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I cross the room to her and immediately know what Pyro was talking about. She's done a shit job of hiding the bruise that's forming on her temple, not to mention there's a cut on it.
I grab her arm and pull her away from prying eyes. "The fuck happened?" I growl.
She wrenches her arm away from me. "What the hell are you playing at?" she hisses. "God, Preacher, this is my workplace. You can’t do this."
I ignore the anger in her voice, but I do note that her being angry is something to behold. "Tell me what the fuck happened."
She gives me a blank stare, and instead of answering me, she crosses her arms over her chest and raises her brow.
"I can see the bruise. If you don't want me to go nuclear, tell me who the fuck hurt you."
"I walked into a door," she says, and I can see that she's lying. She's a lousy liar, which is good information to have in my back pocket. "I'm clumsy like that."
"Why are you lying?" I hiss as I push closer to her. "Tell me who hurt you."
"Why do you care?" she snaps. "Seriously, Preacher, why the fuck do you give a shit about me? I don't understand the stupid game you're playing. One minute you're all over me and can't get enough of me. You fuck me, and then you kick me out of your room without letting me catch my breath. Hell, you didn't say a single fucking thing to me after that night, then you’re all up in my shit, wanting to fuck me again. Then you hide, it’s been four months since we last spoke. So tell me, what the fuck are you playing?"
The way her eyes flash with anger and her cheeks tinge with pink... Fuck, she's so fucking gorgeous. "I'm beyond fucked up, babe. I’m so fucked up, I drink to block out the pain. You want to know what I'm playin' at? You're the only thing I can fuckin' think of. You're all that I see. You've wrecked my brain and I can't escape. I have no fuckin' idea what the hell is goin' on. All I do know is that you're hurt and someone laid their hands on you, and I want to track them down and kill them for doing so. No one touches you."
She laughs. "You're crazy, you know that? Certifiably crazy."
I shrug. "That may be so, but you haven’t answered my question, Ailbhe. Who hurt you?"
She shakes her head. "Don't worry about it, okay?"
"That's not goin' to work for me. You think I'm crazy, babe? You haven’t seen anythin' yet. So I'll repeat: who hit you?"
She releases a heavy sigh. "My da, okay? He and my brother were fighting and I tried to stop it. He hit me by mistake, and I've got a lovely bruise and a banging fucking headache as a souvenir. Now you know, so can I please go back to work?"
She's feisty tonight and I fucking love that. "Why are you workin' if you're sick?"
Her lip curls as she taps her foot impatiently. "Not all of us have money to throw around willy nilly, Preacher. Some of us have people who rely on us and need this job to keep a roof over their heads. So I can't just call in sick because I have a headache."
I run my thumb over her lip, loving the way she pulls in a ragged breath. "You need money, babe? I can give you some."
She glares at me and takes a step back. "Just because I work here, that doesn't make me a whore, Preacher. I don't need your money. Why don't you shove it up your hole and fuck off."
I stand rooted to the spot as she gives me the filthiest look I've ever seen before flipping her hair over her shoulder and walking away.
What the fuck just happened? I'm not entirely sure how the conversation turned to her telling me to fuck off.
"Brother," I hear Pyro say from behind me. "I don't think I've ever seen someone put you in your place so eloquently before. What the hell did you do to that woman to make her so infuriated with you?"
"I have no fuckin' idea," I growl. But I fully intend to find out.
I spend the entire night watching her, making sure she's okay. I also keep an eye out for any guy getting a little too close for comfort. She's been hurt enough today as it is. She doesn't need to deal with any more assholes.
I need to find out what the fuck the deal is with her father. The anger that flashed through her eyes at the mention of him makes me wonder what he's done to her.
"You're an arsehole, you know that?" I hear a quiet voice to the left of me say.
I glance over my shoulder quickly and grit my teeth when I realize it's Theresa. No doubt the woman's here to warn me off Ailbhe. She seems to have appointed herself their mom, which is great—as long as she doesn't get in my way.
"I do, in fact, know that," I tell her. It's no fucking secret that I'm a bastard. Hell, I killed a woman with my bare hands, something I never thought possible. But fuck, Pepper deserved every single thing I did to her. Fuck, she deserved a whole lot fucking more. She got away lightly in my eyes.
Theresa releases a stunned laugh. "I didn't expect you to say that."
"Not been around bikers much, have you?" We know who we are and what we are. All of us are assholes on any given day. There's no doubt about that.
