Chas's Fervor: Insurgents Motorcycle Club (Insurgents MC Romance Book 3) (43 page)

He was standing so close to her, she could feel his warm breath on her face. With nowhere to escape, she fell back and landed on the bed.

“I’m tired of running. I’ll take my chances.”

Ian sneered as he bent over and snarled in her face. “You’re not opening your fucking mouth. You’re going to be a good wife and come home with me so we can pick up where we left off two years ago.” He put his hand up in front of her face when she opened her mouth to protest. “This isn’t open for discussion. You’re coming with me whether you like it or not. You owe me, bitch.” With one fluid movement, he was sitting next to her on the bed, his arm wrapped tightly around her, his thin, cold lips pressed against her warm cheek.

Tears gathered behind her eyes, and even though the apartment was warm, her blood was icy and her muscles tensed.

If she fought Ian, he’d love it, because that was the kind of man he was—he was all about control, domination, and torment. Even if she wanted to fight him, it would be no use trying to break free of his clutches—he had an iron grip on her.

“Ian,” she said softly, relaxing in his arms. “Please, let me go. You know we didn’t have much of a marriage before I found out what you really did for a living. We’re just different people, that’s all. I’ll keep my mouth shut and keep living my lie, and you can keep doing what you’re doing. It would be crazy for us to go back to Chicago and pretend we care about each other.”

Darkness fell over his face, and his eyes narrowed—they were cold and hard. In that moment, Addie knew he’d decided she was his enemy, and Ian always dealt with enemies in an efficient way. She’d never feared his anger when it came on suddenly, like a fire, because it leapt and burned then it was done. What scared her was his ice—calculating, calm, and cruel.

Squeezing her upper arm until she cried out in pain, he said, “You don’t want to go because you’ve fallen for the outlaw, right?” Shaking his head, he gave her a mocking look. “And your stupid parents didn’t want you to marry
me
? What a fucking joke. How do you think they’d like a dirty outlaw biker for a son-in-law? You’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel,
sweetheart
.”

Heat rose up her neck and spread over her face as her eyes ignited with anger. “Chas is more man than you’ll ever be. And speaking of scraping the barrel, there’s nothing left to scrape because I already married the scum on the bottom. My parents were one hundred percent right, and if things would’ve been different, I know I would’ve listened to them and not married you.”

“Yes. You were always the good, obedient daughter who listened to what her mommy and daddy said. You don’t think I know that? Why do you think I got rid of them? Telling me I’m not good enough. Well, I showed them not to mess around with me.”

Leaping to her feet, the room spun around her at top speed as the blood rushed and pounded in her ears. Unable to breathe, her eyes and mouth were frozen wide open as her brain scrambled to make sense of it all.
Ian killed my parents? He’s the murderer? The cause of so much sadness in my life?
She stood rigid as a board, unable to comprehend the horror of it. Ian, the man she’d once loved, kissed, made love to, and cherished, executed the two people she loved more than life? In cold blood, he’d murdered them then held her in his arms after the police broke the news to her.

“Go on and pack your things. We’re leaving. We’ll stay a few days at the cabin so I can get rid of my jetlag. It can be like a second honeymoon for us, you know?”

Tears trailed down her white face. “You killed my mom and dad? How could you do something like that? What do you have inside you that allows you to kill without remorse? How could I ever think I was in love with you? You’re a sick fucking sociopath. I hate you! I despise you! You fucking repulse me! Did you hear me? You fucking repulse me!” Sobbing uncontrollably, she pounded her fists against his chest as he stood before her, no expression on his face.

After a while, dry sobs wracked Addie’s body. Ian said, “Are you finished?”

She wrapped her robe around her then blew her nose. Addie stared at the wall, not believing she was married to a man who destroyed lives. She had to get away from him; she would rather be on death row than live with him again.

“Go pack your clothes. I’ll help you pack the rest of your stuff.” Ian’s calm voice had a steel edge to it.

Rolling her shoulders back, defiance replaced shock in her gaze. “What if I don’t go? Are you going to kill me, Ian?” Laughing dryly, she spread out her hands on her thighs, cocked her head, and stared him straight in the eye. “I
want
you to kill me, because I’d rather be dead than be with you. I don’t care anymore, Ian. Go ahead and kill me, but I’m not fucking going with you.” A sense of ease rippled over her as she realized she
did
have a choice, and she was choosing not to go.

Narrowing his eyes, Ian grabbed her by the shoulders, jerking her sideways so she could see him full-on. “You’ll go with me unless you want to have the death of your lover’s boy on your conscience. Jack’s his name, isn’t it? I won’t hesitate to snuff him out, and I can make his death painful. And the outlaw will be next. Before I kill the sonofabitch, I’ll cut his dick off, put it in your mouth, and kill him nice and slow while you watch. Yes,
sweetheart
, you have choices here. Which will it be?”

Nausea overcame her as bile crept up her throat into her mouth. She was going to vomit. In the depths of her being, she knew Ian was serious—he always was when it came to killing. Swallowing hard, she grasped her throat to force the bile down, and whispered, “You win. I’ll pack.” If Ian killed her, she wouldn’t care, but she could never place Jack and Chas in harm’s way. This wasn’t their fight; it was hers. By acquiescing to Ian, she spared the lives of the two people she loved most in the world.

Before she could take out her suitcase, the security buzzer cut through the tension in the room. Ian crept to the window and looked down. “Answer it. It’s the fucking biker. If you say or do anything stupid, there’ll be a carnage like you can’t imagine. And don’t think he’s going to save you. I’m packing a gun ten times more powerful than he has, and I can guarantee he’ll be down before he can pull out a weapon. Be smart.”

With dread, Addie shuffled into the living room and buzzed Chas in, silently praying Ian wouldn’t kill him. She had to be smart and play along with Ian, even if it meant hurting Chas in order to save his life. Never thinking she’d dread seeing him, Addie hung her head down, waiting for Chas to come to her.

When she opened the door, Chas leaned in to kiss her, but she pulled away. A quizzical look crossed his face. “What’s the matter, precious?”

In a tight voice, she said, “I have something to tell you that you’re not going to like, but I hope you’ll understand.”

She stepped aside and let him in. He frowned, and a clenched jaw replaced his smile. “Who the fuck is he?” Chas pointed to Ian, who walked up behind Addie.

“Chas, this is my husband, Ian.”

“Y
our husband? What
the fuck is he doing in your apartment?” Anger pricked at his skin, and he wanted to bash the smug sonofabitch’s face, grab Addie by the hand, and take off fast and free on his Harley with her pressed against him. “And why in the hell are you in your
robe
?”

“Yes, her husband,” Ian said with a smile as he extended his hand to Chas. “And this is my favorite robe.”

With flaring nostrils, Chas looked at Addie, and asked, “What the fuck is going on?”

“Nothing. Ian and I have been talking for a while and we decided to give us a try again. We owe it to each other. After all, we’ve already invested some years into our marriage, and—”

Addie was talking, but the words coming out of her sweet, tasty lips weren’t her words. Fire burned around every nerve in his body as he clenched and unclenched his fists. “What the fuck are you talking about? What do you mean? How the fuck do you go from spending nights with me and Jack to giving your marriage a chance with this asshole? What the fuck, Addie?” Chas rubbed his face with his fist. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

Ian grunted behind Addie and Chas saw her put her hand on his thigh as if to calm him. Seeing her touch the piece of shit, who’d made her life hell, made Chas seethe. Why was Addie saying this shit to him, especially after all the weeks they’d spent growing together, fucking each other, and spending time with Jack. What. The. Fuck?

“Chas, I had a nice time with you and Jack, but you knew I was married. It’s true that in the beginning I wasn’t sure, but Ian came for me and I love that he didn’t give up on me. He still loves me, and I owe him this,” she said as she looked everywhere but in Chas’s eyes.

In a low voice, Chas asked, “Do you love him?”

A long silence filled the room then, in a barely audible voice, Addie said, “Yes.”

If she would’ve picked up a switchblade and stabbed him, the pain wouldn’t have been as acute as the one word she uttered. Reeling from her answer, Chas backed up, the doorknob jamming into his back. When Ian put his arm around Addie and pulled her close to him, he lost it.

“Don’t fucking touch my woman!” With lightning speed, Chas’s fist slammed into Ian’s jaw.

“Chas, stop! Don’t do this,” Addie’s plaintive voice laced with fear and sadness stopped Chas from throwing another punch. “Please, just go. I’m sorry I hurt you, I really am. I guess I was just confused. Thank you for sharing your time and your son with me. I’ll never forget our friendship.”

“
Friendship
? Fuck, we had more than a friendship, and you know it. You fuckin’ told me you loved me. And now you’re telling me you love
him
? How does that work, Addie, ’cause I gotta admit I don’t get it.” He stared at her as her shoulders slumped and her finger constantly tapped the side of her thigh. “Have you been fucking him, too?”

Horror crossed her face, and she gasped. “No, I’ve only been with you in the last two years. It’s just that I have to give my marriage a try. I owe it to Ian.”

“What about us? Don’t you owe something to us, and to Jack?” He glared at Ian as he slowly rose from the floor, blood gathering in the corner of his mouth.

“I knew Ian before you and Jack,” she said in a voice so low he had to tilt his head toward her mouth to hear her. “Anyway, I’m sure you can find a woman at the clubhouse to warm your bed. We were just having fun, like you told your mom.” Addie glanced quickly at Chas then looked away.

“You know what we had wasn’t causal fucking. You’re the only woman I’ve been with since I saw you at the library. And you do this shit? What the fuck?” Whirling around, he grunted at Ian. “You fuckin’ stay where you are, or I’ll beat the shit outta you.”

Addie ran over to Ian’s side and eased him onto the couch. Chas’s blood boiled as he watched the small intimacy she shared with a man other than him.
Fuck!

With a weak smile, she said, “If it doesn’t work out, I’ll come back.”

That was it. The bitch made a fool out of him, and he wasn’t going to stay around begging her to dump the hitman like some sniveling pussy-whipped asshole. If she wanted Ian, she could have him. “I don’t take leftovers. You fucked me over, and
that
I won’t forget. You both deserve each other. Fuck you!”

As he opened the door, he saw Addie’s pained eyes and Ian wiping the blood from his lip. Emotions welled up in him like a building volcano, and all the tenderness and love they shared played havoc inside him. Frustration and anger collided, making his internal volcano erupt. Pounding his fist on the door, the wood splintered and scraped against his white knuckles. Storming out, he slammed the door, causing it to groan and crack.

Running out of the apartment building, he jumped on his bike and gunned the motor as neighbors peeked out their windows to see what was making all that noise on their quiet street.

Waving his middle finger at Addie as she glimpsed out the window, he yelled, “Fuck you, bitch!” then blasted out into the cold, inky night.

On the ride to the clubhouse, Chas kept hearing Addie’s voice spewing junk about giving her marriage a chance. He couldn’t believe she admitted she loved Ian. Women could be bitches and liars, but Addie was the worst: she’d pretended to care about him and Jack, then stuck the knife in Chas’s gut and twisted away, without giving a damn.
Fuck! How could I have been so stupid? I let her in. It’s better not to care and just fuck easy pussy.

As he rounded the curve, the cold wind slapped his face with force. A thread of reason wove through all the anger and hurt coursing through him. Something wasn’t quite right. A few hours before he’d arrived at her apartment, Addie was all excited for Chas to come over and hang out. Then he arrived, and she was ready to go back to Chicago with her husband—a man she’d told him she despised. In Chas’s mind, it didn’t add up, but then most things concerning women didn’t make sense to him. In his experience, they’d say one thing then change their minds as fast as they changed their outfits. Thinking he had cut ties with bitches when he divorced Brianna, he was faced with a pain-in-the-ass situation with Addie, but this time, the hurt was deep.
Fuck all bitches.

Chas parked his Harley in the lot and entered the clubhouse. When the prospect placed a shot of Jack in front of Chas, he growled, “Bring me the whole fuckin’ bottle.”

As Chas poured his fourth shot, Axe leaned against the bar, beer in hand, and said, “Hey, bro, how’s it going?”

Chas’s forehead creased, his brows knit, and his black eyes flashed. He gripped the bottle of Jack Daniels and flung it against the white-painted concrete wall behind the bar. Glass splattered, and the brown liquid ran down the walls.

Axe took a long pull from his beer and watched the whiskey trickling down the wall. “Not so good, huh?”

“Yeah, not so fucking good,” Chas said.

*     *     *