Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
DIESEL
Iwanted to hate Slash for making me bring Rory to see Sasha, but at the same time, I was happy to get to introduce them.
I wasn’t crazy, I knew Sasha was gone, but it always helped to sit at her grave and talk to her like she’d never left. I’d update her on my day, tell her things that the guys had been up to, and it healed a little piece of me at times when I really needed it.
Rory hadn’t said a word since she climbed into my truck, obviously waiting me out.
Looking at her was hard, knowing the bruises on her face were my fault. I was still angry with her for showing up in enemy territory, but I was more angry with myself for forgetting that she was a reckless teenager with anger issues.
“How were midterms?” I finally asked lamely, sensing her eyes flick to me as I kept my attention straight forward.
“I think I did okay. My brain is kind of mush now from all the cramming we did.”
“I’m not surprised. You’ve been busy.”
“I’m sorry,” she blurted out after a moment of silence, my attention sliding to her briefly. “I didn’t think about you getting in trouble for telling me where Skeet was. I was just so—”
“I’m not mad about getting in trouble, Donovan. I’m mad that you put yourself in danger like that. Part of me is glad that you and Sasha could never meet because you’d get into all kinds of shit together,” I snorted.
“She sounded like fun.”
“She was,” I said with a small smile, watching the road ahead.
“Everything was bright when she was around. She pulled me back from that dark place every time I started to struggle, and it was the little things I loved about her, like when she made me a birthday cake for my fourteenth birthday. I’d never had a birthday cake before. ”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I don’t think she ever knew how much that damn cake meant to me,” I mumbled, emotion clogging my throat.
“Hey, can we stop at the grocery store?” she asked, making me frown.
“Sure. Why?”
“Sasha can’t have a birthday without cake,” she answered with a grin. “I’ll run in and grab one or some cupcakes.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to. What kind of cake did she like?”
“Red velvet. We used to joke about her liking fancy shit,” I chuckled lightly, turning into the parking lot and switching off the engine.
I wasn’t going to let her wander inside alone, so I unbuckled my seat belt and locked the truck, keeping my eyes on our surroundings as we headed inside.
Rory found some red velvet cupcakes, my stupid heart squeezing when she insisted on getting some candles too. She barely knew me but she was making sure my girl had the best birthday possible.
I was so glad Skeeter had found her because he needed a woman like that in his life. One that bought birthday cake and listened to his problems.
Having her as my friend was just a bonus.
We were heading back to the truck when I noticed Marco and Hunter’s bikes parked beside it with them sitting there waiting for us, my hand reaching behind me for my gun.
“No need for that,” Hunter said dryly, his eyes on Rory for a moment before flicking to the cupcakes. “Tell her I said happy birthday.”
“You remembered?” I asked before I could stop myself, making him shrug.
“Of course we do. She was family.”
“So was Skeet, but that didn’t stop you from trying to kill him,” I bit back, eyeing Rory as she acted like they weren’t there. She walked right beside them to open the truck door, placing the cupcakes and candles inside before hauling herself in to wait.
Marco was now glaring at her like they had beef, and I moved to lean against the door, blocking them from possibly yanking it open to drag her out.
“What do you fucking want?” I asked impatiently, and Marco motioned to Rory.
“Let the little bitch out. I need to have words with her.”
“Don’t call her that, and no. There’s no need for you to speak to her. She obviously doesn’t want to speak to you,” I threw back, making him scoff.
“She’s probably too scared to. She knows I’m going to strangle that scrawny little throat when I get my hands—”
“Mark,” Hunter said flatly, pulling him into line as he also kept his attention on Rory.
“I’m not giving her a free pass, man. Hey, Princess. Get out here,” he snarled, an uneasy feeling starting in my stomach.
“Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?” I asked slowly, not daring to take my eyes off them in case they did something.
Marco laughed, the sound sinister and violent. “You know exactly why I want her out here.”
“No, I don’t. Enlighten me.”
He finally looked at me, amusement flashing across his face. “They didn’t tell you? You guys are all so full of secrets and lies.”
“Tell me what?” I snapped, getting annoyed.
“That pain in the ass showed up at Hunter’s a couple of weeks ago and shot at him. She kicked me in the fucking face when I was knocked out too.”
I spun around to stare at Rory through the window, finding her looking back at me with a blank look.
“You went to fucking Hunter’s? How do you even know where he lives?” I asked in disbelief.
“Slash was with her,” Marco replied. “You know he’s fucking her behind Skeet’s back, right? You’re worried about us, but you’re all a bunch of snakes stabbing each other in the back.”
“No, he’s not,” I scoffed.
“They’re always together. You fuckers are blind,” Hunter muttered, leaning back on his bike as if to get comfortable. “Why wouldn’t he keep a secret like that? It’s not like he told you they came and took shots at me and risked a crew war breaking out.”
I stumbled as Rory shoved the door open and climbed out, my arm shooting out around her to haul her back as she went to shove Hunter.
“You’re the ones that keep breaking into my fucking house and starting trouble with me. This has nothing to do with the crew. My issue with you trying to ambush Skeet and D that day wasn’t about crew retaliation either, it was personal,” she growled, fighting against my hold.
“Let her come at me,” Marco smirked, standing and motioning for her to come closer.
“I’m going to gut you like a—”
“Both of you, stop it,” Hunter sighed like they were naughty children, grabbing his helmet and putting it on before flipping up the visor to look at me.
“I’m the last person you have to worry about with her.
If I wanted her dead, she wouldn’t have left my house that night.
I didn’t know she was with you today. I saw your truck and just wanted to wish Sasha a happy birthday. My beef is with Skeet, not you.”
Rory’s struggling slowed as my grip loosened, my voice low. “You don’t get to pretend to give a shit. Not now.”
“If I could ask for anything in the world, it would be to bring her back to you. She was a good person, and no one should go through what she did. I really am sorry you lost her, man,” he murmured, looking at Rory next when I couldn’t form words.
“Next time you’re riding Slash’s dick, tell him I need to talk to him. ”
“Bite me, Rivera,” she said bluntly before shaking me off and getting back in the truck, turning her body away from the window once she’d locked the door.
“We need to figure out why the Soldiers are in town. Surely we can agree on that,” Hunter grumbled to me, and I rolled my eyes.
“If you think for a second we’ll sit down and plot against them with you, you have another thing coming. I need to go. I’m not wasting today with you,” I stated before walking around to the driver’s door and climbing inside, slamming it and leaving before they got the idea to follow us.
Rory didn’t speak the rest of the drive, not even when we arrived and started walking towards Sasha’s gravestone. My chest was tight, the familiar feeling of grief washing over me like it did every time I came here.
“Hey, baby,” I said softly as I stopped at her headstone and placed the bag I’d brought with me beside it. “Brought Rory to meet you. She got cupcakes for us so it’s like a party.”
Words failed me after that, my throat closing up as I fought to contain myself. I jerked a little in surprise when Rory spoke, glancing over to see her sitting beside the grave as she put a candle in a cupcake.
“Hey, Sasha. D’s told me a lot about you. Happy twenty-fourth birthday.” She said it like it was a regular thing to just hang out at a grave and have a conversation with the dead, placing the cupcake on the grave to light it. “Make sure you make a wish. It should still come true wherever you are.”
I lowered myself to the ground as Rory passed me a cupcake, a grin on her face as the breeze blew the candle out on Sasha’s. I knew it was the wind, but part of me believed it was Sasha.
“What do you think she wished for?” I asked quietly, picking at the cupcake in my hand.
“Probably for you to be happy,” she said without missing a beat.
“I don’t know how to do that without her.”
“Tell me some stories. What did you used to do together on her birthday?”
“When we were younger, we’d hang out at the park and I’d pick flowers for her.
Took her to the movie theater a couple of times when I had the money.
The last birthday I got to spend with her, I’d just bought my cabin.
I made her breakfast in bed, picked roses out of the garden, and spent the entire day at home with her, laughing at corny movies,” I chuckled, wiping at a stray tear as it fell.
“She made the cake herself because she said her favorite part was watching me eat her baking.”
“What did you make her for breakfast?”
“Pancakes with way too much syrup.”
“Mom used to do the same for me for my birthday. Pancakes are the best,” she smiled, eating her cupcake and eyeing the bag at my feet.
I always got drunk with Sasha, despite knowing it was a bad idea to drive myself home. I'd spent a lot of those days wishing something would take me out so I could be with her again, but I always made it home safely.
We ate in silence for a moment, the afternoon air slightly chilly.