BROKEN WINGS: GODS OF CHAOS MC (BOOK THREE) (18 page)

I needed to confront Wyatt on my own, stand across from him, and tell him that I wasn’t afraid of him, tell him to back the fuck off.  I had worked for years at this job, and I wasn’t about to let some pansy asshole come and take it all away from me.  

And, then, after the story was over, maybe I’d come back.  For visits, every now and then.  There had to be a way to keep Slade in my life, if only casually.

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“So, Wyatt Williams is Diana’s coworker.  You’ve probably seen him on the news.”

Riot, Ryder and Grace nodded.  We were sitting around the table in the clubhouse while I filled them in.

“He and Diana are fierce competitors.  She believes he mistakingly thought she had a lead on the missing girls, and that’s why he followed her.  It all adds up to me, too.  That doesn’t mean I’m not going to kick his fucking face in for watching us and hurting Oliver, but it can wait.  Right now, I want to focus on keeping Diana safe.”

“I don’t know if it adds up for me, though, Slade,” Ryder said.  “Why assume he meant no harm?”

“Diana says she knows him well.  Says he wouldn’t hurt a fly, that he’s a weak, sad man.  I believe her.”

“Alright then.  Just keep your eyes open.”

“Of course,” I replied.  I intended on being vigilant when it came to Diana. 

“Diana also wanted me to talk to you guys about her sister, and the other missing girls.  Evie, Diana’s sister, only came into her life about a month ago.  Until then, Diana didn’t know she existed.  Diana’s parents have both died, and apparently her father had this secret child.  So, Diana barely knows her.  The police aren’t telling her anything.  However, she does have some secret source that told her that the kidnapper keeps leaving a calling card at the scene - a live rattlesnake.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“Well, that’s a good question.  All three of the missing girls are young, pretty girls.  We were wondering if you might have heard anything relating to snakes during your work with Solid Ground.”

“Well, of course, there was the whole thing with that group of pricks Grace uncovered, her partner at the force and the whole group of them had snakes tattooed on their legs.  We never did find out what the snakes symbolized, other than them being complete fucking snakes themselves,” Ryder said.

“Yes, I remembered that.  But they didn’t leave calling cards,” I replied.

“I’ll make a few phone calls,” Grace said.  “If I dig, I bet I can see if there’s any new info coming out of the precinct on these girls.”

“Thanks, Grace,” I said.
  

“My pleasure, Slade,” she replied.  “How’s your arm? You took a pretty big fall yesterday.”

“I’m fine, it’s nothing,” I replied.  Truth was, the fucker hurt like hell, but I was barreling through it.

“Don’t look like nothing,” Riot said.  “Have Doc look at it again.”

“Yeah, yeah,”  I said.  “Thanks again for everything, you guys.”

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When I got off the phone with Tony, I was a nervous wreck.  Slade was still in a meeting with the Gods and Grace, and I decided to go for a walk to clear my head.

How was I going to tell Slade I was leaving?  I knew it was going to end up in an argument and the last thing I wanted to do was argue with him.  I didn’t want to worry him either.  But damn, if I’m not a grown woman and I should be able to do whatever I want.

It’s not like I even hired him to take the whole protection thing this far.  I wanted him to accompany me one night, and because of that, here I am, smack dab in the middle of a complicated mess that I had no idea how to get out of.

I know he’s just being caring, and yeah, I know someone left a snake in my house, but if I hadn’t left the door unlocked because I was so distracted with Slade, that never would have happened.  I would have locked up and set the alarm before I went to bed.

In a way, Slade made me rely on my own instincts less.  I let my guard down when he’s around, and that alone is putting me at risk.  

Sure, he’s crazy hot.  He sets my body on fire and sends my heart soaring, but I can’t let all of that get in the way of my career.  A man like Slade didn’t stick around for long. He would grow tired of me soon, whether I wanted him to or not, and then he would be gone.

I couldn’t risk everything I had worked all my life for on a short-lived affair.  No matter how amazing it was.

Yeah, so I was yo-yoing.  One minute, I wanted to figure out how to make it work with Slade, and the next I was already out the door.  It was just knowing that Wyatt had followed me here had sparked something in me.  My competitiveness was back, and damned if I was going to let him win.

Screw Wyatt.

Everything that had happened so far was all my fault.  If I had just had the balls to refrain from calling Slade that night, none of this would have happened.  And that’s what I needed right now.  Balls.  Big ones.

I had them, too.  They just needed a little dusting off.

I was halfway to the creek, looking out for Olivia along the way, when I heard a big rustling behind me.  My heart leapt in my throat.  I turned to see Slade barreling through the woods towards me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.  His face was gaunt and full of pure terror, his eyes wild and savage as he thundered past the trees.

“You’re here!” he shouted, although he was now only twenty feet away from me.

“Well, yeah, I was going for a walk…looking for Olivia, actually.”

He closed the distance between us quickly, his free hand grabbing my arm tightly.

“Slade! What’s wrong?” He took a deep breath and shook his head. 

“I thought something had happened to you!  You scared the fuck out of me!” he said, his eyes filled with anger.  “Don’t ever leave like that again!”

Something about the way he said it, and the thoughts I had just been having, and my plan to leave lingering in my head…it just rubbed me wrong.  

“Look, Slade!” I said, shaking off his grip.  “I’m not your property!  I’m a grown woman!”  I felt like a child throwing a tantrum and stamping my feet, though.  “I have a job to do.  I have a life that doesn’t involve you.”

He winced, so slightly that it was almost indiscernible, and then he squinted, his jaw twitched and his lips pressed together in a stubborn grimace.

“Yeah, we’ve gone over this already, Diana.  I know I don’t fucking own you, for fuck’s sake!” he exploded.

“Well then stop talking like you do!” I replied, raising my voice more than I meant to.  I got so fucking emotional around this man, I felt so out of control, and it scared me.  I was a control freak to the very core, and feeling like this went against every cell in my body.

The problem seemed to be that he was too.

“What do you want me to do?  Act like nothing happened between us? Just let you wander off into the world, when there’s some fuck out there just waiting to get you alone?”

“What happened?” I asked, my voice quiet and low now.  What had happened?  We had gone from me asking for a small favor to these complicated roles of victim and protector.  Is that what sex does?

“What do you mean what happened?” he asked.

“You asked if I thought you should pretend nothing happened.  What happened?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Diana!” His jaw twitched again as he looked at me, but the anger had faded.  “Do you need me to spell it out for you?”

“Yeah, maybe I do.”  I didn’t know why I was pressing the issue.   I should have just told him I was leaving, let him be pissed, and let that be the end of it.  Instead, I couldn’t resist digging in.

“Us, babe.  We happened.  I don’t know why, or how, or what any of it means.  I don’t know what the future holds.”  He reached down and grabbed my chin, grabbed my gaze and wouldn’t let go.  “All I know is that I would die if something happened to you.  All I know is that I want to spend every fucking moment with you, just to see your smile, and the way your eyes light up when you look at me.  Nobody looks at me like that.  You look at me like I’m a person, like I’m your equal.  Not just a pretty face with a hard cock, or someone to do a dirty job that nobody else wants to do.  Not a misfit, not a freak.”

“Slade…” my voice quivered as I said his name.

“No, Diana, listen!  When I’m with you, I’m just me.  Something about you allows me to relax.  When I’m with you, I’m finally at home.”

“Slade…”  I began again, the tears falling down my cheeks.

“Diana, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.  I can’t stop thinking about you, you’ve consumed me.  When I woke up in that hospital and saw you there, I knew it then.”

“Slade…I…”  I wanted to tell him I felt the same way, I wanted to tell him we’d find a way to make it all work out.  The tortured look in his eyes broke my heart and I wanted desperately to take it away.  But I didn’t know how.

His mouth captured mine before I could speak, and he kissed me passionately before breaking away.

“I love you, Diana.  I fucking love you, babe.”  His mouth came crashing down again, his kiss full of every ounce of passion and lust and love as his words.  

He took me again, there on the forest floor, his mouth, his body, his soul searching for the connection we were both yearning for so deeply.  The connection we had finally found in each other’s arms.

The connection that seemed so logistically impossible that it felt like death.
 

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The day had flown by.  After being scared shitless that something had happened to Diana when she wasn’t in my room after the meeting, and then allowing all those fucking words to fall out of my mouth, way sooner than I had intended, had put me in a daze.  

After Diana and I made love again in the woods, she was quiet the rest of the day.  She didn’t tell me she loved me back.