Chapter 25: Tirone: Chapter 26

“He has your fucking temper.” Molar sat next to me on the patio step, lit a cigarette, handed it to me and then another for him.

I took mine and watched the little fire blaze under the tobacco that mimicked the rage I was bottling underneath.

“What are we gonna do about Rex, Prez?”

“Not now, Molar.”

“Then fucking when? When that knife is resting in your heart?”

“Look, I know you didn’t want him as a member, but he’s my boy.”

“He’s mine, too. I’m his fucking Godfather or did you forget? But the rules were made for a reason, and they don’t discriminate. Blood or not, he attacked the members of the Night Skulls and tried to kill the president.”

My gaze traveled to the rubble and blood the prospects were cleaning up behind me. “He will be punished by our law for the damages he’s caused to the compound and the men he hurt.” I gave him a warning stare. “But that’s it.”

“He fucking pulled a knife on you.”

“And I’m right here, sitting in front of you without a fucking scratch. And when you ask me at Church, I’ll say that knife was mine. He picked it up by accident. Jo mistakenly thought he was going to use it against me, but that was all a huge misunderstanding. You hear me?”

Shaking his head, he took a drag from the cigarette. “For how long are you gonna let him walk away with murder?”

“For as long as it takes.” I wouldn’t let my only son die. Even if the rules I wrote earned him a kill switch. I gave him back the cigarette. “Take this shit. I quit in the Arena.”

“You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“They didn’t have the brand I liked there and by the time y’all sent it over, it’d been a week without, and for whatever fucked up shit I thought maybe if I could quit, if I could give up one thing that Rex always hated about me, he might come talk to me.”

“The little ass prince ain’t like smoking?”

“No. On the few occasions when I saw him over the years, he always complained about how I reeked of smoke.”

“Well, unfortunately for him and us, he lives here now and he’s got to get used to it.”

“He didn’t come talk to me there either. By the time I said the hell with it and was about to burn my lungs instead of burning my fucking soul, I met Jo. She smelled like a fucking Laundromat, always so clean, and her teeth were made of pearls. She’s never smoked a day in her life.”

“But you love tobacco even more than pussy. You smoked two fucking packs a day. You telling me you didn’t go back to your favorite thing just to score? She wasn’t even your ol’ lady yet.”

I glanced at the dawning sky, the glitter of the fading moon that reminded me of her eyes. “She became my favorite thing.”

“Damn.” A puff of smoke came out of his mouth. “Then what the fuck are you still doing here? Go to her, come clean about Madeline and win your pussy back,” he blew out another puff, narrowing his eyes at me, “before someone else thinks he’s entitled to it.”

My head jerked down toward him as my fists tightened around the lapels of his shirt. “The fuck that means?”

His jaws clenched as he stared down at my hands. “I’m your friend Furore before I’m your VP. You trust me with the club, the business, Sammy and your life. It’s my job to look out for you and open your eyes when you’re too blind to see.”

“See what?” I rumbled.

“That he ain’t trying to come between you and her, like I thought, because Delilah told him so or he just wants to see you miserable.”

I dragged him up with me and hurled him against the wall. “If I were you, I’d watch my fucking mouth.”

“Fine. I ain’t saying no shit. But you should go have that honest talk with her. Now. And while you’re at it, ask her what she was about to tell you before Rex pissed in her ear.”

You have to know the truth. The truth about Tirone. The truth about me. I don’t care what happens to me, I’m sorry I kept it from you all this time, but I’ll tell you everything now. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I just want you to know that I love you.

What hidden truth between my ol’ lady and my own son could be so unforgivable? Could make my VP, and probably the rest of my men, see something so vile it hurt so much to see for myself?

A massive wave of fury crushed over me. Visions of creating more mayhem than what Rex already had haunted me.

“I know this fucking look,” Molar groaned. “Prez, don’t you go and do something you’ll regret. Don’t do anything until you talk to her, and him. She ain’t Delilah.”

I gave him another push against the wall before I let go with a growl. Then I stalked to my bike.

“I’m coming with!” Molar hollered.

“Stay here,” I warned, straddling the bike. “This is between me and them.” I darted out of the compound and headed to the motel Fort had told me they were staying in.

I parked two blocks away so they wouldn’t hear me coming. When I walked into the parking lot, only Fort’s bike was there and no sign of Rex’s. I forced the skinny guy at the reception to give me the key to Jo’s room. I stared at her door for a while, frozen, praying I wouldn’t see what I came here to see. I loved this woman more than I’d ever loved anyone. Seeing her with another man would kill whatever humanity I still had in me. Seeing her with my own boy would give us all a death sentence.

The door next to Jo’s opened, and Fort appeared with what the fuck face. He was her guard here, and I was glad he caught that someone was standing outside her door. I gestured for him to stay quiet. Then I exhaled and put in the card. There was no point in delaying the inevitable.

Quietly, I entered. The room was dark, there were no sounds in except for the static coming from the TV, and the bed was…empty.

Click.

That was a fucking gun, and its muzzle was in the back of my head.

“Take one more step, and I’ll shoot.” And that was Jo.

I raised my hands in the air, and for a moment a smile forced itself on my lips, as if hell wasn’t breaking loose inside me. “It’s me, baby.”

“Jesus, Laius! What the hell?”

I turned. Seeing her face was like a spell that numbed my demons. “I…I just didn’t wanna wake you up. It’s early.”

“So you just let yourself in?”

I shut the door and turned on the lights. Then I took in the room. There was no sign of anyone here but us, but I could see traces of blood on the floor. And the sheets. “I couldn’t wait, and you’re my girl. I don’t need permission to come in your room.”

“Your girl?” she snorted. “You mean the replacement that looks a little like the girl you wanted to be yours? Her own daughter…because anything is better than a ghost.”

“You’re speaking out of your ass right now. You have to listen to me.” I glanced inside the bathroom, which was, too, empty yet stained with blood. “And I have to listen to you. Where’s Rex?”

“He’s not in my bathroom where you think he’s hiding?”

Shit. She was on to me. “He’s not with Fort…”

“Did you ask Fort where Ty was before you tiptoed into my room, thinking you’ll bust him here?”

Shit. I was making everything worse. I wiped my mouth. “I’m sorry. You don’t know how I… I had the worst night, Jo, thinking I might lose you, thinking… Then I see his blood everywhere here. On your bed.”

“He didn’t sleep in my bed, Furore, if that’s what you’re asking. I patched him up. I must have gotten some of his blood on me.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Of course.”

Someone knocked on the door. I stepped to open it, but she lifted a hand between us. “I’ll open it. If it’s Ty, please don’t talk to him. Not yet.”

I went to the window and glanced behind the curtain. “It’s Fort.”

She rolled her eyes at me and opened the door. Fort held a coffee holder with one paper cup. “Rex brought us coffee,” he told her.

“Where is he?” she asked. “Did he get any sleep?”

He shook his head. “When you were done patching him up and sent him over, he stayed with me for one minute and then he went for another ride. Then he just came in with coffee. He’s in the room.” He peered at me. “Huffing and puffing. He knows you’re here.”

“Bring him in,” I commanded.

“Laius, what did I just ask you? He’s not ready. Give him some time. Give both of us some time.”

“The things I have to say can’t wait. I won’t touch him, I promise.”

“Can he make the same promise, though?” Fort asked in disbelief.

“I’m not afraid of my own son, Fort. I said bring him in.”

Jo threw her hands in the air in exasperation and plopped down on a chair. I sat on the edge of the bed, facing her. Fort, mumbling, went to his room. Then yelling started. A minute later, he was hauling Rex’s ass in here.

I stared into his eyes as if I was staring at myself in a mirror, the hate in them too familiar. I understood what he was going through, how he felt, because I’d once felt it, too. That kind of hate changed you forever. Altered you into a ruthless, raging beast. I didn’t want that destiny for him. Or me. I never thought, after all I’d been through, I’d see that look I’d given my own father in my son’s eyes.

“Sit, Rex,” I said.

“I have nothing to say to you,” he grumbled.

“I do.”

Fort nudged him. “When your prez tells you to sit, you sit.”

Rex almost broke the chair he grabbed to sit his ass down. I stared at Fort to leave. He shook his head. “You sure?”

“I can take care of myself, and my ol’ lady is here. As far as I remember she’s the one who yanked the knife out of his hand.” I bit my lip on a smile and gazed at her with fascination. “She got my back.”

“It was just a reflex,” she said.

“To protect me.” It was so sweet and so fucking hot.

Her eyes rolled toward the window. I chuckled. “We’re good, Fort. I’ll call for you when we’re done.”

Disapproval contorted his face, but he shut the door anyway.

“What do you want to say that can’t wait, Laius?” she asked.

“When my grandparents came from Italy, they settled in New york. Things weren’t easy for them. Grandpa ended up doing a few runs here and there. The Italians, the Puerto Ricans, the Irish…”

I gained her attention. “My father was a lazy son of a bitch, so he wanted in. He tried, but he wasn’t cut for it. No one wanted him to run for them, so he moved to East Texas, met my mother and started a family.

“I didn’t know much when I was a kid, but year after year I learned what kind of monster he was. He beat the shit out of my mother and me.” Now, I got Rex’s attention, too. “I watched the same scenario happening over and over, hating him a little more every day until there was nothing left but hate. The second I got a spine, I hit back. He gave me my first scar that wasn’t the last.

“I swore to myself I’d never turn into that fucker. No matter how angry I’d become, I’d never hurt my own. I begged Mama to leave, to take me and go back to New York. I was good with engines. I could have gotten a job to take care of her, but she wouldn’t listen. She’d even defend him. She’d kick me out whenever I stood up for her or myself.” The memory struck me as if it were yesterday. “I left that house when I was fourteen.

“I worked at a garage in Queens. Then I was a Hang Around at a club, rode my first bike and never stopped. I was so fast, got a reputation for it. It wasn’t long before I was running, too, like Grandpa, first for the club and then for the fucking mob. The money was good. The pussy was fancy. I didn’t like what came with them, though. I’d seen enough to know the mob was never to be trusted. All that they say about loyalty and honor means shit when greed and thirst for power take over, and that is all there is.

“I decided to move back to Texas, not East, but to Houston to start my own club and hopefully convince Mama to come with my two-year-old sister and live with me. But then I met Madeline.”

Jo’s face blanched, and her eyes glistened. “You met my mom in New York?”

“She was…the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. She took my breath away. I went to that restaurant she worked at every day just to see her face. Then I manned up and went to talk to her.” I’d never forget the way she looked at me. It was pure fear and yet a cry for help seventeen-year-old me didn’t understand. “She was scared shitless when I did. I found out why when my ass was kicked that night and my bike was stolen from me.”

“Declan Larvin sent his men to teach you a lesson,” she mused.

I glanced at Rex. “That’s what you get when you try to take something that ain’t yours.”

His nostrils flared at me, but he didn’t say a word.

“I didn’t know she belonged to him,” I continued. “When I did, I had to keep my distance. I was young. I didn’t have a crew or a club, and he had everything. That’s when I left to Houston to go on with my plan. Starting my own club was dumb, though. The city had three main MCs, and the rivalry was blazing. They wouldn’t have let me survive among them, and Mama still wouldn’t leave that dick, so I prospected for the Night Skulls.

“On one of our travels, we hit New York, and I saw Madeline again. That time she had a bruise on her face.” I leaned back with a sigh. “And she was fucking pregnant.”

A tear dropped from Jo’s eye. Rex’s hand raced to hers and squeezed her fingers. “Hey, you okay?”

My blood simmered, but I managed to keep my face neutral. I watched her reaction to his touch. She didn’t flinch. It wasn’t the first time he touched her hand. But she wasn’t feeling guilty about it to try to hide it from me. That was a good sign. It was just a comforting touch from someone she considered family.

Or she just didn’t give a shit about you anymore and didn’t care if you saw someone else touch her.

“I’ll be fine,” she sniffled, returning the hand squeeze. Then she wiped under her eyes with both thumbs. “Please continue, Laius.”

“Seeing her like that reminded me of everything I hated about my father. I was angry. Angry that I left her to meet a destiny that was like my mother’s. I talked to her, but I was smart about it so we wouldn’t get caught. She opened up to me. She told me he didn’t want the baby and intimidated her to make her get rid of it. I begged Madeline to let me help her. She kept saying she was scared for me, but I didn’t care. I loved her. She said she did too, but she couldn’t risk it. We’d…spent a few nights together, and then again every month I was in New York.”

“You slept with my mother…more than once.”

“While you’re inside her,” Rex said.

I swore. “Can you act like a fucking grown up for a second and stop pouring gas on fire?”

“I’m just stating the obvious. I don’t know what you’re hoping to achieve with the sudden outburst of honesty or the sad story about your father. It doesn’t change the facts. It emphasizes them. You grew up to be an abusive ass like your dad was, and you lied to Jo about the nature of your feelings for her, which can’t be real after your blatant, very late confession.”

“You’re wrong. When you listen to the whole story, you’ll know how fucking wrong you are.” I gazed at Jo. “I begged her again to come away with me. I offered her a place at the Night Skulls where I could have protected her.”

She winced. “Then why didn’t you?”

“Because she chose to leave with someone else.” Madeline probably never knew I saw her, but I did. He was opening the door of a black sedan for her, and he kissed her hand before he told the driver to go. “An Italian man in a suit. It wasn’t hard to know he was Mafia. I was too hurt to even find out who he was. It didn’t matter. What mattered to me then was that she left me for another man because she thought he could protect her and I couldn’t.”

Jo swallowed, averting her gaze. She looked like she was remembering something. Did she know about that man?

“My pride was bruised, and I left New York, vowing never to go back or think about her ever again. I smothered the pain with anger, smoke, booze and pussy, which seemed to make it even worse. I was uncontrollable for a while. The club liked it, though, and I earned my colors in no time. Then…I found out that piece of shit who called himself my father laid a hand on my little sister…and not just to beat her.”

Rex jumped to his feet. “Fucking what?!”

“Oh my God, Laius, that’s horrific,” Jo said.

“I’d never felt more useless. I couldn’t save my mother or the only woman I’d ever loved then, and now my baby sister.”

“Tell me you did something!” Rex barked.

“Oh, I did. I made sure he’d never lay a hand on anybody ever again or even breathe again.”

Shock crossed Jo’s face. “You killed him?”

I fucking enjoyed every scream and blood drop as I tortured him to death. “I have no regrets except not doing it earlier.”

“He fucking deserved it,” Rex said.

“Laius, why are you telling Ty this?” The concern in her eyes didn’t go unnoticed. She was worried I was giving him ideas, making it sound okay to murder your own dad, when he’d just tried to murder me.

“I want him to know I understand what he’s feeling, and if I were the man Delilah said I was, then maybe I deserved it, too.”

“Mom never said you touched little girls,” he said.

“But she said I always cheated on her because I never wanted her or you, and that I beat the crap out of both of you. She even went to the police, and I got in prison for it.”

“Don’t even think about denying it. I remember.”

“What? What do you remember?”

“She was beaten. Her face was all black and blue and her hip was broken. She had blood everywhere and she was screaming at you to let us go.”

“Did you see me do it? Did you see me beat her?”

He paused. “Who else could have done it?”

“Eugene Flores. Bandidos.”

“The MC?”

“Their former president.”

He snorted with an eye roll. “Why would he?”

“Listen, I never said anything to you because she’s your mama, and I know how much you love her. I met Delilah at one of our parties. She was…something. I liked her right away. We had a nice night, and she kept coming back. I had no intentions of having a wife, but that woman had her way with things. I’d give her that. She was so ambitious, and when I was voted president she never left. She loved the life, kept the sweetbutts in check, and I thought she’d be a good queen. We got hitched. She got pregnant. I was over the moon.

“Then, after you were born, things got weird. She wanted…more. She kept complaining that I wasn’t giving her enough money, and the other clubs were richer and their ol’ ladies were fancier. We started fighting, and then…”

“Then what?” he growled.

“Then she started to play my men against me to take my president patch away. She even tried to offer herself to one of them as a prize if he did it.”

“You’re one fucking son of a bitch. Don’t you dare say another word about my mom.”

“You think it’s fucking easy for me to say this shit? To you? Even to myself? I won’t tell you which man so you’ll ask around yourself and find out if I’m lying.”

“I will ask around just to prove you are.”

“After you do, FaceTime Delilah, or whatever app y’all use to talk to someone face to face. Mention the name Eugene Flores to her and see her reaction. By the way, she never knew I found out about the affair she had with him when my men refused to be a part of her game. She thought his club was stronger than us and he’d snatch her out to give her the life she deserved.

“He gave her a broken hip and a bruised face instead, which she pinned on me. She’d figured Flores was a lost cause, and she needed an out so she could find someone else to give her the life she wanted. She threw me in the slammer, ran away to Frisco and scored with McNamara, another fucker that beat her, but it doesn’t matter to her because she’s married to the mayor’s nephew.”

“You’re lying.”

“Well, do you have a phone on you?”

He stared at me, clenching his teeth, wheezing with rage. Then he dug his phone out of his pocket and stormed out.

Jo stood and walked slowly toward me. Then she sat next to me. “I’m sorry about what you had to go through with your father and your ex.”

“I don’t care about them. All I care about is you, baby girl. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Madeline. It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve done some serious stupid shit. When the Lanzas showed me the photo of you when you were a little girl, I felt so protective over you, like I’d felt for her. But when I fucked my hand in the cell, thinking about you, you didn’t have blond hair and blue eyes. I didn’t even know for sure you were her daughter until the end of that visit, when I’d already fallen for the hazel eyes and brown ponytail. You know that.”

“Then why did you keep it from me all this time?”

“Because, after what happened to Madeline, there wasn’t a day that I didn’t hate myself for letting her go.” Tears triumphed over me. “I couldn’t protect your mother, Jo. I wanted to prove to you and myself I could protect you first before I told you the truth.”

Crying with me, she nodded, and then she nestled in my arms. I held her tight, filling my nostrils with her scent. Then I kissed her tears on her eyelashes and her lips. “Forgive me?”

“Yesterday, I thought we were over.”

“You can’t say that. I won’t let you leave me, Jo. Never. I’d been betrayed by women all my life, starting with my own mama. I stayed away from them for fifteen fucking years. But the way I feel about you is nothing like anything I’d felt before. I won’t let you go.”

“But you can’t trust me. When you came here you were looking for Ty in my bed, Laius.”

“It wouldn’t have been the first time a woman cheated on me, but it’d have hurt the most. Would you believe me if I said if I’d found him, though, I still wouldn’t have let you go?”

“I don’t. You’re one of the most jealous men I’ve ever met.”

“I am murderously jealous over you, and only you, baby girl. I’d have probably killed someone…but I wouldn’t have let you go. That’s how much I love you, Jo. That’s how much I’m willing to sacrifice just to be with you.”

She pulled away and stared at me, her face as pale as the dead. I held her hands because I couldn’t bear not to touch her. I couldn’t keep my hands off her. “That someone you’d have murdered, would it have been Ty?”

The only answer I could give her was a long sigh. “What did you want to tell me last night before Rex cut you off?