Page 162 of Reckless Vengeance

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.

“Sorry, I’m just leaving the Shed. I was with D and he’s not doing too great, so I left and got Skeeter to check on him. I’m heading home right now,” I replied, hearing him telling the others I was fine.

“You have to stop doing this, baby,” he practically begged, and I cringed.

“I know. I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I promised, saying goodbye before heading towards home.

The road to the Shed was long and quiet, making it easy to see any trouble lurking, so I could relax for five seconds before reaching the road it connected to. One part took me towards Diesel’s, the other took me deeper into Ashburn Valley.

I turned towards Ashburn Valley, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel to a silent tune as I checked my phone.

Those two seconds were all it took for someone to fucking sneak up on me, a car suddenly slamming full force into the backside of the car. I screamed as the car spun out, tires screeching as I flew off the road into the field.

And then it began to roll.

The carbon fiber started smashing to pieces, nausea swimming as the dizziness hit me, and it took me a second to get my bearings when I stopped moving. I didn’t remember the car coming to a stop, and I reached a shaky hand to my head, feeling blood.