Page 65 of The Vipers' Vow

Phoenix nods once. They won’t be getting shit from my father, as I spoke to him the minute we got off the boat. I was lucky modern cells are so waterproof these days, or it would have been wrecked after taking a dive off the yacht. Before that, it had been buzzing repeatedly in my pocket, no doubt blowing up with Dad’s calls.

The least I could do is ensure my father won’t make the guys’ lives hell for helping us, so I put my big girl panties on and called him.

He was livid at first, but after I explained to him that we are all okay, and we didn’t bring him because we really didn’t want to start a war, he slowly calmed down.

I also explained gently that I would always be his girl, but I’m also growing into a woman, and he needs to let me make my own decisions at times. He’s still pissed at me, and I’ve promised him I’ll go home this month for a visit so we can talk in person, but for now, he’s at least reassured I’m safe.

I made him promise he won’t take any of this out on Phoenix and Zoo. If they hadn’t been there, things would have gone very differently.

Dad doesn’t know about Apo knocking me off the yacht, and Phoenix and Zoo agreed not to tell him. Probably for the best, because he’d immediately demand I came home, but he’d also kill them both for putting me in that position. Instead, I gave him a very sanitized version of the events. Lies upon lies, but all for the greater good. He’s mollified, for now.

This way, I get to stay here, and the guys get to keep their limbs. Win-win.

“So, we’ll see you soon, huh?” Zoo taps the handlebar as he speaks, and he kicks his boot in the dirt on the roadside.

“Of course. I won’t stay away for long. Anyway, Dad wants me home soon for a full debrief.”

“Ass kicking, more like,” Zoo says with a deep chuckle.

“Don’t you just know it.”

I gesture at the long, open road. “Go on. Best be getting back. I’m okay, honestly, and I’ll see you in a few weeks. And thank you, again.”

“No need for thanks, Ivani,” Phoenix says seriously, palming the back of his neck with one hand. “You’re family.”

I nod and swallow hard, my throat thick with emotion. Their engines growl to life, and then they’re off, rumbling down the road. I watch them go, and part of me wants to be going with them, back to my home. It’s the place I felt safest in the world, but another part of me knows I’ve outgrown the club. It’s time for me to forge my own way in the world. To build my own relationships and connections. While I’ll always be able to rely on my dad and the other club members, I need to be my own person.

I climb back onto my bike, and big arms come around me, reminding me there’s a safety of sorts here, too, in Zane’s arms, at least.

Lex doesn’t look good. His face was pale before we got on our bikes to ride back, and he looks almost collapsed over his brother now. He’s insisted he won’t go to a doctor or the emergency room, though. He says if he does, there will be too many questions, so we’ve agreed to try to fix his hand at the college and get his face checked out. There’s a nurse on site, and I pray she knows enough about breaks to be able to help. If not, I’ll knock Lex out again myself and drive him to the damn hospital.

We park the bikes and head in through a side door. Saint has the backpack with the drone and controls in it, and Zane signs something. Saint shrugs and gives him the pack.

Zane walks off toward the guards’ rooms.

“What was that about?” I ask.

“He’s taking the drone back so I can stay with Lex,” Saint says.

“How’s your pain level?” I ask Lex.

He smiles but it’s wobbly, as if he’s feeling sick. “I can manage.”

“No need to manage, tough guy.” I link my arm through his, taking care not to brush against his hand. “That’s what they have modern medicine for. We can alleviate pain these days.” I bump my head gently against his, and then on a whim, kiss his cheek.

His soft laugh makes my heart ache. What has he been going through? He hasn’t said much so far. I guess there will be time to talk about everything later. Right now, I need a shower, and some time alone to decompress and take a nap, and then I need my men. Not just because I’m aching for them, which I am, always, but because emotionally, I need to feel that connection. Even if it will be in the fucked up, dark way we four come together.

We knock on the door of the nurse’s room, and she answers in less than a minute, drying her hands on a paper towel. She regards Saint and Lex, and her brow wrinkles. “Don’t tell me you boys have been fighting again.”

With a pretty face and brown hair threaded with silver, she could be anywhere between fifty-five and sixty-five. She has that nurturing aura of someone’s mom, and that makes me feel all tearful again. I miss my own so damn much.

“No, ma’am,” Lex says. “I… erm… I got my hand trapped, and I broke my thumb trying to get it free.”

“Trapped? In what? Good Lord in heaven, come in, come in. Did you smack your head on the wall too?” She narrows her eyes. “This has to go in the report book.”

Saint takes out his wallet and counts out a few hundred-dollar bills as I watch, shocked. He’s not going to try to bribe this sweet nurse, is he?

“For the shelter,” he says. “With our gratitude, for keeping this between us. We’ll never tell anyone you fixed it, and we can’t have it in the book. We also really don’t want to go to the emergency room. It’s been a long day.”

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