Page 99 of Vengeance

Sighing, he chuckles. “Never mind. His room is open.”

“Shannon, Jennings will take you to an empty room to sleep in. It doesn’t belong to anyone because, well, I don’t know who the fuck this Ink guy is, so you’ll have the room to yourself.”

“Beckett, I don’t need a room to myself,” she says.

“I need you to have a room to yourself.”

Standing, she nods. “Okay.”

“It’s right upstairs and to the left,” Jennings says, and Beckett shuts his door.

Lying on his bed, he closes his eyes, but he knows sleep won’t come easily even though he almost fell asleep in the shower. He can’t decide if he’s angry or upset. If this is how she’s living her life, he can kind of understand, but it still doesn’t make him feel better. In fact, it makes him angry for her. That her life has resorted to this. Damn it. If only he’d come home thirty minutes later, none of this would have happened. He’d be asleep and none the wiser that Shannon Walters slept under the same roof as him. She may have even been gone when he woke up.

Chapter Thirty-One

Black Valley

West

It’s been three days since West last saw Diane. She walked out of the clubhouse that night, and no one’s seen her since. The look she had, along with the tears she tried to hide, showed more hurt than the previous night. The rest of the night he felt guilty, and he waited for her to come back inside after she’d collected herself, but she never did. He thought she’d show back up, but no one seems to know anything.

Claws assured him Diane would be fine, but he’s not so certain. And in this moment, he realizes he actually cares about her. About what happens to her, and damn it if he doesn’t want to be with her. Just her. She understands the life, and he’s never ached for someone like he does her. Something with her feels different, and he was fooling himself if he thought he could just sleep with her and move on.

It’s been a couple weeks, West. Get a grip.

The more he thinks about it, the more he knows he wants Diane. He wants more than just the sex. The pain she carries seems to match his own, and he hopes to run into her tonight to talk. The mission was necessary, but it still never sits right with him to take lives like he has. It’s part of the reason he can’t handle Undertaker. He enjoys the kill. But Diane isn’t here to talk to. To try and mend fences with and seek comfort in. He also really wants to know why she chose the bunny life over the child of the club life. Her relationship with Ian would have given her the opportunity to have what she wants now.

He spots Ian and hurries over to the former Vice President. “Have you seen or heard from Diane?”

Ian shakes his head. “No, why?”

“She left a few nights ago, and no one’s seen her since. I have a bad feeling.”

“She’s probably fine.”

Grabbing his arm as he walks past, West whips him around. “How can you not care? You act like she’s just another bunny and replaceable. She’s your family.”

“She was my family. And if she had chosen any other life than the one she did, maybe she would still be my family. But the truth is, her mom left me shortly before she died, and Diane has pushed me as far away as she could ever since.”

Diane’s mom died. That explains it. “When did this happen?”

“When she was fifteen. Look, I stuck around. I didn’t have to, but I was the only parent in her life, and her mother and I weren’t even married when I took her in. I loved her like a daughter, and I raised her, but she didn’t want to be my family.”

“What if the Slashers got to her?”

“Why would they target her? She’s not legally related to anyone here, and she’s a bunny. They’re not exactly in much danger.”

Ian doesn’t care. The man who raised Diane doesn’t care what happens to her. “What if they don’t really care to look further than the fact you were married to her mother? Then what?”

“What do you want to do, West? Create a search party for her? Here’s a little tidbit about her you don’t know: She runs. When she gets overwhelmed or upset or pissed, she takes off. She always comes back. What do you care, anyway?”

“I care,” West says.

Laughing, he shakes his head. “Trust me, she’s not the one for you. I’ve heard from many others that she’s good in bed, but she’s the perfect bunny. There’s not a bone in her body that wants to settle down. My advice is to let her fuck you for as long as she’s willing, but whatever you think is happening, don’t. Just let it go. Let her go.”

He can’t respond. In fact, he can’t move out of fear he’ll punch the former Vice President and knock his ass out. That won’t go over well, so he just watches Ian walk back to his apartment.

Fuck him.

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