Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
TYLER
Anxiety spiked inside me once Rory was gone. For starters, I hated having my eyes off her, but secondly, I knew that Caden wanted to ask me about the whole Slash and Rory thing.
He kept glancing at me, my nerves getting worse when he followed me outside for a cigarette.
“Chill out, dude,” he huffed when I tried lighting my cigarette and he noticed my hands shaking, his lighter appearing in front of me with the flame sparked.
I leaned forward to use it, the smoke filling my lungs and not really calming me like I’d hoped.
“She told me not to say anything. I took your side last time and lost her. I wasn’t—” I started, but he cut me off.
“I know,” he sighed, leaning back against the house to study me.
“So you’re not mad?”
“I’m pissed, but I get it,” he grunted, lighting his own cigarette and taking his eyes off me. “You honestly believe he wasn’t playing her?”
“He wasn’t,” I bit out defensively, needing to stand up for him now that he wasn’t here to do it himself.
“Can you blame us for questioning it? He wanted her dead, Ty. He locked her in that room with my dad in hopes that he’d assault her. I know you liked him, but he wasn’t the best buddy that you made him out to be.”
“He was,” I argued.
“How so? You guys rubbed balls and connected? C’mon, man. Look at it from an outsider's perspective.”
“He never let me be alone once he realized how much I hate it. Did you miss the part where he literally sacrificed himself to save Rory? People playing games don’t do that shit,” I answered sharply.
Caden stared at me but I refused to look at him. Slash was a monster at times, but he saved our girl. It wouldn’t make up for all of his sins, but it made him a good man in my book.
“Whenever she was with you—”
“He came over sometimes, yeah. You didn’t see them together, Caden. That wasn’t just sexual attraction.”
“You were really having threesomes with him? He wasn’t into cutting her up like Skeet, right?” he asked slowly, and I turned, holding his gaze.
“He was so fucking in love with her. What they had was nothing like what she has with Skeet. Skeet’s more dangerous for her than Slash in the bedroom. Made her drink water and everything.”
“The man’s a saint then. Water? Damn. The bar is low,” Caden said sarcastically, and I flicked my cigarette away and shoved past him. He grabbed my arm and jerked me back, and it took me a second to realize he wasn’t starting a fight, he was hugging me. “I’m sorry you’re hurting.”
I sank into his hold and hugged him back, my voice quiet. “Skeet’s going to kill her if he finds out about Hunter. I can’t lose her.”
“We’ll figure it out. He won’t kill her.”
“What if Hunter does something? I know he’s putting on an act that he cares, but—”
“Honestly? I don’t think he’s acting,” Caden muttered, pulling back and placing his hands on my shoulders. “You want to go to the funeral when it’s organized? I’ll go with you and Rory.”
I swallowed, nodding. “It still doesn’t feel real. I keep expecting him to walk through the door.”
“I know, me too,” he murmured, his hands dropping from me. “You stay with me as long as you want. I don’t want you alone right now.”
“Thanks,” I sighed, following him inside to where Lukas and Jensen were hanging out in Jensen’s bedroom.
Lukas had fallen asleep, curled against Jensen’s chest and the blanket over them both. The guys were all nervous about Rory showing up on Hunter’s bike this morning, but Lukas was really freaking out.
Crew wars were already starting between the Psychos and the Soldiers, so if Skeeter found out Hunter was spending time with Rory, they’d just add the Devils to the war roster.
Three crews at war was a really bad idea.
“What the fuck happens now?” Jensen asked quietly, flicking his eyes to me.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. “Are we really going to ignore the fact that Rory spent the night at Hunter’s?”
“What else can we do? Telling Skeet will only cause more problems,” Caden said tiredly, dropping down beside me.
“Skeet can’t protect her from two enemy crews and his own,” Jensen pointed out, my stomach twisting at the thought. He wasn’t wrong. The Psychos had always hated her, but who knew what the other crews would do to her if given the chance.
“Maybe Josie’s right and we need to convince Rory to stay away from the Shed. Was it a bad idea to let her spend the night at Skeet’s? Won’t his house be a target in a crew war?” I asked, and Caden winced.
“It’s probably safer than here. Attacking Skeet’s house would cause a bigger problem than attacking mine. We might have better security, but he’s got a whole crew behind him. I doubt they’d follow orders to come here and protect Rory,” Caden mused.
Exhaustion filled me the more we talked about it, and my fingers itched to text Rory and check in with her.
She’d only been gone for a couple of hours at this point, and I didn’t want to be clingy, but fuck.
As if she knew what I was thinking, a text came through.
Rory: What are you guys up to?
Tyler: Thinking about you. Did you and Skeet talk?
Rory: Yeah. He’s mad he can’t punch anyone over it.
Tyler: He can punch me.
Rory: No, he can’t.
My fingers tapped my leg nervously as I considered what to say next, not wanting to overwhelm her.
“Relax,” Caden said when he noticed me, glancing down at my phone. “She okay?”
“She’s fine.”
“Then why are you freaking out?”
“I don’t know when I’m smothering her or not,” I admitted, and he chuckled softly.
“You’ll know because she’ll tell you.”
My fingers tapped a few more times before I typed a message.
Tyler: I really miss you.
She replied quickly, my heartbeat picking up the pace.
Rory: Miss you too. I’ll be back before you know it.
Tyler: Promise?
Rory: Promise, baby. I love you.
My heart exploded, a small smile tugging at my lips.
Tyler: I love you so much.
I was a little surprised when she sent a bunch of heart emojis, and I sent some back before pocketing my phone again.
“We need to stick together. No being alone, check in regularly, and if anything feels off, say something,” Caden stated firmly, and I nodded.
“I think that’s smart. We’re usually with someone anyway.”
“If you need time alone, you lock yourself in your room here,” he warned, knowing I was the most likely to want space.
“I can do that.”
“What about Rory?” Jensen asked dryly, saying what we were all thinking.
There was no way she’d sit at home and do as she was told.
“Maybe she’ll listen to Skeet?” I started, making both of them snort.
“Since when has she ever listened to Skeet?” Jensen muttered, absently running his fingers through Lukas’ hair.
Caden sighed, seeming to hesitate before answering. “She might now that she sees how dangerous it is. If someone like Slash can get killed, then the rest of us have no hope alone. At least together we can all keep an eye out for trouble.”
We went silent after that, the pit in my stomach getting worse again.
Not knowing what was coming next terrified me.
Diesel
“I hate to talk ill of the dead, but did Skeet know about the boss fucking Donovan?” Brick asked as we sat at his kitchen counter drinking coffee.
The buddy system was smart, and I was grateful Skeet and Brick accepted me into their homes, knowing I wouldn’t allow anyone at my cabin.
Since it was obvious Skeeter and Rory needed to talk, I’d offered to come here this morning so they had privacy at Skeeter’s.
I didn’t want to put my foot in my mouth and talk out of place, and I must have waited too long to answer because Brick chuckled lightly.
“I can appreciate your loyalty of silence, but a blind man could see the way he looked at her. That wasn’t a curious man, that was a satisfied man wanting more.”
“Who else knows?” I muttered.
“Everyone knew he wanted her. Not sure who else connected the dots and could confirm it though. So, was it some kind of dirty little secret or was Skeet—”
“You’re going to get my ass beat, man,” I groaned, sipping my coffee before continuing. “No, Skeet didn’t know until we were taking Slash to the hospital and he started confessing his love to her on his damn deathbed.”
Brick blew out a breath with a small wince. “How did he handle it?”
“Pretty sure he ignored it until he picked up Donovan this morning. They’re probably neck deep in discussions about it as we speak.”
“Bit hard to ignore the fact the man jumped in front of a bullet to protect her. No one else was doing that.”
“You kept her safe,” I pointed out, earning the side-eye.
“I got her to safety for Skeet, yes. I didn’t jump in front of a bullet. Matteo wants her head on a platter, you know?”
“Skeet knows to tread carefully. We talked about it last night. You crashed at Samuel’s with Matteo, right? Did they say something we should be worried about?” I asked, hating to put Brick in the position but needing to know if they were planning something.
“They said a lot but they’re not planning to take her out just yet.
They’re waiting to see what Skeet does. If he chooses her over the crew, they’ll push him out of leadership.
He needs to be careful, D. I know he loves her, but the crew has to come first. If it doesn’t, he’s going to lose respect and start an internal war among the guys.
We can’t afford that right now,” he said carefully, not wanting to talk badly about Skeeter, but he was only saying what I was thinking.
“I’ve told him,” I confirmed, pushing my now empty cup away. “He’s asked me to step up as his right-hand.”
“He’s smart for that. You think before you act,” he said before downing the rest of his coffee.
“You’d be better at it. I can’t manage half the work because of the drug shit.”
He eyed me, seeming to think for a second before shrugging. “If Skeet wants you, then he’s made his choice. It’s been a long time since you first got clean. Give yourself some grace. You know I’ll step up whenever you guys need me to.”