Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
DIESEL
The hardest part of losing someone in this life was keeping your mask in place until you were in private where no one could see you break down. We had to stand strong, and you never knew who was watching.
The Soldiers couldn’t see us broken.
“Want me to tell them to leave?” I offered, giving Hunter and Marco the side-eye. They’d spent the entire service right out of the way on the hill, watching silently, but Skeeter sighed as he assessed them.
“They’ve left us alone. If they come down here, then they can leave.”
I wanted to smack him for allowing them there while claiming Rory wasn’t welcome, but I bit my tongue.
We hadn’t heard from her since last night, and I’d considered checking in but knew she’d asked us to stay away. She had the guys, so she’d be fine.
When Hunter kept watching us, I huffed. “I’ll go and ask him if he wants something. He’s going to get himself shot if he keeps staring.”
Skeeter made a sound of agreement as I went to walk off, but I halted as a solid wall of muscle appeared in front of Slash’s grave, chills skating down my spine.
“Don’t mind me, boys. Just wanted to make sure the fucker was dead,” Rage said dryly, turning to face us and drawing my attention to the fact that there was a group of Kings close by. “Where’s the Donovan girl? I just want to chat.”
“Not here,” Skeeter growled, moving to stand beside me. “What are you doing here?”
“I just told you. Kind of you to invite me to my own baby brother’s funeral,” he scoffed, eyeing me with disgust. “Thought you’d have learned your lesson after the last gash you buried. Why bring another one into it? She won’t last long.”
“Leave Aurora out of this,” Skeeter snapped, only making him smirk.
“I heard you’ve fallen in love, how sweet. I can’t believe a girl is what got him killed. That’s more Diesel’s thing, isn’t it? Tell me, how much did Tristan Holloway fuck her up? Did he tear her in half? That man was a monster, you know?”
“That’s rich coming from Satan himself,” I deadpanned, trying really hard not to punch him.
If anything broke out right now, the Kings would open fire, we weren’t stupid.
They were just trying to bait us.
“Tell Rivera I’ll be seeing him and his boys soon,” he mused, his eyes on our unwanted audience on the hill.
“Tell him yourself,” Skeeter replied, glancing at me. “I’ve got this. Go tell them to leave, they’ve been here long enough and I’m not in the mood for their bullshit. Not today.”
The last thing I wanted to do was leave Skeeter with Rage, but I couldn't make him look weak by disrespecting his order, so I nodded and started walking towards Hunter and Marco. He had the guys close by if things went south anyway.
Marco was on alert but Hunter was lazily leaning back against a tree with his arms crossed, a taunting smile on his face.
“Aw, boss wants us to go?” he guessed, and I rolled my eyes as he continued. “It’s just getting interesting. What does the king of hell want?”
“To make sure his brother’s dead and to piss off Skeet about Rory,” I sighed, too tired to argue.
“Where is she, anyway?” he asked as he watched Rage and Skeeter’s tense stand-off.
“Do you really think it’s safe for her here? The guys want her dead.”
“So she just decided to play it safe? That doesn’t sound like her,” he chuckled, his face falling slightly when I replied.
“She didn’t decide shit. Skeet told her she was banned, not that it’s any of your business. I’m a little surprised she actually did as she was told for once.”
“Skeet wouldn’t let her come?”
“No. Look, man, the guys don’t hide their hatred for her.
Some have warmed up to her, but some have only gotten worse over time.
If she’d shown up today, someone would have snapped and killed her,” I replied, glancing over to make sure Skeeter was okay.
“Rage was always a possibility too, and from what we’ve heard, he’s got her on his sick little radar.
If hurting her feelings means keeping her alive to fight another day, Skeet will do it.
I really need you guys to fuck off. Skeet’s dealing with enough bullshit today, and Rage is the cherry on the top of this shitshow ice cream.
Whatever reason you have for being here—”
“Just wanted to pay our respects without causing a scene. It’s why we’re back here and not down there,” he murmured, motioning to Marco. “We’ve overstayed our welcome, so let’s go.”
Marco eyed me with annoyance for a moment before tilting his head. “Tell Skeet I’ll call him.”
“Maybe you don’t do that today,” I suggested with a scoff, his lips tugging into a dark smile.
“He’ll answer. It’s why he blocked my number years ago. He knew if I called, he’d pick up, and he fucking hated that.”
“Eat shit, Ortega. He blocked you to make you vanish because you’re nothing more than the shit on the bottom of his shoe.”
“Keep telling yourself that. You might be his right-hand, but you’ll never be above me. Does that bother you?”
I chuckled, giving him an amused glance. “What bothers me is that you think I give a fuck. You might have been family to us, but you mean nothing now. It’s sad that you’re still clinging to that shit.”
“Watch. I’ll call him later and curiosity will—”
“Let’s go,” Hunter snapped, cutting Marco off and giving me a small nod. “We’re sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, not moving until I’d watched them walk back to their bikes and made sure they’d left, then I trekked back to Skeeter.
“What did they want?” he asked, his eyes on Rage and his guys as they walked back to their cars too.
“To pay their respects from a distance, nothing else,” I answered, crossing my arms. “Marco claims he’s calling you later.”
He snorted, shaking his head a little. “I hope he knows I won’t fucking answer.”
The thing that pissed me off was Marco was right. Skeeter would answer because when the world was dark and he was under Savage’s iron fist, Marco and Hunter were the breath of fresh air he needed to feel human.
If he hadn’t blocked Marco again, he’d definitely pick up, no matter what I’d said to Marco.
Skeeter didn’t have a lot of weaknesses, but Marco and Hunter would always be two of them.
Hunter
“I’ll meet you at the warehouse,” I said through my comms system, hearing Marco sigh.
“She’s with the guys, Hunt. Leave her be.”
“I’ll be there soon,” I said as if I hadn’t heard him, seeing him shake his head at me as I turned off to head towards Newhaven.
I’d checked my tracking app and Rory was in the last place I thought she’d be, but a part of me hoped it was because something I’d said had gotten through to her.
I parked beside the Corvette in the parking lot before heading into the movie theater, scanning the list of movies playing and comparing it to the timestamp of when her phone had first pinged here.
I took a wild guess and chose an action movie that had started around the same time and slipped past security while they were checking someone’s tickets, sneaking into the theater room and making my way along the back wall.
My eyes adjusted as I kept looking for her, slowing my steps when I spotted her in the back on the left side, sitting in the middle of the row.
She was the only one in that section, the screen illuminating her face as something exploded in the movie, and my heart broke for her as the tear tracks reflected from the light.
Skeeter needed to rein his boys in if she couldn’t even attend a fucking funeral without them losing their minds and gunning her down. What kind of respect had they had for Slash if they couldn’t push past their anger for one damn day?
I headed towards her and dropped into the seat beside hers, her broken eyes moving to mine as I gave her a small smile. I didn’t say anything as I turned my eyes to the movie to let her grieve in peace as I kept an eye out for trouble.
I wanted to touch her, to let her know she could find some comfort in me, but that wasn't why I was here. I just didn’t want her grieving alone when she should have been grieving with Skeeter, Diesel, and the other guys.
She quietly sniffled through the rest of the movie, her hand finding mine in the dark after twenty minutes. I pushed the arm rest up so I could shuffle a little closer, and I was surprised when she curled into me and buried her face in my shirt.
It was a risk, but I lifted my arm and slid it around her back, her body sagging from the touch and pissing me the fuck off.
She should have been by Skeeter’s side today, not mine. My crew did as they were told, I couldn’t imagine them arguing with me over much at all. Especially something like this.
Slash would have wanted her there, I was sure of it.
A quiet sob left her and I tightened my arm around her, shushing her softly. I was glad I’d come after her now because anyone could have snuck up on her in this state when the grief was consuming her.
She didn’t move back until the movie was over and the lights flicked on, her tears gone and her mask back in place as she cleared her throat.
“What are you doing here?”
“I heard you weren’t allowed to go, so I wanted to come and find you. It’s a good spot to be vulnerable where no one can watch you,” I murmured, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“Who told you I couldn’t go?”
“Diesel, when I crashed the funeral.” Her eyes widened and I chuckled. “Well, I was there at a distance to pay my respects. I didn’t cause a scene. Rage showed up though.”
“He’s in Ashburn?” she asked, and I nodded.
“Yep. He’s just trying to make himself known, but you need to be careful. Who knows what he has planned,” I answered as I stood, motioning for her to follow me.
We headed out to the parking lot and I straddled my bike as I lit a cigarette, trying really hard not to look at her as she leaned back against the Corvette to smoke too.
Thinking about fucking her was an asshole move, but the way she was leaning on the car right now was doing it for me.