Crash laughed, then said, “Slade still tappin’ your ass, Di?” He shook his head. “Man’s got steel balls on ‘im if he is.”
“What? Why?” she asked him.
Crash snorted. “No reason.”
“Bet he’s got bruises, cuts an’ shit from her if he is,” Rig said.
Di rolled her lips under and did her best not to laugh at how ridiculous this conversation was.
“Why you never let me tap that, Di?” Rig asked her, looking at her now like he’d never seen her before.
These guys.
“First of all, Rig, you’d have to shave that fucking mess off your face.” She circled her hand in front of him indicating his unruly facial hair. “No woman likes that shit. Especially between her legs.”
He frowned and ran his fingers over his mustache. “Thought they did.”
“Yeah, when it’s taken care of and you don’t look like some wild-ass mountain man who hasn’t seen civilization in like twenty years.”
“Nah, bitches like it.”
Di laughed and shook her head. “No, bitches don’t like it.”
Suddenly, he leaned over and kissed her right on the damn mouth. Enough of a peck to freak her out. She whacked at him. “Ew! See? It’s so gross. I can smell what you had for breakfast in that forest.”
“Can probably taste it, too.” He smiled and left the office.
Her gaze swung to Crash. “That was gross.”
He snorted and shook his head. “See? The before-gettin-dick Diamond would’ve ripped his balls off for that. I like the after-getting-dick Diamond. Think Slade will take bribes?”
“Shut up,” she muttered. “Don’t you have work to do?”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “Can I get a kiss, too?” He leaned over and wagged his tongue at her.
“No!” she screamed and smacked at him. “Go away.”
He took his coffee and headed to the door, laughing. “You know what else you do good? Ordering Bangin’ Burgers. Get it delivered.” Then he headed out and slammed the door behind him.
Di stared at the closed door for a moment, then sighed.
If it wasn’t bad enough she just had to deal with Rig and Crash, her brother was the next one through the shop door.
Jag was peeling off his work coveralls. “Why’s Rig out there talkin’ about doin’ you? Why do I have to hear that shit?”
Di raised her eyebrows at him as he made his way to the coffeemaker, grabbed a travel mug and emptied the rest of the pot into it. “I don’t know. Did you ask him? How the hell do I know what’s going through that peanut he calls a brain?” She frowned when he didn’t start a new pot. “Just going to drink it all and not make more?”
He took a sip then his steel blue eyes slid to the empty pot. “That’s your job.”
“Oh. I see,” she said softly, her eyes narrowing. “Making coffee’s a woman’s work?”
Jag’s spun his head back toward her. “Yep.”
“Ivy make you coffee every morning?”
“Yep.”
“Does she spit in it because you’re useless?”
Jag smirked. “Not useless, give her good—”
Diamond slammed her hands over her ears and shouted, “No! Nooooo. Ew. No.”
Jag laughed. “Now you know how I feel when Rig’s talkin’ ‘bout tappin’ your ass.”
“Ew.”
“Right,” he grunted, dragging fingers through his dark hair. “Anyway, got a call from D. Me an’ you need to head over to the warehouse.”
“Now? Why?” Di had never been over to In the Shadows Security. Not even to visit Jewel. In fact, D didn’t want anyone hanging around over there.
“Dunno,” he said and shrugged. “Was hopin’ you’d know.”
“If he needed to speak with both of us, why didn’t he just come here?”
Jag tilted his head and stared at her. “Dunno, sis. Why don’t you ask ‘im?”
“You’re the one who had him on the phone...” She lifted a hand. “Oh, wait. I’m thinking this is how the conversation went... Phone rings, you answer with a grunt. He grunts back. You grunt, then he grunts, grunts, grunts. Then you both hang-up. That the gist of it?”
Jag’s lips curled up at the corners. “Yep.”
She sighed, put her computer into sleep mode, then pushed to her feet. “Crash and Rig know we’re going?”
“Yep.”
“You going to say anything other than yep?”
“Nope.”
“Crash wants Bangin’ Burgers. We can pick it up on the way back.”
“Yep.”
She snorted and headed out the front door. “I think you were adopted.”
He laughed as he followed her out.
* * *
Diamond pushed through the office door and her gaze fell on Diesel sitting behind his desk. She did a double-take. Diesel had a desk? “Why the hell are you summoning us here, Your Ass-Holiness?”
Diesel frowned at her. “Shut the fuck up an’ sit down.”
Her eyes slid to a man who leaned against one of the walls. She’d never met him before and figured he must be one of D’s “Shadows.”
The man’s expression was closed, unreadable. His eyes cold, his arms crossed over his chest, emphasizing how cut his muscles were. She could see a few tats peeking out from his T-shirt which fit snuggly over his broad chest and hugged his bulging biceps. His hair was military short and reminded her of Slade’s.
Well, hello there.
Di swiped her thumb at the corner of her mouth. If she hadn’t left Slade this morning in her bed, she might have had to turn on the charm to see if she could melt this one’s frosty exterior.
“Sit. Down,” D barked with his normal happy-self attitude.
She made a face at him. Three chairs sat in front of his desk and two of them were already occupied by Jewel and Jag. She gave her sister a questioning look and Jewel just shrugged in answer.
So, her sister had no idea what this was about, either. That was weird since she was D’s ol’ lady.
Then her attention shot back to Diesel when he announced, “Got news.”
“’Bout what?” Jag asked, slouching in his chair and not looking at all worried about why all three of Ruby and Rocky’s offspring were asked to come to D’s warehouse.
Diamond moved around Jag to the empty chair in the middle and began to sit.
“Slade.”
She landed hard on her ass in the chair and stared at D, her heart beating a little faster and her blood rushing into her ears.
She had recently asked Diesel to check into Slade’s past, but she didn’t think he would actually do it. However, she knew D wasn’t a fan of Slade’s, so maybe that’s why he did.
Jag shook his head. “Why am I here?”
“Affects you, too. Affects all of you.”
Diamond’s stomach churned. What could be in Slade’s past that would affect all three of them? Her eyes widened, and she felt the blood drain from her face. “Oh, shit! Please don’t tell me he’s our secret brother.”
Jewel let out a groan and Jag’s head swung toward her, looking a little green himself.
Diesel just stared at her, his face unreadable. “Guess you’re still fuckin’ ‘im?”
Di squeezed her eyes shut at the horror of possibly having sex with her own blood relative. Her own half-sibling! “Oh fuck! Holy fuck!”
“Ain’t your brother,” D grumbled with a frown.
Her whole body collapsed like a rag doll. “Oh, thank fuck!” She dropped her head into her hands and sighed with relief. Because that would’ve been bad. Worse than bad. An epic fuck up. A shudder went through her as she shook that thought off.
“Hunter,” D said with a chin lift to the man against the wall who hadn’t even made a sound yet.
Hunter’s low, gravelly voice swept over them. “His father was a biker.”
“Okay?” Jag asked, confused.
“Name of Buzz.”
Di stared at the man,
waiting for him to continue. Apparently, getting information out of him was like trying to pour cold honey.
“A Warrior.”
Di blinked. And blinked again as what Hunter just revealed sank into her brain. Then that sick feeling overcame her all over again.
“Holy fuck,” Jag said, sitting back in his chair. “Does Slade know?”
“Dunno. Dunno what he knows. That’s the thing.”
“He ain’t a plant is he?” Jag asked, swinging his gaze from Hunter to D.
“Dunno that, either,” Diesel answered.
Hunter continued, “If he knows his father was a Warrior he may very well have patched in to infiltrate your club.”
“There’s more,” D muttered.
“More?” Di croaked, eyes wide. Slade coming from Warrior blood wasn’t bad enough? And she slept with him. Multiple times! And she actually had feelings for him. Like deep feelings! If he was a mole for the Warriors...
“Buzz is dead,” Hunter stated and straightened to a stand and scrubbing a hand over his severely short hair. “Killed by an Angel.”
Diamond opened her mouth but nothing came out. Not air, not words. Nothing. She had somehow lost all her breath and couldn’t get it back.
“What?” Jag asked, glancing at both of his sisters.
“Yeah,” D grunted. Everyone’s gaze landed on the big man behind the desk. D’s gaze met hers. “Diamond, gotta keep your shit together, got me?”
Her brain started to spin.
“What?” she whispered. He needed to just spit it out. Holy fuck. “Just say it, D.”
“Rocky took ‘im out.”
Spots swam in Diamond’s vision and the whole room started to rotate quickly. She dug her fingers into the arms of the chair because she felt like a top that was about to spin out of control and smash into the nearest wall.
She could barely get, “You’re fucking lying,” out in a whisper. Jewel was suddenly squatting at her feet, her hands gripping Di’s thighs.
“Hunter’s got no reason to lie, sis,” Jewel said. “D’s got no reason, either. You know that.”
Di’s gaze flicked from her sister back to Hunter, who was now standing at the corner of Diesel’s desk, his intense sea green eyes pinned on her.
Shaking his head, the man stated, “His real name was Gavin Bussard.”
See? She knew he was lying. Slade wasn’t from Warrior blood. No fucking way. “Slade’s last name is Stone.”
“That’s his momma’s last name.”
Fuck.
Diamond thought back to the articles she read on her father’s murder trial. She remembered there were two names listed of his so-called victims, but she couldn’t remember what they were. She’d have to go back and check with her mother, who had kept the articles.
Holy fuck. This couldn’t be happening.
Her father murdered Slade’s father.
And she had no idea if Slade knew or not.
Because if he did...
Fuck. He could be setting her up. He could be setting the whole club up.
She raised her gaze to D, who was studying her just as closely as Hunter. “He mentioned his father was a biker, that’s it.” He’d said that’s the only thing he knew about his father. If he knew anything else, he was keeping it from her.
“Yeah,” D grunted.
“What do we do?”
“Nothin’. Don’t tell ‘im we know.”
“But... my father killed his, D. Our father shot his!” Di felt the tightness in her chest growing by the second.
“Diamond, see your mind spinnin’. Need to stay calm.”
Stay calm. Well, that was easier said than done.
“It’s possible he doesn’t even know the man’s dead,” Jag offered.
“It’s possible he does,” Hunter answered. “It’s possible he knows Rocky did it,” his cold eyes pinned Di to the chair again, “an’ that he knows you’re his daughter.”
If Slade didn’t know, he’d never forgive Di. If he did, she’d never forgive him.
Hunter continued, “It’s very well possible that he plans to exact revenge for his father on you, Diamond, since you’re Rocky’s daughter. Anything’s possible.”
“Ain’t fuckin’ him.”
Her head twisted toward D. “What?”
“Ain’t fuckin’ him no more, got me?”
“D...” she breathed as her heart skipped a beat.
“No lip, woman. Stay the fuck away from ‘im ‘til we know what he knows or don’t know. Got me?”
Her chest felt like it was caving in. “I—” I just gave him a key to my place.
“No shit, woman. I’m serious. Break it off,” D said firmly.
“D...” Jewel whispered to her man, but her eyes not leaving Di’s face.
“No lip from you, either,” he told his ol’ lady. “Your sister, you, Jag, all of us could be in fuckin’ danger. Z might’ve invited a viper amongst us.” Diesel pushed to his feet and pointed a finger right at Di. “Break it off. Don’t care how you do it. Find an excuse. Just don’t let ‘im know what we know. Got me?”
Fuck! She couldn’t think straight. How was she going to abruptly break it off with a man who was climbing into her bed almost every night? What good reason was she going to use to get him to stop coming over? How could she get her damn key back without making him suspicious?
Why the fuck was this happening to her when she finally had a man in her bed who she actually liked? Actually, might even...
Love.
Fuck.
She tried to swallow the knot in her throat, but it refused to budge.
Was Slade using her? Was he a bomb ready to implode, ready to destroy their club, their family, from the inside out?
She dropped her head into her hands and sucked in a shaky breath.
“Di,” Jewel whispered, her voice sounding so full of pity that it made this whole thing worse. So much worse.
She’d been a fucking fool.
She’d always wanted to be an ol’ lady, to belong to a man who’d be loyal to her, to love her completely and she thought that Slade might be the one.
He was someone who she didn’t grow up with, who she didn’t look at like a “brother.” He was new, fresh blood in the club. Not only that, the man was smart, good-looking and had a cool temper, unlike her.
He was someone who’d been a former Marine, one she thought had honor. A man who also understood the club lifestyle, even if she didn’t like every aspect of it herself. Like the patch whores and the constant excuses for pig roasts and partying. But everything else she did. The sisterhood, the brotherhood, the family loyalty, the community. They all supported each other. Loved each other. But now this...
They might have an enemy in their midst.
Not only did they allow him into the club, Di allowed him into her heart.
And pretending like she knew nothing about how their fathers were connected was going to be the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life.
Fuck me.
Chapter Ten
Slade laid in the dark, listening to Diamond’s steady breathing and wondered if she was pretending to sleep.
She had been a bit distant when he slipped into bed with her earlier. But he’d been exhausted, and he couldn’t wait to let the stress of a busy night at The Iron Horse slip away when he slipped inside of her.
It took him longer than normal to make her come and, even then, she only did it once. Normally, she was a multi-orgasm type of woman, which he loved about her.
They clicked in bed, and when she was in her smooth-as-silk, sexy-as-hell Diamond mode, she was the best fuck he’d ever had.
And he also loved talking into the night with her, even when he was bone-tired. But tonight, as soon as he rolled off her, she’d turned to her side, faced away from him and went to sleep.
That was not like her, so he wondered what was up her ass, or what she thought he’d done wrong. Because a woman never told a man what they did. They liked to le
ave a man guessing. “You should know what you did wrong.”
Yeah, right. After thousands of years, women should finally realize that men were a bit dense when it came to a woman’s feelings and her expectations.
If women gave it to men straight, there might not be so many misunderstandings that could screw with a relationship.
Slade stared up in the dark at the cabin’s ceiling and his chest tightened at the thought that him and Diamond may actually be in some sort of relationship.
She was definitely more than just a lay. But how much more, he wasn’t sure.
Nor was he sure he wanted to take it much further than that, anyway.
He only landed in Shadow Valley in his search for answers. And now he was burrowed deeper into this club than he originally planned.
He actually regretted getting the club’s rockers and insignia tattooed onto his back. But he thought getting it done would lessen Diesel’s suspicions of him. Unfortunately, Slade didn’t think it did any good. The man still gave him the side eye and probably always would.
He wouldn’t even doubt that D would try to turn Diamond against him. He wasn’t sure if the club enforcer knew they were sleeping together but with him being Jewel’s ol’ man and with Jewel being Diamond’s sister, he couldn’t imagine the man didn’t know.
He rolled to his side and stared down at Diamond who was now flat on her back.
“Princess,” he whispered and brushed a thumb over her cheek. She shifted but didn’t respond. “Babe,” he said a little louder and wrapped his hand gently around her throat, feeling her pulse beating under his fingers.
She blinked open her eyes and turned her head toward him. “Yeah. What’s wrong?”
“You tell me.”
She didn’t say anything for the longest time and that caused his heart to thump heavily in his chest. She was not acting herself. Not the bitch Diamond and not the sweet one, either. She was just... withdrawn.
“What’s goin’ on?” he asked her. He would get to the bottom of this, one way or another.
“I was sleeping.” Then she yawned, and he wondered if that was fake, too.
He shook his head. “No, what’s goin’ on in your head, makin’ you distant?”
“Nothing. I’m just tired.”
Down & Dirty: Books 4-6: Dirty Angels MC Box Set 2 Page 53