“I know. Rude much?”
She whined and whimpered.
“I don’t know. If he didn’t bring you, he must have had his reasons. Sit tight. We’ll be right back.”
I barreled from the Jeep but was stuck, unable to cross the street due to an influx of traffic zipping by at lightning speed and no opening in sight. Whose idea was it to park over here? Diem had somehow made it to the other side. I couldn’t hear him over the growl of engines, but whatever he said caught the kid’s attention.
The boy glanced over his shoulder and registered Diem. My boyfriend said something. The kid’s body stiffened. Without warning, he abandoned his cigarette and bolted down the sidewalk at a sprint.
“What the—”
Diem launched from the curb after him.
“Fuck.” Traffic hadn’t thinned, and if I played Frogger, I was sure to get hit. “Diem! Wait for me.”
He didn’t listen. He likely didn’t hear since he was half a block away.
“Goddammit.” Because I was a good boyfriend who always provided backup, I ran down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street, frantically hoping for a break in traffic so I could cross.
Luck was not on my side.
“Diem Krause.” I panted and nearly tripped twice as I weaved and dodged through a crowd gathered at a bus stop. “We… are having a long talk… about why I’m… the better choice… for chatting… with… fuck my life… people.”
I hit the corner as the light turned green in my favor. Despite burning lungs and a vehemence for all things cardio, I sped up. Diem and the kid outpaced me. Once I hit the other side of the street, they had gained too much distance, but I didn’t slow down.
When the kid darted around a corner, Diem followed, hot on his heels and gaining.
When I attempted to round the corner at a similar pace and with the same effortlessness, my loafer skidded on something wet, and I went down hard on my left side. A burst of pain shot through my hip, and I took the skin off my palm when I tried to break my fall.
“Motherfucker. That fucking hurt.”
I whimpered and whined, shaking the sting from my hand as I scrambled to my feet. Glancing down the street, convinced I’d lost them, I watched all two hundred and sixty pounds of Diem dive Hail Mary style at the fleeing Kael impostor and tackle him to the ground.
They hit with a thump and skidded with their combined momentum.
I winced sympathetically. The kid, who was close to my size, must have felt like a house had landed on him, but he was a fighter with stamina and youth on this side, and he didn’t give up. He bucked and kicked and squirmed and yelled.
Diem took an elbow to the ribs and another to the skull, then one to the face before losing his grip. The kid fought to escape, but Diem grabbed a fistful of his jacket and held him down.
Diem might have had a massive size advantage, but he wasn’t someone who would purposefully hurt another human being. Not anymore, which meant he needed me.
I was his backup. His calm, levelheadedness. His sidekick.
Limping, pain lancing through my ankle and hip, palm throbbing and skinned, I raced to catch up. Unlike Diem,Iwas not opposed to breaking a few fingers for compliance, and this kid was out of control.
“I’m coming. Wait for me.”
15
Diem
The kid couldn’t have been more than one hundred and thirty pounds soaking wet, but the instant we hit the pavement—harder than I anticipated—he went into a frenzy, thrashing and doing all he could to get free.
“Let go of me, you fuck. I’ll fucking kill you. Help. Someone help me.”
When the back of his head collided with the bridge of my nose, sending spears of pain through my face, I lost my grip, and he almost managed to get away. I snagged his coat before he got to his feet and tugged, keeping him on the ground.
He scrambled in a crawl, so I snagged the torn sole of his running shoe and heaved him toward me again.