Scarred Asphalt (19 page)

Thorne’s hands dropped to her side to form fists as she
allowed her eyes to grow accustomed to the dim lighting of the bar, searching
out Gabby.

B-I-N-G-O, and bitch was her name-o.

Every head turned to see who had barged into the bar, guns
pulled and pointed directly at her. Thorne didn’t care if she lived or died in
that moment, but what she was sure of was that this bitch was going down.

“Where the fuck is it, Gabrielle?” Thorne threw the words at
her like stones, demanding that she answer her.

Gabby turned around to face Thorne, brown eyes filled with a
contemptuous look. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

Thorne was mentally calculating the guns in the room as she
stepped deeper into the bar, toward Gabby who was standing near a table. “Oh,
I’m afraid you do, considering you’re wearing one of my mother’s necklaces that
you stole from my room.”

Gabby’s hand flew up to the pendant at her throat. “This old
thing?” Fingers wrapped around the locket and gave it a harsh yank, breaking
the chain. With a nonchalant movement, she tossed it into the garbage with a
smug look. “It was nothing more than a cheap trinket that came from a Cracker
Jacks box.”

Fury was all consuming as Thorne’s mind shut down. Her
vision was completely focused on Gabby as she stood there silently daring
Thorne to do something about it.

She didn’t need any more of an invite than that.

Gabby turned her back, and a smirk formed as she looked back
over her shoulder at Thorne. “Tell me,
punta
, how does my pussy taste on
his cock?”

As much as Thorne bet that Gabby wished that comment sucker
punched her, it didn’t. She knew Dalton hadn’t touched Gabby in over a year. Laughter
bubbled out, sounding like sheer mania. “If you were on his jock, you dumb
bitch, you wouldn’t have to try and undermine me and act like a jealous crazed
cunt that couldn’t get a lay outside her family tree, if she tried.”

Yeah, Thorne knew she was playing with fire with all of the
TG in the bar watching the two women carefully. Thorne knew with one wrong
move, the men would jump in and kill her and not think twice about it. If she
could get Gabby to hit her first, all bets were off. She was simply defending
herself. In the eyes of the law, that is.

“Fuck you.”

Thorne threw her head back and laughed, countering icily, “I
don’t think so. I’m pretty worn out from last night’s sex on the beach.” Her
lips thinned in a nasty grin as she stared at Gabby, knowing the vicious, hot
anger reflected in her eyes. “I lost count how many times he came last night.
Though we had a good laugh when he told me he faked every orgasm he had with
you. I believe he said that you gave a new definition to the word necrophilia:
Fucking you was like cracking open a cold one.”

That was all it took.

How easy she was to get fired up.

Gabby screeched like a cat in heat, her fingers curled like
claws when she lunged for Thorne.

Thorne turned her face and body away from Gabby’s tackle,
but to no avail. She felt the nails rake down the side of her face; her arm
came up in a quick movement to try and deflect what damage the Latina was
starting to cause.

Both girls fell back in a tangle of appendages, Gabby tried
to wrestle Thorne and gain top advantage.

Not fucking likely.

Thorne had been taught at a young age how to box, and she’d
be damned if this bitch was going to get the best of her. Her hips lifted,
right leg kicked out and swung up and around the girl’s throat, allowing her to
pull back down toward the floor.

A yelp of surprise filled the bar, along with the cajoling
comments from the male peanut gallery. With Gabby on her back, Thorne rolled to
straddle her hips, her right arm cocked back and swung down, her fist making a
sickening crunching sound against the girl’s nose. Blood sprayed them both,
taking Thorne off guard, and that moment of hesitation was all Gabby needed.

She reached up and grabbed Thorne’s ponytail, yanked her
head back, the flat of her palm coming across the left side of Thorne’s face.

Thorne’s head snapped to the side, though the pain never
registered, it only fueled her anger. The flesh inside of her mouth split on
her left cheek, the coppery taste filling her mouth. She gave a Cheshire cat
grin as she spit out the blood and grabbed Gabby by her shirt front, yanking
her up with her as Thorne stood up.

“You hit like a twelve-year-old girl. If you plan on playing
with the big girls, Gabby, you best bring your game or go the fuck home.”

Not allowing Gabby enough time to retort or move, Thorne let
her go while throwing her left fist forward, a quick assaulting jab to the
right side of Gabby’s jaw. Her cry of pain was enough to send blood lust
coursing through Thorne’s veins.

Thorne charged forward, unable to quench the fury that Gabby
had caused. Thorne hissed as Gabby grabbed a handful of her hair once more,
fingers tightening in her silken strands as she tried to toss her to the side.
Thorne nearly lost her balance, which forced to bend down in the direction Gabby
was yanking her hair.

What was it with women and pulling fucking hair?

She sent a left fist to Gabby’s solar plexus, followed by a
right to the bitch’s pelvic bone. Girls may not have balls, but when your clit
was smashed against bone? That shit hurt, and Gabby’s cry of pain told Thorne
she hit her mark.

Gabby let go of Thorne’s hair, which allowed her to finally
stand up straight. Thorne’s voice was like ice as she questioned her once more.
“Where the fuck is it?”

Gabby stumbled back, wiping her hand across her bloody face.
“I’m not telling you.”

Thorne shook her head; once more anger singed the corners of
her control. A loud roaring filled her ears, her heart pounded erratically in
her chest as she advanced slowly toward Gabby again. “I will kill you with my
bare fucking hands if you do not tell me where the fuck you put the envelope.”

Gabby stumbled backward, tripped over a chair, and comically
fell flat on her ass. That was all Thorne needed. She sprang on Gabby like a
wild cat. Fists flew one after the other. Thorne was completely unaware of her
surroundings. Everything went black as she pummeled Gabby, not feeling or
seeing that Gabby was screaming as she tried to throw up arms to guard her
face.

Thorne screamed like a banshee as she was yanked up and off
of Gabby by strong hands. Feeling threatened, still unable to focus on
anything, Thorne swung at her other attacker. She missed, but the harsh smack
to her face brought her out of the blood stupor she had been in.

“Thorne!” Dalton barked at her, his hands dug into her
shoulders as he shook her violently. “Stop! You’re going to kill her.”

Thorne blinked rapidly, the side of her face stung like hell
as Dalton slowly came into focus. Wolf, Axe, Saber, and Wraith stood behind
him, everyone in their cuts, including Dalton.

“She—” Thorne crumpled into Dalton’s arms, allowing him to
hold her to him. “She took the envelope from Maggie.”

Gabby snorted as she pulled the envelope out of her back
pocket. The men from the TG rose up to stand behind her, facing off with the
other men. “This is what this bullshit was over?” She screeched at Thorne at
the same time she teased her by wagging the envelope back and forth. “This
stupid letter from your dead whore of a sister is what you went crazy over? If
you are anything like her, it’s no wonder the guys ran a fucking train on her
and killed her ass. I would have done the same thing. Crazy bitch.”

Thorne’s head jerked back as if she had been bitch slapped.
Lips dropped in a frown, her head shook as if she were trying to clear it, her
brain slow to process what Gabby had just said to her.

“Gabby!” Dalton shook his head vehemently.

“What?” she spat out at Dalton, eyes narrowed in a dare; her
hand flicked out as she tossed the envelope toward Thorne.

Thorne snatched the envelope out of the air, fingers nestled
it safely into one of her uniform pockets. “My sister died in a bike wreck, so
nice try to get me pissed off again.”

Gabby scoffed, and then burst out into laughter, the other
club males joining in on the laughter. “Oh. My. God. What line of shit did they
feed you?” She sashayed over to Thorne, her eyes held a venomous glint to them.
“Ten men fucked your sister raw, and then they beat her
and
sodomized
her. She was a club whore after all. Then when they were done with her, they
threw her away like old trash.”

All breath left Thorne. Every fiber in her body screamed at
her to kill Gabby where she stood. She was lying, she had to be lying.

It was as if time stopped.

Thorne turned to look at the men behind her. The looks of
guilt and shame that lay on their faces confirmed what Thorne didn’t want to
believe. Four out of the five men had gone pale and refused to look at Thorne
as she tried to look each one in the eye. The only one who met her gaze was
Wolf, and there was no emotion there as his empty eyes stared right through
her.

“No!” Thorne shook her head, not wanting to believe what
Gabby had said about her sister. Tears flooded her eyes as the images of her
sister filled her head, probably much worse than how it really happened. It
didn’t matter though. They had beaten and violated the only family she had
left.

A stillness filled Thorne, a light bloomed inside of her,
like a piece of her awakened that she never knew lay inside of her. It felt
like a light switch flipped on and everything suddenly became immensely clear.

She drew in a deep breath and in one swift movement, much
like a dancer, Thorne had Dalton’s Ka-Bar drawn. In one swift, graceful move,
Thorne spun around and with a twist of her wrist, she sliced the side of
Gabrielle’s face open. The flesh split from her ear to the corner of her mouth,
revealing jaw bone and teeth to every pair of eyes that grew wide at the
vengeance that Thorne dealt.

But she wasn’t done.

As Gabby’s hands flew up to her face, the backward momentum
from the forward slash of the knife was brought back at an angle, slicing
across the other cheek bone, and two fingers fell silently to the floor.

Both MCs were too shocked to move. Even Wolf’s jaw dropped
at Thorne’s actions. She was the one who saved lives, not took them. These were
vengeful actions of a pissed off woman and rightfully so.

Before the TG could retaliate against Thorne, Wolf set the
crew into motion, Thorne was scooped and the group ran out of the bar with guns
drawn.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Romeo and Rebel fell into a routine every morning. He got up
to the smell of freshly made coffee, and she shared a cup with him. They sat at
the table and talked about various things, though she mostly grilled him about
club etiquette and who was who. She asked a million questions about Amy and
Gail and what happened to her grandfather.

Romeo debated about lying to her about how he “died”, but he
thought better of it. He didn’t want to start off their relationship with lies.
Stone never held back with him or Amy, so why should he start with Rebel? He
laid it out there, telling her the whole ordeal as it happened. He could tell
that she was romanticizing the life of being an outlaw, so it was imperative
that he explain how real the situation was.

The question he wasn’t prepared for was the one he figured
was coming. Maggie. She said her mother always loved him, but knew their stars
hadn’t aligned yet. She quizzed him on how she really died, and the inner
battle began again. He didn’t want her to know how she had been humiliated, and
everything horrible detail of what she had been subjected to. No child should
remember their mother that way. He carefully explained what had happened, that
she had been beaten and raped, but that her death had been avenged.

It seemed she took the news in stride. So he hoped.

Until she asked when she was going to meet Thorne.

That was more explaining he had to do, delving into her
accident and how she had been recovering with Dalton. He counter-questioned her
on why her mother never told Thorne about her. Her reply was that she was a
secret best kept hidden. Romeo hadn’t liked that answer. It fueled the anger
and contempt he was feeling for Maggie even more.

The night before, he’d had a club get-together, sans Dalton,
to introduce Rebel to the gang. Needless to say, she had every one of them
eating out of her hand. Yes, even the stone-cold Wolf was a pup when it came to
Rebel.

Tonight was Amy’s turn.

And currently she was staring at the poor teen like she had
two heads.

“She looks like Mom.”

“With Maggie’s coloring. She’s lucky.” Romeo nodded as he
winked at Rebel.

Rebel stuck her tongue out at Romeo, followed by an overdone
eye roll.

Romeo chuckled, leaning back to motion to one of the Painted
Ladies to bring Rebel a cola. Romeo had decided to do the introductions at the
clubhouse since it was neutral territory. Amy had taken it better than he
expected, which left him a bit worried. He had been in shock for days, and yet
she took it in stride, with a little bit of surprise and uncertainty.

“And mom and dad knew, the whole time, about her?”

Rebel sighed loudly, throwing her hands up in the air. “This
is totally getting old. Just sayin’.” She blew a few stray strands of her bangs
out of her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m right here. Please use
my name.”

Amy recoiled at how Rebel sassed her, blinked in surprise,
then burst out laughing. “Oh, wow. Rebel is going to give you a run for your
money, Romeo.”

Romeo lifted a single shoulder, then stood up to walk over
to the bar and grab his smokes. “I’ve already bought a new shotgun, and I
highly doubt any of the brothers are going to let anything happen to her.”

“Uncle Wolf already promised me to show me how to defend
myself.” Rebel piped up in an excited tone.

Romeo choked on his beer, beating his chest to try and catch
a breath. “He what? I don’t think so.”

“Why not, Zen?” Amy glanced over to him, shifting in the
couch, her hand running over her swollen belly.

“She has no reason to know how to fight.”

“I’m already a brown belt, why can’t he teach me more?”
Rebel batted her lashes at Romeo.

He sighed and hung his head, slowly shaking it. “I’m going
to lose this battle, aren’t I?”

Before either of the women could answer, the door to the
building slammed open, startling everyone inside.

Romeo turned just in time to catch a flying Superman punch
that felt like it had been delivered by a pissed off honey badger. His head
felt like it went Linda Blair and spun all the way around, his vision exploding
into an array of stars.

“What the—?” Romeo exploded in reaction, his fist cocking
back to retaliate, but caught himself mid swing as Wolf grabbed his attacker in
a choke hold.

“I suggest you calm the fuck down before I put you to
sleep.” Wolf growled at the now screaming hellcat, aptly named Thorne.

Romeo rubbed his jaw, staring at Thorne and Wolf in
confusion. Then, looking past the pair as Thorne struggled in Wolf’s grasp,
Romeo pointed toward the pair and spoke to the other four standing behind the
struggling Thorne in Wolf’s grasp. “Would someone like to tell me what the fuck
is going on and why the hell she is covered in blood? And why I got sucker
punched like I was a fucking piñata?”

Dalton reached up and rubbed the back of his neck as he
winced, glancing to the now-still Thorne. “Please let her go, Wolf.”

“The fuck you say. When she says she’s done swinging, then
I’ll let her go.”

Romeo had forgotten that Rebel and Amy were sitting at the
table until he heard Rebel sucking the last of her cola through her straw.
Shit
.
She didn’t need to see this, or meet her aunt under whatever circumstances this
was.

“Let her go, Wolf.” Romeo nodded, looking directly at
Thorne. “Mind explaining?”

* * * *

Thorne felt superior the moment she laid into Romeo with the
flying haymaker. She hadn’t expected Wolf to put her in a choke hold though,
and she was still pissed off enough that she clawed the fuck out of his forearm
in hopes he’d let her go.

Didn’t work.

In fact, his arm only grew tighter around her throat.

It was a mistake letting her go. The old wounds had been
ripped open and felt as fresh as if her sister’s death had just happened today.
Tears flooded her eyes once more as she lunged at Romeo, wanting a pound of his
flesh for every damn piece of shit male that hurt her sister.

“Aunt Thorne?”

A young female voice snapped her out of her temporary mania,
forcing her to stop the intended attack on Romeo and see who called her name.
Wiping her eyes, she sniffled and looked over to the teenager, then did a
double take.

The teen was standing by Romeo, her long red hair pulled
back in a ponytail, her hands tucked into her ripped jeans. Her eyes were stark
blue, tiny freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose giving her an
innocent appeal. Her T-shirt was a frumpy SYLSG shirt that was a size too big
for her. Her figure was stout and curvy, and she was tall for her age.

The teen’s brows shot up as she looked down at the front of
her jeans. “Is my fly open?”

Romeo cleared his throat placing his hands on his hips. “I’m
waiting.”

“Dad.” The teen looked at Romeo, motioning toward Thorne
with her head. “Be gentle. She looks like she is in shock, and she’s kinda
bleeding.”

Amy was silent as she watched the exchange between the trio,
and she wasn’t the only one. Thorne looked around at the other men as they
stood there, all looking away from her or down at their shoes. Wolf looked
ready to pounce on her if she made one wrong move.

Since when was Romeo a dad?

Dalton cleared his throat, shifting his weight as he spoke
up. “Gabby broke into the house and decided to destroy Thorne’s room—”

Thorne threw up a hand, shooting a hard glare at Dalton.
“One, I don’t need you to stick up for me or talk for me. I’m a big girl. Two…”
She glanced back at Romeo. “Since when are you a father and why did she call me
aunt? And three, why the fuck did you lie to me about Maggie’s death? What
right do you have to keep how she really died from me?”

“Whoa, Thorne.” Romeo threw up his hands in defense, shaking
his head. “Do not blame me for not telling you about your sister. That was all
Amy. Talk to her about that shit.”

“Zen Lloyd James!” Amy exclaimed, her jaw dropping as she
stared at him in disbelief.

“What? It’s the fucking truth. You didn’t want your best
friend’s memory destroyed by that fucking traitorous bastard.”

“I’m totally gonna be rich at this rate.” Rebel grinned as
she rocked back on her booted heels. “That was ten bucks. Keep dropping the
eff-bomb and I’m gonna be a millionaire by the time I’m twenty.”

“Rebel.” Romeo’s voice was laced with an easy warning, to
which Rebel let out a tiny “eep” and sat down, turning her attention to her
empty glass.

Thorne was so confused. And angry. And hurt. You name it,
she was currently feeling it. Her hands rose up to rub her temples, her eyes
squeezed shut. “Someone had better tell me what the fuck is going on. Now!”

Amy winced at the outburst, struggling to push herself up
out of the seat. “Thorne, please.”

Thorne opened her eyes and shook her head. “Don’t get up,
Amy. But I want someone to start explaining now. I’m sick of being lied to. I
want to know why that fucking bitch knew more about my sister’s death than I
did. I’m sick of everyone playing the fucking victim when it was my sister who
was the one who died and all of you lived.”

Thorne couldn’t stop her voice from shaking, or keep the
bitterness out of it. No, she didn’t wish anything bad to happen to anyone, but
why did it happen to her sister? Why couldn’t it have been someone else?

Amy’s eyes filled with tears as she looked down at her hands
on her swollen belly, then slowly lifted them to meet Thorne’s wild eyes. “You
were in so much pain, Thorne. You only saw the negative in everything. Maggie
lived our life in the club, you never have. She sacrificed herself to protect
everyone in this club, including you. I didn’t want her image ruined because
Maggie was beautiful inside and out and what Demon and those men did to her was
ugly and you didn’t need to remember her that way. You needed to remember the
Maggie that was so full of life and loved to gossip, loved to make you smile
and laugh.”

Thorne watched Amy wipe her eyes and sigh. She was still
pissed. She hated being lied to. Thorne glanced over her shoulder to the five
men who stood ready to pounce on her if she made one wrong move, Dalton looking
especially peeved, probably upset because of how she spoke to him. She could
care less. She had every damn right to defend herself.

“I don’t care what
you
thought was best, Amy. You
aren’t related to me. You didn’t have the right to keep that information from
me, and I will
never
forgive you for that.”

“Thorne.” Dalton shook his head, grabbing a hold of her
hand. “Don’t say that. She did what she thought was best for you at that time.
You would have gone off the deep end if you had known then what had happened.
Look at what you did today.”

“What exactly did you do, Thorne?” Romeo lifted a brow,
looking to Wolf, then to Dalton for the answer.

Wolf shook his head, moved away from Thorne to pull out a
chair next to Rebel, then handed off a rubber band to her. “Thorne beat the
shit out of Gabrielle, in TG territory.”

“You did what?” Romeo stared at Thorne in total dubiety.

Axe chimed in as he motioned to Tasha for a beer. “She beat
the shit out of her, and sliced her like a hot knife through butter. We had to
bone out and get her here before those bastards drew down and tried to gun her
down.”

“Fuck!” Romeo yelled as he started to pace, his hand rubbing
the top of his bald head.

“What’s the big deal?” Thorne was a bit confused as she
looked from Wolf, who had the teen playing in his hair, to Romeo. “She stole
things from my home. I’ve warned her several times, and I was through. She took
something Maggie gave me when I was sixteen and it was all I had left. You can
kiss my ass if you think I’m going to apologize for that.”

Romeo’s face turned red as he stared harshly at Thorne. “You
have no idea what you just did.”

Thorne’s skin crawled at the low tone of Romeo’s voice. It
held an underlying threat that she wasn’t sure was directed at her or at the
rival club. “Okay. And?”

Romeo blinked in shock, turning his head to Dalton then back
to Thorne, though he was speaking at Dalton. “Have you not filled her in on
things, Apollo?”

“I’ve been telling her about the club life, but there’s a
lot I haven’t been able to cover.” Dalton shrugged helpless.

“Uh, hello? Quit talking like I’m not here.” Thorne snidely
spoke to them both.

The teens head snapped up with a grin. “Dude, I so keep
saying the same thing.”

Thorne wrinkled her brow as she looked at the teen, moving
her head slightly. “Who the hell are you?”

“Your niece, Shiloh Margaret Lopez-James. Otherwise known as
Rebel,” Rebel stated proudly with a firm nod of her head.

Thorne gasped, stumbling back a couple steps, slamming into
Dalton, who wrapped his arms around her waist to steady her. She felt the blood
drain from her face. Her breathing was difficult to control as she stared at
the girl, all the tiny puzzle pieces falling into place. Her eyes darted
between Rebel and Romeo noting the physical similarities, also taking note of
the features the girl carried that were all Maggie.

“Shi—Shiloh,” Thorne whispered, leaning back into the only
stable thing in her life right now: Dalton. “Shiloh was Maggie’s favorite name.
She always swore to name her daughter that if she ever had one.”

It was too much to handle. First Gabby, then the lies about
Maggie, and now a niece that she had no clue existed? She could feel her blood
pressure shoot through the roof, her head growing light as tiny black dots swam
before her eyes.

“Dalton?” Her voice wavered as the darkness consumed her,
saving her from the reality that was too difficult to face.