Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
TYLER
The next two weeks dragged. I was grateful for some of the studying I’d been doing over the past few weeks or I would’ve been screwed.
A lot of the questions from each class had been on previous homework, so I understood them since Rory or the guys had read them out loud to me and explained them in different ways.
I hated feeling stupid when I couldn’t understand what was being asked of me, but I felt pretty good by the end of midterms with what I’d done.
Rory had spent a lot of evenings studying, so all of us ended up around the table together to study too. Josie had been pleasantly surprised, staying out of our way to avoid distracting us.
She was probably just happy Rory was home and not out fighting.
We’d all spent time with our college applications too, other than Rory who insisted she wasn’t going, so that hadn’t helped our stress levels. None of us wanted to leave Ashburn Valley, but that meant going to the local college.
It wasn’t like we needed a fancy college like Harvard to open doors for us, our names alone would get us anything we wanted.
The day Rory took off from school to find out about Gunther’s murder, she’d spent the night at Slash’s and begged me to bring her uniform to her the next morning.
Nothing had prepared me to see her black eye and split eyebrow, and for a second, I silently questioned if she’d been hurt by one of the Psychos for showing up unannounced and flipping out about Gunther.
She claimed to have been fighting at the Shed to purge her mood, and it made sense. The damage just seemed worse than usual, but there was no way Skeeter would’ve let someone hurt her.
The others weren’t happy about her fighting, but they left her alone about it, especially when she mentioned running into Max.
It had been two weeks, so the bruises were fading, but they were still noticeable.
We’d thrown our mid-year party as usual to end the week of stressful exams, and I hadn’t thought anyone would notice that I’d left early and gone to bed at my house, but I woke up just before midnight to find Rory asleep beside me.
I had no idea when she’d snuck in, but I wasn’t mad about it.
It was almost lunchtime when we emerged from the bed for food, and I loved how she automatically sat on my lap at the table as we had coffee. She sensed something was wrong last night, but she was respecting my privacy enough not to ask.
Her being here meant everything to me, and it made me feel stupid for how I’d felt last night.
In a room full of people, I’d watched her dancing with Jensen and felt so fucking lonely. Jealousy was a bitch, and instead of letting her know I wanted to dance with her too, I sulked about it and went home.
I heard the front door open and glanced over my shoulder to find Slash and Diesel walking in, and I honestly had zero idea how Slash and Rory had been sneaking around unnoticed. He was eyeing her like she was the best thing he’d ever laid eyes on, and Diesel somehow didn’t notice.
He seemed lost in his own head. Something was off about him today. I was pretty sure he was avoiding us all since he didn’t even attend our party last night, leaving the drug selling to Slash and Brick.
Skeeter had also been absent, so I assumed they might have been on a job together or they were dealing with stuff to do with the Soldiers since we really hadn’t seen Skeeter the past couple of weeks either.
“How’d you get in?” Rory asked with a sigh, scowling as Slash ruffled her hair on his way past and dropped into a chair.
“Unlike some people, Ty’s nice to me and gave me a key,” he answered, looking right at me. “You busy today?”
“Yes,” I replied as I sipped my coffee.
“Then get unbusy. You’re with me today.”
“Doing what?”
“You’ll see,” he shrugged, and Rory scoffed.
“I suppose I’m not invited?”
“Nope. You’re busy with D,” he said as Diesel stepped closer.
From the way he was looking at her now, I knew something had definitely happened. He looked riddled with guilt.
“I was hoping we could go somewhere and talk,” he said as he cleared his throat, making her frown.
“We can talk here.”
He shook his head, his eyes cast down. “It’s Sasha’s birthday. I kind of hoped you’d want to come with me to see her.”
Rory’s expression completely softened, and I knew she was going to go with him now without a second thought. The selfish part of me hated that I wasn’t getting the whole day with her, but I liked Diesel, and I was glad he had some company today while he grieved.
“Go,” I said before she could ask me, giving her a kiss on the neck. “My prince needs me anyway. He’s so needy, I apologize.”
Rory smirked, and Slash gave me a dirty look as he put his shoes up on the table and lit a cigarette, making himself at home.
“One of these days, your mouth will get you in trouble, Johnson.”
“Aw, don’t be like that. We all know you love brats,” I teased, his attention flicking to Rory.
Diesel frowned as he watched them, and I swatted Rory’s ass to get her to stand, needing to take Diesel’s attention off them.
“Go get ready so you and Diesel can head off. Daylight’s wasting. Right, dude?” I asked Slash, a loud sigh of annoyance leaving him.
“Something like that. Hurry up, Killer. D’s usually talking to Sasha by now, you’re holding him up.”
“She’s fine,” Diesel said tightly, but Rory waved it off.
“I’ll be quick,” she promised as she headed upstairs to my bedroom to get ready, and Diesel sat to wait for her.
“I’m glad you have her today,” I said carefully, making Diesel look at me. “But if you’re not focused and something happens to her—”
“You’ve lived a cushy life and never had to worry about the dangers of the world, so don’t fucking insult me by telling me how to watch our backs.
I spend every day of my life looking over my damn shoulder.
If I thought she was in danger today, I wouldn’t be here,” he said sharply, anger burning in his eyes.
“Last time—”
“Shut your mouth before I shut it for you,” Slash grunted, motioning to Diesel.
“Anyone in his position last time would've had the same outcome. We like to think we can take on a whole crew alone, but we can’t. That ambush could’ve happened to any of us.
I know you want to keep her sheltered from the bad shit in the world, I do too, but that girl is a force to be reckoned with.
D will be distracted today, which is why I told him he has to take Rory to be his eyes. ”
Shame coated Diesel’s expression as he looked away, and I glared at Slash.
“You’re sending her with him when you know he can’t keep her safe?”
“No. I’m sending her with him to fucking keep him safe. Believe it or not, but she can handle herself. She can spot danger, and he can deal with it alongside her.”
“She’s—”
“She’s one of us, Ty,” he bit out, seeming to surprise Diesel, but he didn’t interrupt.
“She’s a street rat, just like us. You run into trouble, you call the cops.
When we run into trouble? We fucking handle it.
She’s good fucking company for Diesel today, and I think it would be good for him to share stories about Sasha with her while she keeps an eye out for him. ”
“Can’t we go too? We can just sit in the fucking car to watch out for them,” I argued, pushing my now empty coffee cup away.
“No. You’re a pyro, right? You want to burn down a house without getting arrested?”
“What the fuck are you doing?” Diesel asked bluntly, apparently having no idea what Slash’s plan had been, but having an idea on what it was about.
“He can let it out of his system. We need to handle it, D. This is a good idea,” Slash answered with a no-nonsense tone.
“It’s crew business. You really want him involved?”
“Time-out,” I said as I crossed my arms, flicking my gaze between them. “Whose house are we burning?”
“Liam’s,” Slash shrugged. “Rory expressed concern about any evidence being left behind from murdering him. I told her I’d burn it down.”
“Why do you need me?” Suspicion clawed at my insides, but he just chuckled, giving me an amused smile.
“Oh, I don’t need you. I figured you’d need me though.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Who do you think dropped Rory off here last night because you snuck off and didn’t think anyone would notice?
You had a raincloud over you all night, and you were having a pity party.
So, cheer up. We’ll go burn shit and make you feel better.
Just don’t tell Donovan or the guys,” he winked, just as I heard Rory's footsteps coming back down the stairs.
She walked in and slowed her steps, obviously sensing something in the air. “Everything okay?”
Slash watched me silently, waiting for my response, and he relaxed when I nodded.
“Yeah, babe. Be careful today,” I answered, standing and giving her a kiss before turning to Diesel. “You too.”
He didn’t say anything as he also got to his feet, mumbling for Rory to follow him out to his truck.
Once they were gone, I sighed. “We’re just burning this place down in broad daylight?”
“No. We’ll spend the afternoon getting organized then deal with it after dark. I wanted to get you before you got drunk or you’d end up setting yourself and me on fire in the process," Slash said unapologetically.
“Understandable.”
Slash
“Planning kind of takes the fun away,” Tyler grumbled from the passenger seat of the beat-up 2010 Toyota Corolla I’d decided to use, not wanting my Mustang or his BMW seen in the area.
“In this business, you always need a plan,” I explained patiently, parking a few blocks over from Liam’s house.
It was getting dark, the chilly evening air starting to hit. It was only the first week of November, but winter was definitely coming early this year with the sudden temperature drop.
“There’s such a thing as a professional pyro?” he joked, glancing over at me as I switched off the engine.
“Yes.”
“You mean I could do this every day and get fucking paid for it?”