Page 55 of Diesel
I grab her hand and guide her to the end of the hallway, away from the noise and eyes that don’t trust me.
My hands skim up her biceps, as if I expect to feel wounds under her sweater.
She’s okay. You’re okay.
Still, I have to ask it. “You alright?”
Her hands go to my chest, smoothing over my shirt, skimming the leather of my kutte. “I like the girls. They’re kind of crazy but… I think they might be my kind of crazy. Are you okay?”
I lean my forehead against hers, letting all the tension seep out of me. “No.”
She grips my face, forcing me to lift my head. To look at her. “What happened?”
I don’t answer that. Instead, I murmur, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she whispers like a fucking vow.
It punches through my chest. I don’t deserve her, but fuck, I’m keeping her.
“We’re making our move soon,” I say, hating that I have to destroy her mood.
Her fingers flex against my chest, her breath hitching as her eyes slide shut. “Right. Okay.” She swallows. “Shit.”
That look on her face is a fist beneath my ribs. The mix of worried panic hurts like a knife to the gut.
So I kiss her. It’s the only thing I can think of to stop the static buzzing through my mind. It’s not soft, it is not desperate either. It’s a marking, an imprint on her soul that tells her body that she belongs to me.
Makenna’s lips brush against mine like she’s trying to savour every last moment, like she thinks this could be the last time we get to kiss like this.
Fuck that. I’m coming home no matter what.
“Promise you’ll be careful,” she says. “No heroics, okay?”
“No heroics,” I agree. Loud laughter reverberates through the walls, breaking through the heavy tension leaching out of the walls.
“I see why you wanted this for us,” she admits softly. “The girls… they have this bond with each other.”
I kiss her temple. I can’t stop touching her. “They’re good women.”
“And you’re a good man, Zane.” Her eyes are shiny when she says it. “Don’t let your friends get in your head. You’re the most loyal person I’ve ever known and they’ll see that eventually.”
The rumble of an engine cuts through the moment like a hammer blow. Ravage. Brothers. More soldiers to fight in this civil war.
I step in front of her, shielding her with my body as Nicyells from the other room, confirming what I suspected. “They’re here.”
Makenna flinches. “You have to leave.”
I nod, tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear. We never needed words growing up and we don’t need them now. I see her fear, feel it down to my marrow, and I wrap my arms around her, giving her what she needs to feel safe.
Warmth. Pressure. My girl. My wife.
“You know what to do if things go wrong.”
Her eyes snap to me. “Don’t. Nothing is going wrong.” Her fingers fist into my shirt, like she can keep me anchored to existence with just her hold. Her breath is warm against my throat, shaky and uneven. “You do whatever it takes to come back to me.” Her eyes fill with tears. “If you find yourself in the dark, Zane, you remember I’m the light that always guides you home.”
Fuck. She might as well have punched me in the chest. We’d been younger, different when I said those words to her, but they still ring true all these years later.
I kiss the tip of her nose. “My little firefly.”
