Page 46 of Viper

“Honey, you can’t tell me that with the size of Nix that he doesn’t?—”

“Shut up,” Ash interrupts, glaring at her. Leonora grins wickedly, eyes sparkling, but does drop it. I can’t help but grin.

Alright, I’m starting to see why the guys are a bit nervous when this group gets together. Clearly nothing is off limits. Not to mention, they all seem very welcoming, and they continue to include me and Sadie in the conversations, even when the waitress comes in and brings our meals, along with their orders. Soon enough, I’m listening to the wild stories and laughing right along with them.

“You tried to break into a zoo?” I laugh.

“We were drunk,” Leonora argues, but her lips are quirked up into a wide smile. “At least it was the same cops who picked you guys up that other time or else Shadow would be using that bail fund after all.” Then she looks at Quinn. “Speaking of which, do you have access to where that would be?”

Quinn shakes her head. “I asked him once, but he looked at me and said that since I’ll never have to use it I don’t need to know.”

“He’s probably got a damn locked safe with millions in there,” Sage snickers. She looks at Syn. “Think the dogs could sniff it out?”

“Probably,” Syn answers with a smile. “But knowing him, he’s thought of that and already hid it away in ways that the dogs won’t be able to.”

“We’re overdue with threatening to use that,” Rose announced with a wicked grin. “What do you think we should do? We have an in at the courthouse to get us out of it if needed,” she added with a wink at me.

“But first, I want to know if there are any hot bailiffs that will have to frisk or handcuff me before they throw me into the cell.” Leonora looks at me expectantly.

I grin. “Oh, there are a few I wouldn’t mind letting them do a full cavity search on me. There’s one with big hands, tattoos, and this deep gravelly voice that has a lot of the female inmates offering up all kinds of services to him in exchange to feel those fingers of his instead of the female guards.”

“What about judges?” Rose asks. “There’s something about a man behind a bench wearing nothing under those robes.”

I laugh. “I’m afraid that most of them are old and wrinkly, even the women. There is one judge that’s a bit younger, but he’s too sweet to really be more than a father or grandfather figure. But he always brings us wine and chocolates for Christmas, along with a gift card to our favorite spots around the city.”

“Awww, he’s sweet,” Rose says. “Sweet is better than hot on a good day anyway. But still, I wouldn’t mind meeting one of those bailiffs.”

“He’s nice enough, but a bit of a dick,” I say with a roll of my eyes. “I think he thinks that since he gets so much attention from people that his shit doesn’t stink. He hit on me once, and he wouldn’t take the hint I wasn’t interested. I had to shut him down hard and now he glares at me whenever he’s in the courtroom with me.”

“Asshole,” Izzy sneers. “Why do men not know how to take rejection well?”

“Because they think everything’s tied up in their looks and the size of their cocks,” Sadie scoffs.

“Amen, sister,” Sage says, high-fiving Sadie.

“Says the one who fractured her ex’s dick,” Raven snickers.

I look at Sage with wide eyes at that. Sage rolls her eyes. “I didn’t do it. I came home and my ex was in our bed with another woman, and I decided to mess with them, and grabbed a frying pan, trying to be funny and run in to scare them, but since she was riding him, she came down wrong, and snap, dick fractured. Karma, really, if you ask me.”

A few of the other women cringe, but I just look at her and hold up my hand for a high-five, which makes her laugh. “You should hear what Eden did to one of her previous boyfriends that decided to cheat on her,” Sadie snickers.

Everyone looks at me expectantly, and I grin, pretending to examine my nails. “I didn’t break it, but it was close,” I tell them. “We had only been dating for about a month, but he asked if he could work out of my apartment for the day since he had some renovations being done at his place. I agreed, but I warned him, and I guess he didn’t listen. I came home early, thinking we could spend some time in bed, since he was pretty good at getting me off, but I walked in and found him fucking some blonde in the middle of the living room, doggy style. They were both so into it that they didn’t even hear me come in. So I went into the kitchen, grabbed the largest knife I could find, and walked over to them. I grabbed him by the hair, which made him scream out in shock. He froze when he saw the knife in my hand, and I told the woman to get off of him. She scrambled forward, and I was glad to see that at least he was using a condom, because I reached down, grabbed him by the balls, put the blade to his dick, and told him to get the fuck out or I’d be making sure he wouldn’t be able to fuck another woman again. He and the woman weren’t long in getting the hell out. Well, not before he blubbered for a bit and begged me to let him go. It was a bit extreme, but I was younger, and I was pissed he got all his bodily fluids on my new rug.”

The other women are gaping at me, but then Rose starts to laugh, which has Raven and Sage doing the same. “Jesus Christ, and the guys think I’m nuts,” Sage gasps out.

“See, she gives off nice vibes, but she’s really insane,” Sadie supplies with a grin. “Which is why I use her as a threat to any of the guys I end up with. They usually don’t last long though.”

“But was the knife sharp?” Leonora demands.

I nod. “I was going to grab scissors, but I forgot they were in the dishwasher and I didn’t want to make too much noise. I saw the knife first. I didn’t break the skin or anything, but he was acting like I had when he left. I think he threatened me with the cops, but then I pointed out that most of them know me from work, and they’d just give me a slap on the wrist and probably find a way to arrest him. It was a bluff, but he believed me.”

“Does Viper know you’re crazy?” Raven asks me with a grin.

“I didn’t, but I do now,” Viper’s voice drawls, making me freeze before turning to look at him as he walks into the room with Shadow on his heels. Shadow’s face is looking pained, while Viper’s is intrigued, and maybe a bit cautious. “Baby girl, I’ll be hiding anything sharp when you’re around and pissed off from now on,” he tells me as he moves to behind my chair, and puts a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m resourceful, so I doubt that would stop me,” I tell him, looking up at him with a slow smile. My heart does a small flip when his eyes flash with heat as he looks down at me, before moving his hand from my shoulder to cup around my throat, just below my jawline, and then uses gentle pressure to turn my face up toward his mouth when he leans down to kiss me hard.

The kiss is brief, but still, I don’t mistake it for what it is. A claiming, and letting everyone know he plans on keeping me. And as much as I want to hate it, I don’t fight him, and an answering heat fills my gut. Yeah, I’m screwed.

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