Page 119 of Diesel's Perseverance
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know his name, but he’s one of the members here. He knows Cano and… Freddy, of course. He said awful things about Freddy. He hated him.” A few tears slipped from her eyes.
“It’s gonna be okay,” Diesel said in a soft voice as he held her tighter.
“I asked if he killed Freddy, but he said he didn’t. He said Cano didn’t ask him to. I think he’s a traitor to the club.” She felt him tense.
“What makes you say that?”
“He said Freddy threatened to tell you about him. Said that was when he found out Freddy had a brother in the Insurgents, he told Cano. Peter Cano sent his brother over to kill Freddy.” She paused. “I guess Freddy told me the truth when he said it was self-defense.”
“Yeah, he did. The videos of the incident showed Freddy going beyond self-defense, but now I understand why he needed to get rid of the fucker. Damn, I wish he would’ve just reached out to me.”
“He would still be with us if he had. Neither of us will ever know for sure why he didn’t. Anyway, when I accused the guy of backstabbing his club, he went ballistic on me. He said I was the loose thread, and he had to get rid of me.”
“I’m fuckin’ pissed you had to go through this. I didn’t think the shit rat would come after you this soon after…” His voice trailed off.
“After what?”
“The other night when he came to your door.”
She knew that wasn’t what he meant. She suspected it had something to do with Cano and Diesel’s out-of-town trip.
“How’d you get away from him?”
“A powerful kick in the groin, and then I took off running. He started catching up, so I hid until I could text Welder.”
Pride painted his face as he grinned at her. “Sexy andtough. I like that.”
“The asshole owes me a pair of sandals.”
“The asshole’s gonna owe more than that. What did he look like? What was he wearing?”
“Tall and thin with shoulder-length dark brown hair, almost black eyes, and a long, narrow face. He didn’t have any facial hair and wore what everyone does around here: blue jeans, a black T-shirt, and black biker boots. No, wait… he wasn’t wearing boots, he had on navy blue athletic shoes that had a green, almost a neon green, stripe on each side. Does that help?”
Diesel placed two fingers under her chin and tipped her head back. “A lot. You’re amazing, darlin’.” He pressed his lips to hers and kissed her gently.
“What’s going to happen? He’s probably long gone.”
“Maybe. If he is, we’ll find him.”
“How did it go with the cops?”
“Bunch of bullshit. They’re fuckin’ jerks and always wanna get you on something. Freddy’s body will be back in Denver at the end of the week.”
“Did they already know who he was?”
“No. Didn’t find a wallet or a cell phone.”
“I’m glad you went in to identify him. He wasn’t a nobody; he was somebody. He was a brother, a son, and a boyfriend, at least for a while.”
“When I got back to the car, I called my people. My mom actually cried. My old man was on the road, but she’ll tell him. He got along with Freddy better than with me. She wants him to come home so the funeral will be in Hayes.”
She squeezed his hand. “I’m glad you called your parents. When is the funeral?”
“Probably next week. I gotta wrap up a couple of things; then we’ll head back home.”
“I’m looking forward to getting back.”
