Chapter 20 #3
“I’m just mad at him,” I explained, making Skeeter snort.
“She pretends she’s mad. She just likes to fight while we fuck, I’m sure of it.”
The tension bled from Diesel as embarrassment took over, and he took a step back from me.
“Oh. Sorry. I thought— never mind.”
Skeeter’s phone rang and he growled, pulling it from his pocket and pressing it to his ear.
“What? Shit, thanks. I’ll be there in five,” he said before hanging up. “I need to go. Samuel’s been shot. Can you—”
“I’ve got her,” Diesel answered, not seeming surprised by the shooting, and I wiped rain from my face as I watched Skeeter jog towards the McLaren, where it was parked further up the road.
He sped past us, and the feeling of being abandoned again filled me. It was pathetic, he’d be back later, but it felt like he was always running off to help other people but never answered when I needed him.
I really had turned into one of those whiney girls I hated.
“Get in. I’m driving,” Diesel said quietly, ushering me to the passenger seat before climbing behind the wheel. We were soaked, the heater not doing much to warm us up as Diesel headed towards Ashburn Valley.
“I’m sorry. I heard you saying to leave you alone and got out of the car. I kind of flipped when I saw you crying,” he mumbled awkwardly, scowling at himself. “I’m so stupid. Of course he wouldn’t hurt you.”
“Hey, it’s okay. You thought you were helping,” I replied, reaching over to take his hand, but he jerked it away. Today must have been one of the days that he didn’t like touch, so I didn’t try again.
He turned the radio on to avoid conversation, so I sighed and stared out the window, taking the hint. I closed my eyes, not meaning to fall asleep, and I woke up to the sound of Caden’s voice.
“What the hell was she doing?” He sounded close, and I realized someone was carrying me. Probably him.
“Looking for Max. Skeet had to deal with something and asked me to bring her home,” Diesel answered, car doors closing.
“I’ll get her in the bath. Feel free to have a shower and crash, security is handling the shit at Jensen’s and kicking everyone out.”
“I might. I’m freezing.”
“You know where your room is,” Caden replied, and then I heard doors opening and closing as I was carried into the house.
I jerked a little as my cold body was submerged in warm water, and Caden winced.
“Sorry. I thought I could warm you up without disturbing you.”
“You’re lucky I didn’t piss myself,” I mumbled, someone drawing me back against them.
“You can pee on me. I’ll allow it,” Jensen teased, pressing a kiss to my neck. “Strip her clothes, man. Wet clothes feel awful.”
Caden got to work stripping the soaked clothes from my body, and I noticed Tyler and Lukas loitering by the sink.
“Oh, we’re all here? Is this a meeting or a gangbang?” I grinned sleepily, earning a dirty look from Lukas.
“An intervention.”
“He’s joking,” Caden muttered, dropping the clothes on the floor with a splat.
“You ran off alone,” Lukas continued, the frustration seeping out of him. “You scared the shit out of us. We thought you’d been taken again.”
“I won’t make that mistake twice,” I said seriously, stretching my legs out a little. “What time is it?”
“Almost one. You were gone for hours,” Tyler answered, his eyes burning into me. “Why didn’t you tell us you were going somewhere?”
“You would have said no.”
“For good reason,” Lukas muttered, shaking his head before leaving the room.
I frowned as the door clicked closed behind him, and Caden sighed.
“He seriously lost his goddamn mind. He was driving around looking for you,” he explained, and Jensen held me a little tighter.
“We can talk about it tomorrow. It’s late, and some of us aren’t sober enough for this conversation.”
“You think that because we all fuck now that you can tell me what to do?” I snapped, glaring at Caden, who rolled his eyes.
“This is why we can’t discuss it tonight. You’re drunk and argumentative.”
“If I want to go after him, I will. You can’t stop me.”
“Do you hear yourself? You can’t get drunk and high, then drive around all night looking for someone to murder. Anyone could have followed you, you know? Use your brain,” he scoffed, and Tyler winced.
“Uh, guys.”
“What if the Soldiers snatched you? Or—” Caden continued, but Tyler cut him off.
“Rory was followed.” He shoved his phone in Caden’s face, Caden shutting up instantly as he looked at whatever it was.
“Are you going to tell us or kill us with suspense?” Jensen drawled, nuzzling into my neck.
“Mom’s going to flip out,” Caden stated as Tyler turned the phone for us to see, a news article plastered on social media of me literally caught with my pants down as Skeeter fucked me against the car from behind.
They’d blurred out the private shit and it was a pretty dark photo, but it was highly obvious what we were doing.
The headline read Tyler Johnson’s girl taking a ride on the wild side, making me scrunch my nose.
There was a second photo of me leaving with Diesel, the comments going wild with speculation.
Cheating allegations, claims that my relationship with Tyler was fake, and of course a bunch of girls calling me a slut while guys laughed about wanting a turn too.
Then the comments rolled in about how that’s what Tyler should have expected for dating Heights trash to begin with, and dove into the fact I was into bad boys with criminal records.
Caden already had his phone pressed to his ear to call Josie, most likely to get the article shut down, and Tyler kept staring at his phone in confusion.
“Why the fuck would they take photos of that?” I growled, not really giving a shit about what people thought of me, but having that picture on the internet was a huge breach of privacy.
“You’re a hot topic right now. Stumbling across you getting railed by the leader of the criminal organization that’s also been a hot topic lately?
Big pay day. I don’t want to victim blame, but you were fucking in the middle of the damn road for anyone to see,” Jensen pointed out.
“The paps are vultures. They’ll take advantage of any situation if it pays them well. ”
I climbed out of the bath and snatched a towel, wrapping it around myself so I could get ready for bed, and I found Lukas in the hallway with his phone clutched in his hand, his face pale.
“It’s fine,” I said as I went to brush past him, but he snagged my elbow and pulled me back, hugging me to his chest.
“It’s not fucking fine. That picture should never have been posted.”
“We shouldn’t have been fucking in the middle of the road,” I said dryly, making him snort.
“No, you shouldn’t have. C’mon, let’s get into bed and deal with this tomorrow. Has Caden called Josie?”
“He’s on the phone with her now.”
“Good. Let them handle it,” he replied as he led me into his room and closed the door, ushering me towards the bed.
He made sure I was dry then tucked me into bed naked, stripping naked himself before sliding in beside me. I liked that we could lay together like this without it being more.
“I’m sorry I scared you, but I don’t need to ask permission—”
“I don’t want to fight with you. Can we just sleep?” he asked, and I buried my face in his chest as I snuggled into him.
“Honestly? Yes. I’m fucking tired.”
“Skeet wore you out?”
“Not funny,” I muttered, making him chuckle as he pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
“It is a little.”
At least he wasn’t yelling at me so I could pass the fuck out.