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I clench my jaw, feeling the familiar tension building in my shoulders. "What do you want me to say, Diesel? That I'm barely holding it together? That every time I look at Charlie, I see Tyler and Kate? That I wake up in a cold sweat every night, reliving the moment I found their bodies?"
My voice cracks on the last word, and I take another drink to hide it. Diesel waits, silent, giving me space to continue.
"I'm terrified," I admit quietly. "Not for myself, but for Charlie. For Emily. I've never had anyone depend on me like this before. What if I fuck it up? What if…” I pause, my thoughts circling Charlie, then circling her. Despite the seriousness, I can’t help a momentary smile. Those two, they could make me smile even as the world falls apart. “I’m not just living for me. Charlie, Emily, they’re as important as anything. They’ve given me this hope that, maybe, I can have this new life here in Ironwood Falls with the two of them. A kind of life that I never thought I’d have before. But I’m also putting them in danger, too, just being around them. It means I have to keep them safe. Because if anything goes wrong, if they get hurt… I won’t just feel like I’m losing this shot at a new life, I’ll feel like, what’s the point of even living at all?”
“I hear you, brother.”
“I love Charlie, man. That little guy, he can make my day just by giggling and shitting his diaper. Never thought I’d fucking say that, but it’s true. And Emily, she’s smart, she’s capable. She steps in and just handles things that I never thought I could handle and makes it seem so easy, too. I need her, man. I need her, and I think that, maybe I…”
“You what?”
I shake my head. I’d been about to say something that’s best said to Emily, first. “Nevermind. What you need to know is that I need your help to track down whatever men Moretti’s sent after me. Because, until I’m in with the MC and can call on them for protection, I’m flying solo here without your help.”
Diesel nods, as if he understands everything I just said and didn’t say.
“Don’t worry, Hunter. Now that I’m here, you and I will tear this town apart until we find Moretti’s men.”
“There’s just one problem.”
“What’s that?”
“We can’t say a word of this to Emily.”
“What the fuck? Why?”
“I don’t want to risk sending her running because of the shit that I’m mixed up in. I need her. And I need you to swear to me you’ll keep all the Moretti situation between us.”
Diesel hesitates and gives me a look that silently voices every accusation and objection that exists in the entire English language.
But then he nods his head.
“Fine, Hunter. It’s the biggest fucking mistake in the world, but I swear, I’ll keep your secret.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Emily
“Never imagined that I’d be the one looking at you through a set of bars,” Hunter says. There’s nothing teasing in his voice, only admiration, and more than a little heat. “Though I love the view.”
The officer guarding the lockup cell turns his head to look at Hunter and me. Maggie does, too, along with everyone else in the cell — a couple of drunks and one guy who smells like formaldehyde. I blush and get closer to the bars, mainly so everyone around can’t hear how shaky and frazzled my voice sounds. It’s embarrassing enough that Hunter has to see me like this — what must he think of me now? Will he even trust me to watch Charlie? How quick is he going to cut me out of his life now that he must think I’m some felon? — but the rest of the world doesn’t need to be in on it.
“That’s not why I called you here,” I say.
“You need bail money? Cash is a little tight right now, but I could sell my truck if I had to. Or even my bike, if your bail’s high enough.”
My mouth snaps shut at that as whatever I was going to say dies on my tongue.
He’d sell his bike for me?
Hunter didn’t even hesitate to say it, either. Like it was just a foregone conclusion that he’d do whatever it takes to get me out of here, even without knowing what I did.
“You won’t need to do that,” Maggie says. “I’m covering her bail. I’m just waiting for my lawyer to get down here to finish the arrangements.”
“Just what did you two do?” Hunter says.
“She slapped a police officer who was harassing us.”
Hunter gives me a look of pride. Although I’m currently incarcerated and beyond embarrassed, I stand up straighter and smile. “Nice work.”
