Page 67 of Viper

We stare at her. Oh shit, did she just admit to putting a laxative chocolate in some of the baked goods? I can’t help it, a laugh bursts out of me. A few of the others join in, while Bullet, Shadow, Sniper, and Medic stare at her in disbelief. “Damn, I never want to piss you off,” I chortle, holding my hand up for her to high-five. She grins and smacks her hand to mine.

Bullet runs a hand over his face. “Fucking hell.” He looks at Shadow. “I’m probably going to need that bail money if they figure it out and they come back to arrest her ass for attempted murder or something.”

“I didn’t try to poison them,” Rose protests indignantly. “I was just trying to make their day as uncomfortable as they made ours. Besides, if the rest of them don’t get sick, they can’t accuse me of anything.”

Shadow looks at Bullet and drawls, “You’re on your own with this one, Prez. I need to save as much money as I can for when they all land themselves in the slammer. Or when they influence my little girl and she lands in there by the time she’s ten.”

Bullet huffs. “Yeah, I was worried you would say that.” He shakes his head at Rose. “What am I going to do with you, Rosie?”

Rose moves closer and leans against him, pressing her hands to his chest before giving him a winning smile. “Remember that you married me for my sense of humor? And we both know you’re not actually mad about it. You’re just hoping one of them is that asshole Detective for touching me.”

Bullet nods staunchly. “Fucker was lucky I didn’t break his hand,” he agrees, scooping her up so she can wrap her legs around his waist.

“Then how about you replace that memory for me?” she purrs and I roll my eyes. Bullet doesn’t even look at us as he makes his way for the stairs, probably heading toward his office.

The rest of us grin at each other before we all sober and look at Shadow and Sniper. “So what did they find?” I ask, while everyone else crowds around to hear the answer. Not that there are many of us. The only others here are Twigs, Milk, and Medic. Cryos is in his cave working away, and he’ll just see it all on the cameras anyway.

“Nothing,” Shadow says darkly. “They tore apart all the rooms, but Wanger was mostly focused on yours.”

“He’s definitely on Vlad’s payroll then,” I summarize.

Shadow nods. “I’d say so. And he was getting more irritated the more he searched and found nothing. But then when he found your gun, he thought he found what he could use against you. But I made sure to watch that he didn’t try to plant anything.”

“Thanks, brother.”

“There were some questions about why Dagger’s room was all torn apart, but I told them that since one of our brothers passed it was tradition to redo it,” Sniper adds. “The cops took it at face value, but I saw a few of them looking around carefully, almost like they were hoping to spot something.”

“You get their names?” Shadow asks, pulling out his phone.

“Just their last names. Officers Black and McLean,” Sniper says after glancing at his phone. “The other officers just searched each room and left it mostly intact, but there are definitely things out of place.”

“Makes sense that Vlad would want members of the force working together to make sure nothing is missed,” I remark thoughtfully. “And I bet anything they’ll be on the phone with him soon to tell him the whole thing was a bust.”

“Do you think they bought that we weren’t expecting them?” Shadow wonders.

That makes me tense and worry about Eden fills my head. I barely resist the urge to pull out my phone to check on her. “I think so,” Sniper assures me. “Detective Wagner was pretty abrupt, and Bullet was just the right amount of pissed and annoyed. And he made a big deal of calling Hunter. He wouldn’t let them past until he spoke with him to make sure that it was valid. Used the excuse of what happened with Syn at her place with the fake warrants. Wagner looked pissed at that, but he didn’t argue.”

I relax. “Alright. I don’t want this to come back and bite her,” I warn. “She’s done us a solid favor and risked her job, when I know she wasn’t sure if she was going to do it.” And it makes me want to rush to her, to reassure her that everything is fine, but again, I hold myself back. I glance at my watch. “I need to go get Archer soon. I don’t want to show that anything has been disrupted. We didn’t call in the rest of the brothers, and that should show we’re not too concerned if Vlad and his men are watching our movements. And if they try to check our phones, they’ll know we didn’t call or alert them either.”

They all nod. “We’ll have a lot to discuss at Church tonight,” Sniper confirms. “But for now, let’s get this place cleaned up as much as we can. Viper, you need to leave, make sure that someone is with you.”

“I’ll go,” Shadow offers. “I need to pick up Quinn and Macy too.”

“Then you better make sure you have a couple brothers with you both,” Sniper orders firmly. “No one is alone, because I don’t put it past Vlad to sic the LEOs on you when you’re driving. Make sure your trucks and bikes are clean too. Give them no reason to stop you.”

“Will do,” I promise him, and Shadow nods his agreement.

We all get to work on cleaning up and thankfully no bugs are found when I do my search, but I do take a couple of minutes to check my phone for any messages from Eden. There’s nothing there, but I know she’s probably got a very busy schedule at work, so I tell myself not to worry. Though when I leave to get Archer, I’m feeling a bit worried. Where is she? Is she alright? Did someone see the messages?

I fight back the panic and instead focus on getting to Archer with no reason for anyone to look at my truck. Shadow is behind me in his own truck, with Twigs and Medic on their bikes. By the time I get to the school, Shadow has veered off to get Quinn, with Medic trailing behind him. Twigs waits across the street and shoots me a wide smile. But then of course he flirts with one of the mothers waiting for their kids, and she’s blushing furiously.

I shake my head ruefully. Kid is going to get an ass beating one of these days. He doesn’t know the rules of not flirting with married or attached women, but he’ll figure it out soon when one of those men go after his skinny ass. As I wait for Archer to come out, I pull out my phone again, and the worry in my gut starts to settle when I realize Eden has finally messaged me.

Eden: Just checking in. I’m still working and I need to finish up some stuff, so I’ll be late.

Viper: Do you want me to come and get you from your apartment?

Eden: Not tonight. I don’t think someone possibly seeing us together today would be a smart idea.

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