Chapter 9 – Diesel #2
“Rebel is unaware of what this bitch did and asked me to save her.” She knew about Jana’s drug use but thought she was a recovered addict, not a cunt who didn’t give a fuck about herself or Rebel. “I don’t give a fuck what happens to Jana.”
“Well, you better give a fuck,” Stretch snapped. “If we save her and you suddenly leave her after being hellbent on marrying her, Meggie will figure it out.”
Diesel shoved his fingers through his hair, frustrated at the truth of Stretch’s words. He’d reached the same conclusion. He knew what needed doing. He could do it, since Rebel was still…
Fuck…
Alive. Alive. Rebel was still alive.
If she was sixteen…No, he wasn’t allowing himself to think about that. Jana was his buffer. That bitch had to live.
“Rebel wants to talk to you, Diesel.” Aunt Meggie’s sad voice broke through to him and he turned, not expecting to see Kaia fucking Riggs next to her.
“Go away, Kaia,” Diesel ordered, the last motherfucker his temper could handle. “You’ve done enough.”
Jana attempted to sit up but groaned and glanced around. “Kaia?” she called.
Aunt Meggie frowned. Diesel narrowed his eyes.
Kaia ignored her.
“I’m here, bigger sis,” Axel said glumly. “Kaia’s not a motherfucker you can have around you.”
“Why?” Jana whined, settling back.
“My men and me already said if Kaia hurts Rebel’s feelings again, we’re using our chainsaw to chop his arms and legs off.”
“So I can be dependent on Rebel?” Kaia asked.
Axel rolled his eyes. “That question proves you’re not the most colorful crayon in the shed.”
“In the box, son,” Aunt Meggie said.
“Wherever that motherfucker belongs,” Axel said crossly. “Kaia’s brain is dull.”
“I’m too tired to argue with you about my IQ.”
“Good, cuz it would be a short fucking argument,” Axel replied. “You don’t got no fucking IQ.”
“Ax, get to the fucking point,” Diesel said, in no mood for a long drawn out argument.
“It does sound like you want him dependent, Ax,” CJ told him.
Axel shook his head. “Nuh-uh. Especially not on Reb. Why would we want to tie him to her arm for the rest of her life? We want to watch that motherfucker bleed to death.”
Diesel’s phone beeped. He fished it out of the interior pocket of his cut and saw a message from Rebel.
Where are you? Come to my room NOW.
He smiled, then looked at Aunt Meggie and showed her the message.
“Go ahead, son,” she said, stepping aside, grabbing Kaia’s wrist and urging him away from the door. “Once she sees you, she can get a mild sedative.”
“Maybe I should go with him, Mom?”
Aunt Meggie shook her head. “No, CJ. Rebel asked to see Diesel alone. She’s been through enough today. That’s why Kaia’s here.”
Diesel didn’t wait to hear more. This time when he pressed the button, the doors opened. Aunt Meggie must’ve alerted the nurse’s station.
Outside of Rebel’s door, he halted. When Rule tried to drown her, she’d been awake and in pain the morning Diesel left. By the time he returned that night, she was heavily sedated. No, fuck, she’d been in what amounted to a medically induced coma because of her collapsed lung.
Suppose…?
Fuck, she’d just texted him. She was fine.
Before he lost complete control, Diesel pushed open the door and halted.
Rebel lay in bed, the upper portion elevated to a forty-five-degree angle.
Instead of the damp tangles of hair he’d seen earlier, one long, thick braid rested against her shoulder.
Tenderness welled inside of him at her pale cheeks and tear-swollen eyes.
An internal war raged, but her vulnerability lowered his defenses. He walked to her bedside, leaned down and almost did what he’d wanted to do for weeks: give into temptation and brush his mouth over hers. Instead, he kissed her cheek.
She sighed. Parted her mouth.
He forced himself to ignore her invitation and crushed her to him in a tight hug. She clung to him, and he allowed it. He allowed her to use him as her solace, her calm in the storm. That had always been his role and always would be. Protect Rebel. Protect her brothers. “What were you thinking?”
“I didn’t have a chance to think one way or the other. If I’d paused, Jana would be dead.”
He refused to discuss Jana. He straightened. “You wanted to see me?”
“Daddy left,” she started, cocking her head to the side. “Uncle Mort and Uncle Val went with him.”
“Probably club business,” Diesel answered, concerned. It explained their absence but only dire circumstances would pull Uncle Christopher away from Rebel’s bedside. “I’ll check into it. Don’t bother yourself with that right not. My concern is you and—”
“Some dude named Mickey had a key to the condo,” Rebel cut in, studying him closely.
Diesel snapped his brows together. “What condo?”
“Yours and Tabitha’s.”
Tabitha, that fucking bitch, gave another man—a club enemy—a key to the fucking condo and then schemed to have Diesel move back into the place. Either Diesel would’ve walked in on her and Mickey and gotten into a deadly fight or that motherfucker would’ve ambushed Diesel with that cunt’s blessings.
“Fuck that bitch,” he blurted before he caught himself.
“I heard Momma on the phone with Daddy. Something about a drug overdose. I think your wife is dead.”
“I don’t think she overdosed,” Rebel pressed. As usual, she refused to back down until she got what she wanted. In this case, answers. “I think you killed Tabitha and jeopardized the peace agreement to avenge Jana.”
It took a moment for Rebel’s words to catch up to Diesel’s racing thoughts. Her belief that he’d ignore everything at stake for Jana stunned him. “I killed her to avenge you.”
Tears glistened in Rebel’s eyes. “But she didn’t set me up.”
“Unfortunately, she did.”
“She didn’t even know I was there!”
“No, but she knew Jana was there. The…her,” he amended, changing ‘their’ at the last minute, “her bullshit almost cost you your life and that’s fucking unforgivable. Your injuries are the end result of her need to get Jana out of the picture. I wish I could’ve set that bitch on fire.”
“Suppose Bash finds out? If he doesn’t kill you, Daddy will. Tabitha’s death puts Momma at risk for retaliation.”
And the entire club. But only if the truth ever came out.
“Should I have allowed her to live and pretend she wasn’t the architect of your misery?”
“You shouldn’t have risked Momma or the peace agreement,” Rebel growled. “You should’ve thought of something different.”
“According to you. According to me that bitch got what the fuck she deserved.”
Rebel started to lift herself up, but groaned and coughed, falling back against her pillow.
Diesel balled his hands into fists so he wouldn’t touch her again. She looked so young and vulnerable. So…injured. His stomach turned, but he forced himself to remain calm for her sake. “What do you need, sweetheart? Tell me. Whatever it is, it’s yours as long as you’re comfortable.”
“You. Safe,” she said, sobbing softly and laying her hand against her stomach.
“Don’t worry about me, Rebel,” he said, wishing he could trade places with her. “I just want you well and at home.”
Pain contorted her tear-streaked face. She inhaled and exhaled several times before she spoke again. “It hurts. It hurts so bad. My leg is bruised from a kick and I have a slight limp. I’m just glad I don’t need another cast.”
“I am, too,” Diesel said, somehow speaking in an even tone when he felt like a raging beast.
“Daddy will figure it out, she said, her thoughts all over the place, bouncing from her injury to her worry about him.
“I will see to it that Bash never discovers the truth.”
“He isn’t stupid. Jana said Tabitha set her up and then she turns up dead. Even Uncle Johnnie could figure out that one.”
Despite the situation, Diesel laughed. He loved her wit. “I will talk to Uncle Christopher.”
Rebel’s lower lip trembled. “He might kill you. How could you be so reckless?”
“How could you? You took on grown men.”
“What did you expect me to do?”
“Call me!”
“How? Tell those motherfuckers to hold off beating me to call you or our guards?”
Even though Torrin helped Diesel obtain the drugs to fuck up Tabitha, he was still livid with that motherfucker for not sticking close to Rebel. “They were supposed to stick to you like fucking glue.”
“We sent them away, so leave them alone.”
“They were your guards.”
“Who was caught between listening to you and Daddy or risking me saying how unhappy they made me by crowding me.”
Torrin and the other three couldn’t win in that situation. Undoubtedly, they wouldn’t have been punished for doing their jobs. The off chance they would’ve gotten reprimanded for ‘crowding’ Rebel, was better than leaving them on their own and endangering their lives.
“Starting today, I will see to it that your guards crowd you whether you like it or not, so we don’t run into such an issue again.”
“That’s not your call to make, Diesel. That’s Daddy’s.”
“The hell it isn’t my call. You belong to me.” He’d secure Uncle Christopher’s agreement with a compelling argument. “I will protect you at all costs, even if I have to fucking spank you for your stupidity.”
Rebel fell silent, her blue eyes touching on his mouth, his cheeks, his hair, before she met his gaze and pinched her cheeks. “Still conscious,” she muttered, grogginess drooping her eyelids and slurring her voice.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“Seeing if I was dreaming. Or, maybe, I’ve just awakened from a coma and I’m suddenly legal.”
He glared at her.
“I talked to Kaia,” she said, changing the subject to one that annoyed Diesel. “I told him I want us to be friends. That, maybe…I don’t know,” she mumbled, averting her gaze.
“Did those motherfuckers conk you on your fucking head? You’re willing to forgive a cheater?”