Page 80 of Victorious: Part 2
“Turns out she’s been doing the exact opposite. Some informants with corrections backgrounds caught her making Montana’s mom’s life hell instead of helping her.”
Clover is quiet for a long moment, processing. Then she asks the question I’ve been dreading, “What does this mean for us?”
I sit on the edge of the bed and reach for her, pulling her against my chest. She comes willingly, curling into me like she’s trying to disappear. “I don’t know,” I admit. “But it means the real world just came crashing back in.”
She’s quiet against me, but I feel her tears soaking into my skin.
“Hey,” I say softly, tilting her chin up to look at me. “This doesn’t change what just happened between us. It certainly doesn’t change how I feel about you.”
“Doesn’t it?” Her voice is barely a whisper. “Everything’sdifferent now. More dangerous. More complicated.”
“Some things are the same,” I insist. “The way I feel about you, the way you feel about me. That’sreal.That’s not going anywhere.”
She searches my eyes for a moment, then nods slowly. “You’re right. I just… I wish we could have had more time. More of just us.”
“We’ll make time,” I promise. “Somehow, we’ll figure it out.” But even as I say the words, I’m not sure I believe them.
The call from Alpha has reminded me of something I’d almost let myself forget. In our world, happiness is borrowed, stolen in moments between the chaos.
And our moment just ended.
Dracula chooses right now to jump onto the bed, settling himself between us like he’s trying to offer comfort.
Or maybe he’s just claiming his territory.
With him, it’s hard to tell.
“Even he knows,” Clover says with a weak laugh, scratching behind his ears.
“Knows what?”
“That everything just changed.”
I pull her closer, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Outside, Vegas continues its relentless celebration, neon lights painting the night in bold colors. But inside our room, the magic has faded, replaced by the harsh reality of who we are and what we’re up against.
Tomorrow, we’ll meet with Sin. We’ll figure out security, safe houses, and communication protocols. We’ll slip back into the roles we play in this dangerous world—the patched member and the sister he’s sworn to protect. But tonight, for just a little longer, we’re still Phoenix and Clover, two people who found something real in the midst of all the chaos.
I just have to hope that once the chaos is done, we’re still hereto celebrate that spark.
Chapter Eighteen
CLOVER
The Vegas Strip at night is akin to stepping inside a kaleidoscope that someone cranked up to eleven and then broke for good measure. Neon lights paint everything in electric blues, hot pinks, and gold that seem to pulse with their own heartbeat. The air thrums with music spilling from casino doors, the distant ding of slot machines, and the constant hum of thousands of people living their best or worst lives.
Phoenix’s hand finds me as we weave through the crowd, his fingers intertwining with mine as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. Which, honestly, it is now. After everything that happened back at the hotel earlier, after finally admitting what’s been building between us for months, holding his hand feels less like a revelation and more like home.
“You hungry?” he asks, having to raise his voice over the chaos around us.
I nod, squeezing his hand. “Starving. But first, I need to see everything. This place is insane.”
He chuckles, that low rumble I’ve become completely addicted to. “Only you would want to sightsee when you could be eating.”
“Food will taste better when I’m properly amazed by my surroundings,” I argue, pulling him toward a fountain that’s shooting water in time with some dramatic classical music. “It’s science.”
“That’s not science, Reel Girl.”
“Says the man who thinks beef jerky counts as a balanced breakfast.”
