Page 76 of Deceptive Games

I hadn’t seen her since Wednesday when I’d had to deal with Lukas’ fucking breakdown, and I wouldn’t admit it, but she was in over her head with him and I was worried. Hopefully, I’d scared him enough to make him lay off the ending his life bullshit because the last thing I wanted was for Rory to find him dead.

I also, possibly, didn’t want the prick to die either, and I wanted to check in to see how he was.

“You know what? Be my guest, man. Feel free to do it your fucking self,” I offered, turning to walk towards my car.

“Where are you going? You’re on this job with me, asshole.”

“Take Matteo or Brick. I’m not working with you,” I said over my shoulder, hearing his growl before he stalked after me.

“Skeet, get in the fucking van. I don’t have time for this today.”

“Not my problem.”

He grabbed my arm, jerking me around to face him. “Itisyour fucking problem. This is crew business, and you’re my right-hand. Pull your head out of your ass.”

I shoved him back, matching the dirty look he was giving me. “You knew I was busy today and you deliberately made plans to stop it. Are you that jealous of a girl? Stop sabotaging my personal life.”

“You’re throwing this tantrum because you didn’t get to have morning sex with your walking fucktoy? Seriously? You’re brainwashed by that pussy. I’m about to put a bullet in her to get your head on straight again.”

“You think we have problems now? Keep threatening her like that and you’ll see what a real problem is,” I warned, motioning to Diesel, who was eyeing us. “Take D with you. As long as the job gets done, that’s all that matters.”

Diesel scowled, crossing his arms. “I’m not interested in working with him either, to be honest. He’s been a dick all morning.”

Slash spun around, pointing a finger at him. “What the fuck isyourproblem?”

“You. All you’ve done this morning is bark at people. I think you need to take five and hang out at the Shed while we handle the job. You’re going to fuck up our deals if you take this attitudewith you,” Diesel shrugged, lifting his chin to me. “We can handle it, right?”

I’d hoped to bail, but if I didn’t have to sit in the van with Slash, I’d go.

Nodding, I rolled my shoulders to ease the tension in them. “Sold. I’ll go with D and Brick. We can handle the deal, and you can go back to the Shed for a nap since it’s obvious you fucking need one.”

“Watch it,” he snarled, and Matteo moved between us and pushed us back a little.

“Hey, enough. If Skeet and D want to handle the job with Brick, then you and me can organize some of the fights tonight,” he suggested.

“Tell Donovan I want her ass in the cage tonight. Maybe it’s time I go a few rounds with her since she likes fighting the men,” Slash scoffed, flexing his knuckles.

“She’s busy tonight. Party at Ty’s,” I answered, and I swore he was going to punch me.

“She doesn’t have to be there for that. She doesn’t even like them half the time. Tell that bitch?—”

“Eat a dick,” I bit out, making my way towards the van. “Get in, D. Let’s get this shit done. Brick, if you're coming, hurry up.”

Slash fumed as Matteo muttered quietly to him, and Diesel didn’t say anything as he got in the van. Brick slid in next so Diesel was in the middle, and we set off towards Pine Valley.

“You guys really gotta chill out,” Brick said randomly once we were on the road, my fingers tightening around the steering wheel.

“Are you saying this is my fault?”

“Honestly? A little. Regardless of how you feel about that girl, you have a job to do. You said she wouldn’t interfere with crew business, but it sure as fuck looks like it,” he replied dryly, leaning back against the door to eye me. “I don’t get it, and Iwon’t pretend to, but you're only fueling the fire when you fight with the boss over her. It’s proving his point that she’s getting in the way.”

“If he’s that threatened by some girl?—”

“He’s not threatened, Skeet. You’re literally not doing your job, and now both you and D don’t even want to work with the boss,” he cut in. I wanted to argue, but caught myself frowning.

It wasn’t that big of a deal, right?

“Don’t you ever want more out of life than this?” I asked after a few moments of silence.