Page 64 of Whips and Chains
Whip pulled up outside Fang’s place in Providence.
Violet dragged herself out of the front seat wearily. “I know we need to talk about this and work out what’s next, but not tonight. I just can’t.”
Whip nodded before either X or I could speak. “It can wait. You’re safe with your brother and the others. Just get some rest.”
She nodded, closing the door.
I got out of the back seat. “I’ll walk you to the door.”
She raised a hand in a stop motion. “Don’t. I’m fine. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
X and Whip sat in the car like obedient little dogs while she slowly shuffled to Fang’s front door. I watched her fingers move across the electronic PIN pad, and the panel light up green before she pushed down on the door handle and let herself in.
She didn’t look back.
My skin felt too tight. She was bleeding. Traumatized. And she was going to be up there in her bedroom alone. I already knew she wouldn’t wake her brother or Rebel.
I couldn’t stand the thought of it. It made me literally sick to my stomach to think of her curled up in the fetal position, crying, hurt, scared. She played a tough game, and she was angry, but beneath all that, I knew she was terrified.
Because I was too.
“Levi, get back in the car, would you?” Whip complained.
I glanced down at him behind the steering wheel, and X contorting himself into unnatural angles to climb over the center console from the back seat to the front.
I squinted at him, his big body half stuck somewhere in between. “Why the hell didn’t you just open the door and walk around?”
He lifted his head. “I have impulsive thoughts, Levi. Sometimes they win.”
He really didn’t need to say more than that.
Whip just grunted and tried to avoid getting one of X’s knees to the face.
I tapped the roof of the car. “You two go. I’m staying.”
X was head down, ass up in the front, practically doing a handstand trying to turn himself around in the too-small space. “Hey, Whip, did you know you have a bunch of Skittles down here on the floorboard?”
Whip ignored him, shoving his flailing legs out of the way. He caught my gaze through the open window. “You sure about this? She’s probably not going to be happy when she realizes you’re hanging around.”
But I didn’t care.
I couldn’t go home to the clubhouse and lie awake in my cold bed, just praying she was safe. Fang was a ruthless killer. I knew because I’d trained him myself, once upon a time.
But he was one man, and he had a family. A woman. Kids. Two other partners.
If something went down, his priority was going to be them.
But my priority would always be Violet. Whether she liked it or not.
“I’m staying,” I confirmed to Whip.
He nodded. “Your funeral.”
He put the car in reverse and zoomed backward down the driveway, with X hollering that he didn’t have a seat belt on.
I watched the taillights disappear around the corner of the darkened road. The sun hadn’t started its rise yet, the night sky still an inky black, though I knew from years of watching through grimy prison windows, that the sky would start lightening in the next thirty or so minutes as dawn approached,and not long after that, it would be streaked with gold and pink and orange.
I wasn’t going to wait around out here to see it this morning though. I crept across the yard on silent feet, keeping to the grass to cover my footsteps. I took the stairs, eyeing the façade of the house Fang had found himself living in and swore under my breath. “Pretty damn fancy, brother. No wonder you don’t sleep at the clubhouse anymore. I wouldn’t either if my house was big enough to have wings.”
