But if provoked…
If protecting someone he cared about…
“Dammit, Diem. We talked about this.” I shouldered the door open and tumbled out, shouting, “Stay here,” before slamming it again and racing in the direction Darcy had come from.
At the intersection, as I was about to turn onto the main street toward the facility’s front gate, a roaring, racing Bentley Continental streaked by going at least twice the speed limit.
Lukyan.
I jolted to a stop. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. I was in the open. Did he see me? No. The guy seemed to be in too big a hurry to notice anything. He blew through the red light and didn’t slow down. As he flew past, my brain registered one significant detail in the seconds it had to process.
The car’s windshield sported a complex spiderwebbing of cracks all centered around a point of impact. Then, the car was gone. Its roaring engine slowly faded into the distance and blended with the usual sounds of a city at night.
I took solace in the fact that dead people didn’t drive cars.
I kept running, peering beyond the fence and along each row of units, searching for signs of Diem while keeping my ear tuned for the car’s return. About twenty yards from the main gate, as it mechanically whirredclosed and the lock engaged, Diem staggered into view on the other side of the fence, emerging from a row I hadn’t checked.
He wasn’t limping, per se, but he had the weary gait of a man who had run a fasted marathon on no sleep.
“D?” I ran to the fence and clutched the wires, scanning him head to toe as he approached. His clothes were rumpled, and he’d lost hisball cap. His hair stuck out every which way, damp with perspiration. His gray eyes bore thunderously into mine, but otherwise, he seemed to be in one piece.
The only thing visibly wrong was his right hand. Locked in a fist and cradled against his stomach, the knuckles bled.
I wasn’t shocked so much as I was concerned. Diem punched things when he was angry. Inanimate objects mostly. Sometimes to his detriment.
I reminded myself that Lukyan wasn’t dead. I’d seen him drive away, so the bloody knuckles weren’t a result of Diem caving the fucker’s skull.
“You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine.” Diem leaned his forehead against the fence, the diamond pattern pressing grooves into his skin. His heavy gaze locked on me, chest heaving with each panting breath. “He tried to run me over, so I fucked up his pretty little car.”
My attention moved from Diem’s face to his bloody hand. Only then did I see a few pieces of beaded glass stuck to his skin. “Wiggle your fingers.”
He clenched and unclenched his fist, hissing with pain. “Stiff. Not broken. Probably going to swell like a balloon. I’ll ice it later.”
“His windshield. You punched his windshield. I saw it. You have glass in your hand.”
Diem grinned, and if I didn’t know the man as well as I did, I would have called the expression semi-psychotic. “His fancy fucking Bentley ain’t so fancy anymore.”
“Jesus, D.” I couldn’t stop the laugh that exploded from my chest. “You’re a freak.” I wanted to reach through the fence and hold him, but I couldn’t. “Get over here.”
He tilted his head, sizing up the obstacle in our way. It had been an easy climb earlier. His expression suggested it wouldn’t be this time. Shaking out his injured hand, he scaled the fence with a grimace and landed with a groan on the ground beside me.
He examined his fingers, hand trembling, then wiped the blood on his jeans.
“Careful.” When I reached for it, he pulled away.
“It’s fine. We’ll worry about it later. Where’s Darcy?” he asked.
“In the Jeep.”
“No, I’m not.”
We spun toward the voice. Darcy stood twenty feet away with Echo on her leash. The dog pulled and danced and tugged, doing all she could to get to Diem. Darcy struggled to hold her with one hand. His casted arm cradled near his body.
But it was the sheer devastation on the kid’s face that made me hold my tongue when I was about to give him shit for not listening.
Diem must have read my intent. He cupped the back of my neck and planted a gentle kiss on my temple, whispering, “Let it go,” before approaching Darcy.
