Page 35 of Viper
“I was in the pharmacy trying to figure out which tampon or pad I needed while crying when Mama Lopez and Brick found me. I had no idea Dad had asked them for help when I ran out. I admitted to what I had done with Dad, what Cherri had threatened, and what I had overheard. I didn’t know his name, but I did give details about what he looked like, and he promisedhe’d sort it out after calling my dad. Since then, Mama Lopez is the woman I always go to, and my dad and I are a lot closer, especially when he’s the parent who did want me, who stayed and was my hero every day despite being trapped with me,” she finishes, not once taking her eyes off Tate.
Dash, an old brother who disappeared around the time Viking was killed, was close to him. What are fucking odds Brick killed him too for not reporting what the sick fuck was gloating about wanting to do?
Sexual assault, rape, even joking about it, especially with kids, is not welcome within our club, and the fuckers got what they deserved as far as I’m concerned.
“I’ve hated the club ever since,” she admits, and I look at her in shock, our eyes connecting, the spark between us high.
“If I had my cut on that day?” I reluctantly ask, and she swallows before admitting, “I wouldn’t have come after you, something Mama Lopez encouraged me to do, to get out more and have a life because my work was my life.”
I see nothing but truth in her eyes, but I’ve never gotten the feeling she was lying to me during our relationship.
Is she just a really good fucking liar, or is she telling me the truth?
I frown, taking in her features, and I notice she has lost a lot of weight and bags line under her eyes, and I admit, “Your dad’s worried about you.”
She looks away from me, breaking our connection as she mutters, “He doesn’t need to be.”
I narrow my eyes and my anger spikes again at how easily she’s brushing her father’s worries under the rug, and Blade’s words swim in my head.
“Randy, he mentioned if we help her, he’ll stay at the garage.”
My jaw ticks, my body tense, and yet again, I allow my anger to run my mouth, the hurt between us spreading further with the omitted truths.
“Oh so your just acting down to be a bitch then huh, to get Daddy to convince me to give you my cut so he’d stay at the garage,” I snap and instead of cursing myself out and retracting I double down as I glare at her, pissed she’s not taking her father’s concerns seriously, not allowing him to help her and see she’s not herself. I’m fucking pissed she’s wanting to quit med school.
Fuck she hasn’t even told her father, her friends, that a woman was suing her.
The woman whom I fell in love with would have asked for help.
She doesn’t reply, but she does tense, her whole body that I have kissed all over tightening, and I dig even further, but more to get a reaction out of her, to get that anger out and accuse, “You're exactly like your mama, aren’t you? A liar and a whore.”
And that does it, Lake turns her head sharply my way and snaps, “And you're nothing but a manchild who can’t take responsibility for the lies you told. Instead blaming everything on me, and I’m beginning to see you never even loved me to begin with, that it was all a lie!”
Her words hit me straight to my chest and the need to hold her consumes me but I know we can’t, not after everything and lie, “It was all a lie, I could never love a whore, especially one who thinks it’s okay to spend all of Daddy’s money on a degree you’re now dropping all because you’re not smart enough to follow through with it,” hoping it will put a fire under her not to quit.
I can’t be the one to save her from whatever she’s going through. We’re too toxic at the moment, and I can’t control my anger but I won’t allow her to quit something she clearly finds a passion in.
Her eyes widen, tears filling them, but I ignore her reaction to my words and walk away before the argument gets more heated.I go to Tate, silently hoping it gives her the motivation to work harder in med school, to prove a point.
“Okay, sweetheart, I need you to say bye to Lake. Your Grammie is waiting for you,” I say as I pick her up out of the sandpit, and she grins widely before rushing over to Lake, throwing herself at her.
Lake catches her and holds her tight, squeezing her eyes in the process. My heart breaks knowing we’ll never have kids together, never have a future, my fucked up mind not allowing me to see her as the woman who loved me and didn’t want to bring me into her situation with Cherri, but a woman who wanted my patch.
Yeah, I’m going nomad for a while, maybe even permanently because watching Lake move on will fucking destroy me.
Chapter 13
Lake
“It was all a lie, I could never love a whore, especially one who thinks it’s okay to spend all of Daddy’s money on a degree you're now dropping all because you’re not smart enough to follow through with it.”
I wince, his words drowning me, and I take another shot of sambuca, swallowing it in one but flinching at the burning sensation in the back of my throat.
I’m not much of a drinker, and I’m definitely feeling it.
After Tate kissed my cheek, Viper took her from my arms and, without a backward glance, walked away, leaving me reeling with sorrow, pain, and pure loneliness. Ever since, which I think was two hours ago, I’ve been at a dive bar the club rarely comesinto and drank myself into oblivion that I think is actually called The Dive but I can’t be too sure.
My vision is blurry, my body swaying, and I try to focus on it instead of my life, which has sunk to the bottom of the ocean, down the toilet.
