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“I promise, too. Kellan lied to me about his sobriety. The result just about destroyed me. If he’d only been honest...”
“If he’d been honest, your son would still be with you.”
“Yeah,” she breathed.
“Make you a deal. You ever have to tell me somethin’ you think will flip me the fuck out, then you do it with Judge at your side. I’d rather that man kick my fuckin’ ass than me hurt you ‘cause I lost my shit.” He reached out and slid his fingers into the back of her hair, finding her scar and tracing it with his fingertip. “Never wanna fuckin’ hurt you again. Hear me?”
“I hear you.” She should be worried about being with a man with a temper like his. But he recognized his problem, dealt with it as best as he could and was openly honest about it. He wasn’t hiding his faults.
It was something he inherited from his father, a man who had an extremely short temper and used violence to rule the club. Stella remembered always being afraid of Buck. The man could be loud and brash, and quick to punish someone without hearing both sides. That punishment was usually pretty harsh.
She wondered how Buck’s ol’ lady, Trip’s mother, dealt with it for all those years. “Did Buck hurt your mother?”
“If he did, she hid it well. Know she miscarried two babies after me. Not sure if he was the cause of it. Because after we left and landed in Wisconsin, she married another man, had two more kids without a problem.”
Jesus. She wasn’t expecting that. Trip had two more half-siblings beside Sig.
“Did you ever ask her?”
“Yeah. But once we left Manning Grove, she wanted to forget that life. Wanted to live her new one and put the old one behind her. Never wanted to talk about what happened. Had a good relationship with her ‘til I told her about resurrectin’ the Fury. She had warned me about Deb, and I didn’t listen. She used that against me about not only doin’ time but rebuildin’ the MC. Said I’d end up just like Buck.”
“Maybe she was worried you’d end up dead.”
“Maybe.”
“So, you don’t talk to her at all?” God, just like her mother, who stopped talking to her after Kade’s death since she blamed Stella.
“Ended up dead to her anyway.”
Stella’s heart squeezed and so did her fingers around his. “Is bringing back the club worth it?”
He answered without a hesitation. “It’s gonna be.”
She hoped he was right.
Chapter Sixteen
Trip knew the second she saw it because of her body going stiff and her sharp intake of breath. Now he was kicking himself for not parking the wrecker in the shed yesterday. He had left it at the house because he’d been anxious to shower, change, and pick up dinner before heading to Crazy Pete’s and Stella.
He hadn’t thought with his head, but with his dick.
Now he was going to pay for it.
Last night when he brought Stella home, it had been dark, so she’d missed it. This morning, the light didn’t hide anything.
“Jesus, Trip. That was the cat?”
He didn’t answer, because apparently, none was needed. He gritted his teeth as she rushed over to the tow truck, inspecting the blown out back window and the bullet holes.
She spun toward him, her face pale, her eyes holding worry. “How the fuck did that happen?”
They promised not to lie to each other, so he wasn’t going to lie. “Tryin’ to repo a car.”
“Someone fucking shot at you?” she shouted.
Her getting upset wasn’t going to help him remain calm. But he needed to. He sucked in a deep breath and released it after a slow count of five. When he was done, he answered, “Bunch of hillbillies.”
She froze in place, her eyes wide. “You didn’t.”
Fuck. “Didn’t what?”
“Go up that mountain trying to repo one of the Shirley’s cars.”
Christ. “A job’s a job.”
“Is the money worth dying for?”
Good point. Yeah, he needed the money, they both did. But it wouldn’t do either of them any good if he was dead. “Would you miss me if I was dead?”
While he made it sound like he was teasing, he wasn’t. He really wanted to know.
“Shut up, Trip! That’s not even funny!” She strode back to him, her body tight, her lips curled into a frown, her fists clenched and pinned to her thighs.
“Think you would. Damn.” The corners of his mouth tipped up slightly at the thought of her actually missing him. Maybe he was making headway with her.
“Don’t you fucking smile! You forget what I already lost. I can’t do it again.”
His smile dropped. Now he felt like a complete ass. He didn’t forget. He could never forget. “Fuck, baby,” he whispered, reaching out for her.
She stepped back out of his reach. “That just proves why this,” she waved her hand between the two of them, “is a bad idea.”
