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Diesel nodded. “I saw her storm down the dock. I remember.”
“We should look for her,” Becca said, piping up for the first time in thirty minutes.
Diesel’s gaze slid to her like he was only just remembering she was there. “There’s no reason to believe that this…this filthhas her. She was upset. She left. She doesn’t know you’re here to come looking.”
“She’d figure it out,” Grey argued.
Rook shook his head. “She won’t be ready to come looking. Not yet.”
“Becca’s right,” I said, two words I never thought I’d utter. “We should look for her. I don’t care if she’s ready or not. She shouldn’t be out there alone.”
“Give her the day,” Diesel suggested. “If she isn’t here by nightfall, we’ll find her. Send out teams of three to every place you think she might’ve gone.”
I cocked my head at him.We?He was going to use our men to aid in the search for her?
“She’s one of us,” Diesel said plainly, looking at me as though I should’ve understood that. “And she’s important to the three most important people to me. That makes her problemsmyproblems. But I got to say, boys, the timing of this shit…”
He trailed off, not needing to finish the thought.
We all hoped the war with the Aces and Dead Men was at an end after the slaughter at the Docks, but we needed to be cautious. We needed to rebuild. Strengthen our ranks. With the Kings here to help bolster us, we were all right. We wouldn’t be perceived as weak or vulnerable to attack any who wanted a piece of our territory.
But did that alliance still hold now that the threat was dealt with?
“Tonight, then,” Rook said with a note of finality in his tone.
Diesel shook his head. “You three aren’t going anywhere. The vet said Grey shouldn’t be moving around for a couple days at least. You either, Rook. In fact, I recall him saying not to put any pressure whatsoever on that leg.”
Diesel eyed Rook’s torn off jeans and the bandages cuffing his thigh and calf. Blood was already showing through the starchy white gauze even though I’d changed the dressings for him twice. Unless I tied him down, he wouldn’t stay sitting.
“And you,” Diesel added, gaze sliding my way. “You’re lucky the internal bleeding didn’t put your ass in a casket. You need fluids and rest.”
“Then we’ll rest,” I said through gritted teeth. “…until the sun goes down.”
He threw his hands up, scoffing as he rolled his eyes. “Have kids she said,” he muttered to himself. “It’ll be fucking fun, she said.”
Grey snorted, and I couldn’t help the tiniest smirk at the reminder of the reason Diesel St. Crow took in three strays and made them family. His wife, who couldn’t have children, but always wanted them. The woman who resolved to adopt… just before her life was ended.
“All right. Rest then,” Diesel said after a moment. “We’ll be back in a few hours. Got some things to check up on and Maverick wants to have a meet.”
“You need us there for that?” Rook asked.
“It’ll happen at Sanctum. I’ll be back before he gets here.”
“Wait,” I said before Dies could take off again, remembering the other thing we’d wanted to talk to Dies about during his party. “Aries.”
He quirked a brow.
“Maverick’s man,” I explained. “His clean-up guy. Ava Jade thought he might be the guy. Her stalker. He took off a couple days ago, after the newsletter was sent to the entire school about my… origin. We haven’t seen him since.”
Diesel’s mouth pressed into a thin line as he thought through the new problem. Asking a gang leader to hand over one of his own men wasn’t going to be pleasant, but Maverick could either give him over or let us hunt him down. If he was smart, he’d prefer the former.
“I’ll bring it up at the meet,” Diesel said finally. “You think it’s him?”
I rolled the question around in my mouth.
“No,” Rook answered for me. “The guy’s a creep, but not a monster.” He sneered. “Too weak. Besides, he’s probably a hundred pounds soaking wet.”
“AJ said—” Grey started, but Rook cut him off.
