Page 38 of Bound in the Dark

Body cleanup wasn't something Diana usually worried about unless a client required it. She used untraceable weapons and would be long gone before it mattered. However, this was the Dark Sons' territory. The mess down in the field could blowback hard on them. Over twenty-five bodies would be difficult to clean up even without the time constraint.

Hawk sighed. "Have Tek call in some of our markers and slow down or cancel the police response. Let's get the bodies into the truck and get it out of here as fast as possible. Contact Clean and ask where he wants them taken to. Is Minetti still down there?”

Grinder nodded.

“Okay, have him meet us back at the clubhouse and we'll do a full debrief." Hawk looked at Highdive. "Do you want someone to ride your bike back to the compound?"

Highdive nodded.

Guess that meant she was going to have an extra passenger. Diana sighed. He would want totalk. Something she wasn't good at in the best of times.

Fine, she could admit they had a lot of things to work out. But starting those discussions now might derail everything else that needed to be done. She'd never had personal problems disrupt a job before and wasn't sure how to deal with it.

"I'm gonna ride with you, Pops. No way I'm getting stuck in that car full of awkward!" Nadya pouted with a bit more drama than was necessary.

Diana was glad for the distraction from her thoughts. "Don’t think for one moment I've forgotten the stunt you pulled earlier. You and I will be discussing the consequences of not following orders, your pathetic concealment skills, and why you shouldn't fire off an RPG without warning the person next to you."

"Yes ma'am!" Nadya executed a sloppy salute. Yup. The girl was just like her mother.

Hawk shook his head. "Daddio? Pappy? Pops?"

Nadya smiled. "I figure I'll try out all the versions of male parental unit and see what feels right."

"Why not just use Dad?"

"Eh. Dad is boring. No one in this family is boring. "

Diana couldn't disagree with that statement. Though if she hadn't listened to her sister's stories over the years about Hawk she might have believed the man was as straight-laced as his combat boots. She looked over at Highdive, planning to share a smile at the ridiculousness of the situation, but saw he wasn’t in the mood.

This wasn’t going to be a fun car ride.

Chapter13

We’re not arguing. I’m simply explaining to you why I’m right.

The war between Highdive’s head and heart was slowly driving him insane. He was not an indecisive man. Making hard choices was his damn job. So, why was he second guessing everything he did or said with Diana?

The danger she had put herself in was unacceptable. True, if she had followed his orders he and many of his Brothers would be dead. But what about next time? Her actions had blindsided him.

For months their relationship had existed in a bubble. Highdive loved the hours they'd spent together safe from the pressures of the outside world. It had felt natural, simple, and easy. She'd been a woman seeking the safety and comfort of submission. He'd enjoyed the challenge of getting her to let go. Of getting her to open up to him.

Now he realized how very little she'd told him. How many false assumptions he'd made. Her unique mind drew him in. He'd smugly thought he'd figured her out.

He'd been wrong.

A normal woman would've started venting their frustration the minute the two of them were alone. Highdive had been prepared and even eager for that. An argument to let out the anger boiling inside him would have been a welcomed release. Unfortunately Diana was silent, her body relaxed and face serene.

How the hell did she do that? If she'd stayed silent and seethed it would have given him an opening to start the argument. But she looked as if she was out for a pleasant night drive. Her feelings so repressed, they might as well have not existed.

If they were at Dark Secrets he'd know what to do. Break her down with pleasure and pain until her control crumpled and she showed him what she was hiding. But at the Club she chose to let him have that level of control. Would she ever give him the gift of her submission outside those walls?

He didn't want or need her submission 24/7. Hell, one of the things he loved about Diana was the fire of self-determination that burned at her core. That until she'd disappeared he'd never been concerned that she needed more than he had to give. He enjoyed that each time she submitted it was a choice instead of a foregone conclusion.

Every moment she'd allowed herself to be vulnerable was special to him. But without that dynamic he didn't know how to make her open up and listen. She wasn't alone anymore. Her actions tonight could have had far reaching consequences.

Yes, without the two women, most, if not all, of the people down in the field would have died. But the reckless disregard for her own life terrified him. She acted as if any risk to her was acceptable. As if Diana believed her death would mean nothing, rather than being something that would destroy him.

She parked the car and Highdive realized his time to come up with the perfect words to get through to her had run out.

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