“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.
