Undone Page 11

“It’s to be expected.” Diesel slid an arm around my waist and helped me out. “That would be the adrenaline leaving you. It’s a natural reaction.”

  “I hope so.” I leant against Diesel’s chest as he closed the door and slid his arms around me. My stomach rolled. “I feel sick.”

  “Do you want Cassie to look you over? I see she’s here as well.”

  “Is she?” I looked up and saw the nurse in the doorway of the warehouse, wrapped in a navy fleece. “I thought Mason was taking her home.”

  “It must be too dangerous right now.” Diesel urged me against his side and led me towards the door. “Come on. Let’s get you seen to.”

  “She’d better see to you first.” I pointed out. “I could clean the blood away, but I couldn’t do anymore.”

  Diesel grunted. “Once I’ve finished my meeting with Mason.”

  I was in no mood to argue. I was far too tired to do that. Cassie beckoned us over and let us in, closing the door behind her. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw we were in a space that looked like an armory. It was incredible; shelves and benches covered in weapons, supplies and various other things I didn’t know how to describe. This place looked more like a hideout than a store.

  “Amber!”

  I looked around. A red-headed woman with a clearly pregnant belly appeared in the doorway of a room off to my right. I stared when I saw her. What was she doing here?

  “Liz?”

  Liz Fisher hurried over, and I was nearly knocked over as the woman hugged me, her belly making the hug a little awkward. Liz pulled back and cupped my face in her hands.

  “God, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “I… I’m fine.” I swallowed and managed a small smile. “It’s been a tough couple of days.”

  “I can imagine.” Liz looked at Diesel, giving him a small nod. “Diesel.”

  “Liz.”

  They stared at each other. Then Liz’s eyes were drawn to the blood on Diesel’s thigh. Her eyes widened.

  “The hell happened to you?”

  “Glancing blow. It’s nothing.”

  Cassie snorted and stepped between them, kneeling to inspect the blood herself. She prodded at the wound, which had Diesel yelping and jumping back.

  “Ouch, careful!”

  “That needs to be looked at.”

  “Amber’s cleaned it up.”

  Cassie sent a sly look over her shoulder at me. I had to look away as her face grew warm.

  “I bet she has. But you need to have it treated as well, in case infection sets in.” She stood, adjusting her t-shirt over her own swollen belly. “Come on, Mason will understand if you’re busy for a few minutes.”

  “Will he understand me standing with my jeans off and your head near my crotch?”

  Cassie rolled her eyes and took his arm, leading him towards the other side of the warehouse. As they walked away, Liz took my arm and turned me the other way.

  “Come on in here. We can leave the men to discuss business. And Hunter’s here.”

  “You’ve brought Hunter here?”

  “Of course.”

  Liz beckoned me inside, and I entered the room to see the toddler sitting on a rug with a mountain of toys around him. He was happily playing with some wooden trains, which he had set up on a wooden track. My heart melted when I saw him. It always did; Hunter was a sweet little boy, very bright, and everyone adored him. Even Diesel went gooey over him.

  Diesel would make a perfect father. I tried not to burst into tears as I thought about that.

  “Can’t your sister take him?”

  Liz shook her head sadly as she took a seat, rubbing her hand absently over her belly.

  “I don’t want to get her involved. Ruiz knows about Amy, and she doesn’t deserve any of this. It’s safer to keep Hunter and myself with Noah.”

  I settled on the floor, crossing my legs as I watched Hunter happily play with his toys. He looked like he wasn’t stuck in the middle of an all-out war.

  I took a deep breath and tried to keep calm as my back started to twinge again. “I’m sorry, Liz.”

  “What on earth have you got to be sorry about?”

  “For getting you mixed up in this.”

  Liz smiled.

  “You didn’t get me mixed up in anything. I was already in deep, being with Noah. And from what I know, Khloe’s business was going to implode sooner or later. You were going to get caught in the crossfire regardless.”

  I didn’t know what to say about that. In the past, I would always get beaten for getting others mixed up in my mess. I didn’t know anything but the belt for my actions. To have someone forgive me when I was the one who had messed up was foreign. Even with Diesel forgiving me for many actions that I thought were going to get me whipped, forgiveness was still an alien concept.

  “I wouldn’t know about the imploding,” I sighed, picking at the hem of my sweatshirt. “But she’s certainly trying to make a bigger profit in any way she can.”

  “By selling you to the Russians through the cartel.” Liz shrugged when I stared at her in alarm. “Noah told me about it. He was worried about you. And it’s disgusting what they’re doing to you. I thought what the cartel did with me was bad enough.”

  I didn’t know the whole story, only the snippets Diesel had mentioned. I knew that Liz had been in the hand of Ruiz Fernandez. While I didn’t know what happened in detail, from what I knew of Ruiz, I didn’t really want to know. Even with her calm exterior, there was something in Liz that said she wanted to speak no more about it.

  “Ruiz won’t come after you again,” I said quietly.

  “I know he won’t,” Liz responded. “Noah would kill him. If I don’t do it first.”

  “Or Diesel,” I added. “He’s ready to murder everyone right now.”

  “He certainly is.” Liz smiled. “You’ve got a protective papa bear there, Amber. He won’t let anything happen to you.”

  I knew that. But the doubts in the back of my mind were still there. Diesel may not let anything happen to me right now, but for how long? Would he get tired of me? I was young and pregnant. In my experience, men always turned their backs on women like me.

  The only person I could really rely on was myself. And I needed to remember that.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Diesel

  My leg was throbbing like mad. Cassie had swiftly cleaned it up and put bandages on, but I could still feel the wound. It was just a flesh wound, but it stung. I had never quite got used to getting shot.

  At least I hadn’t stood in front of Cassie with an erection. Amber had certainly taken care of me. I tried not to think about Amber on her knees in front of me half an hour before; that would have been enough to get me aroused again.

  When Cassie was finally finished, I limped through the stacks to the office at the back. I could see Mason and Noah in there, looking deep in conversation as they leant over something on the desk. I entered the office without knocking. Mason looked up and smirked.

  “Interrupted something?”

  “Screw you,” I shot back as I limped over.

  “I prefer bigger dicks.”

  I signed a rude gesture at him. Noah nodded at my knee. “What happened to you?”

  “I got shot while we were getting away.” I eased onto the broken leather sofa, hearing the creaking of the springs beneath my weight. “They followed us for quite a way. I didn’t realize I’d been hit until Amber told me. We were at a nearby motel cleaning up.”

  Noah chuckled.

  “Sorry to interrupt you. I hope the medicine she gave you helped.”

  “Don’t you start, Noah. I’m not in the mood.”

  “Okay, enough of the jokes.” Mason’s smile had faded, and he was beginning to pace. “We’ve got something more important to deal with. Khloe’s sold us out. She’s handed us on a platter to the cartel.”

  “You’re not going to take her deal seriously, are you?” Noah asked.

  M
ason snorted.

  “Of course not. I’m not going to bow down to something so ridiculous. There’s no fucking way we’re going to get out of Eden.” Mason kicked at his desk as he went past, making the items on top rattle and jump. “Practically all of us were raised here. It’s our home. And we’re not going to be driven out because outsiders want a very big piece of our turf.”

  I couldn’t have agreed more with the sentiment. I had been raised in Eden. It was where I could truly call a place a home. The cartel was not from Eden. They had simply moved up this way from Mexico and Southern California, intent on conquering everything they came across for their own gain. Everything for the cartel had stalled when they came across the Ghost Riders. Now Ruiz Fernandez was in charge, and he was taking things a step further.

  Mason wasn’t about to bow down to him. And neither was I.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were raiding our homes right now,” I grunted.

  “That’s why I brought Cassie with me and why Liz and Hunter are here. We don’t want to take the chance they would take them as prisoners.” Mason barely stopped in his pacing, but he did shudder. “After what that bastard did to them, I don’t want them back in his clutches.”

  “Ruiz knows I’ll kill him if he goes anywhere near Liz,” Noah growled.

  “Unless Liz kills him first,” I added. “I have a feeling she’s going to do that.”

  “Then she’s going to have to get in line.”

  Mason stopped pacing and pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh. In that moment, he looked a lot older, very tired. I hadn’t seen him like that before, and it was unnerving. Was my friend faltering? Mason was not a man to be beaten, but it was clearly getting to him.

  “Well,” Mason turned to them, a scowl replacing the grimace, “Khloe has shown that our friendship means Jack Shit when it comes to money.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from bursting out with a harsh laugh. Both Mason and Noah jumped. I stood and jabbed a finger at Mason.

  “You seriously thought a friendship between the two of you was going to stay platonic? Come off it, Mason! You’re not stupid. When you two first met, Khloe clearly wanted to fuck you. That would have been a feather in her cap. When you showed that you weren’t going to sleep with her, Khloe was happy to settle with human trafficking alongside you. As long as she had your attention, albeit some of it. Now you’re turned your heart and attention to Cassie and turned your back on the trafficking, she wants nothing to do with you. This is her way of getting rid of someone who is of no use to her.”

  Mason flinched.

  “You make it sound like we were married.”

  “It was a business marriage, yes. But Khloe wanted more than what you gave her, and now you’ve rejected her in more ways than one, she pissed.”

  “She’s not going to bed Ruiz, is she?” Noah asked.

  I snorted. “I wouldn’t be surprised. There’s a nasty streak in both of them. They would be perfect for each other.”

  “We did not come here to talk about their potential bed partners.” Mason slammed a fist against a filing cabinet, causing it to rock. “What are we going to do about the cartel? Now the Russians are on their side, we’re going to have some problems.”

  I was at a loss. Normally, I was the one with the ideas, but I was struggling. Maybe it was because I was concentrated on Amber; my mind was focused on her and not on things that were more important. That wasn’t a good thing.

  Women were more trouble than they were worth. But I knew a small part of me was saying Amber was definitely worth it.

  Noah leant against the desk, folding his arms with a thoughtful frown.

  “What you need to do is get rid of Ruiz. Deal with him, and the cartel will fall apart.”

  “As if they need Ruiz to keep them in line,” I snorted. “They’re ruthless bastards.”

  “If you get rid of the head, the body crumbles,” Noah pointed out. “Torchev would only deal with Ruiz.”

  “How do you know?”

  “He’s an egotistical bastard, remember? It has to be the man at the top of the food chain, no underlings. He was far too high up to be dealing with them. Take Ruiz out of the equation and the Russians will turn their backs on the cartel.”

  That made sense. And Noah was right. Alexei Torchev loved being in charge, and he would suffer no fools. He would also never deal with a lower rank. He was arrogant, sadistic and narcissistic. Perfect for Ruiz.

  “It may break down their deal with the cartel, but would that make them leave us alone?” Mason asked.

  Noah shrugged.

  “I don’t know. But it could stop the selling of Khloe’s girls, and not just of Amber’s potential sell. Torchev loves women, but he wouldn’t do a deal with one. It’s probably why Khloe went through Ruiz instead.”

  “I hope it stops the business transaction.” I rubbed at the back of my neck. The urge to itch my wound was strong. “But how are we going to get hold of Ruiz? He’s heavily protected.”

  Noah smirked.

  “You leave that to me.”

  “You’ve got an idea how to get to him?”

  “It’s going to require a lot of planning, but I think I can.”

  Mason scowled as he stalked over “We can’t have thoughts and assumptions, Noah. I need to know that you can do this.”

  Noah didn’t even blink as Mason towered over him. I remembered a time when Noah would flinch a little when Mason stood up to him. But years of hard time in jail had changed him; Noah was tougher than I expected. It was like looking at a completely different man. A more dangerous one than Mason himself.

  “I can, and I will.” Noah’s voice was level and hard.

  Mason grunted and nodded approvingly.

  “Good. Because Khloe is not going to drive us out. Not by a long shot.”

  I couldn’t have agreed more.

  Chapter Twenty

  Amber

  I lay on the couch and tried to keep myself as calm as possible while Cassie checked me over, pressing her hands gently to my belly. Cassie’s smile was gone and now she was acting more like a medical professional.

  Which only succeeded in making me feel even more nervous.

  “And you’re still feeling the twinges?” Cassie asked.

  “They’ve eased off now.” I gritted my teeth as Cassie laid the flat of her hands against my sides. Her hands felt ice-cold. “But they really worried me.”

  “I’m not surprised. They would worry any parent, whether it’s their first baby or third.” Cassie sat back and sighed. “I’m not a nurse, so I can’t really give you a proper diagnosis without further proof. But I can refer you to a colleague who is. She can take a closer look at you and you will be able to get an ultrasound as well.” She squeezed Amber’s shoulder. “Until then, you need to rest as much as you can.”

  Liz snorted. “You’re joking, of course. Rest, at this time?”

  “I know it’s practically impossible right now, but we do need to look after ourselves.” Cassie gestured towards the door. “The men deal with business, and us women look after each other. Seeing as the three of us are going to pop sometime this year, we need to make sure the next generation comes here at the right time and thriving.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say about that. Nausea churned in my belly as I managed to sit up. I slid my arms into the sleeves of my sweatshirt in an attempt to get warm.

  “I don’t think Diesel would like me see a nurse. Not when we’re got the cartel after us.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Liz said gently. “The nurse is brilliant. Cassie referred me to her for this pregnancy. And Fiona makes house calls. Diesel knows her, so he should be okay with it.”

  “He knows her?”

  Cassie grinned. “Fiona is Mason’s cousin. Her mother was the main nurse looking after other pregnancies in the group. Now she’s retired, and Fiona’s taken up the baton. Mason trusts her, so we trust her too.”

  For some reason
, that didn’t settle me as much as it should. Knowing Diesel knew the nurse made me wonder how intimately they knew each other. I pushed the thought aside. There was nothing for them beyond being parents; I couldn’t afford to get jealous.

  I didn’t even think I knew how to be jealous.

  “I’ll talk to him.” Wrapping my arms around my middle under my sweatshirt, I laid a hand over my belly. It was too early, but I felt like I could already feel my child moving. “Can I ask you something, Cassie?”