put the cap back on my water and slipped the backpack on when I heard the voice.
“I’m tired of waiting. Where the fuck is that fucking brat?” Nate or Blade, whatever name he was going by, stood a few feet from me with a smirk on his face. “Surprised?”
Hell yeah, I was. Where did he come from? “What do you want?”
His smile flattened into a straight line. “I want that goddamn brat. Just tell me where she is and we won’t have any problems.” To prove his point or maybe to intimidate me, he pulled out a gun. Not a blade.
I swallowed down the fear and then shoved what was left over down deep, and then I shrugged. “I don’t know where she is either.”
“Fucking liar!” He seemed half-crazed about my words, angry but also panicked.
My survival instinct pushed me back a step, but I wasn’t scared. I’d sized Nate up quickly, but his reaction now only confirmed that he was a bully with a weapon. Fear was the thing that fueled him, and he only thrived when he could instill that fear into others. “Why would I lie to you, Nate?”
“So I don’t fucking kill you, that’s why?”
I smiled. “But I thought the plan was to kill me either way?”
“Bitch,” he snarled and raised the gun to aim it in my direction.
“What the fuck is going on out here,” T-Bone asked as he walked up behind me and then stepped between me and Nate.
“Nothing,” I said and took two steps forward so that I was in front of T-Bone but just to the side of him. “Nate was just asking me if I’d found my niece yet.”
“I don’t fucking think so! Just tell me where she is and maybe I’ll let you live.”
I laughed and shook my head. “You all really are cowards, aren’t you?” It was starting to dawn on me now in a crystal clear way I hadn’t thought of before.
‘You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“No, I think I do. You want to kill a child, a sweet little girl because an abusive monster got exactly what he deserved. That’s not big man shit and it’s certainly not big dick energy.”
“Faith,” T-Bone growled low in his throat.
“Bullshit,” Nate spat angrily.
“I saw the evidence with my own damn eyes. The bruises. The broken bones and sprained joints. The split lips and black eyes. Chloe wanted to leave him because he used any excuse to beat her down and make her feel small just so he could feel big. Whenever she tried to leave, he would threaten Gemma to get her to stay.” I let out a laugh I didn’t feel. “You and yourbrothersare just cowards. Scared little boys running around pretending to be men.”
“Shut. The. Fuck. Up.” His eyes were wide and glassy, but his gun hand was steady.
At that moment, T-Bone stepped in front of me and brandished his weapon.
“You don’t want to hear it because it’s true. He killed Chloe after torturing her for years and you allowed it to happen. And now to heal your broken heart you need to murder a child. Come after me, big man. I fucking dare you.”
