Page 93 of Diesel
I cling to him like I’ll die if I don’t. I don’t know what he’s been through, or why he walked in here like this. I don’t ask. I just let him hold me.
Let him press his nose into my hair like he’s imprinting my scent into every cell in his body. After a moment, he pulls back, his hands cupping my face like I’m breakable.
“You okay?” he rasps.
“I am now,” I whisper.
“Fuck.” I’m crushed again against his chest, his hand tight around my nape like he can hold us together with nothing but his touch.
And for the first time since I left our apartment, divorce papers on the counter, I breathe.
THIRTY
DIESEL
She’s here.Safe. No blood. No injuries I can see. Breathing. And in my fucking arms. I don’t think I’ve ever shaken this much. I feel sick, my stomach doing that frantic roll that goes hand-in-hand with anxiety.
I don’t care what the hell is going on behind me. I barely acknowledge Crank on his knees, surrounded by my brothers as I drag Makenna out of the room.
As soon as we’re in the corridor, I back her up against the wall, and drop my head into her shoulder. She’s here. She’s breathing. And she’s still mine.
“Zane?” The sweet softness of her voice is a bandage over the fear that bled through me the entire way here.
When Blade said Crank was coming here, I swear I lost 10 years of my life. I’ve never been so terrified.
I breathe her in, not moving an inch.
“Baby? You’re scaring me.”
It’s the wobble in her voice that has my head lifting. I never want her afraid, especially not of me or for me.
I press my forehead to hers, like I can fuse our mindstogether. “When I heard he was coming here —” I can’t finish the sentence. Not without feeling sick to my stomach.
She cups my face, like I’ve done to her a hundred times, and kisses the corner of my mouth. “I’m safe. The guys took care of everything. Truthfully, it was kind of a pitiful attack.”
I smile, trying to lighten the situation.
“He thought he was walking into an empty clubhouse,” Zane explains. “He had no idea that we left brothers behind.”
I kiss along her jawline, unable to stop touching her. The way she responds tells me she doesn’t want me to either. She soaks in every press of my lips against her skin like it’s sacred. Because it is.
Because it’s her.
Because I love her.
“I thought I was going to be too late.” It hurts me to say that. To admit it.
“You weren’t. You were just on time, like you always are.” She strokes over my cheek with her thumb. Warmth and hope bloom in my chest. “You always save me.”
That belief, that faith she has that I’ll always be there feels like a gift I don’t deserve.
“I always will.” I kiss her again, needing to taste her. “I’d follow you into the pits of hell if that’s where you went. You don’t get to go anywhere without me, not again.” I let out a ragged breath that seems to catch my chest.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Her fingers curl into my shirt. “It’s you and me against the world, Zane. Just like it’s always been.”
Against foster parents, entitled men, monsters who wanted to take without permission… It’s always been me and her.
I soak her in for a moment longer, and then I close my eyes. I don’t want to do this, but it’s the last hurdle. “I have to finish this.”
