Chapter 24 #2
He fired off the address and the map showed it was a cabin in the middle of Pine Valley.
“This isn’t a trap, right? It’s really his house?” I asked carefully, glancing at Samuel, who sighed.
“Yeah. You’ll see the truck parked out front, it doesn’t have a garage or anything. You can see it from the road.”
“Thank you,” I answered, jogging back outside to the Corvette and putting my phone on the stand as I brought the map up.
It didn’t take long to hit the road, traffic not being too bad as I reached the turnoff that took me into Pine Valley. I kept an eye out for trouble, slowing when I approached the road Diesel’s cabin was supposed to be on.
I spotted the pickup truck easily like Samuel had said I would, turning into the driveway and parking behind the truck.
He didn’t come out to greet me, so I climbed out and walked towards the cabin, knocking on the door. The lack of an answer had my worry rising.
Had he hurt himself? What if he’d fallen and hit his head? How drunk was he?
I tried the handle, finding it unlocked, and I stepped inside to try and see if I could spot him.
“D? You here?” I called out, jumping back when a gunshot sounded and a bullet whizzed past me.
“Who the fuck is it?” Diesel hollered back, the slurring telling me he was stupid drunk.
“It’s Rory. Can you maybe not shoot me?” I laughed lightly, taking another step inside so I could close the door. “I’m just checking on you.”
“Shit, did I get you?” he asked as he appeared, tripping over himself as he stumbled into me. “Let me look.”
“You missed. Come sit down,” I encouraged, helping him back into the living room where I assumed he’d been sitting on the couch. Beer bottles were scattered all over the place, cigarette butts filled the two ashtrays on the coffee table, and there was a Sasha shrine in the corner.
That was what it looked like, anyway. Photos were all over it, little things like mugs and necklaces that I assumed had been hers, and I watched as Diesel dropped back on the couch, his eyes instantly going to it.
“I don’t want to leave you alone, but Skeet said you prefer it. Will you be okay? You didn’t answer the phone, so I got worried,” I murmured, but his hand snaked out to snag my wrist.
“Stay.”
“I can do that.” I sat beside him, accepting the beer he offered as he cracked one for himself.
“You came to check on me? Sorry, I can’t find my phone,” he mumbled, digging around the couch cushions.
“It’s fine. You sent me a gibberish text, that’s all. Do you remember what you sent?”
He frowned, shaking his head. “No. What time is it?”
“Bit after four.”
“I should cook dinner,” he muttered to himself, and I winced. He was in no state to cook, but my cooking would burn his house down.
“Want me to order pizza? We can have a pizza party. Sasha would like pizza, right? What kind did she like?”
A soft smile tugged at his mouth, and as much as he was looking at me, he was in a memory.
“She liked pepperoni with a cheesy crust. She could eat a whole one by herself, you know? It was kind of hot. She wasn’t afraid to eat in front of me.”
“You’re easy to feel comfortable around. I don’t have to worry about anything around you. It probably helps that I don’t really care if you’re attracted to me or not, but still. You’re not mean if I stuff my face or anything.”
“You’re pretty,” he said as he looked at me, so serious he almost looked sober. “And I don’t care if you stuff your face because eating is kind of important.”
I laughed, sipping my beer before putting it on the coffee table so I could pull up the pizza company app.
“Eating is definitely important. So, pepperoni for Sasha with a cheesy crust. What do you want?”
“You don’t try to push her away,” he said softly, blinking at me. “You like me remembering her.”
“Of course I do, D. You loved her, she was important to you. I like hearing about her.”
He blew out a breath, downing a mouthful of beer as if he needed courage to talk.
“From the second I met you, I wished that you two had met, but I don’t really like that idea now.”
“Why not? We’d be too much trouble?” I grinned, and he shook his head.
“I couldn’t have this with you if she was still here.”
“You totally could. Me and her might have been besties, you know?” He looked torn, like he was thinking really hard to make sense of what he wanted to say, and I put my phone down beside me to take his hand.
“Hey. I’d still be your friend. Promise.
We would have found our way to each other one way or another. ”
“Fuck,” he said under his breath, his eyes flicking between mine for a moment before he leaned forward and kissed me.
At first, I was stunned, not at all expecting it since he acted like women had the plague, but when I went to pull back, I heard his beer hit the ground as his hand came to the back of my head.
It was a soft kiss, like he was worried about hurting me, but when I kissed him back, he got a little harder. He practically moaned my damn name as my hand rested on his chest, his heart slamming against my palm as his tongue teased mine.
He eased me back until he was braced above me, kissing me into the couch like he’d die if he didn’t, but I snapped out of it when his hand tugged at the button on my jeans.
“D, wait.”
His hand disappeared, but he kept kissing me.
This wasn’t right. He was too damn drunk to think clearly, and even if I wasn’t dating the guys, I wasn’t going to risk losing our friendship over a mistake. He was drunk and lonely, obviously emotional, and I needed to keep the line drawn between us until he was sober enough to talk about it.
“Diesel, stop,” I said more firmly, and he leaned back with a frown. I saw it the second the realization hit him. A flair of pain and panic filled his eyes, and he jerked back so hard he fell off the couch.
“Fuck,” he cursed, scooting back a little more as if the distance would take it back. “Fuck!”
“It’s okay,” I said carefully, anger taking over his face in an instant.
“Get the fuck out.”
“D—”
“Get out! How the fuck did you even find me?” he shouted, somehow scrambling to his feet without hurting himself. When I didn’t reply, he stalked closer and scruffed the front of my shirt. “Answer me!”
“Matteo told me! He said it was a good idea to check on you!” I replied, flinching when he let me go and flipped the coffee table, sending stuff flying. There was a gun in my face a moment later, his hand shaking as angry tears filled his eyes without falling.
“What are you doing to me?” he bit out, but the anger was gone from his voice, leaving behind desperation and sadness.
“I’ll go, it’s okay,” I promised, really starting to panic when he pressed the gun hard into my forehead. “D, I’ll leave.”
His breathing was heavy as he eyed me for a minute before stepping back and tossing his gun across the room, which thankfully didn’t go off, and I took that as my opportunity to leave.
Grabbing my phone from under me, I ran, my heart hurting for him as he kept yelling at himself as sobs took over. I didn’t want to leave him like this, but it was only making things worse with me being here.
I should have pushed him away the second he leaned in.
The tires skidded as I left as quickly as possible, needing to get Skeeter. Diesel was definitely a danger to himself right now, so if I couldn’t be there, Skeeter needed to be.
I drove as fast as I could to the Shed, relieved to see the McLaren there when I arrived, and I wasted no time running inside to find him.
“Skeet!” I called out, passing a confused and nervous Matteo on the way to the office.
The door opened before I reached it, Skeeter appearing with a thunderous look on his face.
“What the fuck are you doing out alone? I was just about to come and look for you. Holloway—”
“You need to go to Diesel,” I begged, his eyes narrowing.
“Why?”
“He’s lost it. I’m worried he’s going to hurt himself. I’ll be fine, just go,” I said quickly, but he gripped my arm and tugged me into the office to shut the door for privacy.
“You were with him?” His eyes were staring at my face, and it wasn’t until he lifted a hand to touch my forehead that I realized the gun must have left a mark. “What the fuck did he do?”
I told him everything, refusing to have more secrets or lies between us. Diesel might have been the one to make the first move, but I’d kissed him back. I’d broken trust between me and the guys.
He silently listened, his voice scarily calm when he spoke. “Who told you where he lived? Has Diesel told you before?”
“No. He told me he had a cabin, but I came here looking for him when he wouldn’t answer the phone and I got worried. Matteo gave me the address and told me it was the anniversary of Sasha’s death, and maybe he’d like to talk to me.”
“Matteo told you to check on him?”
“Yeah. At first, I was glad I did, he was drunk and sad, but we got talking about Sasha and I was about to order us some pizza when he kissed me. Skeet, I’m really sorry. I—”
He let out a deep sigh, circling his arms around me and pulling me against him.
“We’ll talk about it later. Right now, I need to deal with this shit, and you need to go home where you’re safe. You scared the fuck out of us again, you know? Caden saw your note about coming here, but when he called me, I hadn’t seen you.”
“I’ll call him before I leave,” I promised, burrowing into his chest. “I’ve never seen D like that.”
“This is why I told you to leave him alone when he’s like this. He’s not himself. I can appreciate you looking out for him, I really can, but he’s a monster deep down like the rest of us. When it comes out, it’s not pretty. Text me when you’re home so I know you’re safe, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Good girl. Go on. No stops on the way,” he ordered, swatting my butt as he opened the door.
I went straight out to the Corvette and climbed in, taking a second to breathe before calling Caden.
“Where are you?” he blurted out, making me feel bad.