off on it.
“That’s enough,” Jax interrupts, his intimidating gaze zeroing in on Diane. Then he leans over, pulls his gun out from his ankle holster, and sets it down on the table. “I’m going to tell you this once and only once. Stop wasting my time and tell us the message you have for us. And don’t look at Hunter. Look at the fireplace and nothing else. If you don’t, I’ll break those painted fingers of yours right off your hands.”
She glares at him. “How dare you talk to me like that? When your father hears about this—”
Jax cuts her off with a dark laugh. “If you think my father gives a shit about you, then you’re stupider than I thought.” He uses his gun to point at the fireplace. “Now look over there and let’s get this over with. I’ve got other shit to do tonight.”
Gritting her teeth, Diane glares at the fireplace.
A ghost of a smile tugs at my lips. Jax may sometimes piss me off, but no one has my back like he does.
But then my mood instantly nosedives when Diane says, “Your bosses, especially The Boss, want me to talk to you guys about the new sheriff and his family.”
Yeah, I definitely should’ve done a line before we left the house. But I didn’t so now I’m stuck dealing with whatever’s about to happen without numbing bliss consuming my mind.
Sixteen
Zay
For once, I’m not the only one riled up. Hunter has been practically crawling out of his skin since he saw Diane in the meeting room. I don’t blame him, though, for acting this way. The woman is more messed up in the head than almost everyone I’ve ever met, right next to my dad.
The scars my dad put on my body … the things he used to do to me … they still scar my mind and body. It’s why I can barely stand touching or getting touched by anyone, which is why no one can make sense out of why I decided to hold Raven’s cold body against mine. I can’t even make sense of it.
All I know is that, when she jumped, something broke inside me. I was reminded of the day I stood up on the roof of my father’s building with thoughts of jumping. The only reason my feet never left the roof was because Jax and Hunter found me and talked me out of it.
They’ve always been there for me, and part of me wonders if I’d still be here if I didn’t have them in my life.
Some of the stuff Raven said … about being alone … the scars on her wrist and side I noticed when I held her … the pain she must feel … I can relate to it too much. Both the emotional pain of it and the physical. In fact, I can feel the physical pain of it right now, burning on my flesh as the fresh wounds that cover my arms rub against the inside of the sleeve of my shirt.
It’s been a while since I’ve cut, but when we arrived home after spending the entire drive with my bare chest against Raven’s, I was beyond worked up. My head was a mess, and either I was gonna have to beat the shit out of someone, or cut the shit out of myself. Since no one was around to be my punching bag, I settled on the latter. And I felt better for a while, but now… being here… I’m all worked up again.
“What about the sheriff?” Jax asks, wrenching me from my thoughts of my internal misery.
Diane continues to stare at the fire while restlessly thrumming her fingers against the table. “The Boss wants you to find out more about him. He wants to know his weaknesses—stuff he can use against him if he can’t be bought off.” She crosses her legs. “He also wants to know more about his family. From what he understands, he has a daughter around you guys’ age. He also has a niece who lives with him that’s around your age, too. And he wants info about why she’s living with him. And I’m not talking about the basic stuff you can learn from rumors. He wants inside information about the living situation and inside info about the girl, which means you three are going to have to get close to her.”
I stiffen. Why do our bosses want to know about Raven …? Does it have to do