“Famous last words,” she said with a nervous laugh.
He snickered and took her hand in his, tugging her toward the hallway, then leading her up the back staircase to her bedroom door.
“Half an hour, sweetheart.”
It was a little longer than half an hour. More like forty minutes, but Rebel had to work up her courage to set foot in the natatorium again. The last time she was there, she’d almost lost her life. She still wasn’t sure if she could ever get inapool again, let alonethisone.
Now, she stood outside the natatorium, listening to the awful spa music filtering through the speakers and into the hallway. Chlorine invaded Rebel’s nostrils and she backed away, then halted.
Diesel wanted to help her. Even with all her reservations, he’d convinced her to put her faith in him. She was being a doofus, mistrusting him. He wasn’t a threat to her, Kaia, or their relationship. He was just living life as he usually did—fearlessly and as her big brother.
Drawing in a deep breath, Rebel forced her feet forward. Her legs felt leaden, heavier than when she’d worn her cast. But fear had no place in her life because of who her father was and because of how her brothers saw her.
The Terrible Triplets would probably tease her for the rest of her life if they saw her terror.
She had to go in there. Failure wasn’t a fucking option.
Standing at the sill, she forced herself to cross that threshold. She immediately halted. Breathed in again, the scentof chlorine even stronger now that she stood feet away from the pool. She hated spa music when she was swimming, so the volume gave her a slight headache. It was fuckingspa music. It belonged in a fuckingspa.
Realizing Diesel hadn’t arrived yet spiked her anxiety. Coming in on her own was bad enough. She absolutely couldn’t remain without anyone else around.
She started to back away just as the music stopped.
A moan, followed by a grunt, reached her.
Frowning, she glanced around, wondering if one of the boys had left behind a laptop with a porn flick playing to prank her. But were they even home? She believed they’d gone to school today.
But it wasn’t a film. It was Diesel and Jana, having sex on a chaise lounge at the far end, near the bar. Her legs wrapped around his sleek back.
Recoiling, Rebel stumbled back.
Diesel glanced over his shoulder, met her gaze, held it for a moment, and then smirked.
“Your pussy feels so good, baby,” he crooned, not looking away from her, the vicious gleam in his eyes in direct contrast to the words he spoke toJana.
Glancing around wildly, Rebel searched for a knife to stab him. But she couldn’t see through her tears. She stumbled back, sick to her stomach, dizzy with betrayal.
Forcing herself to come into the natatorium had been hard enough. But she’d done so because she trusted Diesel and believed he had her best interest in mind.
But that wasn’t true. He’d wanted revenge because of Kaia. He’d set her up.
Every girlish fantasy she’d ever had about him evaporated. Every dream. All her love and admiration. It didn’t even matter how she’d loved him. As a brother or a crush. She had, but she’dneverfucking forgive him. He’d lured her to the natatorium after everything she’d endured in there and after Ryan’s betrayal.
She stared at Diesel, glared at him, hoping he saw the bitter hatred she felt for him.
His smile falling away, he halted his hips.
A sob floating from her, she turned and ran, almost running over Kaia in her effort to escape but he grabbed her shoulders and saved her from a fall.
“Hey, babe,” he told her, not releasing her. “What’s up?”
She couldn’t explain her jumbled emotions, the combination of rage, humiliation, and devastation at Diesel’s cruelty. She knew her feelings weren’t right and would hurt Kaia, when there’d been enough of that.
She definitely didn’t want to cause him pain, not after she’d hurt her mother so deeply and almost lost her and then drove Rule insane with her harsh judgment.
Jana’s breathy cries combined with Diesel’s shout. Mortification burned through Rebel. Kaia lifted a brow and released her, walking around her to look inside the natatorium.
Rebel didn’t have the energy to stop him. Tears rolling hot and heavy down her cheeks, she leaned against the wall, startled at the door slamming.
