Jo
Nothing scared me in this world more than Tirone’s silence.
The way he stared at me, haunted, elsewhere, resembled that miserable day Laius fucked me in front of him after Tirone found out I was marrying his father.
“Laius, please stop,” I choked, my voice barely audible.
His strokes got harder and faster. “Why the fuck would I stop making love to my wife? Hey, Rex, I’m almost done. Wanna take her next? I’ll watch.”
Tirone didn’t say a word. He just stared at me. His green eyes were black with fury, but his face was stone cold. At this point, I wished he’d have said or done anything even if it was swooping down on us.
Then he twisted and darted away.
“Ty.” I tried to move and go after him, but Furore wouldn’t let me move an inch.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” He fucked me so hard it was painful. “You’re mine. Mine!” He emptied himself inside of me.
“You just had to do this, didn’t you? You had to make him see and ruin everything.”
“Why the fuck do you always take his side and never even see mine? The bastard has no boundaries and thinks he can take what he wants whenever he wants without consequences and you fucking let him. He needs to learn his lesson. So do you, Teach.”
I stretched on my toes and held on his cut to bring his head down so I could whisper in his ear. “The last time you tried, he snuck into your room on our wedding night and took me by force, and he kept doing it every fucking day after until I had a nervous breakdown and almost died while he tried to gouge his eyes out. What do you think will happen this time, Furore, for the sake of teaching your fucking lesson?”
He narrowed his angry gaze at me as I pulled my underwear up and smoothed my skirt over it. Suddenly, he took off his cut and shirt and kept only the wife beater under it. He handed me the shirt and put his cut back on. “Clean yourself up.”
“Keep it.” Thank God I was wearing black. “You need it more than I do. I doubt it’ll help clean up the messyoumade, though.” I stormed away down the aisle, but before I left I had to say something else. “Tirone is right, you know. You’re not a good father.”
“Fathers don’t share their women with their sons, Jo. Good ain’t a word that can fit any of us, baby girl.”
CHAPTER 15
Jo
“You said you’d been following him for a couple of days? How could you not find him today?” I lashed out at Furore after I couldn’t catch Ty before he left the school. I’d been waiting for him at home all night, but he hadn’t returned yet.
He lit out a stupid cigarette. “I was with you when he disappeared. I’ve been looking for him all night since you called to tell me he didn’t come home or go to the clubhouse, and I made Fort and Molar ride around to help, too.”
I called Tirone for the millionth time, but he wouldn’t answer. “So what? He just took off and skipped town?”
“He’ll be back, Jo. If it’s not for the club or me, it’ll be for you.”
The bitter sadness, the burning jealousy, I caught at the end didn’t make me empathize with him as usual. In fact, it infuriated me because it was what had gotten us in this mess. I paced the house like a caged animal. “Did you call Delilah?”
“Two times. He’s not there, and he hasn’t answered her calls either, or so she says.”
“Then let’s go find out if she’s telling the truth.”
“Go where? You wanna go to Fresco? Where the fucking Lanzas are? Get your head out of your ass for a second, Jo. Delilah might be lying about him not answering her calls, but she sure as fuck ain’t lying about him not being there. He’s a fucking bastard, but he ain’t stupid. He’d never go somewhere where he could put you in danger.”
Then where is he?I even called his therapist, and she said he didn’t schedule a session today or stopped by for one. She kindly scheduled him for an emergency session tomorrow at my request. He needed it. I’d force him to go myself…if he’d just come home.
As the morning light cracked the sky, I got ready for school. I didn’t have the energy or the patience to go to work and teach; I hadn’t slept for two days, and I was worried sick about Tirone. But I needed to go to see if he’d show up there.
My heart sank when first period started and he was absent. I asked all his teachers to tell me if he decided to show up. During second period and the third, I kept looking at the classroom door every minute, hoping one of the teachers would come with good news. With the bell that announced the fourth—my class with him—my stomach turned when all the desks were full, except for his vacant seat.
I stood with my lips puckered, staring at the door like an idiot for whole five minutes that the students started to snicker and whisper. I looked at them and asked shamelessly, “Did anyone see Tirone yesterday after lunch or today?”
Head shaking and hums ofnosanswered me. “Okay. Let’s start.” I walked to close the door. “Open your textbooks on page—”