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He narrowed his eyes on me, as if he just looked hard enough he could see straight through skin, muscle, and bone to see exactly what I was thinking.
I heard Diesel over the music and peered to my left from the corner of my eye, finding him walking toward the high top table where he usually sat during the fights. Either the injury to his ankle was healing really well or he’d just gotten hella fucking good at hiding it. I detected almost no limp whatsoever.
He stopped, turning to bark something at Pinkie, who was following him. Pinkie nodded before taking off in the other direction, leaving Diesel to sit alone, adjusting his battered leather jacket with a sneer on his lips.
Now was my chance.
I rolled my shoulders back, wishing Grey had let me finish my beer. “I’ll be right back,” I told them, not waiting for the protests I knew would surely follow before picking my way through the crowd.
Diesel’s gaze snagged on me as I approached, watching with a wary distaste as I dragged the tall stool opposite him out from beneath the table and plunked my ass atop it.
“Ava Jade,” he said, cold blue eyes burning into me. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
I leaned over the table so he would hear me without the need to raise my voice. It was one thing saying what I was about to say to him, it would be another thing if he thought people could overhear us.
“You’re being a dick,” I told him, careful to keep my voice even, watching his face for changes in his expression.
He managed to keep a level of neutrality, but the slight downturn of his lips gave him away, even concealed by his beard as they were.
“I think I misheard you,” he said.
I shook my head slowly. “You didn’t.”
“If you think—”
“Hear me out, and then I’ll fuck off.”
A vein throbbed in Diesel’s neck, but he said nothing else. Probably just wanted to get rid of me as quickly as possible. I was banking on that.
“I don’t know what you said to him on Monday—”
“That’s between me and my son.”
I waited, not letting his defense wake the dark within. This needed to be said. And it needed to be said in a way that he might actually listen.
“I know it is,” I replied coolly. “Which is why I don’t know what you said. What I do know is that he’s been a shell of himself since then.”
That seemed to strike a nerve. Good. Maybe I was on the right track, then.
“He won’t return any of his manager’s calls. He’s completely given up on an entire part of himself. An entire chunk of his soul.”
“That’s fucking dramatic.” Diesel scoffed.
“You don’t get it, but that isn’t a good enough reason for you to take it from him.”
“He lied to me. I’m not having this conversation.”
He jerked his head toward a Saint nearby. Axel, I thought his name was. Get her out of my sight written in his stare.
I lifted my leg, letting my black skirt fall up my thigh to reveal the blades strapped there. I held Axel’s gaze, daring him to interrupt.
He glanced between Diesel and me, hesitating.
“Let me finish,” I told Diesel. “And you’ll never hear another word about it from me.”
His jaw tightened, but Diesel gave Axel a little nod, rolling his eyes.
“Corvus lied to you because he knew you wouldn’t understand. He knew you wouldn’t condone him spending his time doing something that could take him away from all of this, regardless of how important it is to him.”
