Page 47 of The Devil's Conflict

“Or they’re just having fun and it’s nothing serious,” I suggest. “I mean, he took her into the kitchen, not to bed.” No one looks convinced, so I just shrug and finish off my drink.

“Thea!” a voice calls, and I turn my head to see Viper waving to me and indicating for me to follow him outside. I stand and head that way, curious. I feel the eyes of everyone in the room on me as I head toward the front door, but I ignore it. What could he want?

When I get outside, I see Theo standing there with a bag, and my eyes narrow. Besides Viper, I also see Hulk and Medic milling around not far away, as well as a couple of the Misfits, though none of them are looking our way, so I bite my tongue as best I can as I walk down the steps. “You went to my apartment?” I ask carefully as he holds out the bag to me.

He winces, knowing how pissed I am. “Sniper told me to go and grab you some things once I was relieved on the gate,” he explains.

“And why would he have told you that?”

Theo glances at Viper, who says nothing, before looking back at me. He tries his reasonable tone that he likes to use when he thinks I’m about to overreact to something. “I think he wanted you to have your own clothes to wear, Thea. It’s nothing nefarious. I mean, don’t you want to wear your own stuff and be comfortable? And I promise I didn’t snoop or anything. I just grabbed handfuls of stuff, your phone chargers, and a bunch of stuff from your bathroom that I figured you might need. But if I missed anything, I’m sure someone can buy it for you.”

Oh, my stupid, stupid brother. Sometimes I forget that he really doesn’t understand the female mind, or what not to say to one that is already pissed off. If he ever has a steady girlfriend, I’m going to have to warn her. “What I want,” I say between clenched teeth, “is for people to stop making decisions for me. What I want is to come and go as I please. What I want is to be able to be in my own bed and apartment, where my clothes and things are where they should be and not in a bag that you went searching for. And I’m sick of being stuck here with no reason why other than what happened at the bar. I’m not a part of the MC, I’m not an Old Lady or a club girl. I’m an employee of one of the businesses. But once business hours are over, no one gets to tell me shit.” I include Viper in my statement of that, not that he seems to care.

I snatch the bag from Theo, turn on my heel and head back for the steps.

“Seems to me that someone is being an ungrateful bitch,” someone behind me says just loud enough for me to hear. I stop and turn slowly on my heel to look at one of the Misfits watching me with barely veiled disgust. In the low light from the porch, Ican just make out that he goes by Crook, and he certainly gives off the vibe that he’s done some things that I’m better off not knowing. He’s shaved his head, wearing a soul patch goatee, and covered in tattoos from his neck down. His nose is crooked from having been broken a few times, and if I’m not mistaken, he’s missing one of his fingers on his left hand.

“An ungrateful bitch?” I repeat calmly.

“You heard me well enough,” he drawls, a southern accent thickening his voice. “Seems to me you should be showing some more respect to the people that are helping you out and keeping you safe instead of whining and bitching. Or do you want to be the next one dead because of a Russian’s bullet?”

“Crook, shut the fuck up,” Viper snaps, glaring at him.

The other Misfits exchange a wary glance. I can’t see their names, but clearly they realize what Crook has just revealed. Not only to me, but also to Theo, who doesn’t hide his shock at that statement. Instead of replying, I look at Theo. “When you were snooping through my shit, did you at least pack my essentials?” I ask him, knowing he’s going to get at what I mean, and considering what Crook just revealed, sounds like I might need them. Theo looks back at me and gives one quick nod. “Good. Oh, and next time you do that, I’m going to kick your ass, got it?”

“You don’t get to talk to him like that, woman,” one of the other Misfits snaps, stepping forward. Now that he’s more into the light, I can make out the name Trix on his cut. I put him in his early forties, with reddish brown hair in this light that he’s styled in a James Dean fashion, dark green eyes, and a large scar down the left side of his face. He’s still handsome in a rugged way, I suppose, but there is no missing the dangerous vibe from him. “He might be a Prospect, but you better be showing him some respect. And that means you don’t get to touch him or threaten to.”

Viper lets out an aggravated sound, even as I give Trix a cool smile. “Enough,” Viper barks, clearly fed up. “I don’t know what the hell is up with everyone, but I’m going to blame it on the stress of the situation and the fact that you all are probably running on no sleep. Trix, you don’t speak to Thea. She’s our employee, and she’s also our Prospect’s sister. And unless you want Sniper coming down on your ass, or any of your asses when he hears about this shit, then I suggest you start keeping your mouths shut when it comes to how we run our club.”

Trix and Crook share a look and nod, while the third man just watches the situation with interest on his face, clearly happy not to be lumped into whatever is going on. Theo doesn’t respond, looks at me questioningly, and I shoot him a discreet hand signal that I’m fine. I see the tension in his shoulders relax and then he turns away and heads back toward the gate, no doubt happy to be away from the situation.

“Trix, Crook, Ace, all of you get to work on your rotations,” a deep voice behind me says, making me turn back and see Arson and Bullet standing there, hard looks on their faces. Bullet glances at me, but doesn’t say anything, just waits as the three bikers walk away without another word. “I’ll apologize for their disrespect, Thea,” Arson says finally after a moment. Then he looks at Bullet. “And I’ll have a word with Crook about his big mouth,” he adds with a grim set to his mouth.

Bullet gives one quick nod, accepting that. When Arson looks at me, I just nod as well, because what else can I do? “I think that it’s been a long-ass day,” Bullet remarks. “Everyone has their schedules, and tomorrow, we’ll work on next steps.” Arson nods and heads down the steps after his men.

Once he’s out of earshot, Viper makes his way back up the steps and says to me in a surprisingly gentle voice, “I know you’re not familiar with this life, and Sniper will explain it better when he’s back, but for now, I need you to remember that Theois our Prospect, and when he is on these grounds, or in the presence of us or another club, you can’t be his sister. You need to be Sniper’s woman, or someone close to the club, but that’s it. He’s trying to prove he wants to be here, that he belongs here, and he can’t do that if you undermine him, even unintentionally. And I know that’s probably a thing you do, and honestly any other time most of us wouldn’t give a shit and never think anything of it, but right now, we need this, okay? And he was only acting on Sniper’s request, who is a patched brother and our VP, so while I know you’re pissed, you can’t yell at him for following orders.”

A flash of guilt hits me at that. “Did I screw up anything for him because I did?” I ask softly.

“No,” Bullet replies. “Theo’s barely been with us a week, and this situation is nothing normal, so we won’t hold anything like this against him.”

I nod, relieved. “I’ll remember that and try not to do anything like that again,” I assure them both. I might not be convinced, but I also don’t want to screw anything up for him because of my own issues.

“I know,” Bullet answers with a slight quirk of his lips. “Now, I’m going to find my woman and head to bed. Tomorrow will be a busy day.”

“Me too,” Viper agrees. Then he smiles at me. “You able to find your way back to your room?”

“Oh, do I get a room of my own now?” I ask pointedly.

Viper holds up his hands. “Thea, I like you, but not enough to come between you and a man who can kill me in my sleep. You can fight with Sniper when he gets back.”

“From what I hear, Eden could kill you in your sleep too,” I remind him with a sly smile. “So I don’t know if you need to worry about Sniper so much.”

Viper gives me a salacious grin. “Then it’s a good thing I know exactly how to wear her out so that she doesn’t even have the energy to try, isn’t it?”

I laugh, unable to help myself. “You keep thinking that, big guy,” I respond tauntingly. “You piss her off enough, and sex isn’t going to stop her.” That has his grin dimming a little bit and it’s my turn to grin as I head inside.

“That girl is going to be trouble.” I hear Bullet sigh. “And this one is trained to make sure we might never find out whatever shit she starts. I’m hiding all the weapons now.”

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