Page 39 of Serpentine

“He was going to…”

“Shh, I know. But he didn’t, right? You’re safe. You’re alright,” I soothe.

She leans her head over my shoulder, turning her face into my neck and breathing heavily as she cries.

“You’re going to be just fine, Bambi. I’ve got you.” I squeeze tighter, knowing it’s what I used to need when the world felt too heavy.

It takes a few minutes, but eventually, she’s sniffling, and the tears and panic have passed.

“There you are. It’s alright,” I tell her, mimicking Mom’s words she’d murmur when I’d finally come around. She would hold me just like this.

“I was so scared,” she says into my neck, and anger rises in me again.

“I know you were, Bambi. You’ll never have to feel that way again. We will keep you safe. Do you understand me? That shit won’t happen again!”

She lifts, and I loosen my arms, but she takes hers and wraps them around me, laying back down with her face in my neck once more.

I worry for a moment that she will feel awkward because I’ve just held her much like a mother would a child and rocked her, that she’s going to know this is something I am imitating, but it’s fleeting.

She kisses my neck and says, “Can you rock me a little more?”

“Whatever you need, Aella.” I kiss her hair. “Whatever you need.”

“Tell me now what the fuck is going on, Miles. I’m not in the mood for lies or bullshit, either. Tell me now, or I’m going to lose it!” I shout, pushing into his office in the clubhouse.

Detective Hunt is sitting in the chair before him, and both have a glass of bourbon and a bottle between them. I’m even angrier now that I know he’s here drinking while I’ve just dealt with the aftermath of whatever he let happen.

Aella is in my bed, sleeping peacefully for now, which gives me the moment I need to beat the living shit out of him. It won’t help matters, but it’ll help me get some buzzing energy out of my body.

“Sit down, Braxton,” Miles says, and the serious look in Detective Hunt’s eyes is the only thing that has me complying.

“What’s going on?” I ask as I sit next to the Detective.

Brian Hunt is a detective in the Twin Pines Police Department, but foremost, he’s a Cobra—an undercover agent that Dad placed inside the department long ago. He’s in his mid-fifties and has a telling face when something’s wrong.

“I found something on the victim’s phone. His name was Jett Taylor. You know who he runs with. But what I found interesting is that he had an order from his president on his phone. One that told him to move in on your girl.” Brian lifts his glass to his lips and takes a long pull of bourbon.

“How did he even know about her?” I ask Brian, and he exhales.

“From the text thread, he’d been following Miles all day. He saw her with him and relayed it to Vito. Vito’s order wasn’t to kill her. Only to fuck her. The text said an eye for an eye. Know what he could refer to?”

Miles scrubs his face, but I wait for him to uncover it. I know that when he drops his hands away, I’ll be able to see the truth of things. I know every inch of his goddamn face. Every frown line when he’s lying, and every shift of his eyes when he’s hiding something.

He doesn’t know what’s happening when he drops his hands and looks at me.

“No,” Miles admits, looking back at Brian. “I don’t know what that means. We haven’t had an issue with them. Other than we went to their… Fuck…” He lets his head drop into his hands.

“What?” I ask.

“We went to their bar the other night, The Dirty Pour. I needed to get…”

“Some strange?” I ask, knowing exactly what happened at the factory. How Sully had shot the general manager, and Hunt had cleaned it up. When death nears Miles, he needs to feel alive. So, he prowls the streets for something to make him think so.

“Yes, and I found some. A bartender there, blonde. Didn’t catch her name, though. Could that be what he’s referring to?” Miles asks Brian.

Brian shrugs before standing. “I’ll find out and let you know, Pres. Until then, watch your backs. The Jackals aren’t something we need breathing down our fucking necks right now.”

Miles nods, standing to shake Brian’s hand. “Keep me in the loop.”

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