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Chapter Four
Jessie
"Um,doyouknow a hot Viking?" Remington Hartley asks, peering over my shoulder at the street behind us.
"Is he tall, tatted, blond hair, eyes like mine?" I guess, tipping my head back to groan up at the sky. If Risk is following me around campus again, I'm going to stab him with my plastic spoon. The last I heard; he was still in Silver Spoon Falls. Apparently, my big brother is in love. He hasn't told me a lot of the details yet, but I know her name is Pen and she's the bassist for Bent, one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Or the former bassist. They just retired so I'm not sure how that works, exactly. All I know is that my brother has suddenly gone from driving me crazy twenty-four seven to driving her crazy twenty-four seven.
It's been a nice reprieve. And a lonely one. I'm dying for any little kernel of information about Devil, but Risk hasn't been in Diamond all week, save for one quick trip last weekend to pack up some stuff. We barely missed each other.
I couldn't exactly ask him about his MC brother even if he were on the ranch. As far as I know, he has no clue I was in Diamond last weekend. I never told him I was there. I don't think Devil did either. It's been giving me anxiety! All week, I've been waiting for him to bring it up, but he hasn't even mentioned it.
If he's here now, I'm guessing my luck has run out and Devil finally told him. The big jerk. He probably waited all week just to make me squirm for as long as possible.
Or else he forgot about me. The club girls probably kept him busy all week.
My stomach churns. I drop my pudding cup on top of the picnic table, my appetite vanishing like it always does when I think of him with them. I'd like to be able to say I don't think about it often, but that's a lie. I've thought about nothing else all week. It's making me crazy!
Heis making me crazy. Is it possible to fall for someone in twelve hours? Because I think I might have done that. He's hot and bossy and grumpy and infuriating…but he's also sweet in his own way. Most men would have thrown a fit about me snooping through their room. He didn't. He just let me get away with it. He let me get away with a lot of things, and I don't think it had anything to do with me being Risk's sister.
I miss him. But the thing is…I don't trust him. I heard him on the phone the morning I left. I don't know who he was talking to or what he was talking about, but it didn't sound like a normal conversation. What did he want done so badly? And what paperwork did he need?
I don't know, but I don't like it.
Call it intuition or instinct, but I know he's hiding something. He knows I know. He all but confirmed that he's hiding something. Even though he swears he's not there to harm the Diamond Kings or my brother, I'm not the kind of person capable of just letting it go. When people say I can't know something or can't do something, I refuse to give up until I figure it out.
I've always been three grades ahead of everyone else my age. The other kids, especially the boys, didn't like that much. It offended them that they were supposed to view someone so much younger and so much smaller as an equal. They picked on me mercilessly as a result. Aww, the little baby can't figure it out was a favorite insult growing up. The only way I ever shut them up was by being the smartest, sassiest kid in the room. No one had anything to say when I had the answer first every single time, or when my insults packed more of a punch.
That ended before we made it to high school, but old habits die hard. I'm still sassy. I still want to know everything. What started as a way to survive became a genuine thirst for knowledge about anything and everything. When there's a puzzle in front of me, I have to solve it. My brain won't quit until I do.
Devil is a puzzle. A mystery. Until I know what he's doing and why, I can't let it go.
I feel…disloyal for liking him. And conflicted. He has my head spinning like a top.
"No," Remington says, drawing the word out. "He has dark hair and crazy green eyes. He looks like he should be throwing javelins down a battlefield or something."
I know only one man who fits that description. Devil.
I whip around so fast I nearly fall off the bench.
There's no one there.
"He's not there now," Remington says. "But he's driven by on a motorcycle like four times now. He looks right at you every time. He's freaking hot." She fans herself as if to indicate just how hot he is. "If you don't spill all the juicy details so I can live vicariously through you, we are so not friends anymore."
"His name is Creed," I mutter. "He's one of my brother's friends."
Remington snorts, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Um, I hate to break it to you, but that man does not want to be just your brother's friend, Jessie." She gives me a look that makes it clear she thinks I've lost my mind. "I could feel the heat from all the way over here."
"It's complicated."
"Uncomplicate it." She shrugs and then laughs, popping a fry into her mouth. "Preferably in a bedroom because holy crap."
"I don't think he is who he says he is," I say, moving to her side of the bench so I can keep my eyes on the street. If he drives by again, I fully intend to catch him in the act.
"Who is?" She pops another fry into her mouth. "That's why Baby Jesus gave us the internet. So long as he's not a cheater, a creep, a murderer, or a misogynist, you can work with it."
I shift my gaze from the road to Remington, trying to decide if she's serious or not. And then I shake my head. This is Remington we're talking about. What am I thinking? Of course she's serious. I love her to death, but she's kind of crazy.
"Seriously, Jessie," she says, laughing at my expression. "Look him up. You find all kinds of interesting things about people online." She waggles her brows suggestively. "Even things they probably wish you didn't know."
