Fuck getting killed.
I made a fist and thought about Tripp. The way he liked to fight and the relief it gave him. I bit my lip and brought my fist back. I swung forward and smashed my fist against the wall. I wanted to put a hole in the wall. My fist hit the wall and bounced back. I spun around and screamed as pain shot up my hand.
But I won though.
There wasn’t a hole in the wall, but there was a crack.
I cracked the wall.
I heard a knock at the front door.
I jumped and gasped.
Tripp would knock, right? If someone wanted to attack me, they’d just come in and get me.
I slowly went to the front door, all the lights off outside the bedroom.
The knocking sounded again.
“Winter?”
It was Tripp’s voice.
I turned on a light and opened the door. I jumped at him, kissing him, never needing someone as badly as I needed Tripp.
He put his hands to my waist and pushed me away from him. I stumbled back, almost falling, forgetting his insane strength.
“Tripp?” I asked.
The rage in his eyes was fresh, real, simply raw.
He was dangerous.
He stepped into the house and slammed the door.
He took out his gun. He looked at the gun, then looked at me.
“Winter, I’m so sorry…”
My mind had one thought.
He’s going to kill me.
23.
(Tripp)
I didn’t want to take out my gun. At the same time, I didn’t want to believe that anything Aldo could have said to me would have been true. It was though. Endo, the kid, Red Aces, this Skull X group. Winter had been in the middle of it all. All these storms and she was the goddamn catalyst.
And I was in love with her.
It was bound to happen, right? Even the toughest would eventually fall for someone. Figures I’d pick a woman that was as fucked up in life as I was.
“Tripp…”
“No,” I said. “No. It’s time we get all the cards on the table.”
“What happened to you?”
“Aldo,” I said. “He needed to meet. That’s how he calls a meeting.”
“That guy attacked you.”
“You should have seen what I did to him.”
Winter froze. She was afraid of me, which was good. She should have been afraid of me. She should have been afraid from day one and stayed that way. We were too close, in everything.
“I’m going to tell you something,” I said. “And then you’re going to tell me everything Aldo wants to know.”
“Which is what?”
“Autumn. He wants her. That’s his granddaughter. He’s forgoing the family idea and wants his granddaughter. And he believes you know where she is.”
“I don’t,” Winter said. “I swear.”
“He painted a really different picture,” I said. “What happened with Endo. With Rocky. The Red Aces. And then me. Aldo sent me, knowing what would happen between us. That I’d fuck you. That you’d let me.”
“Fuck you,” Winter said.
“Is that your game here?”
“My game? There is no fucking game, Tripp. My life is in danger.”
“So is mine.”
“I don’t know what you want from me.”
“The entire truth,” I said. “Not just bits and pieces.”
“What do you… I don’t have her. I gave her up. Thanks for bringing that up again. Do you have any idea how much that hurts me to think about it? To talk about?”
I put the gun down and walked toward her. I didn’t touch her though. I kept my distance at about an inch. I stared down at her.
“Do you have any idea what it feels like to meet someone… you know what? Screw it. It doesn’t matter. I came here to tell you that I’ve only lost two fights in my life. The one that brought me here. The first one cost my best friend his life. And it was made very clear to me then that if I stood in the way of anyone in the family or lost a fight, it was my ass on the line. I came here to protect you, darling, and now I’m wondering if I should have been protecting myself.”
“Then don’t be here,” Winter whispered. “Leave. I don’t give a shit.”
“I’m not leaving without knowing where Autumn is.”
“What are you going to do? Threaten me with a gun? Slap me? Punch me around?”
I shook my head. “No. I’d never do that to you.”
“Even if it cost you your life?”
I gritted my teeth so hard, my jaw hurt.
Was I willing to die for Winter? Or because of her?
Man, that was a hard question to answer.
I touched her face, hating that I was doing so. She looked ready to collapse into tears, but I had to hold off with her.
“I need to know,” I said. “Goddammit, darling, you don’t realize what he has planned.”
“He’s going to kill me, isn’t he?”
I wasn’t going to be a hypocrite and lie to her. “He’ll kill anyone who gets in his way. Or anyone who he thinks is lying.”
“And I’m a fucking liar, right?” Winter asked.
My hand slid around to the back of her neck. She put her head back, her mouth slightly parted. “Then stop fucking lying.”
“I’m not,” she whispered.
Then I kissed her.