Page 48 of T-Bone
“You’re assuming whoever in thereisalone,” I shot back, wincing when Laura pinched. I glared at her, and she glared back.
“Tone,” she whispered, not unkindly.
“Doesn’t matter,” she tried again, shaking her head before she turned to Diesel and Rocky. “Maynard is at the very least complicit in Ashley’s murder.” She looked around the clubhouse until she spotted Pike. “It wasn’t her ex-boyfriend,” she told him in a softer tone. “His body was found in her backyard, dead at least one day before she was killed.”
I held my breath and waited for her to say more, but she didn’t deliver the details I insisted I wanted to share with him.
Because she’s a woman of her word.
Pike’s gaze found mine, asking just one question.Is it true?
I nodded. “She talked to Red Rock PD, not Maynard.”
She nodded. “There are other details that indicate Maynard interfered with the crime scene,” she said vaguely. “He’s all the way in this.” Her tone grew firmer, her confidence amplified her voice.
“What aren’t you saying?” Pike was on his feet now, staring at Faith, a mix of fear and anger in his voice.
Faith inhaled deeply and let it out slowly, the entire time her gaze was full of sympathy. “The details don’t matter and even if they do, you won’t want to hear them from me.” She turned to Diesel. “None of that matters right now. You all have family here, people you love who can get caught in the middle of this and get hurt. I can’t let that happen. I won’t.”
Before I could tell her to sit her pretty little, distrustful ass down and don’t think of going anywhere without me, Laurasmacked her palms together loudly. “You’re all done. Won’t be much of a scar. I got these antibiotics from Katey. Take one a day with food until this bottle is empty. Got it?”
“Yeah, I got it. Thanks.” I sat up and looked around the room. Faith was gone but I knew she hadn’t left. Not yet.
“And take these painkillers. Now,” she ordered, watching until I did what she said.
“I know you don’t want to hear it man,” Rocky began. “But Faith is right. The time for being overly cautious is over.”
I shook my head. “It’s too dangerous,” I insisted. “We need to be careful.”
“You’re being too careful,” Gio insisted. “I know you care about her no matter what the fuck you say, but she can handle herself. And this is her family. We think.”
My smile was tight. “This isn’t about that.”
“That wasn’t a denial,” Hawk said with a grin. “Look man, we can’t wait forever. The Ghost Riders are getting desperate, which means they’ll force our hand. Better to act than react.”
He was right, goddammit, and I knew it. I was being more cautious than I normally would’ve been and yeah, it hadsomethingto do with Faith. “Fine,” I said before pausing for a sudden yawn. “But we need to be smart about it.” Suddenly I was tired as fuck. Every time I blinked my lids moved slower and slower. “What was in those fucking pain pills,” I asked with a frown as sleep slowly but surely claimed me.
I fell into a deep sleep, but it wasn’t exactly a peaceful sleep because my mind was filled with thoughts of Faith. At first it was just erotic dreams of her on her knees, smiling up at me before she took my cock deep in her throat. The way she bit down on her bottom lip when she sank onto my cock or the wayher lids fluttered shut when I slid deep into her wet pussy. In my dreams I fucked her more ways than I’d gotten to in real life, and that longing somehow penetrated my entire being.
But at some point, the dreams shifted from fucking to just living and being with her. Flashes of the way she laughed when something was really funny—loud and full-bodied. The way she smiled when she found me amusing, with her lips pursed slightly and her eyes dancing with joy. The way she rolled her eyes when I was annoying her or the way her nostrils flared when she thought I was being heavy handed. Then it changed again to scenarios that felt familiar but hadn’t happened yet.
Faith, lit by candlelight while we shared a meal in a restaurant fancier than I’d ever set foot in. Smiling at me in my bed, no,ourbed. Holding her hand, which I’d never done. Breakfast in my townhouse. Us laughing together as we relaxed on a lake. Time passed in the dreams and her body changed, expanded with our child. Her hair turned gray.
I woke up startled after that last flash, chest heaving and breathless, wondering how in the hell I’d gotten into bed. But that thought quickly faded as I turned to my side, to the empty bed behind me. I reached out and found the sheets cold, and that’s when I finally sat up and looked around the room.
Shoes gone.
Notebook on the table? Gone.
Bag of clothes? Also gone.
I didn’t have to look around for more details, but I guess I was in the mood to torture myself, so I stood and went to the bathroom, finding all of her girly shit gone too. Sometime in the night, she’d packed her shit and decided she’d had enough of waiting for me to decide. To help her.
“Fuck!” I was still groggy from sleep and waiting for the rest of my body to wake up when I staggered to the door, shouting for whoever was still around.
Maverick appeared first. “What’s up, brother?”
“It’s Faith. She’s gone.”
