Page 37 of Rebellious

Rebel started to lift herself up, but groaned and coughed, falling back against her pillow.

Diesel balled his hands into fists so he wouldn’t touch her again. She looked so young and vulnerable. So…injured. His stomach turned, but he forced himself to remain calm for her sake. “What do you need, sweetheart? Tell me. Whatever it is, it’s yours as long as you’re comfortable.”

“You. Safe,” she said, sobbing softly and laying her hand against her stomach.

“Don’t worry about me, Rebel,” he said, wishing he could trade places with her. “I just want you well and at home.”

Pain contorted her tear-streaked face. She inhaled and exhaled several times before she spoke again. “It hurts. It hurts so bad. My leg is bruised from a kick and I have a slight limp. I’m just glad I don’t need another cast.”

“I am, too,” Diesel said, somehow speaking in an even tone when he felt like a raging beast.

“Daddy will figure it out, she said, her thoughts all over the place, bouncing from her injury to her worry about him.

“I will see to it that Bash never discovers the truth.”

“He isn’t stupid. Jana said Tabitha set her up and then she turns up dead. Even Uncle Johnnie could figure out that one.”

Despite the situation, Diesel laughed. He loved her wit. “I will talk to Uncle Christopher.”

Rebel’s lower lip trembled. “He might kill you. How could you be so reckless?”

“How could you? You took on grown men.”

“What did you expect me to do?”

“Call me!”

“How? Tell those motherfuckers to hold off beating me to call you or our guards?”

Even though Torrin helped Diesel obtain the drugs to fuck up Tabitha, he was still livid with that motherfucker for not sticking close to Rebel. “They were supposed to stick to you like fucking glue.”

“We sent them away, so leave them alone.”

“They were your guards.”

“Who was caught between listening to you and Daddy or risking me saying how unhappy they made me by crowding me.”

Torrin and the other three couldn’t win in that situation. Undoubtedly, they wouldn’t have been punished for doing their jobs. The off chance they would’ve gotten reprimanded for ‘crowding’ Rebel, was better than leaving them on their own and endangering their lives.

“Starting today, I will see to it that your guards crowd you whether you like it or not, so we don’t run into such an issue again.”

“That’s not your call to make, Diesel. That’s Daddy’s.”

“The hell it isn’t my call. You belong to me.” He’d secure Uncle Christopher’s agreement with a compelling argument. “I will protect you at all costs, even if I have to fucking spank you for your stupidity.”

Rebel fell silent, her blue eyes touching on his mouth, his cheeks, his hair, before she met his gaze and pinched her cheeks. “Still conscious,” she muttered, grogginess drooping her eyelids and slurring her voice.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“Seeing if I was dreaming. Or, maybe, I’ve just awakened from a coma and I’m suddenly legal.”

He glared at her.

“I talked to Kaia,” she said, changing the subject to one that annoyed Diesel. “I told him I want us to be friends. That, maybe…I don’t know,” she mumbled, averting her gaze.

“Did those motherfuckers conk you on your fucking head? You’re willing to forgive a cheater?”

“We were friends, Diesel. I enjoyed Kaia’s company. For the record, I told him I’m not his Chi a-a-anym-m-more,” she said around a little sob. “He’s n-n-not my Huahua. He wants to be. He asked me to give him another chance, but I don’t want to have sex with him right now and he wants sex. He wanted it the night of your birthday party.”