Chapter 8
Diesel couldn’t help but stare at Viper in wonderment. At the same time, she wanted to fucking kick Rameriez’s teeth in for her suggestion. Why the fuck did Joker decide he wanted to do the whole marriage thing? Did he honestly think that would work out with him having the skank he does for a girlfriend? Granted the bitch was fucking around on him, or did he not care and thought he’d have them both on the side? Yeah, fuck that bullshit.
Diesel stood there, before slowly walking backwards to the wall near where she was standing and slid down the wall to her haunches. No one noticed her retreat back out of the fray. This isn’t what she had expected. While she knew her friends would have her back, she wasn’t expecting them to argue over what should happen to her. Did she make a mistake? Maybe she could just walk out. Not like they were truly paying attention to her right now.
“Hey! Breathe!” Viper’s soft demanding voice broke through her musings.
He was squatting down in front of her, talking to her like she was a skittish animal. Hell, maybe right now she was. Diesel looked up at Viper at his demand and had to roll her eyes when he winked at her.
“I’m fine. I just didn’t expect everyone to start fighting about what to do. I just didn’t want them caught off guard.” Diesel said quietly.
“I’m sorry, Diez. None of us meant for that to happen. You’re such a huge part of our family, we just want you to be safe. We can’t lose you!” Pratt said with force in her voice, squatting down next to Viper.
“I don’t know, what to do. I seriously thought about getting on my bike and just disappearing, but I knew if I did, you guys would hunt me down and I wouldn’t have a choice then but to tell you guys everything and risk you all hating me.”
“We’d never hate you, Diesel. We’d be hurt you didn’t trust us, but we’d never hate you.” Raso piped up from behind Pratt.
“Okay, so, well the Viper dude is correct. Joker wouldn’t be a good candidate since one he’s got a skank, even if she’s cheating on him every chance she gets, none of the other guys on Highlander’s team could do the deed because they are like brothers to her, and we don’t do the kissing cousin thing here. So…why doesn’t she just hook up with the Viper dude. He’s no longer active duty, he and his guys stay stateside and well, she’s already banged him silly, if the way she walked into the office earlier this morning was any indication, they definitely have that going for them if they need to make an appearance…”
“Um Ramz, take a breath for a second and have a drink. You literally said way too much shit in a short amount of time.” York shook her head before looking over at Diesel. “But she has a point. I mean, it’d be on paper only. Not like you have to truly act like a married couple unless we get any hits on your family or this Krieger guy in town. Is there a way to find out any of his other known associates?”
“Already on it. I sent Oz a text. He happens to be stateside currently and he’s getting what information he can for us. But I have to agree with Ramz and York. You and Viper have a chemistry that you and Joker don’t really have, Diez.” Taz walked towards the small group, squatting down on the other side of Viper. “It’ll just be until we catch them and find your daughter. Then, if things aren’t heated more and you two want to kill each other, easy peasy nice and cheesy y’all sign the dotted line and file for divorce.”
Diesel looked back over at Viper, stared into his eyes. “You don’t have to do this. I know they are trying to push…”
“If it keeps you safe, I’ll do it. You’ll have the protection of my guys as my ole lady and since these ladies are your family, by extension, they will have their protection as well, especially when their men are deployed.” Viper conceded, shrugging as he looked back at Diesel.
“I never wanted to get hitched. Isn’t there another way?” Diesel asked, looking at Pratt and the others who came nearby.
“Are we forgetting the fact the man bought an entire town in Colona, Colorado and was having his right hand lacky run the city as a drug operation. The man is getting his hands in some serious pie here.” York reminded the group of the operation they handled several months ago.
“She’s right. Cheryl, I know you didn’t, but if Viper is willing, we need to take this route. Otherwise, it’s witness protection for you.” Captain Irby huffed out, downing the rest of her drink. “You guys took some serious hits in that operation. I know you girls are tough as hell and can give any man a run for his money, but I want Diesel protected at all costs and if this is the way to make sure, then so be it. Viper, welcome to our crazy family, even if it is temporary.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Viper smiled politely at the captain before turning back to Diesel and winked.
“You call me ma’am again and as Diesel’s wedding present, I’ll castrate you. Clear?” Captain Irby said before walking away, causing the women of Alpha Squad to chuckle.
“If it makes you feel better, she’s said the same thing to Highlander and Marcus as well.” Diesel murmured when Viper looked back at her.
“I’ll take that under advisement. To answer your earlier question, yes Cheryl. I’m one hundred percent positive about it. I wouldn’t have volunteered tribute if I wasn’t.” Viper softly told Diesel as he smoothed the frown from her lips.
Diesel couldn’t respond verbally so she just nodded, smiling weakly at Viper who just winked at her, seemingly to understand she was overwhelmed at the moment. She didn’t resist when Viper pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her as he just held her, giving her his warmth and comfort.
After several minutes, she leaned back and looked over shoulder to see Jacko had walked up. “I think Jacko needs his boss for a bit. Go. I’ll be ok. I’m surrounded at the moment.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Diesel watched as Viper got up and walked over to Jacko. She smiled when Pratt pulled her forward before sitting behind her, her back against the wall before pulling Diesel to lean back against her and wrapping her arms around her in a cocoon. Raso and York joined them, each sitting on either side of them and leaning their heads on Diesel’s shoulders. She lost count how many times they’d done this with her through the years as she grieved.
“Hey Diez!” Joker said softly, walking up to the group. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Joker, you’ve said your peace. Let me ask you a few questions and I’m asking them in front of them because they know all about our times together. I have no secrets from them…well, anymore secrets.” Diesel said, the weariness obvious in her voice.
Joker hesitated for several seconds, looking between Pratt, Raso and York with slight irritation but nodded for Diesel to continue.
“Why have you never called me by my first name?” Diesel asked, watching his reaction to that question.
“What kind of question is that? Everyone calls you Diesel. We all go by our call signs…”
“No. Laura has called her husband by his name. She goes back and forth between the two. Lindsey rarely calls Marcus by his call sign, only when she’s going to crack a joke. Yeah, they all call me Diesel or Diez, but you’ve always made a face the times they have called me Cheryl. When we’ve been intimately involved, granted it was just fucking, you never once said my name, cuddled with me. You couldn’t even call me to tell me that you had a girlfriend. You sent me a text saying ‘Hey ditz, just to let you know I’ll be unable to hang out for a while. I met someone’. That’s it.”
Joker’s face scrunched up as he listened to what Diesel had to say about their friendship. “I get it, I messed up. I should have called you. But damn it, what does that biker guy know about you?”
When she felt Raso and Pratt getting ready to respond, she held a hand up to ward them off. “First, we’ve talked a bit. Yeah, we’ve bickered and annoyed the hell out of each other, but we’ve talked. He doesn’t talk shit about the fact I ride a Harley or scold me for showing up on it like you. He talks to me. He doesn’t talk down to me and he doesn’t scold me. Dean also calls me by my first name almost as much as he does my last name. He’s willing to let me continue to be me, while I have the bodyguards that I know he’s going to place on me and my team. “
Diesel reached out for Joker’s hand, who just looked down at their hands, not moving closer to her or doing anything else. “Sammy, we both knew our fuck buddy plan had a time frame. We just didn’t know when. Hell, we hadn’t even fucked in the last two months. And that was before you met the chick that you’re with now. You’ve been home and I’ve been home. It ran its course. I’ll always be your friend. I hope you’ll be the same, no matter what.”
Diesel watched Joker just stood there and stared at their hands. Without saying anything, Joker strode away, past his team leader and out of the house. Broken, exhausted and utterly wiped, Diesel turned into Pratt’s arms and cried. Her team, all of seven of them, huddled in the corner of the living room, held her, letting her cry.