Ruined: An MC Romance Novel (Ruined Series Book 1)

by T. O. Smith

  She’d found my sister, and in one day without ever knowing it, I’d almost lost Adelaide, too.

  I dropped my face into my hands, blowing out a harsh breath.

  “Are you okay?” Jessie asked me, as if I deserved any kind of kindness after the hell I had put Adelaide through.

  I nodded. “I hadn’t realized it was her that found Helene,” I admitted. I should have known, though. “The doctor only told me that a friend of hers found her and called 9-1-1. I can’t even begin to imagine what the fuck that did to her.”

  “The girl you saw beat the fuck out of Rachel earlier,” Jessie commented, “that’s the Adelaide we all know now. She’s a fighter, and she’s vicious as fuck – deadly. Even Joey treads carefully around her sometimes, but Tristan – be careful around him. Joey will destroy the fucking world over her. They may scream and yell at each other, and sometimes, Adelaide might even throw shit at him, but Joey loves her in his own twisted, fucked-up way. He made her into a monster to help her – and she is a monster, Tristan. She’s destructive.”

  “That scary?” I asked her.

  Jessie shook her head, looking over towards the hallway as Addy emerged, her face twisted into a scowl as she hollered something over her shoulder.

  “Nope. Just that unpredictable.” Jessie muttered.

  “Don’t fucking be a bitch when you were the one fucking using me to get to him!” Joey roared after her as he came out of the hallway as well, his eyes narrowed on her back.

  “Go fuck yourself!” Adelaide yelled back at him.

  “I don’t need to fuck myself, sweetheart, when there’s plenty of other women in this clubhouse willing to fuck me in your goddamn place!” He roared down at her as he gripped her arm and spun her around to face him. She glared up at him, jealous rage shining in her eyes at his words. My heart sunk to my feet. Even fighting, she still wanted him. “I am second best to no one, Adelaide. You best fucking remember that.” He growled.

  “Well, fuck.” Jessie grumbled, watching the scene unfold in front of us. I clenched my fists, wanting to bash Joey’s face in for the way he was treating Adelaide.

  Adelaide’s hand came up and flew across Joey’s face with a resounding slap that sent his face swinging to the side. “Fuck!” I heard Jessie yell.

  I jumped up at the same time that Jessie jumped over the bar, rushing towards the two of them. Joey roughly shoved Addy away from him, sending her crashing into a table and down to the floor.

  I saw fucking red.

  I stormed over to Joey and slammed my fist into his face, sending him crashing back into one of the pool tables. Joey spit out blood, glaring up at me. “What the fuck?” He snarled up at me.

  “Keep your fucking hands off of her.” I snapped down at him.

  He chuckled, spitting out more blood as he pushed himself up off of the floor and rose back up onto his feet. He looked deadly – like the monster everyone described him to be. “You go ahead and deal with that fucking whore.” He snarled. “I’m done with her.”

  This time when I punched him, he slumped to the floor, knocked out cold, though I was pretty sure it had more to do with the liquor in his bloodstream rather than my fist hitting his face.

  I turned to Addy, only to see Jessie already helping her up from the floor. “You sure he didn’t hurt you too badly?” Jessie gently asked Addy.

  Adelaide nodded. “Yeah. I’m good.” She grumbled, her eyes flickering to Joey for a moment before she shut her eyes, drawing in a deep breath.

  I walked over to her and let my eyes run over her, checking to make sure that she was truly okay. “If he ever touches you again, I’ll fucking put a bullet through his skull.” I snarled, drawing her into my arms as she stood up to her feet.

  She sighed, relaxing into me. I tightened my arms around her, not one to let a moment like this pass me by. I knew there would be very few of them. “I hit him first.” She defended him.

  I sighed. She fucking loved him, and that shit gutted me. “Addy, baby, if you hit me, the most I would do is put you over my knee and spank you into submission.” I heard a low moan release from the back of her throat, and I smirked. I could still affect her just as I had when we were younger. “You don’t deserve to be treated like that, Addy.”

  She shrugged. “You get used to it.”

  I clenched my jaw, wanting to break Joey’s neck at that moment, but I restrained myself, knowing that if anything would drive Adelaide away from me, that would be it. “You should have never had to get used to it, Addy.”

  She stayed silent, and I tightened my arms around her again, pressing my lips to the top of her head. We stayed like that for a moment, letting her draw strength from me.

  After a moment, I leaned down so my mouth was at her ear. A shiver ran down her spine as my hot breath blew over her ear. I smirked. “I bet I could have you scream my name a hell of a lot louder than he did, Addy.”

  Her fingers twisted into my shirt as her breath hitched in her throat. I silently pressed a kiss to her rapidly beating pulse.

  Patience. I had to have patience.

  I knew I would have her where she belonged soon enough.

  FIVE

  I bounced on the balls of my feet as I swung my fist forward, connecting it with the punching bag in front of me. I quickly swung my other fist forward, bringing my leg up right after.

  I was aggravated beyond belief.

  After everything that happened yesterday with Vin, I was on lockdown. To say that I was already going stir crazy in less than twenty-four hours was a bit of an understatement.

  Joey had even left me behind this morning when he went on his run. We woke up everyone in the clubhouse during our shouting match. Now, he was going to be gone for three days, and the last words I’d said to him were that I fucking hated him.

  I was sorely regretting my words now. I knew he wasn’t ever guaranteed to come back from a run, and if something were to happen to him, I would hate myself.

  Because no matter how much we fought, Joey was one of my rocks. He kept me grounded – fuck, he kept me alive.

  After I’d shouted at him that I hated him, he had simply left me with strict instructions that I wasn’t supposed to leave the clubhouse. And to ensure that I followed the rules that Joey set, Tristan had set up one of his men at each entrance and exit of the clubhouse – which included the fucking windows so that I couldn’t escape like last time.

  I’d sent Joey a text to apologize since I knew he wouldn’t answer his phone while he was on a run, but he hadn’t responded to me yet.

  “Beating the hell of that punching bag isn’t going to make you feel any better, love,” Jesup stated as he stepped into the workout room, a beer held loosely in his grip as he watched me take out my aggression on the swinging bag in front of me.

  I clenched my jaw, hating that he was disturbing me when all I wanted was to just be alone. “It’s better than punching some people in the fucking face.” I retorted, swinging at the bag again.

  “You tried talking to anyone instead of just letting all of that aggression just simmer inside of you?” Jesup asked me as he took a seat on the bench across from me as I continued hitting the bag.

  I shook my head. “All I want to do is beat Joey’s face in until he’s not so fucking handsome anymore for locking me in here, but I want him to fucking talk to me as well. We left shit on a bad note.” I swung again as Jesup grunted. “And I also want to beat the hell out of your perfect fucking president and boot him and the rest of you mother fuckers back to where you came from.”

  Jesup took a swig from his beer, not seeming bothered by my words. “You mean that?” He asked.

  I clenched my jaw, grabbing the punching back as it swung back towards me. I turned my head to glare at him. “I was handling myself just fine before Tristan dropped back into my life and snatched me up,” I told him. “Tristan did all of his damage three years ago – let me know how he fucking felt the night of my eighteenth birthday. He should have fucking stay
ed gone.”

  “Tristan has always loved you, Adelaide,” Jesup told me. I snorted. “He never stopped.”

  I narrowed my eyes at the VP, clenching my jaw so hard that my teeth ground together. Three years later, and that wound was still raw as hell. Tristan had sent me on a downwards spiral. The only fucking reason that I was still standing here today was because of Joey.

  “Could have fucking fooled me when he told me that he was tired of the relationship – that he couldn’t fucking deal with my neediness anymore.” I snarled at him. Jesup sighed as he shook his head. I threw my hands up into the air in exasperation, glaring at Jesup. “Jesup, he fucking kissed some random whore right afterward. I fucking begged him not to do that shit to me, and he fucking did it anyway.”

  “He did what he needed to do to keep you safe, Adelaide.”

  I released a humorless laugh, throwing my arms out to the sides. “Obviously, I could fucking do that myself if he had just stopped fucking babying me.” I snarled at him. Jesup rolled his eyes. “I’ve been taking care of myself since the moment he dumped me and I met Joey. So, don’t you dare try that fucking shit on me.”

  “When he broke up with you, Adelaide, you were still young and naïve,” Jesup told me bluntly. I narrowed my eyes at him in a warning. Jesup knew the kind of shit that I grew up in. I wasn’t fucking naïve. I grew up in a goddamn trap house. “You still needed emotional support. You have to admit that. Tristan needed to protect you, and he did what he needed to do for that to happen.” Jesup tried to reason with me.

  “From what?!” I finally yelled at him, losing my cool. “What the fuck did he need to protect me from so badly that he had to fucking break me like that?!” I screamed.

  “Vin.” Tristan’s voice rang through the workout room. I swung my angry gaze to his. “I was trying to protect you from Vin.”

  My eyes widened in shock as I looked up at him, but then I glared at him, clenching and unclenching my fists at my sides. “Obviously, you didn’t do a good enough fucking job.” I snarled at him. “Because guess who the fuck is still after me? Fucking Vin.”

  Anger flashed in Tristan’s eyes as he narrowed his dark, gleaming eyes at me. “Oh, I did.” He corrected me. “Your precious Joey got you in this fucking situation all by himself. I owed Vin a shit ton of money, and he was threatening those close to me to get what was owed to him.” Tristan stepped further into the room, and Jesup slipped out, leaving me alone with Tristan. “Remember that day that I didn’t show up to school?” He asked. I swallowed thickly. I remembered it well. I had been panicking all day because Tristan always showed up to school – even if he was so sick that he could barely stand – to make sure that he was there to protect me from assholes. “When you finally saw me that night when I came home, my face was bruised and bloody.” He reminded me.

  I nodded my head, my heart clenching in my chest as I remembered him collapsing in the foyer of his house as soon as he shut the door behind him – collapsing and giving in to the pain where he was finally safe. “Vin had finally gotten his hands on me that day, and he threatened to hurt you.”

  That had happened a week before my eighteenth birthday.

  “I did what I had to do to protect you from him, Addy,” Tristan told me quietly, his dark eyes swirling with protectiveness. He stepped closer to me. “I never stopped loving you, Addy baby. Everything I said to you was to protect you from my shit.”

  I shook my head at him, my heart beating so fast in my chest that it physically hurt. Everything he was telling me – fuck, it was so overwhelming. “How – what?” I started, not being able to actually complete a sentence. I was shocked as hell.

  He really had done all of that to protect me.

  And I had been such a fucking bitch to him when he finally came back.

  But dammit, I’d been hurt. I had buried all of that pain that he had caused me for years.

  I felt tears fill my eyes, and I squeezed my eyes shut, turning away from him as I drew in a deep, shaky breath, desperately trying to calm myself. I didn’t want him to see me cry – to see me break down like this.

  “Why didn’t you just tell me that to begin with?” I asked him, hating that my voice came out weak and shaky.

  Tristan’s large, calloused hands settled over my shoulders. Warmth slid through my veins, unthawing the ice around that part of my heart that had always been his. He slowly turned me around to face him. A tear trickled down my cheek as I looked up at him, unable to keep it from sliding down my cheek.

  He had never stopped loving me.

  His face fell as he watched the tear slide down my cheek. With gentle hands, he quickly reached up and wiped it away, but kept his hand on my cheek afterward. “Because if I had told you what was going on, Addy, you would have never let me let you go.” He told me honestly, and I knew he was right – hated it, in fact. “I had to break your heart in the worst way possible to keep you safe.”

  Another tear slid down my cheek, and my bottom lip trembled as I stared up at the man that had once held my entire heart. With a soft sigh, Tristan pulled me into his arms and pressed his lips to my hair. I quickly wound my own arms around him, pressing my body close to his, the steady thud of his heart keeping me calm – grounded.

  “Did Helene know?” I asked him quietly.

  Tristan shook his head. “No one but Jesup knew.” He told me. I breathed a little easier now that I knew that my best friend hadn’t kept such a huge secret from me. “I couldn’t risk you finding out and trying to play the hero. I needed you to hate me.” He told me. “It fucking hurt like hell to let you go – to let you down – but it had to happen.”

  I pulled myself tighter against him, taking in all of the warmth, strength, and comfort he was giving me, soaking it up. He slid his hand down my back, his other arm flexing around me in response.

  I looked up at him, and his dark eyes met mine. “So, what are you going to do now?” I asked him. “Are you going to break my heart all over again – destroy me for good this time?” Since Vin was still around, I assumed that was Tristan’s plan again. Sure, I had fought him every step of the way on this shit, but if he walked away again, I wouldn’t recover.

  Tristan shook his head. “I’m older, and I’m stronger.” Tristan reminded me. “I’ve got the right men to back me, and my club is strong.” His warm hand cupped my cheek, his eyes tender as he kept them locked with mine. “And we all protect our club women, especially our queen, Addy.” I felt my cheeks heat up slightly at his words. “Vin won’t get close to you ever again – not if I have anything to do with it. He’s crossed me wrong for the last fucking time. I’m a hell of a lot meaner than I was when we were kids and fucking with you has deadly consequences.”

  My heart warmed at his words, my soul lighting up the slightest bit with hope – hope that he really wanted this with me, that he wouldn’t fucking destroy me again.

  And this time, when Tristan bent his head and pressed his lips to mine, I didn’t want to pull away. I didn’t want to fight him on it.

  I succumbed to him.

  With one hand on my lower back, Tristan pressed me closer to him as his other hand slid up into my hair, holding my lips to his. I gripped his shirt in my fists, obediently opening my lips beneath his. A shiver ran down my spine as his tongue slid against mine, making me moan softly. I slid my hands under his cut, feeling the rippling power of his muscular frame.

  The door crashing open ripped us apart, both of us breathing a bit heavy as we looked to see who had intruded on our moment.

  “Sorry, Grim.” Jesup apologized. “I know you guys were having a real heart to heart in here, but we’ve got a fucking problem.” I pulled back from Tristan, my attention now fully on Jesup. My stomach twisted, a gut feeling that something was wrong spreading through my body like ice. “Joey has been shot, and he’s being rushed to the emergency room,” Jesup informed us.

  My heart dropped to my feet, pure panic rushing through my veins.

  I couldn’t fucking
lose him – not Joey.

  I moved past Tristan and ran out of the room, heading for the clubhouse exit. Jessie met up with me at the door, tears rushing down her face. I was still panicking, too shocked and terrified of losing Joey to cry yet.

  “I’ve got my car keys.” She informed me as she desperately tried to hold herself together, but I knew she was freaking out as much as I was. “Ink and York are riding with us for protection.”

  I was shaking. All I could do was rush after her to her car, praying that I wasn’t losing Joey.