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We’d considered the option that he could have crawled off somewhere and died of his injuries, but somehow I doubted that. It would be a waste. There was a deep, dark part of me that wanted him to still be alive so I could have a hand in killing him myself.
“Grey,” Corvus said, edging my name in a question, and I realized how tightly I was holding the steering wheel and forced my stiff fingers to relax. Made myself slow the speed of the Rover as we pulled into the back lot at Sanctum and Corvus handed AJ back her phone.
She was the first to hop out, appearing to not be at all worried about what might await her inside.
I sighed after her door closed and flinched when Corvus gripped my upper arm in an uncommonly gentle gesture. “You good, man?”
I swallowed and gave him a quick nod. “Yeah. I’m good, just…”
“I know,” he replied before I could properly articulate what I wanted to say. “We got this. She’s going to be fine.”
The Rover rumbled to a standstill as I twisted back the key and stepped out into the crisp night air, inhaling deeply through my nostrils.
Food.
I needed something to eat. The banana I ate at breakfast and the pizza pocket I warmed up at lunch weren’t even a fraction of my normal intake. No wonder I was so fucking irritable. No wonder my hands felt like they were trembling.
AJ flipped through the newly installed camera feeds through the app on her phone as we made our way inside, seemingly satisfied to find nothing but the shuddering shadows of trees moving in the wind and the quiet house on the screens.
“All clear?” I asked her with my best encouraging smile.
“Yep. Looks fine. She knows to call if she hears or sees anything. She’ll be fine.”
I wasn’t sure if she was telling me that or herself, but either way, I agreed as we entered the main floor of Sanctum and the music from inside washed over us along with the smell of beer and whiskey.
I gave Sasha a nod as we entered and upon seeing us, she drew out Rook’s favorite bourbon and poured him a glass without asking.
“Hey, sweets,” she called, drawing the attention of the others. Sasha set the bourbon down on the bar for Rook and grimaced before taking it with a grateful nod. “Anybody else want anything?”
“No,” Corv growled, his gaze tracking across the pub in search of Diesel.
“I’ll take a water,” AJ asked, and I caught her gaze dipping to Sasha’s chest. It was hard not to, the way she wore her tits almost hanging out of her shirts. They were some nice tits, too. Fake, but sometimes those were even nicer than the real kind.
“Sure thing, hon,” Sasha replied and filled a glass with ice and water, plunking in a slim black straw before handing it to AJ.
“You, Grey?”
“Nah, I’m good,” I replied as I began looking for Diesel, too.
It was busy enough for a Saturday night and Sasha was quickly called away to help the other bartender fix drinks at the other end of the bar. Mostly Saints and their girlfriends or fuckbuddies graced the bar and tables. Pool balls knocked noisily into one another from the area at the back. A few locals drowned their sorrows in cheap beer at the bar and a handful of girls in too-short dresses eyed the leather-clad Saints not already spoken for from a booth near the door. Giggling as they adjusted their cleavage and hair.
I couldn’t see Diesel anywhere.
Which meant he either wasn’t here yet, or he was in the private room around the other side of the bar out of sight.
“Diesel here yet?” I went to ask one of the servers, a girl called Cat.
She shook her head. “Haven’t seen him, but the others got here about an hour ago. Who’s your friend?”
I glanced back at AJ. “That’s our girl,” I said before I could change my mind. “You get her anything she wants and if anyone so much as looks at her funny, I want to know about it.”
Her lips twitched into an awkward tight-lipped smile as she replied. “Sure thing. I’ll make sure everybody knows.”
Rook growled behind me, and I turned to see him staring after a stumbling drunk asshole, leaving me to wonder if the guy’d accidentally bumped into him. He downed his bourbon and took off after the guy.
“Rook!” I called, but he was already gone, lost to the crowd.
“He muttered something about going to the bathroom,” Corvus said, giving me a strange look. Obviously he hadn’t seen the look on Rook’s face. Or maybe I was just overthinking it.
