6. DIESEL
DIESEL
Ihad spent most of my life walking into bad plans.
Sending Eloise into the Bradford freight yard alone was the first one that made me feel sick.
She drove through the main gate at eleven twenty-three wearing borrowed boots, black jeans, and my cut. A tracker was hidden beneath the collar, a microphone sewn into the inside pocket, and a packet of fake trust documents rested on the passenger seat.
I watched her taillights disappear from the abandoned service road behind the property.
“You hear me?” I asked through the earpiece.
“Clearly.”
“You see anything you don’t like, you get out.”
“I’m entering a warehouse filled with armed criminals. I don’t like any of it.”
“Smart-ass.”
“You’re rubbing off on me.”
“Been thinking about rubbin’ off on you since we left.”
Gunner looked at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Open channel.”
Behind us, Axel laughed.
Eloise sighed through the earpiece. “Children.”
My mouth curved despite the pressure crushing my chest.
“Stay where I can hear you, princess.”
“Stay close enough to reach me.”
“Always.”
She parked outside her father’s office.
The three of us moved.
Gunner led the way through the trees, with Reaper behind him and me bringing up the rear. Hawk, Knox, and Axel held positions around the perimeter while Chains coordinated from the clubhouse. We reached the rusted maintenance door Eloise had marked on the map.
The lock lasted six seconds beneath Gunner’s hands.
Inside, the narrow service corridor smelled of oil, damp concrete, and old machinery. It ran beneath the storage units before connecting with the main warehouse.
Voices moved through my earpiece.
A door opened.
“Eloise,” Preston said.
My hand tightened around my gun.
“Where is my father?”
“You shouldn’t have brought that vest.”
“Where is he?”
A sharp slap cracked through the connection.
I stopped moving.
“Diesel,” Gunner warned quietly.
“Motherfucker touched her.”
“We follow the plan.”
I was already turning toward the nearest stairwell when Eloise spoke.
“Do that again, Preston, and I’ll make sure you never use that hand properly.”
Her voice was steady.
Preston laughed. “You think sleeping with some filthy mechanic makes you brave?”
“No. Leaving you did that.”
Reaper glanced back at me, and I saw the approval in his eyes.
We kept moving.
The service corridor ended beneath the main warehouse. Through the metal grating overhead, I could see boots crossing between stacks of wooden crates. Gunner lifted his phone and recorded the labels.
Military serial numbers. Shipping manifests carrying Bradford Holdings logos. More proof than we had expected.
Rafe had not simply planned to use the property.
He had already been using it.
“Bring her in,” Rafe said through the earpiece.
A second door closed.
Gunner opened the access panel leading into the warehouse. Reaper slipped through first and caught the nearest guard before he could make a sound.
I followed.
We crossed behind the crates while Eloise entered her father’s office.
The camera feed on Gunner’s phone showed her standing six feet from Rafe. Her father remained tied to the chair. Preston hovered near the door, one side of his face flushed from where Eloise had apparently struck him after he slapped her.
That was my girl.
Rafe held out his hand.
“The documents.”
“Release my father.”
“You’re not in a position to negotiate.”
“Then I leave.”
Rafe smiled. “You walked in here because you couldn’t leave him.”
“I came because I wanted to see the man who thought he could buy me.”
“You think highly of yourself.”
“You held a gun to my father’s head because you need my signature. I think I understand my value perfectly.”
Rafe’s smile disappeared.
He pointed at my cut.
“Take that off.”
“No.”
“You are not Diesel’s woman.”
Eloise’s fingers closed around the edges of the leather.
“Yes, I am.”
Every thought in my head stopped.
The office camera showed Rafe watching her, but I could only see the way she stood inside my cut and said the words without hesitation.
Not a performance.
Not fake.
Mine because she had chosen it.
Rafe took the packet from her and opened it.
Gunner and Reaper moved toward the office from opposite sides of the warehouse. I stayed between them, counting the guards.
Four visible.
More outside.
We could handle four.
Rafe inspected the first page.
“This authorization has no original seal.”
“The originals are somewhere you’ll never find them.”
His gaze lifted.
The gun appeared in his hand.
Everything happened at once.
Preston grabbed Eloise from behind. She drove her borrowed boot down onto his foot and slammed the back of her head into his nose. He shouted and released her.
Rafe raised his weapon.
I fired through the office window.
The bullet struck the wall beside him, forcing him down as the glass exploded inward.
Reaper hit the first guard hard enough to send him crashing into a stack of crates. Gunner dropped the second with two controlled shots. Men shouted outside. An engine started near the rear loading bay.
I reached the office as Eloise threw herself behind the desk.
“Damian!”
“Stay down.”
Preston lunged at me.
He got one swing.
I blocked it and drove my fist into his stomach. He folded forward, and I caught him by the back of his shirt before smashing his face against the desk.
“You hit her.”
He tried to reach for the gun tucked beneath his jacket.
I broke his wrist.
His scream filled the office.
“You put your hands on my woman.”
I hit him again.
Blood sprayed across the paperwork.
“Diesel,” Reaper barked.
Rafe was dragging Eloise’s father toward the rear door, using the chair as cover. Gunner could not take the shot without risking the old man.
“Get Eloise,” Reaper ordered. “I’ve got Maddox.”
I released Preston.
He collapsed beside the desk.
Eloise crawled toward me, and I pulled her to her feet, checking her face, throat, and body for blood.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Get my father.”
Reaper reached the rear door seconds too late.
A truck tore away from the loading bay. Axel’s bike followed, but Hawk ordered him back when shots came from the vehicle’s rear window.
Rafe was gone.
Eloise’s father remained behind, still tied to the chair. Rafe had let him go before running because dragging a hostage had slowed him down.
Gunner freed his hands.
“Eloise,” her father said.
She looked at the man who had sold her future and nearly gotten her killed.
“I thought I could control it,” he continued. “Rafe promised the money would save the company. Preston said—”
“Stop.”
“I didn’t know about the weapons.”
“You knew about Preston.”
Her father’s face crumpled.
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t get to be sorry yet.”
She turned away from him.
Pride hit me hard enough to hurt.
Behind her, Preston moved.
I saw the gun in his left hand.
Eloise did not.
I shoved her aside as he fired.
The bullet entered beneath my ribs.
For a moment, there was no pain. Just a brutal impact and the strange sensation of my legs forgetting what they were supposed to do.
I returned fire.
Preston dropped.
Eloise screamed my name.
My shoulder struck the wall before I slid to the floor. Heat flooded my side, followed by pain so sharp it stole my breath. Eloise landed on her knees beside me.
“No. No, look at me.”
“I’m lookin’. You’re so fuckin’ beautiful.”
Blood spread between her fingers when she pressed both hands against the wound.
“Gunner!”
I could hear Eloise talking but couldn’t focus long enough to make sense of the words.
“No. No. No. Damian, no. You’ve been shot.”
“Had worse, Darlin’.”
“That’s not comforting.” She said as her eyes filled with tears.
I lifted one hand and touched her face, smearing blood across her cheek.
“Back there. Told Rafe you were my woman.”
“Shh Damian, it’s okay. Save your energy, you’re okay.”
“Important.”
She caught my hand and pressed it against her mouth.
“I meant it.” The edges of the room began turning black.
I murmured. “Would’ve been real embarrassing if I got shot for a fake girlfriend.”
“Damian, stay awake.”
“Tryin’.”
Boots pounded toward us. Gunner dropped beside me with a medical kit while Reaper called for the vehicle. Eloise refused to release my hand.
Sirens sounded beyond the yard. Chains had sent the evidence to the county task force before we entered, and the honest cops had finally arrived.
Rafe had escaped, but the weapons, forged transfer, and Preston Hale were staying behind.
The wedding deal was finished.
I tried to tell Eloise that but my mouth no longer worked. The last thing I saw before the darkness took me was my cut around her shoulders and my blood covering her hands.
For once in my life, I could not think of a single fucking joke.