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)
With a gentleness that Tristan had never really possessed when we were younger, he made love to me, bringing me over the edge over and over again, until exhaustion was weighing me down like a brick.
When Tristan left the room a little while later after I demanded space, surprisingly not fighting me on it, I rolled onto my side, burrowing beneath the blankets.
And I cried.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Adelaide
Tristan was sitting at his desk when I woke up, a pair of sweatpants riding low on his hips, his muscular, upper body bare. He had the club books spread out in front of him, obviously working on budgeting and paying bills that needed to be paid.
I stretched out my body, feeling that familiar soreness of being used, but at least this time, it had happened on my own terms. My movement drew Tristan’s eyes over to me. He smiled softly, and my throat closed up with more tears. Tristan’s smile no longer comforted me or made my heart swell like it used to. Now, it just made me feel trapped. “Sleep well?” he asked gently.
I nodded. “Extremely well,” I told him, meaning it. I hadn’t had any kind of decent sleep for a little over a year. Probably helped that I’d cried until I felt empty enough to sleep.
Tristan stood and moved over to me, sitting beside where I was lying. He brushed his fingertips over my cheek. My eyes slid closed as I reveled in his touch, wishing it still comforted me like it used to. Tears burned at the backs of my eyes, but I forced them not to fall.
I would not cry for something lost.
“I have to leave for a couple of days,” he informed me. I opened my eyes to look at him again. “I’m leaving River here with you.”
My heart picked up pace in my chest. River—the man that I was pretty sure I was gaining feelings for. The man who hadn’t judged me when he’d saved me.
His words rang in my head on repeat. Live for me.
“Where are you going?” I asked Tristan.
“Joey needs me at his club for a few days to deal with an inside problem.” Joey. Oh, God, I fucking missed him. “He knows you’re back, but he asked me not to bring you—not until he dealt with this problem.” I frowned, my mood dimming again. “He’ll come to see you when shit is taken care of on his end.”
I sat up, shaking my head as I held the sheet around my chest, hiding my body from Tristan, suddenly feeling vulnerable. “I’m capable of taking care of myself, Tristan. I want to come with you.” I wanted to see Joey. I needed to see the one man who’d been my rock without question.
Tristan shook his head. “Out of the question, Addy,” he told me, his voice stern.
I glared at him as I slid out of bed, beginning to slide my clothes back on. I didn’t even give a fuck that he was staring at me. I was angry. Furious.
Joey’s words whispered through my head. Hold me with you.
Well, Joey, I really fucking need you right now, and you’re not letting me hold you here with me.
“Try and stop me,” I snapped at Tristan as I tugged my jeans up my legs.
“That a challenge, Addy?” Tristan asked, quiet anger in his voice.
I tilted my chin up at him, a defiant gesture that I knew Tristan both loved and hated. “I’m coming with you, Tristan.”
He snatched my shirt from my hand, tossing it onto the bed. I swallowed thickly as he took a step closer to me. Fear spiked in my veins, but I hid it from him. I would not cower in front of him. “I’ll be damned, Addy.”
“And I’ll be damned if I’m going to be kept a fucking prisoner in this mother fucking clubhouse,” I snapped back at him. I’d been a prisoner long enough. I would not be one now.
“For the love of all that is holy, Addy, why the fuck is it always so fucking hard for you to just listen to me?!” he shouted.
I clenched my jaw and shook my head, backing down. “Fine,” I snarled, giving in and stepping back from him. That was what he wanted, right? For me to be a good old lady and shut my fucking mouth?
He sighed. “Addy—” he started, his tone softening, but I shook my head, hating him at that moment.
Trapped. I was always fucking trapped.
“I said fine, Tristan!” I shouted at him, snatching the shirt off the bed and pulling it over my head.
I stormed out of his room, shutting his room door shut behind me with a resounding slam that rattled the walls and silenced all of the voices in the clubhouse.
“Adelaide, it’s getting dark.” River stated as he stepped out of the garage office from where he’d been sorting through some of the books. His long legs carried him over to where I was currently working on a junk bike, trying to keep my mind off of the shit that I was always buried in. “I think it’s time to call this quits until tomorrow, darlin’.”