Chapter 29 – Grey #2
AJ stood on her tiptoes, peering around into the kitchen, where a group of Saints chatted, beers in hand, weapons at the ready.
No one would be getting drunk tonight, but the potential threat wouldn’t stop them from enjoying themselves.
It was the one time a year Dies would have a drink with them, continuing the tradition his wife started of inviting the whole gang over for a birthday potluck each year.
“Is that Drake?”
“Yeah.”
“I wanted to talk to him.”
He looked like he was going out the back. “He’s probably gone for a piss. Wait till he gets back.”
She snuck a look at me, reading my suggestion for what it really was. A plea for her not to go off alone with him.
He was a handsome guy. I hated to fucking admit it, but it was true. And Rook was right. AJ did seem… interested.
I didn’t know whether I wanted to slit his throat or roast him over a fire. I might wind up having to do both. It didn’t matter if she’d already told me she intended to ask him about her father’s death. That conversation could easily go sideways.
Ava Jade chuckled to herself, walking to the couch. She jerked her head at the King next to Becca. “Move,” she said, and he ambled to his feet, giving up his seat for her.
She made no secret of being uncomfortable with the fact that Dies and Maverick seemed content to believe she’d just scared that creepy fucker, Aries, off. I mean, okay, she was scary, but only if you’ve done something to piss her off.
Or, maybe she was scary all the time. Judging by the way the other Kings looked at her, I was starting to think we’d just become immune to her.
She set the box down on her lap just as Diesel was about to start into the story anew.
“What’s that?” he asked instead, taking a drag of his cigar.
AJ clenched her teeth. “I wasn’t told about the no gifts rule.”
“No shit?”
“Nope,” AJ confirmed, her lips popping on the ‘p.’
Diesel glared down at the box like it personally offended him, but Rook jabbed him with an elbow, and he cleared his throat. “Well let’s open it then, shall we?”
AJ set it on the small ottoman in front of her and kicked it closer to him, nearly making the box topple to the carpet.
Her forefinger spun the dented silver ring on her thumb, the one Rook gave her.
It’d become something of a nervous habit over the past few weeks.
Not for the first time, I told myself I’d get her one, too.
Something with a stone the color of her eyes. That actually fit her.
She should have one from each of us.
Diesel bent to ditch his cigar in an ashtray on the coffee table he’d pushed against the entertainment unit and lifted the box. He was still a bit unsteady on his leg, but was doing a good job of concealing it.
It pained me to know that he would likely use a cane in private for the rest of his life. It was a hard lesson learned for everyone, but sometimes lessons needed to leave scars to remind us not to repeat old mistakes.
Diesel pulled out a switchblade and carved through the tape on top of the box before re-pocketing it. He pulled out the item inside, letting the cardboard fall to the floor at his feet.
The conversation around us died the instant he held the leather jacket up to the light, his expression hardening.
Fuck .
Rook cursed under his breath and Corvus silently pinched the bridge of his nose.
“ What? ” AJ asked, glaring around at all the Saints watching Diesel carefully for a reaction.
We should’ve fucking told her.
I didn’t think she’d get him a goddamned gift, though.
Why would she need to know that the beat up leather jacket Diesel wore was the last gift he ever received from his late wife?
No matter that it was falling apart. That he’d paid seamstress after seamstress to repair it despite them telling him it was a lost cause or the fact that he wouldn’t agree to replace the lining or any part of it no matter the extent of the damage.
To AJ’s credit, it was a nice fucking jacket.
She’d likely paid at least a grand for it.
And it looked to be Diesel’s exact size.
Thicker through the shoulders with additional leather and hand-stitched elbow patches.
A muted matte black that seemed to absorb all light with a gunmetal silver zipper wider than my thumb, the pull tab custom fashioned into the Saint symbol.
Diesel lowered the jacket, laying it over the ottoman in front of him with a carefully crafted blank expression. “Was there something wrong with my jacket?” he asked AJ.
“ Dies ,” I tried. “She didn’t know.”
He held a hand up to silence me. “Answer the question.”
Getting angry now with all the eyes on her, AJ lifted her chin, and I winced inwardly. “Not if you like the hobo-chic look.”
Diesel turned his ire on me. “I think it’s time for you boys to go,” he said, and his stare brokered no argument. “Your Docks need manning.”
He whistled sharply. “Axel, Crowley, Derrik. You’re with them. Pack up. Get out.”
AJ, skin bristling, stood from the couch, eyeing the jacket like she might take it back but ultimately thinking better of it. She hauled Becca to her feet with her. I guessed we weren’t going to be having that chat with Diesel about AJ’s stalker problem tonight after all.
“Come on, Becks,” AJ said, her face red as she pulled Becca from the room.
Corvus whispered something to Dies, and our father clenched his jaw, but made no reply as Corvus stepped away, dropping his head instead.
“Later, Dies,” I said halfheartedly, and he gave me a nod, clapping Rook on his back as we all left, some of the fire gone out of him at whatever Corvus had said.
“What did you say to him?” I asked as we moved to follow the girls back out onto the street. We’d barely lasted fifteen minutes in there. To be fair, it was ten minutes longer than I thought we’d last with AJ and Becca in tow.
“I told him that Jacqueline would’ve liked Ava Jade, and he knows it… and that he really needs a new fucking jacket.”
I snorted. My brother wasn’t wrong.
From what we knew, Ava Jade was just a younger version of Diesel’s previous wife. Strong, with a spine sturdier than a roman column and sass for fucking days.
“What the shit was that all about?” AJ demanded, tearing open the door of the Rover a millisecond after I unlocked it.
“That shitty jacket he wears,” Rook said, sliding in beside her. “It was the last thing his wife ever bought him.”
“And no one fucking told me?”
“We didn’t exactly expect you to get him a gift,” I replied, reaffirming what we were all thinking.
“It’s his birthday . That’s what you do.”
“Even for people who once tried to have you killed?” Rook asked, cocking his head as I started the ignition.
“If they also happen to be the father of the three guys you’re fucking, then yeah. Even then.”
She grumbled wordlessly to herself while Becca pressed her lips together to keep from laughing, a blush on her cheeks.
“Oh, Ghost,” Rook joked, tugging her in against his side despite her protests. “You’re nicer than I thought you were.”
“Don’t make me fucking stab you, Rook. Let me go.”
She extricated herself from him, her glare sharper than her words.
He lifted a hand in mock surrender, digging into his right pocket for his blade to hold it out to her. “Don’t make promises you aren’t going to keep.”
She rolled her eyes at him and sank back into her seat, simmering in her frustration with arms crossed over her chest.
“I bet you he wears the jacket by Christmas,” I said, turning on the radio as I pulled out onto the road, waiting for Axel and the others to pull up behind us before leaving.
“Or he’ll use it for kindling in tonight’s bonfire,” Rook said, and I sent him a look in the rearview.
What the fuck, man?
He shrugged. “What? It’s the truth.”