Page 121 of Reckless Vengeance

“Promise?” I asked firmly, his eyes sliding to me. He wasn’t fine, I could tell, and I almost told him to spend the day with Rory. The last thing he needed was to become fucking codependent on someone though.

“I’m struggling today but if I get worse I’ll call you,” he said quietly, shame filling his face.

“Hey,” I replied as I stood, moving over to him to pat his shoulder. “It’s that time of year, I get it. If you need to get out of here, call Rory. She’d probably like to hang out and distract you.”

I could tell by the way he scrunched his face up that he didn’t like that idea, but he nodded.

“I can do that, but if I get bad, I’ll call you instead because I won’t be around her like that.”

I could respect that. Diesel had been sober for a long damn time, but he was a nightmare when he spiraled. I just had to get him through the new year and everything would calm down again.

“I’ll be back later,” I said as I patted his shoulder again before leaving, ignoring Claire and Mandy, who were sitting at the bar talking to Samuel and Matteo. It was way too early for them to be here.

I texted Hunter to let him know I was on my way to their warehouse, then I headed towards Mount Mercer.

It was pretty early, so it didn’t take long to get there with fuck all traffic.

“This better be important,” I grumbled as I locked my car and walked towards Hunter, who was waiting at the door for me.

“Good morning to you too,” he huffed, motioning for me to step inside so he could shut the door behind us.

“It’s too early for this shit, man. What do you want to tell me?”

He led me up to the loft so we could talk in his office, irritation washing through me as I stepped inside to find Marco leaning back in his chair smoking a cigarette. He gave me a sly smirk, but he didn’t say anything.

“Are you still looking for Max Donovan?” Hunter asked, making me frown.

“Yeah, why?”

“Some of my guys got hold of him last night and dragged him in for me so I could beat him over debts he owes us. He escaped before I could hand him over to you. He’s got a place in Ashburn somewhere, but it can’t be in his name for a lease agreement or deed. It’s like he’s a ghost.”

“How the fuck did he escape? And why would you hand him over to me?” I asked skeptically, and he raised an eyebrow like I was stupid. Marco gave me a similar look, a flicker of amusement in his tone when he spoke.

“Because Hunt wants to fuck your girl, and handing over her daddy to murder would make the little freak horny as hell,” he drawled, flicking ash in the ashtray before putting his boots up on the desk. “Our camera system went down, so we don’t know how he got away. He’s obviously got someone on his side that knows tech though if they shut down our system.”

“I warned you already,” Hunter bit out, giving me an apologetic look. “I didn’t invite you here to fight.”

“Sure seems like it,” I scowled, glaring at Marco. “Good luck trying to fuck Aurora. She has zero interest in you guys.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Marco shrugged as the door opened and Faris stepped inside.

“Hey, sorry. Hendricks just showed up and wants to speak with you, boss,” he said with a wince, and Hunter growled.

“That motherfucker. I’ll be back in a second,” Hunter bit out before following Faris from the room, closing the door behind them.

I silently watched Marco for a moment before he got to his feet and strolled towards me. It took every ounce of willpower to stay still and not back away from him. I’d hated him and Hunter for years, but it was hard to stay so angry with people who had once been the most important people in my life.

Losing Slash was making me soft or something.

“If you let Hunter play with your girl, I can occupy you for a while,” he offered, blowing smoke in my face. “I’ll even let you top me.”

“I’ll smash your face to pieces, Ortega. Don’t push me,” I warned, giving him a shove back, but he just moved closer again with a laugh.

“You worried you’ll remember how much you love me? We can turn the love into a hate-fuck, if you’d prefer?” He reached out to touch my face and I smacked his hand away, not being able to help but take a step back.

I hated him. He was one of the only people in the world that had any power over me, and I refused to fall back into his web of lies. He’d made a joke out of what we’d had, admitted it was nothing but fun and he’d never had feelings involved.

I’d locked down my emotions after that, refusing to let anyone in like that again.