Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 56628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
I rolled my eyes. “Did you seriously expect me to still be the same sweet, innocent girl you were with three years ago?” I asked incredulously.
Tristan shrugged, almost as if he actually had been. I rolled my eyes. “The Sons of Hell aren’t known for allowing their women to get caught in the dirty shit.”
I barked out a laugh. Tristan had no idea how shit operated with the Sons of Hell. I was not only Joey’s off-again-on-again girlfriend, but I was also his right-hand woman. “I was in the middle of all of the dirty shit, Tristan,” I corrected him. He clenched his jaw again at that information, his eyes flashing with anger. “I smuggled their drugs back and forth across the Mexico border, and I fought when I needed extra cash. I blew shit up, and I delivered hired hits. You don’t know a fucking thing about me.”
Tristan shook his head, fury lighting up his eyes as he changed lanes again. “I don’t know which to be more pissed about,” he growled. “You smuggling drugs or you fighting. Helene refused to tell me about the shit that you were caught up in.”
“It wasn’t any of your fucking business,” I retorted. And it wasn’t. When it came down to it, Helene protected my secrets, even if she didn’t agree with them. And I knew she never spoke to her brother about what I was doing nor what was going on with me. She had at least agreed with me that Tristan didn’t deserve to know a damn thing about me after what he had done and after how he’d abandoned me.
“It was my fucking business!” Tristan finally roared, slamming his hand on the steering wheel. I clenched my jaw, getting ready for a fight. “Goddammit, Adelaide, I broke your heart all those years ago for your own fucking good, but two weeks ago, I saw you attached to Joey’s hip, and he was introducing you as his fucking girl to Vin.”
I flinched at Vin’s name.
If I thought Tristan had ruined me, then Vin had fucking destroyed me. That man had killed my soul.
Joey was trying to set up an alliance with Vin, and he knew Vin had a soft spot for me. I grimaced as I remembered that night and how I had barely escaped with my life.
Yeah, Vin had a soft spot for me alright.
“What’s that look for?” Tristan demanded as I grimaced.
Fuck, he was way too perceptive for his own good.
“Nothing.” I snarled, looking out the window. I was done talking to him. “Are we almost there?” I asked as Tristan took an exit.
“Almost,” he snapped, still aggravated and pissed off at me for being so secretive. He had no damn right to be pissed though. Had he seriously thought that he could pop back up into my life and I would fall into his arms again as if he had never hurt me, as if he had never ripped my fucking heart apart and tossed the pieces at my feet? “We’ll be at Noah’s in about ten minutes,” Tristan informed me.
I sighed and leaned my head against the window, looking out at the darkness surrounding us. There were no lights off of this exit, leaving everything drowned in pitch-black.
“Why couldn’t anyone from your crew take us in?” I asked him.
Tristan shot me a deadpan look. “My crew is the first place that whoever is after us is going to look. I need to keep you safe until I can deal with this problem, Addy.”
Every time he called me by my old nickname, my heart skipped a beat in my chest, and I fucking hated it. I didn’t want to react to him at all. I wasn’t that weak girl anymore. I was stronger now.
“I can take care of myself, Tristan. I’ve been doing it for three years now.” He tightened his grip around the steering wheel again, his knuckles turning white. “And stop calling me Addy,” I bit out. “My fucking name is Adelaide. Start fucking using it.”
Suddenly, Tristan yanked the car over to the shoulder of the road, threw it into neutral, and pulled the emergency brake up. He firmly gripped my chin in his hand and brought his face close to mine. My breath hitched in my throat, my heart thrumming hard in my chest.
“Three years ago, I let go of the most important person in the entire world to me to keep her safe from my enemies.” My breath hitched in my throat, and I suddenly felt a little nauseous in the face of new information. “Two weeks ago, I found that same woman in the middle of a deal with one of the most feared men of Mexico.” I swallowed hard, knowing he was talking about me.
“It took everything in me to not put a bullet through Vin’s head that night, Addy. But that night, I vowed to have you back with me, in my arms, by my side, where you fucking belong and where I know that I can keep you safe. You can fight me on this all you want, Addy, but my mind is set, and I will get what the fuck I want.”