One Rule

Chapter 16

I woke up a few hours later, tucked into Koz's side, when someone knocked on our door. It took a minute to register that it was Opie. "Come on, man! We're at the table!"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute!" Koz called back. He got up and started dressing in a hurry. I sat up in bed and debated getting up. "You stay and get some more sleep," he said, kissing me on the forehead before he disappeared out the door.

I laid back down and rolled over onto my other side, cradling my injured hand against my chest. I actually did manage to get some sleep.

I woke up a few hours later when Gemma came in. She sat down on the bed and shook my shoulder. "What?" I groaned, leaning over to look at her.

"You need to get up, Diana," she told me.

"Why?"

"Because I need you to tell me what happened to your hand," she said pointing to the bandages that covered my left hand.

"It was an accident," I yawned, sitting up.

"Uh huh. You accidentally smashed a glass against the kitchen door?" she countered.

"Tig startled me and I dropped it," I lied.

"You sure this doesn't have anything to do with you takin' a swing at him the other day? Yeah, I saw that little interaction," Gemma said, crossing her arms. "You need to get it together."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "I'm fine," I replied, getting up out of bed. "I'm going to go get in the shower now, if you're done."

"Sure baby." She got up and left me alone.

I walked into the bathroom, closed the door, and locked it. I unwrapped the bandages on my foot and hand, stripped, and got in the shower. Just as I was finishing up, I heard the bedroom door open and close.

"Diana?" It was Koz. The door knob jiggled as he tried to open the door.

"Hang on," I called, turning off the water and grabbing a towel. I dried off quickly and wrapped the towel around my body. I unlocked the door and stepped back as I opened the door for him. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Everything's fine, baby. We're going to finish this," he replied.

"What does that mean?"

"How much do you want to know?"

"All of it."

"Jax told Weston to bring ten of his guys, no weapons, and we're going to settle this," Kozik explained. "We're going to stack the deck a little bit. We'll be fine," he said quickly when he saw the worried look on my face.

"How does that stop Zobelle? What does do to settle what happened to Gemma?"

"We cripple his lieutenant, Zobelle gets weakened, makes him easier to take out," he replied.

"Please be careful," I said, stepping closer.

He put his arms around me, pulling me flush against his body. "I always am."

I smiled and kissed him. I wanted to tell him that I'd decided he was right. I should go back to Tacoma with him. I ultimately decided not to say anything in that moment, because I didn't want it to pull his focus away from what he had to do. I'd tell him when this was all settled. "When do you leave?"

"Twenty minutes," he sighed, resting his forehead against mine.

"Let me get dressed and I'll go out to see you guys off."

He nodded and left the bedroom, closing the door behind him. When he was gone, I threw my wet hair up into a bun, and went to quickly get dressed. I found the jeans I'd packed along with a tank top and one of Koz's hoodies. With all of the bodies packed into the clubhouse, the AC was up as high as it would go, and I was freezing.

I put my shoes on and took a deep breath before walking out into the hall. When I opened the door, the hall was deserted. Most of the noise was coming from the main room of the clubhouse. I walked out into the room and Opie was the first person to see me.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked, drawing me over to an empty corner.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" I asked, acting like this morning hadn't happened.

"Don't bullshit me, Diana. I've known you since we were kids. I know you're still tweaked about the Donna thing," Ope said quietly.

"And you're not?" I whispered.

"I am, but I have to pick my battles. If and when the time for retribution comes, we'll get justice for her, but not before then," he replied, leaning down to whisper in my ear.

"Fine," I nodded.

"Also, why are you limping?" he asked, standing back up to his full height.

"Huh?"

"When you walked over here, I noticed a little bit of a limp."

"No clue," I lied. My foot was killing me.

"Take care of yourself, Diana."

"You too. Be careful out there tonight," I replied, leaning in to give him a hug.

"I will. Don't worry, I'll make sure your boy doesn't go too crazy."

"Love you, Ope."

"Love you too, Diana."

We parted and I went to go find my man. I found him on the couch, talking to Jax in hushed tones. "Miss me, Kozy?" I asked, dropping down in his lap, disrupting whatever conversation was going on.

"Always," he replied, kissing me with a smile.

I pulled back from the kiss and turned to look at my brother, "So, how much longer are we stuck in here?" I asked.

"Hopefully, only another day or so," he replied. "You good? I heard what happened this morning."

"I'm fine," I lied. "I don't know what you heard."

"That you threw a glass at Tig, and got cut trying to clean up your mess," Jax replied, with a grin on his face.

"Technically I didn't throw it at him. He came in and surprised me, and I dropped the glass," I explained, trying to sound innocent.

"Ah," Jax replied with an exaggerated head nod.

"If that's the story getting around, my visit from Mom this morning makes a lot more sense," I mused, messing with the hem of Kozik's kutte. "I'm so ready to go home."

"Soon," Kozik said, rubbing my back.

"We need to get ready to go," Jax said, standing up. Jax pulled me up off of Kozik's lap and into a hug.

"Take care of yourself out there," I told him as I hugged him back.

"You know I will."

When he pulled back, Koz took my hand as Jax called for the guys to head outside. We followed him outside. He was about to pull away and head over to his bike when I stopped him and pulled him back for a kiss. I leaned up on my toes and kissed him hard on the lips. I felt his arms slide around waist, with his hands resting on my ass. I didn't shy away from it, even though everyone was around. "Come back to me in one piece," I winked.

"Yes ma'am," he grinned. Kozik squeezed my hand before walking over to his bike so that he could leave with his brothers.

I stood back with the rest of the women and the kids, watching my boys leave. It was harder than I thought it would be, but I stood there and waved goodbye until they were all off of the lot. I stood there until Gemma called everyone inside.