TRAILING TRISHA - A Black Hounds Motorcycle Club Romance (The Fox and the Hounds Book #2) (14 page)

“It fits their MO,” he said grimly. “Those bastards would pick stray dogs off the street just to gut them, skin them, and deliver them straight to our door. We did the world a favor by getting rid of those monsters.”

She shared a look of disgust with him. “What is this guy after? If he wanted to ruin us, he could probably do it by now. I checked the news before we left and the only thing people are taking about is how well our skin tans compared to the paparazzi following us!”

Dante continued. “Who would win from this?”

Trisha raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were certain it was the Red Aztecs.”

“It’s their signature… but the writing is off,” he said, stroking his chin. Most of what he knew came from the older members of the club but he knew something wasn’t right. “The Red Aztecs weren’t ones to fool around when they had someone dead to rights. This… is too smart for them. It’s like them to twist the knife when they can just push it in.”

The young woman beside him sighed. “Then who could it be? We can’t go around asking everyone we know to take loyalty oaths. That’s insane.”

The two sat in silence. Half of it was the sight of the incoming sunrise. The other was quiet contemplation of the uncertain future ahead of them.

He thought about who else could be after them. Some Red Aztec psychopath wouldn’t go through this much trouble. The people that knew about the contract were either trusted or vetted. Sam Maynard was a bulldog of journalist but he wasn’t a muckraker. Mr. Brown had been his family’s friend for years. Uncle Cass thought about the whole scheme in the first place. Lucia would never betray him. There was no point second guessing his only remaining family.

Dante glanced in the car’s mirror and saw Trisha reflect in it. It made him realize that the two of them were soon to be a married couple. Fake marriage or not, Dante’s father had raised him to always put his family before himself. His job was to protect his woman and keep her happy… even at his own cost.

He looked at the woman he loved with sadness in his eyes. “I fucked up, Trisha.”

He repeated his words, chocking on each syllable. “I-I fucked up. I keep putting myself over everyone else.”

Trisha shook her head. “Don’t say that, Dante.”

“I been avoiding responsibility all my life,” he said, placing his head in his hand. “I never wanted to be my dad’s successor. I never wanted to be some big shot CEO. I let my sister take care of those responsibilities. I’ve… just been running away. Maybe this is the universe’s sick idea of getting back at me. I just don’t want you to die for my sins-”

“Shut the fuck up and listen to me!” Trisha shouted, her voice scaring both of them. “You’re the nicest, kindest man I’ve ever met. But you can’t go down without a fight. Pull yourself together because everyone’s counting on you. If you can’t be responsible for yourself, then act responsible for me. I sure as hell can’t act as your wife for the next six damn month if you keep acting like this!”

For a second there was silence. Trisha wondered if she had gone too far and violated some obscure clause in their contract. Then, he let out a laugh.

It was the purest, most joyous laughter she had heard from him. Gripping his chest, Dante stopped to catch his breath and said. “Sorry, you sounded like my late mother. I guess I needed someone to chew me out. Lucia doesn’t quite do the job. Ha-ha!”

A small smile appeared on her face. “Stop laughing! It’s infectious.”

“Sorry,” he apologized again, placing a hand on her lap. “Mom always said that any woman willing to call you out for being a dumbass is worth marrying.”

Trisha wanted to laugh with him. The man didn’t know just how he made her feel. It wasn’t the money, nice dresses, or fancy cars. In his arms, she felt needed instead of an orphan going through life without a direction. “She’s a wise woman but I’m a simple country bumpkin who is way out of her depth.”

Dante seemed contemplative about her statement. He took his hand off her leg. “Trisha, are you sorry you ever met the Black Hounds? Are you sorry you met me?”

Her eyes widened in surprise. She paused for a moment before answering. “No, of course not. I mean, sure, it’s been scary at times but-”

“But what it is scary for you exactly?”

“Please don’t get upset at me about this,” she began with him nodding his head in approval. “There’s this… quiet anger in you Dante. I see it sometimes. Whenever we talk to the media… it flashes. Back in the hotel… it looked like you’d kill someone.”

Dante gave her his signature smile and waved it off. “I don’t know how someone’s supposed to react to getting threatened. Send them a fruit basket with a ‘sorry’ note?”

Trisha didn’t return his smile. “Dante, don’t be upset with me… but I’ve heard stories about you and the Black Hounds. They started popping up on the internet when we went public with the relationship. I never believed them. I’ve kept thinking of you as a good, honest man who is doing his best to look out for me. But what happened in that hotel, I couldn’t help but start to believe in them.”

His eyes became downcast. The young man knew where this was going. “What did you hear, Trisha?”

His voice was barely above you whisper. “That you’re a violent man. That your family has been a line of psychopaths that enjoy hurting people. That you nearly killed that man when you were a kid. It took two grown men to take you off of him when he was beaten half dead.”

Tears swelled in her eyes. She felt guilt bringing up these charges against the man she loved. However, Dante looked nonplussed at the accusation. “So that’s what you’ve heard.”

“Well, are they true or not?”

He sat back and looked out the window to the empty desert outside. The man was delaying his answer more than he was coming up with an excuse. “What you’ve heard is technically true. Yes, I attacked a member of the Red Aztecs. I was brought in by the police and sent to juvenile hall. No formal charges were thrown against me since I was a minor and the man I attacked had violated his parole. I did the crime and I did my time. End of story.”

Trisha glared at him for speaking like a lawyer. “That’s not an answer.”

“What are you? Judge, jury, and executioner?”

“I’m your wife,” she said, believing the statement for the first time. “Back in the hotel, I’ve seen wild dogs less dangerous than you. I can’t ignore this side of you any longer. I want to know what kind of man I’m with.”

He pointed outside to the empty desert landscape. “You couldn’t have picked a better place to spring this up!”

“Dante, please tell me.”

The young man rubbed his eyes before speaking. “Trisha, suppose your family was in danger. Would you fight to protect them?”

“But no one was in danger. You were a kid-“

“Trisha, the Red Aztecs had it out for us before I was even born. They killed my Uncle Samwise because his sister had the indecency of marrying into us. You think that fox back there had a bad day? These monsters skin their people alive, chop up their bodies, and mail it back to the victim’s loved ones. And now they’re back and targeting us. So forgive me if I want to prevent the same thing from happening to everyone I care about.”

She looked away and stared into the desert. “I guess I got my answer.”

“If you’re asking if I’m willing to take another life, then yes I am. If you’re asking if I’ll do it in the near future, then I’ll know the minute it happens and no sooner than that. So you got your answer.”

“Is it just a game to you? Like racing in the streets?”

Dante shook his head. “You think I want to fight for fun? Against the Red Aztecs, there are no rules, judges, or referees. There’s no police arriving at the right moment to save the day. People die fighting against them. I don’t plan on losing against people like them. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep us safe. If I have to be a wild dog, I’ll be the wild dog if it means keeping you safe.”

“Thank you,” she said bitterly, looking straight ahead at the incoming sunrise. “I finished what we came here to do. Let’s do home.”

It was a silent and long ride through the desert. Whether on a bike or a car, Dante usually loved to ride through the desert. He loved the desolate yet somber landscape. As a child, he would often hike the desert on foot to the chagrin of his mother.

Now, it felt like torture.

Trisha didn’t even bother to look at him. Yet, he could tell she was crying. The woman muffled her whimpering so as to not draw attention to herself. A desert sunrise was said to be a beautiful sight but the mood in the car was that of a funeral procession. Dante wanted a drink to drown all of his sorrows.

The young man wasn’t sure what it would be like when they reached civilization. He wasn’t sure whether or not Trisha would leave him and end the whole charade. It would be a fairly unusual breakup given the circumstances.

Nonetheless, he worried more about how the farm girl would think of him. He had never given much mind to what women thought of him. For years, Dante had been perfectly fine being the shallow playboy who was good for a one night stand and nothing else.

The mere thought of Trisha hating him tore through his heart. He’d pay whatever penance was needed to get back into her good graces. He’d sleep on the couch for a week. He’d even work the field and plant cabbages. He didn’t have a green thumb but he’d find one for Trisha’s sake.

Dante remembered that his parent’s marriage wasn’t perfect. His father was never one to do household chores which raised the ire of his mother. His mother was strict with Lucia and him while his father let them have fun when they should be studying.

One day, his father and Uncle Cass brought an antique motorcycle from World War II. They turned it up with a modern engine and gave it a test ride. Unfortunately, the old frame couldn’t handle all of that power. His father would’ve died if the motorcycle hadn’t bucked him before crashing straight into the underpass of a highway. His mother was absolutely furious at them. She made her father sleep in the living room for the next few days. Despite all of this, they made their marriage work.

That’s when Dante heard a strange noise coming from the car and stopped the car. Trisha spoke to him in what felt like the first time in ages. “Dante, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” he answered, unlocking the door. It didn’t sound like engine problems. “I’ll take a look.”