Losing Me, Finding You(24)

“Kent Diamond,” I say and she nods curtly.

“Where do I find him?”

Shit. I stare at her hard, real hard, and I know that I can't send her to Kent. That's all sorts of messed up. I wouldn't send my worst enemy to Kent Diamond.

“I'll ask him,” I promise. I was going to anyhow. There's just something about Cross that makes me want to do it, just for the possibility of what could be. You're scaring me, Austin, I tell myself, shaking my head to clear it, but God, she felt so damn good last night when I was riding her ass. That feeling of wanting to own Amy Cross has not gotten any better, only worse. I wonder how many times it's gonna take before it goes away completely.

“And my friend,” she blurts. “She might … I just don't know.” She touches the palms of her hands to her forehead and closes her eyes for a moment. “You know what?” she begins, dropping her arms back to her sides. “Just forget it, just forget all of it.” And then she takes off into the shoe shop, leaving me wondering what in the hell just happened.

I think about chasing after her, realize that I have never even considered chasing after any woman, and then spot Gaine down the block from me, coming around the corner with a purple bruise over his left eye and a limp that sure as shit wasn't there last night. Damn it all, but Amy Cross is going to have to wait.

I wave Gaine over.

“Where the f*ck have you been?” he asks me, getting pissed before I get the chance to. His dark hair is matted with blood, and he doesn't look like he slept at all last night. I wonder where he's been.

“Gaine,” I start, but he doesn't want to hear it.

“Fuck you, Austin,” he says, closing his eyes and tilting his head back. His jaw is swollen and raw lookin' like he took a few hits. I don't want to ask, but I have to.

“You did it, didn't you?” I say, shaking my head and trying not to hate myself. I stood my ground and my friends got f*cked for it. I hate the way the world works sometimes. “You're Diamond's bitch now, too?”

I'm barely able to move before Gaine swings out with his fist, missing me by a spare few inches before he stumbles forward and leans against the side of a telephone pole. Sweat is pouring down his face and dripping to the pavement, making his tattoos as shiny and livid as the bruises on the side of his neck.

“It's not what you think, Austin,” he tells me, and I want to believe him because there's nobody out there that's better than Gaine, but I can't get behind Kent and his turf war bullshit. That's not the way things are supposed to work, and it's not something I want to get involved in. “And you know what? I'm not about to stand here and take shit from you.” He pauses and spits on the sidewalk next to my feet. “Whether you agreed with Kent's decision or not, you shoulda been there. I'm not going to justify myself to you.”

And then he's pushing away from the wood and stumbling down the sidewalk like a Goddamn drunk. I let him go, staring at his back, at the Triple M colors he's flying, and I know that whether I like it or not, I've got to step in and deal with this shit on my own.

Otherwise somebody could get hurt.

I try not to think about Amy when I say that.



Chapter 19

“You stupid motherf*cker,” I say when I walk into Beck's hotel room and find him naked in bed with Mel. She smiles at me and makes no move to cover up her lily-white ass with the sheets.

“Good morning to you, too, Austin,” she says as she stretches like the cat who got the f*cking cream and leans forward to press a sultry kiss to Beck's smiling lips. He slaps her on the ass as she gets up and watches her with twinkling eyes. The stupid f*ck can't get enough of that bitch.

“What the hell happened last night? Gaine won't talk to me, and he looks like a friggin' wreck.” Diamond chuckles, and I have to resist the urge to jump her ass and put her in a coma. Now, I'm not normally of the mind to go around hitting women, but Melissa Diamond has long since crossed over into a dimension all her own, so I think I could manage at least a couple o' hits before my conscience got the better of me. She slips into the bathroom and blows me a kiss before closing the door. “What the f*ck?” I growl, but Beck just shrugs, sitting up and wincing as the blankets fall away and reveal a stomach covered in purple and green bruises. White bandages wrap around Beck's shoulder and obscure most of his Jolly Roger tat. “No more Diamond,” I tell him, but he never listens. One day the Pres is going to find out and Beck is going to lose his dick in a knife fight.

“They were using chains,” Beck explains, pointing at his stomach. “It was just Gaine and Mireya and me – ” I take a step forward and Beck pauses, somehow realizing how serious this shit has just gotten. “Mireya?” I ask, and my tone is ice. Now she's involved in all of this shit? What the hell have I done? Was I too preoccupied with Amy? But no, that's not it at all. I didn't do what Kent asked because I didn't believe in it. He already holds the keys to part of my soul, and I'd like to keep the rest. “It was supposed to be quiet, you know, just in and out. We took some baseball bats down and we were just gonna rough things up. We didn't plan on going all the way.”

“I f*cking told you, all three of you not to get messed up in this shit.” Beck won't look at me, keeping his green eyes focused on the dresser next to the door.