Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Adelaide
M y head was pounding when I woke up.
With a groan, I slowly sat up, reaching up to rub the sleep from my eyes, sucking in a harsh breath as pain quickly flared up on my face, making me jerk my hand away. River’s cut was laying on the foot of my bed, alerting me that he was somewhere in my apartment.
Judging by the pain in my face and my head, I had taken a fucking beating last night. A girl could try to leave the rough-and-tumble life all she wanted, but it just seemed to follow.
I walked into my bathroom, gasping at my face as soon as I looked in the mirror. The entire left side of my face was discolored and slightly swollen. “Holy fuck,” I muttered, staring in horror at the battered woman staring back at me.
“Holy fuck is right,” River agreed as he leaned against the doorjamb to my bathroom. I looked over at him as he pushed off the wall, moving forward so he could gently cradle my face in his hands. “By the time my crew is done with Henry later, the mother fucker will be begging for me to put him out of his fucking misery,” he quietly promised as he ran his eyes over my battered face.
I turned to look back at the mirror, sighing softly. “Make-up is definitely not going to cover this,” I grumbled in disappointment. Henry had made sure he fucked me up good.
River walked over to the shower and turned the water on, pulling his shirt over his head. I swallowed thickly as I ran my eyes over his beautiful, tattooed body, subconsciously licking my lips. Would there ever be a moment that I wouldn’t want him?
When River turned to look at me, he groaned softly. “Keep looking at me with those pretty little fuck-me eyes, and I swear I will drag you to that bed and fuck you hard, darlin’,” River warned me, his blue eyes darkening. If he meant it to sound like a threat, I sure as hell didn’t take it as one.
I crossed the distance between us, trailing my fingertips up his abs, over his hard, defined chest, and finally laced my fingers around his neck. I loved that he still found me attractive despite the ruined condition that my face was in. “Promise?” I asked him huskily.
With a slow, sexy smirk, he threw me over his shoulder, smacking my ass in the process. I squeaked in alarm. “That’s always a promise, darlin’.”
I slowly untangled my arms from around River once he parked his bike outside of his clubhouse. I unstrapped the helmet he had for me and slid off, handing it over to River.
“Go on inside,” he instructed. I sighed, looking over at the clubhouse. I wasn’t sure about spending my day inside of one of these buildings again, especially around men I didn’t know. “The club has already been informed you’re going to be here today, so you’ve got nothing to worry about.” He stood from the bike and gripped my ass in his hands, drawing me against him. My breath hitched in my throat. “Make sure you get you something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry,” I told him.
He shrugged. “Tough.” I scowled at him. He rubbed my belly with one of his hands, softening my mood. How was he so fucking good to me— for me —without even having to try? “Got a little one to feed now, remember?”
I sighed, knowing that I wasn’t about to win this argument. He kissed my forehead before giving my ass a light tap and releasing me.
“Darlin’,” River called from behind me as I turned toward the clubhouse. I looked at him over my shoulder. “Show ‘em who the fuck you are,” he told me, a smirk tilting his lips as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
A slight smile tilted my own lips since smiling fully hurt too fucking much. He was telling me to stand my ground and that he would fully back me up in whatever… within reason, of course. But even then, I had a feeling he would correct me in private.
I strode into the clubhouse, walking into a round of arm wrestling. “A fighting ring would be much more fun to watch,” I commented nonchalantly as I walked past.
“Women keep their mouths shut around here,” one of the men stated, narrowing his eyes at me.
I eyed him with distaste, taking in his brown hair and the unkempt beard that was the same color as his hair. He was muscular, easily three times my size, and I rolled my eyes when he intentionally flexed his arm muscles as if that would intimidate me.
“Not this one,” I informed him.
“Probably why your face looks like it does,” a woman probably around the age of nineteen or twenty sneered.
River stepped into the clubhouse with Sam, and instantly everyone shut the fuck up and focused their attention on him. I snorted as I moved behind the bar to the kitchen. What pussies. I looked over my shoulder at River, and his gaze met mine, amusement shining in their blue depths.
I blew a kiss at him before I disappeared into the kitchen, rummaging for something sweet—cereal that had a fuck ton of sugar in it, preferably. I blew out a breath in frustration when I didn’t find any. All they had were salty snacks, a bunch of fucking beer, and food that had to be cooked. All I wanted was unhealthy cereal and milk.
I pushed back through the kitchen door, finding River sitting at the bar, talking to the man with the beard from earlier. “River, there’s no cereal,” I grumbled, drawing his attention to me.
“So, find something else to eat, girly,” the man snapped before River could open his mouth, annoyed at being interrupted. I glared at the man, a silent dare for him to continue. He was on a power trip, and I fucking hated men like that.
“Watch your fucking tone with her,” River warned him, his voice low and gravelly. I smirked when the man scowled but kept his mouth shut. “Mel!” River called, grabbing the young woman’s attention from earlier. “Take this,” he said, pulling a twenty from his wallet, “and go get a box of cereal—the sugariest shit you can find—and a gallon of whole milk,” he instructed.
She nodded, taking the twenty from him and rushing out of the clubhouse doors. Henry stumbled out of the back hallway with a groan, drawing River’s attention to him. River quickly got off his stool, his features morphing into something that rivaled the devil’s. “Oh, great, your finally fucking awake,” he snarled.
And then, he slammed his fist against Henry’s face, a sickening crunch sounding through the room. I sucked in a sharp breath, watching as River slammed his fists against Henry’s face over and over, well after the man was unconscious on the floor. I’d heard numerous bones break as River beat the fuck out of him.
He pointed a bloody finger at one of the men that had been arm wrestling. “Vern, when he wakes up, I want his fucking cut. He’s out of the fucking club. And I want him escorted out of my fucking territory.”
“Understood, Prez.” Vern, a tattooed man with black hair and eyes just as dark, nodded his head at River.
River disappeared down the back hallway, and I quickly followed after him, finding him in the bedroom at the very end. His room was mostly plain. He had a black fitted sheet and a plain black comforter on the bed with a few pillows. The club emblem hung above his bed, and a single nightstand sat on the left side of his bed with a plain, black lamp on it. There was a dresser against the wall near the door, and the open door to the side of the room revealed the bathroom, where River was currently washing the blood off of his hands.
“Never took the time to make this place feel like home, did you?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “Don’t really have time to, darlin’,” he informed me as I leaned against the bathroom doorjamb to watch him. “Being a president consumes most of my time, and when I’m not doing that, I’m normally out in the garage.”
He turned the water off and dried his hands, turning to face me. “Feels a lot like home with you standing in the room, though,” he admitted, a small smile tilting his lips the slightest bit, making my nerve endings curl with warmth.
Fuck, he couldn’t just unleash his smile on me like that.
“Prez, you expecting company?” someone shouted from up the hall.
“Fuck no!” River called back. “Who the fuck is it?”
“Sons of Death!” the guy hollered back. “And ooh, boy, Tristan looks pissed .”
My breath lodged in my throat, and my heartrate went into overdrive. I hadn’t seen Tristan since I’d met him in another state to do a DNA test, not wanting him to know where I was staying at. The betrayal in his eyes that day had gutted me, and yet he still asked me to come back home to him.
River clenched his jaw, looking down at my face as it drained of color. “You going to be alright?” he quietly asked me, reaching up to caress the good side of my face, his eyes running over me as he did so.
I shrugged, not knowing how to respond. River drew me into his arms, pressing his lips to the top of my head. I closed all the distance between our bodies, leaning on him for that one precious moment before my world got flipped upside down, my sanctuary broken into. We both jerked our heads up when we heard shouting. “Grim, you can’t fucking go back there!” Sam barked.
“Fuck,” River cursed, releasing me as he quickly stepped out into the hallway. “Tristan, you can get the fuck out of my clubhouse right now if you’re only going to cause fucking trouble,” River growled in a warning.
“Where the fuck is she, River?” Tristan demanded to know.
I slowly stepped out into the hallway, nervously looking up at Tristan. There was so much pain in his eyes as he ran them between me and River. Instantly, River possessively wrapped an arm around my waist, tugging me against his side.
“You left my club just to jump to his?” Tristan angrily demanded.
“He’s the dad, Tristan,” I informed him, swallowing hard at the hurt in his eyes. My chest ached. Even after all Tristan had done to me, I still didn’t want him hurting like this. “And for your information, I’ve been supporting myself for the past three months. River just found me when he happened to come into the bar during one of my shifts,” I explained, though I knew I didn’t owe him any kind of explanation. But that hurt in his eyes was killing me.
“Yet, that quickly, you’re in his bed and in his clubhouse,” Tristan snarled at me. I flinched.
“Fucking lay off of her,” River warned, taking a threatening step forward as he pushed me slightly behind him.
I gripped River’s arm, his bicep flexing under my grip. He swung his gaze to me, his eyes softening immediately. “Please,” I whispered. “Not him.”
River clenched his jaw but nodded at me, taking a step back from Tristan. I breathed a sigh of relief. River silently reached up and brushed his thumb over my bottom lip, understanding in his gaze.
We were the reason Tristan was hurting so much.
“What the fuck happened to your face, Addy?” Tristan asked, moving to step forward but deciding against it.
I pointed to where Henry was struggling off of the floor, his face covered in blood. “Hand over your fucking cut!” River barked, moving to where Henry was trying to struggle into a standing position, shouting in agony at the broken bones in his body. My stomach twisted.
“All of this over a random piece of pussy?” Henry bravely snapped at River from his position on the floor.
River wrapped his large hand around Henry’s throat, lifting him off the floor as he slammed him against the wall. Henry screamed in pain, all the broken bones in his body no doubt crying in agony. “Want to fucking repeat that?” River snarled at him, his voice deadly.
Henry choked, shaking his head no. River dropped him to the floor, and Henry sprawled at his feet, another scream of pain leaving his lips. My blood chilled in my veins. “Your fucking cut,” River snarled, holding his hand out.
Henry managed to shrug it off, handing it over to River. “Vern, get him the fuck off of my territory.”
“I would have put a bullet through his thick skull,” Tristan commented as I strode past him and out into the bar room, where River was handing the guy with the beard Henry’s cut.
“Burn it,” River ordered. The guy nodded before he strode outside, casting me a dirty look before he did. I glared back at him.
He was going to be fucking trouble.
I looked to the clubhouse doors as Mel strode back through holding two grocery bags. I grinned when she set them on the counter. “Oh, yes, finally,” I breathed in relief, rushing into the kitchen to find a bowl.
Tristan and River both sat at the bar as I made my bowl of cereal, both men silent as they watched me. I closed my eyes and moaned as I took that first delicious bite, all that sugar exploding over my tastebuds. River’s eyes met mine, a smirk lighting up his face as my cheeks flushed under his burning gaze.
Tristan ran his hands down his face, and a bad feeling settled in the pit of my stomach, souring my mood again. “What did I do wrong, Addy?” he asked me quietly as he looked up at me with those sad eyes that always tore my heart apart.
I fucking hated myself for the pain that I caused him. I’d cheated on him and had gotten pregnant with another man’s baby. I’d really fucking hurt him.
“I can probably answer that,” River stated. I snapped my eyes up to River’s face. “You confined her, Grim. You wanted to control her so much. I get it—you thought you were protecting her, but you slowly broke her, Grim. And she ran from you the first opportunity she got.” River shrugged. “And you did the worst fucking thing possible by cuffing her to your bed when you got her back to try to keep her there.”
Tristan’s eyes met mine. “What happened though, Addy? Fuck, I literally had you in my bed two hours before I fucking left that day,” he reminded me.
I swallowed thickly, my heart throbbing for what used to be between us but could never—would never—be again. “I needed to forget,” I whispered, suddenly not hungry anymore. “And River was there to help me forget.” The lump building in my throat made it near impossible to speak, but I pushed past it, roughly clearing my throat. “It was supposed to be a one-time thing.”
Tristan barked out a laugh. “One time, my ass,” he muttered.
“Tristan—” I started, but River cut me off.
“You don’t owe him a fucking explanation, darlin’.” I turned my eyes to him. He reached across the bar and gently gripped my chin. I blinked back tears. River’s eyes softened with understanding. “He should have treated you better so that you wouldn’t have to find comfort in the arms of another man. That’s all it comes down to.”
River stood up and came around the bar to where I was standing. He pressed his lips to the top of my head. I closed my eyes as I fisted his cut in my hands, holding him with me for a moment, just long enough to bring myself back together. He kept his lips pressed to my hair until I slowly released him.
“Finish your cereal, darlin’.” He pointed a finger at Tristan. “You’re with me. I want to discuss something since you’ve taken it upon yourself to barge onto my territory and into my clubhouse without a fucking invitation.”
Tristan scowled but got up anyway, following River to a room off to the side of the bar room, more than likely the chapel. I sighed, running my hands over my face tiredly.
Fuck, I just wanted to distract myself from this fucked up love triangle I’d found myself stuck in.
I loved Tristan. I did . But I hadn’t been in love with him for a long fucking time. I fell out of love not long after I got tangled up with Joey.
I hated that I had cut him so deeply, but nothing short of something completely drastic would force Tristan to let me go.
So, I betrayed him in one of the worst ways possible. I slept with one of his most trusted men. But my plan had not been to fall in love with the man I slept with. But River? He looked at me differently. Fucking treated me decent, better than any man before him had. And I fell hard… and fast.
I tossed my bowl into the sink after I forced myself to finish eating to please River, then strode out of the clubhouse and to the garage, determined to get elbows deep in some grease.
I needed a fucking distraction because all I could picture was Tristan’s haunted eyes in my mind.