Jana held up her spoon of strawberry ice cream taken from the pint she held. “I can’t wait to meet Axel.”
Diesel accepted the sweet treat and swallowed it before offering her a spoonful of his butter pecan. “You’re going to love him.”
Somehow, Jana talked him into taking her to one of his favorite spots–the pedestrian deck on Turn Creek Bridge, a place he often went after school with his girlfriend of the moment.
Many nights, he spent time with his friends, smoking weed and drinking.
He’d capitulated as a reward for Jana’s good behavior over the past few days. Amy reported Jana hadn’t left the house and Diesel called or texted her every day.
“I prefer my ice cream,” Jana said, shoving another spoonful into her mouth.
“It’s delicious, sweetheart.” Diesel pulled her closer and kissed her, reveling in her sweetness, but he wanted to show her how much he cherished her. “Let’s go to Portland. I want to rent a hotel room for us.”
“You spend too much money on me. I’m not worth that.”
“You’re worth that and more,” he said sharply, ignoring his annoyance. Once she met his family, he’d get her into proper rehab. “I’m tired of telling you that how invaluable you are to me. Never mind. You’ll see.”
“I’m tired of my ice cream,” she admitted.
They’d opened their respective pints in his car, grabbed their spoons, then headed there. The covers for the containers and the grocery bag had been left behind, but Diesel had enough, too. He’d parked his Mercedes as far off the road as possible, but the area didn’t have a parking lot where his car would be completely safe.
“I don’t want to leave yet.”
“Okay, sweetheart.” After bringing their ice cream back to his cart, he returned to the pedestrian deck.
Jana leaned against the railing and looked into the black void of the water below.
“It’s so peaceful out here,” she said, sidling closer to him and resting her head against his chest.
Automatically, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “It is. Probably why I gravitated to it when I was younger. Here alone, I reconciled my two worlds. The abandoned kid and the lucky boy.”
She straightened. “You don’t think you should’ve been lucky?”
“I don’t know what I did to deserve it.”
“Oh.”
Fuck, he’d said the wrong thing.
“You did nothing, Diesel. You say I deserve to have the world at my feet—”
“Everything at my disposal,” he interrupted gruffly. “You warrant it all. And, fuck, I guess I sound like a jackass.”
“You do,” she said primly.
He laughed, bent, and pressed his lips against hers. “You are the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said when he came up for air.
“Second best. The Caldwells are the best. Without them, we wouldn’t have met.”
She was right. He wouldn’t have gone to college, so he wouldn’t have had a buddy who lived down the street from her parents.
“So you’ve told me about Axel, CJ, and Outlaw. Tell me about Rebel.”
Immediate tension settled into his body. Not only didn’t he want to talk about Rebel, he didn’t want to think about her.
“I think you said she’s blonde?”
Somehow, he swallowed his order to change the subject. Jana neededpatience. If he snapped at her, she’d think him angry with her and hunt for drugs the minute he left her.
