Sinner's Revenge (Sinner's Creed MC #2)(64)

I stand and grab the pizza box, an uneasy feeling coming over me. I don’t like having a weakness. Good thing mine has the protection of the Mafia. If not, someone might be inclined to use Diem against me. The thought pisses me off and has fear—something I’m not used to feeling—settling in my gut.

She follows me to the kitchen, jumping up to sit on the counter while I busy myself cleaning. “You know you don’t have to worry about that, right?” I don’t answer her and completely avoid her gaze. I can’t even look at her right now with the thought of someone hurting her running through my head. “Zeke,” she begs. “Will you please just look at me?”

“What do you want from me, Diem?” I ask, giving her a tortured look. “What are we? What is this? Do I even have a right to feel the need to protect you?”

“What I want is for you to not worry about me.”

“And what I want is a f*cking answer,” I bite back, my anger rising. I’m not even sure what I’m pissed about.

“This is complicated. It’s always been complicated. Now that the truth is out, I don’t know what to do.” Suddenly, she looks exhausted. Drawing in a shaky breath, she looks out the kitchen window and I know she’s looking at Dirk’s grave. “I want us. I want this to work, but we have got to keep a low profile.”

Hopping down from the counter, she walks up to me, taking my face in her hands. “This shit is bigger than me and you. We’ve both worked too hard to f*ck everything up now. That feeling you have for your club? I have that same feeling for my family. I have to see this through. But I need to know you’re on my side.”

Her eyes move back and forth, searching for something in mine. “Okay,” I whisper, knowing good and damn well what she’s feeling right now. I loved her, but Sinner’s Creed was my life. “And you don’t have to ask, Diem. I’ll always be on your side.”

She smiles, shedding a little light on my shitty mood. “We can be like Bonnie and Clyde.”

“As serial killers, I think we’re a little more notorious than Bonnie and Clyde.”

“We’re not serial killers,” she scoffs.

I raise my eyebrows. “Um, yeah we are.”

“I don’t believe that.” She shakes her head, emphasizing that she doesn’t agree. “I’m going with what you said earlier. We are simply righting those who wronged us. We’re more like the angel of death.”

“Great . . . I’ve created a f*cking monster,” I say, throwing my hands up and walking away.

“Takes one to know one,” she says to my retreating back. “Hey! Where are you going?”

“To bed,” I call over my shoulder. “Even monsters have to sleep.”

And she joins me, because angels do too.





24


I WAKE UP to an empty bed. Stretching, I look over to find that it’s after three in the afternoon. “Diem?” I call, but only silence answers me back. In the bathroom, I find a message written in lipstick on the mirror.

Duty calls. –D.

“Duty calls,” I mock, in my best Diem voice.

After a shower and shave, I call Rookie to see where he is, and I’m not surprised to learn that he is still at the bar. Everyone else is either still partying or sleeping it off, so I decide to take the day and finally clean the house back to its original glory.

Memories come flooding back as I fold the covers in the living room. Saylor’s scent still hangs heavy in the air and I swear I can feel her presence. I always thought she was some kind of angel. I start to ask for a sign from her, but then realize how ridiculous that sounds.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m bored, feeling lonely, or just reminiscing a little too hard, but I open Saylor’s diary and scan the names on the front page until I find Jeffery’s. He, along with his partner Donnawayne, were two of Saylor’s best friends. I figure they’d like to know that they had a sister-in-law. But of the two, Jeffery is the least dramatic so it’s his number I dial.

“Hello?” He answers on the second ring.

“Jeffery?” I ask, just to be sure it’s him, although there is no mistaking his voice.

“You’ve got ’im. What can I do ya for, sugar?” At one time, his words would have weirded me out. Now I just smile.

“It’s Shady.”

“Shady! Ohmigod! Donnawayne! It’s Shady!” I hold the phone away from my ear to prevent my eardrum from busting. So much for believing he wasn’t the dramatic one.

“Put him on speaker right now,” I hear Donnawayne command. He sounds excited and pissed at the same time—if that’s even possible. “Did we or did we not promise to keep in touch?” he asks, and I visualize him standing with his hand on his hip and pointing his finger at the phone.

“I’ve been busy,” I reply, thinking that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

“We totally understand,” Jeffery tells me, and I visualize him silencing Donnawayne with a look.

I take a deep breath, preparing myself for the overly dramatic cries I’m fixing to endure. Surely, it couldn’t be worse than the time I’d told them Saylor had lost her mobility. I was still recovering from that one. “I have some good news,” I start, but they’re guessing it before I can finish.