Chapter 10: Tirone: Chapter 10

Brace for impact. My mind played it in the voice of a flight attendant. I ducked my head as the front bumper came face to face with the gate.

Bang. Bom. Thud. I flew up my seat, and then my ass plopped down, my back screaming with the impact.

What? I lifted my head and opened my eyes to find myself out of the compound, and the car was still moving. My head whipped, and I could see in the back the gate was half open, and I’d actually manage to slide out. I squeezed the steering wheel in an attempt to take control.

Vroom. Vroom.

“What?” That was an engine rev, but from where?

Vrooooooom!

Suddenly, a motorcycle jumped from the trees and cut me off in a deadly maneuver. “Ahhh!” I slammed the breaks, tires screeching, neck hurting in a whiplash.

It took me a second to recognize the bike. It was Laius’s, and he was dismounting it, eyes blazing at me. I stuck the gear in reverse and hit the gas only to stop to a halt as another bike was behind me. Ty’s.

My door swung open, and Laius’s strong arms were yanking at mine. “What the fuck you think you doing? Get out.”

“No,” I jerked him off of me and headbutted him. My skull vibrated like a half-boiled egg. “Ooooouuu. Jesus.”

He gaped at me for a second, as if he couldn’t believe what I’d just done and had no words to say to it. He stopped grabbing me out and checked my forehead. Then he sighed. “God help me.”

My hand flew to my forehead, feeling for a bump. “Did I just fracture my skull?”

“Won’t rule it out.” He just carried me out of the car. I let him. I even clasped my hands behind his neck and surrendered into his arms as he carried me home.

It was funny how I called a place I’d been in for two days only, most of which when I wasn’t sober, a place I hadn’t even seen all of yet, home. Perhaps homes weren’t places. Perhaps they were people, and Laius felt like home. Even when we were fighting. Even when we were nothing but a mistake. Even when I knew my days with him were numbered.

He climbed up to his—our—room, while Hook, Texas and some girls in nothing but flimsy undergarments followed us with their eyes only. He laid me on the bed, and instantly his hands were all over me, checking for any injuries.

I took off my sunglasses. “I’m fine. It’s just my head and a little on the neck. Do I have a bump? Do I look hideous now?”

“Hideous? Never. Even with a fucking bump the size of a soccer ball.”

I touched my forehead reflexively. “Oh my God. Can I get a mirror? At least, tell me I hurt you a little.”

“Not just a little. My head is buzzing like you fucking hit me with a crowbar.”

I chuckled. “Good.”

“Not good, baby. Not good at all. What were you thinking running off like that…and then headbutting a man double your size? You could have hurt yourself bad.”

“Badly.”

“Jesus Christ, woman. I don’t care about your stupid grammar right now.”

“First, grammar isn’t stupid,” I said seriously. “Second, what do you care about right now? Keeping me housebound?”

“Keeping you safe. All I’ve been doing since I met you is keep you safe, Jo. It’s like it’s all I’m living for now, and I love every second of it because, God forbid, if something ever happens to you…” His voice cracked. Then he grimaced, pointing at the window that I could see now had a view on the open yard. “What the fuck were you thinking? You could have killed yourself, baby. All this for what? Because I called Delilah?”

I wasn’t thinking. I was devastated and needed to get away from Laius and Tirone as far as possible. I just couldn’t bear it. But I couldn’t tell him any of it. “No, of course not. I mean…not just that. It’s a lot of things.” Things too obscene and depraved to be uttered in words. I opted for the things that I could speak of. “You can’t hold me prisoner. You can’t decide things for me. And you certainly can’t hold my phone hostage. Where is it, Laius?”

His face changed so rapidly as if a demon had just possessed him. Suddenly, his fist was around my throat, and his breath was loud and searing against my face. “If I had the fucking phone, I’d call the precious number-s myself to know who the fuck was so important you can’t afford to lose? Is it him? Is that who you’re desperate to fucking call?”

“Who’s…him?” I choked.

“Mark fucking Chadwick,” he growled.

What? Why would I call mark Chadwick? How did he even know that name? Mark was a student of mine and Ty’s…friend. Shit. My nostrils flared with anger yet desperate for breath. Laius must have asked Tirone about the student affair to get the name he yearned to have. Tirone must have lied to Laius about it and gave him his gay friend’s name.

“You thought you could hide him from me forever?” he huffed.

My eyes bulged with the pressure as he squeezed. “You’re wrong…Laius. He…lied.” Tirone had talked to me about this plan. If there were ever rumors about us, which I now believed there might have been if the Lanzas were so sure about it, he’d leak a story about me and a gay student who hadn’t come out yet. Then when the school discovered the student was gay, I’d be cleared. It was a genius plan. Evil but genius.

Tirone never used it at school, but he used it now with his father. I never thought his own friend who had confided in him and entrusted him with his secret would be the main character of that story. Like I said. Evil.

He shook me. “If anybody is lying here, it’s you, Jo.”

“Fu-ck yo-ou,” I choked hard, my face blazing, my eyes bulging with the pressure. Fury ran wildly through my body. I hated this. I hated how he didn’t trust me. I hated how he was hurting me for it. I hated that no matter how much he hurt me I’d still take it because I fucking deserved it. Even if I wasn’t lying about Mark, I was lying about Ty, and it was a million times worse.

“Yeah?” His grip loosened around my throat, but he didn’t let go completely. I coughed for breath while he started to take off his belt.

“No. Laius, no,” I panted.

He just ripped open my jeans and pulled them down. I kicked at him. He just took it with a few snarls before he swooped down on me and pulled my hips toward his. His cock sprung free from his jeans and pushed against me. “What did I tell you, Jo? Never tell me no. You asked for this shit. You’ll take it. You’ll take whatever I give you.”

“No. No!

He smacked my pussy and then cupped it. “Whose pussy is this, Jo?”

I knew what he wanted me to say, and I wanted to say it because it was hot as hell, even when I was mad at him, but I just pressed my lips.

He slapped it again. “Whose pussy is this?”

God, why did that make me clench this hard? “I don’t know. It doesn’t have a property tattoo to tell me. Why don’t you go ask Mark Chadwick?”

He roared with rage. “I’m gonna kill that fucking shit right in front of you. This is my pussy, you bratty, little bitch. My fucking pussy till the day you die. You hear me? Till the day you fucking die, Jo. Your pussy is mine. You’re mine.” The thick tip of his cock pried me open, making its way into claiming me.

“No. You can’t do this every time we have a fight. I’m done being treated like a fucking object all the time.”

Ignoring me, he thrust his hips, letting the plum-size tip in. I moaned, hating how wet I was, how easy I was making it for him. “Get off of me. I said no! I don’t want—” My words choked amidst my squirms as my eyes met another angry green pair through the crack of the ajar door.

Then everything happened too fast. I didn’t know how he did it because I was busy dropping my jaw, but Ty dashed inside the room, and then Laius was on the floor, cock in the air.

“She said no, you fuck!” Ty yelled on repeat, his right hook flying.

“Ty, stop!” I screamed, jumping into my jeans. “Stop!”

Quickly, Laius took advantage of the moment Ty was distracted glancing at me and captured his son’s forearms, and then he flipped him over. When Laius was on top of Ty, he slapped the shit out his son. “What the fuck were you doing outside my room while I fucked my girl?”

“What the fuck were you doing leaving the door open like that?” I scolded Laius. “Anybody could have walked in. And with your boy in the house, are you crazy? You traumatized your son for life.” Your son who swore to kill you if you touched me. Your son that still thought I was his. Your son that I’d once loved, and he loved me back in his dangerous dark and twisted way that could burn our whole world. I winced at Ty. “And you, what were you thinking hurting your own dad like that?”

“You said no!” Ty barked, taking another swing at Laius.

Fists and growls were flying so fast I couldn’t tell who was hitting whom, but I could see blood splattering.

“Stop! Both of you!” I screamed. “Laius, this is your son. Your fucking son. You can’t do this. Ty, I didn’t mean it like that, okay? Just both of you, stop.”

“You said no! I heard it. Over and over! I told you not to hurt her! You made her drive into the gate! You made her hurt herself, and now you were hurting her! She told you to stop!” Ty was hysteric, and my heart was ripping to shreds with worry about him.

A piece of me died every time he was like that. Yes, it wasn’t the first time I’d seen him like that. When I had, I took him in my arms until he calmed down. Now, I was crippled. “Just calm down. Please,” I sobbed uselessly. “Laius, do something.”

Laius stopped wrestling him. He just held Tirone’s arms immobile and stared at him, worried, too. “Calm down, Son. I wasn’t hurting her. Calm down.”

Ty wouldn’t stop screaming and banging his head against the hardwood floor. I couldn’t bear it. I went on my knees and held Laius’s shoulder. “Get off him. You’re making it worse. Just get out. I’ll handle it.”

He held Ty’s head to stop him from banging it. “I won’t leave until he stops screaming.”

“He won’t stop until you go. Leave before he hurts himself.”

“I won’t let him, and I won’t leave you in the same room with him. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He can hurt you.”

“I said I can handle it. I’ve seen him like this before. You probably haven’t. So just go.” I risked it all, but I couldn’t stand arms folded while Ty hurt like that. I just couldn’t watch his pain. It hurt as if it were mine.

A quizzical stare jumped on Laius’s face. I didn’t have time for this. I replaced Laius’s hand that was under Ty’s head with mine. “Ty, it’s me. It’s just me. Please stop. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere until you calm down, okay?” Slowly, I pushed Laius’s fist off Tirone’s wrists and, with my gaze, urged him to go. Laius rose carefully, his eyes glued on Ty, alert for any sudden moves. “It’s okay. Wait outside,” I told him.

His footsteps backed away reluctantly.

“Just go and close the door, please,” I urged him through the bangs Ty was now making with his palms against the floor. “If I need you, I’ll holler.”

Laius wiped a hand over his beard, the other falling on the doorknob. “Fine. I’m right outside.”

When he shut the door, I collected Ty in my arms, embracing him with every fiber in me. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” I hummed, reassuring us both, as his body jerked violently. I rocked my body with his to soothe him. Stroking his hair, I kissed his forehead. “Calm down, baby. I’m here, waiting for you to come back,” I whispered. The banging faded, and his rigid body began to relax. “That’s right. Come back to me.”