And live with their own mistakes.
He blew out a breath.
The problem was, he loved his life, he loved the club, his brothers, the whole Fury family.
Yeah, Tess and him could go off on their own, but he didn’t want that. He was smart enough to realize he was living his best life right there in Manning Grove. They both were.
He also didn’t want to take her away from the only support system she ever had.
He knew her parents were fucked up and had fucked her up. It was the whole reason she showed up in Manning Grove. To finally get what she needed. To escape what she didn’t.
He couldn’t take her away from everything and everybody she had with the Fury.
He’d be stupid to think he alone could be enough for her. Leaving the Fury and taking Tessa with him would not only be a mistake for her but it would be one more in a long list of mistakes he’d made in his life.
That list hadn’t started when he was seventeen, but that was when shit began to catch speed and steamroll downhill.
He’d been at fault back then for letting his dick do his thinking. He was also at fault for the doing the same with Tessa in the beginning. He had paid then and he’d be paying this time, too.
It was Easy who was sent to prison for aggravated assault and spent every birthday after that in a concrete box until he turned twenty-one. His only saving grace was that the guy he beat with the fire poker had survived. Thank fuck, otherwise he might still be in prison.
He also wouldn’t be a part of the Blood Fury.
He wouldn’t have met Tessa.
But he was here because of what happened fourteen years ago. His past shaped his future.
Her past shaped her future, too.
They both came here and found what they’d been missing. Then they found each other when neither of them had been looking.
He glanced down at his phone. She hadn’t sent any more messages.
He jogged down the metal stairway from the dock to the paved lot and ducked behind the crematorium’s van he’d been borrowing since he wouldn’t have his own ride until his Street 750 was fixed, at least mechanically.
Being able to drive the vans during the winter, and also now that he didn’t have a sled, was one more perk of working at Tioga Pet Services.
He tapped the Call icon on the corner of her last text and it dialed her number. Pressing his phone to his ear, he hoped like fuck she was somewhere where she could talk.
With his luck, she’d be standing next to Trip.
When her voice filled his ear, a sense of relief flooded him. Maybe not relief…
He wasn’t sure what it was.
“We shouldn’t be talking. I don’t want to piss Trip off more than he already is. It’ll only make it worse for you.”
He rubbed at the ache in his chest. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle whatever your brother throws my way.”
“You shouldn’t have to. I’m going to talk to him.”
She was going to do what? “The fuck you are. Let it go, Tess. Just let happen what needs to happen. Don’t need you fightin’ my battles.”
Silence filled his ear.
He waited her out, but he was not expecting what she whispered next. “It’s my battle, too.”
Fuck.
Even with the mess they’d gotten themselves into, a mess they’d caused, that statement made him think she still wanted him as much as he wanted her. Otherwise, she could simply walk away and untangle herself from this shit show. She could easily wash her hands free of him. But she wasn’t moving on, she was digging in her heels and was ready to fight.
For them.
Right? Or was he misunderstanding this whole damn thing by interpreting her words into something he wanted to hear instead of what she actually meant?
He softened his tone because he hoped to fuck it was what he believed it to be and he wasn’t wrong. “Tell me you won’t go to Trip. Let’s just do what he wants us to do and after next week, me and you can sit down and discuss where we go from there.”
“Where do you want it to go?”
That was a question he couldn’t answer today. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to answer it after next week.
Yeah, he knew what he wanted. He knew what he needed to do, but…
But…
For fuck’s sake, there was always a goddamn but.
And this “but’s” name was Trip.
Chapter Sixteen
“Tess, promise we’ll talk next week. After.”
After.
She pressed fingers to her lower belly.
After.
After he met The Punisher. After she had her appointment with Carly Bryson.
Both worried her equally.
However, the difference between the two was that the time he’d need to heal from the blanket party would be a lot shorter than the time having to deal with a baby. The first would only last hopefully no more than a week or two, if he was lucky. The second would last…