Chapter 39 – Rebel #3
“Life’s short,” she said again. The encounter with Tio only reinforced that idea.
He was still healing, so she probably would’ve gotten the upper hand.
But he wouldn’t always be injured. She would tell CJ what happened later.
“I forgive you, Harley. Not just for now because of what happened, but completely. Don’t hurt me, CJ, or Uncle Mort like that ever again. ”
“I hurt everyone.”
“Even then, you were our family, Harley,” Mattie told her, leaning forward and peeping around Rebel. “No matter what, when you need us, we will be there.”
“Yeah, no,” Rebel said. There was only so much charity in her heart. “If you treat me just a fraction of the way you had, I won’t be there for you ever again.”
“Reb—”
“Not listening, Matt,” Rebel interrupted.
“I understand,” Harley said quietly. “So, what…where do we go from here? Where we left off.”
“That would probably get us right back to where we ended up,” Rebel told her, all her joy gone thanks to Tio. She needed someone to make him leave her alone.
He’d seen her videos and...So what? She’d take a moment to herself before she went inside and cry, then pretend nothing happened.
Rebel was certain she wouldn’t have to deal with Tio with so many people around. Nope, this wasn’t about her. Mattie and Harley were the real victims. Their sense of safety was probably non-existent, and he’d just given them a major setback.
She pulled out her phone and fired off a text to Diesel.
I need to talk to you. Alone.
She wanted that point clear, so neither Tabitha nor Jana tagged along.
“Let’s start from here,” she suggested, wondering if she really had enough power over Diesel to make him drop everything and come running with such a cryptic statement, especially with the way things ended between them earlier.
“We’ll be so much better than before. We’ll hang out and go to cheer practice and just get to know our new selves. ”
“Maybe, Mama and Aunt Meggie can invite Aunt Bailey out to lunch and smooth things over, too.”
Harley shrugged. “Maybe.”
“What, Rebel?”
Diesel’s voice rose behind her and she froze.
Question answered.
“Uh, Mattie, tell Momma to check in with Aunt Kendall,” she said, standing and dusting off the backside of her jeans. “You two have to come over after school tomorrow for an evening in the—”
“I don’t have all fucking night,” Diesel snapped. “Or did you send that text just to fuck with me?”
“No,” she said, waving to Mattie and Harley. “I’ll be inside in a few minutes.”
Her cousins stood and also dusted off their backsides. They looked hesitantly between her and Diesel.
“It’s fine,” Rebel promised.
They group hugged again, then Harley and Mattie skirted past Diesel without speaking.
“What do you want?” he asked irritably. “Is it to forgive me?”
“Nope,” she said cheerfully.
He started to turn.
“No, wait,” she cried, rushing to him and grabbing his wrist.
She was tall for a girl, but he was still so much taller than her. The look in his gray eyes intrigued her, although she knew she was playing with fire. Aside from all his other bad behavior, he’d also allowed Jana to confront her. He hadn’t seemed particularly surprised.
She licked her lips and flushed when his gaze dropped to them. Still gripping his wrist, she felt his pulse speed up, pounding underneath her fingertips.
He tucked some of her hair behind her ear. “What, sweetheart?”
She hated to break the moment between them, but then Kaia rose in her head. Heaving in a breath, she released his wrist and stepped back. “I need you to talk to Tio.”
Surprise crossed his face, and disappointment too, before his eyes narrowed. “What did he do? Did he touch you?”
“Diesel, listen to me.” She placed her palms on his hard chest and her belly tightened, kind of like when she touched… Heat rose in her cheeks, her face flaming. Had Tio seen one of those videos of her?
“Motherfucker,” he snarled, mistaking her reaction.
“Wait, it isn’t what you think.” It was bad, but not that bad. “You can’t go in there like a fucking bull ready to gore him. The peace agreement, remember?”
He clamped his fingers around her wrists. “You have two fucking seconds to tell me.”
“First, Easton…you should thank him,” she started, refusing to show how nervous his anger had her. “He, uh, he talked him down.” He growled and she winced. She was fucking up so bad. “Uh, convinced him to leave.”
Instead of keeping him in suspense because he was unhinging right in front of her fucking eyes, she told him some of what happened.
It didn’t help the flaming fucking inferno she saw building inside of him, and on the verge of exploding.
If she told him Tio had seen her videos, he’d go inside with guns blazing.
“You can’t kill him.” Unfortunately. “I just want you to warn him away from us, especially Mattie and Harley.” She wouldn’t have minded a little protection herself, but she needed to talk Diesel down. “I can handle myself.”
Not. If Rule’s attack had taught her anything, it was that a lot of guys were just stronger than her. He knocked her the fuck out and then got her into the pool, when she had to have been deadweight.
“He shouldn’t have said a motherfucking thing to you, Rebel.”
“I was sitting on his fucking porch. I guess he thought he had a right.”
Diesel released her and shoved his fingers through his hair. “And I beg to differ. You think you can handle yourself. Motherfuckers like that are uncontrollable menaces.”
“Just ask him to stay away, especially from Mattie and Harley. They’ve had it way worse than me.”
“His death will be much simpler.”
“It won’t be. It’ll jeopardize everything. Aren’t you looking forward to peace and the way things were up until a year ago?”
“Not at your expense. I’m sure Uncle Christopher would feel the same way.”
“Yeah, but Uncle Johnnie wouldn’t. He’d use this to vote Daddy out, and then what’ll happen?
” Rebel already knew because she understood club life, more than anyone gave her credit for.
“Death. Death and destruction will happen. If we’re lucky, it’ll be Uncle Johnnie and his friends, but what if it isn’t?
What if it’s our uncles and cousins? Daddy and CJ? What if it’s you?” she whispered.
He was silent for a moment, then took her face between his hands. “Would my death matter to you so much?”
She nodded.
“Then you forgive me.”
“No.”
He laughed. “You’re a little fucking menace yourself.”
“And you’re still a fucking psycho.”
Smiling, he dropped his hands. “I’ll give him a warning this fucking time. For you, but if that motherfucker breathes your way again, he’s fucking dead.”