Page 132 of Whips and Chains
VIOLET
Xgingerly peeled himself off me and helped me to sit up. He wiped the mud and tears from my face, though his hands were caked with it as well, so I was sure he was really only making it worse.
But I appreciated the gesture.
And the fact he was here, and we were both still alive.
The countdown in my head was well past the sixty seconds the psycho in the van had started. And a new anger raged inside me, hating that I’d fallen for another of his games.
“Why is he doing this?” I asked X, both of us just sitting there in the mud. I knew if I tried to stand, my legs would give out. Adrenaline still pumped through my body, leaving me shaky.
He put his arm around me and rubbed my shoulder. “I wish I knew.”
We both looked up as another car bounced along the road. X moved in front of me but sat back down wearily when he recognized it wasn’t a white van, but Levi’s bike, with Whip on the back. Levi dumped the bike on the ground, and they both rushed over.
X grinned at them. “You know, Whip, I think in biker terms, you and Levi just got married. Isn’t that what putting someone on the back of your bike means?”
I expected Whip and Levi to laugh, or at worst, tell X he was an idiot.
But Levi stormed right over to me and crouched to cup my face. “You’re all right? You’re okay?”
I nodded quickly. “I’m fine. I—”
He didn’t even let me finish. He slammed his fist into the side of X’s face.
“Levi!” I shouted, scuttling away on instinct.
But Levi was losing it and didn’t hear me at all. He hauled X up by his shirt and slammed his fist into his face again.
X’s head whipped to the side under the impact, his nose erupting with blood.
It was like Levi didn’t even see me.
“Whip!” I shouted. “Do something!”
But Whip was just as mad as Levi.
Which seemed like a complete overreaction to some teasing about being an old married biker couple.
Whip glared at X. “You fucking left us out there in the middle of nowhere? Do you ever think before you act? Violet needed us, and we couldn’t get to her because of you! What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Levi’s fists were wrapped in X’s soaking shirt, and he shook him hard. “God, I can’t believe you. You’re a child, you know that? You could have gotten her killed!”
Anger bubbled up inside me, and I ran to X’s side, blocking him with my body and facing off against the two other men. “Stop! He hasn’t done anything!”
Whip paced, and Levi breathed so hard his chest heaved in the moonlight.
He glared at me. “Don’t protect him. You have no idea what he did tonight! You could have been killed!”
The ocean screamed behind me and X, echoing my fury as we faced off with the other two.
I glared at Levi. “And I wasn’t! Because of him! So don’t—”
A boom from somewhere beneath us cracked through the air.
It took me longer than it should have to feel the earth shift beneath my feet.
And then X’s hands on my back, shoving me at Whip and Levi.
