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Diesel wasn’t going to like this, but he hadn’t said not to bring her. What he did say was to watch her. How else were we supposed to do that if he asked us all to come out here?
“This is what you wanted,” Ava Jade said plainly. “Remember?”
Grey flinched at that, but none of us contradicted her. Whether it was Grey who did the asking or not for her to take the trials, it was a fact that every single one of us wanted that same thing. It was better than the alternative.
“Get out,” I told her. “I have something for you in the back.”
I stepped out into the rain, bristling as the chilled droplets snaked through my hair, dripping down the back of my neck, bringing my focus back.
Her door opened, and she rushed to the trunk, squinting through the rain, her arms wrapped around herself as the rain soaked through her black long sleeve shirt.
I took out the vest I’d purchased for her more than a week ago, though it only just arrived this morning. It was the closest one to her size I could find. The adjustable straps should ensure it was a snug fit.
“Put this on.”
She looked between me and the bulletproof vest. She hadn’t been expecting this.
Her hesitation was making me grind my teeth again. They’d be worn down to stumps in no time if she kept being so damned stubborn about every little thing.
I lifted the edge of my grey t-shirt, showing her mine beneath it. Everyone here would be wearing one tonight. Except for Rook, who never wore one no matter how much we tried to push him into it. He had the bullet holes to prove it, but not even those could persuade him. He wore each one like a trophy. A time where death could’ve come for him but didn’t.
“Just put it on, Sparrow.”
She relented, stripping off her shirt without another word to lay it in the trunk, her skin reflecting the moonlight, bathed in rainwater. The tops of her breasts prickled with gooseflesh.
I adjusted my stance to block her from the view of the van as she turned around to slide her arms through. I helped her get it on and adjusted and then tugged her damp shirt back on over top of it.
Though nearly everyone here would be wearing one, it was bad form to show it. This was a courtesy meeting after all. Wearing a bulletproof vest meant you expected blood. And if you expected blood, you would often find it.
“It’s still visible,” she said, trying to adjust her shirt so it would cover the top part of the vest covering her perfect tits, but it was no use. I slipped off my leather jacket and flicked off the rain before settling it around her shoulders.
“Zip it up. No one will know.”
She touched the collar delicately for a second, like she wasn’t quite sure what to do, and the urge to push her up against the Rover and punish her for everything she’d put us through almost took me. But then she zipped it up like I told her to do and gave me a taut nod. She looked amazing in it.
“Good girl.”
She bit her lip.
Jesus fuck.
The rain started to let up, and I heard the truck door open, instinctively stepping forward to put myself in front of Ava Jade. She made a sound of annoyance at my tiny shove but didn’t fight me.
No. She just stepped back around me to put herself directly at my side as Diesel appeared outside the truck, shrugging his worn jacket to pop the collar as a defense against what remained of the rain.
Grey and Rook got out of the Rover, coming to stand with us.
Diesel didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see Ava Jade there as he pulled a long stick from the truck seat and set it on the ground.
A cane.
I felt Ava Jade stiffen beside me as Diesel approached us, using the sleek black cane to hold the majority of his weight.
He stopped a few feet away.
“What’s the—” I started, but he interrupted me.
“You’re here,” he said, sniffing, his icy gaze fixed on my Sparrow. “Good.”
