Vipers Rule Read online

  Chapter 23

  The first thing Maddie did when she went upstairs to her old room was grab her favorite blanket and her slouchy beanie cap and head out onto the deck. From that vantage point, she could just make out the security detail out by the gates.

  It had started to snow a little. The grounds always looked so pretty this time of year, and she was reluctant to go inside, despite how cold she was. It didn’t matter—she felt cold and numb on the inside anyway, so at least now her outsides matched.

  A huge part of her hoped Tals would come to her, demand she go back with him, but that’s not what she’d hoped to accomplish by leaving Vipers. No, she’d needed to talk to Hugh, which she’d done, but she had to not get in the way of Tals and Tenn, or Tals and Vipers.

  Still, she wondered what Tenn would tell him . . . or how betrayed Tals would feel when he got out and she wasn’t there.

  If he got out. Her heart lurched at that. Even though Hugh had told the police he didn’t think Tals tried to kill him, it was possible they wouldn’t back down. According to Hugh’s last text to her, Flores was threatening him with jail time for perjury, then telling him that they could protect him from Vipers.

  Hugh also said that he wouldn’t let Flores change his mind, but to please put in a word for him to Vipers. Yes, he was scared. And yes, she would do what he asked, once Tals and Rocco and Rally were released.

  And once Tals was out and this was over? Where did she go next? She couldn’t stay in the same town with Tals and not have her heart break over and over.

  Her head ached along with her heart. She pressed her fingers to her temples as if that could alleviate anything, felt the hot tears warm her cold cheeks.

  “Maddie.” It was Tenn’s voice. Several stories up on guarded, alarmed property. She stood slowly, looking around. “Behind you.”

  She whirled around and saw him sitting in a chair, like he’d shown up for a casual drink. “You almost gave me a heart attack. What the hell are you doing? And how did you get up here—”

  “Because you’re supposed to have security in place?” he said. “Don’t worry—it’d be hard to find security that works against me. Or Tals.”

  “Or the men who are trying to kill me?”

  “They seem to be not as subtle. The guys you have are all right for the moment, but I think you really need to let Tals protect you.”

  She swore she had whiplash. And he obviously knew that because he added, “Tals is out of jail. Charges dropped. Patch was fake, but Flores knew that already. And yeah, we had a huge fight and I told him what happened. How I felt. But in the end . . . you’re what he wants.”

  She shook her head. “I will not come between you guys. No way. I know what you’re doing, but you don’t have to feel guilty.”

  He stood, told her fiercely, “I don’t, Maddie, okay? I don’t do shit out of guilt. But if you’re willing to sacrifice yourself for our family, then maybe you really are our family.”

  She felt a flutter of hope, at the fact that Tals was out and off the hook . . . and about Tenn possibly not holding her accountable for all the bad things happening around her. But they weren’t out of danger yet. “Look, I appreciate what you’re saying, but I’m still at fault.”

  “You didn’t know what Hugh was doing. Not any more than you knew what Earl would try,” Tenn admitted. “I’m a protective older brother.” She frowned and he added, “I’m older by four minutes, but that’s still older, dammit.”

  “He won’t stay angry at you—he has to know why you did it.” And why was she comforting Tenn after the awful way he’d been to her?

  Maybe because he loves his brother more than life.

  Tenn looked up at the sky for a long moment, then back at her. “I shouldn’t have put him in that position. I forced his hand.”

  “You were protecting him.”

  “And also not seeing that if he can forgive you, maybe I can too.”

  “I put him in danger.”

  “He puts himself in danger every damned day he’s in this MC,” Tenn reminded her. “Have we really reversed positions here, that I have to talk you into going back to him? Because that’s insane. Fucking insane.” He rubbed a hand over his head—he wore a skullcap—and looked puzzled.

  “It’s just . . . maybe you really can’t go home again. Or maybe you can, but you shouldn’t.” She’d ruined things back then. She was ruining things now—people, families, Vipers. Maybe, like her father, like Grams, she was meant to be alone. It was probably better that way.

  “You know what? Don’t use me as an excuse,” Tenn told her.

  She narrowed her eyes. “First you drive me away and now it’s my fault for letting myself get driven away?”

  “Yes. Gotta be tougher if you’re gonna hang with Vipers.” He glanced down at her hand, which had fisted unconsciously . . . and grinned. “Atta girl.”

  * * *

  Preacher convinced him, along with Rocco and Cage, not to do anything stupid.

  “You just got released, Tals—you go over to Maddie’s like a bat out of hell, when you don’t know what headspace she’s in, you’ll get arrested again,” Preacher warned. “Cool off. Make a plan.”

  So Tals’s plan had been to grab a bottle of whiskey, sit on the roof in the cold air—alone—and try to figure out how things had gotten so fucked in such a short span of time.

  Bear joined him a little while later, with a blanket to wrap around him and some hot coffee. Tals immediately rejected the latter, threatened to throw it off the roof, and grabbed the former.

  He took another swig, and then another, enjoying the numbness.

  “If it makes it any better, she was as miserable as you are right now,” Bear offered.

  “Right. So miserable she can’t wait to get the fuck away from me.”

  “I think she was trying to get away from Tenn. Your brother can be a real asshole when he’s sticking up for you.”

  “Tell me about it,” Tals muttered. “Tenn says I’m asking for trouble. Cage is on the fence, but that’s because he’s all gooey-eyed romantic right now.” Tals took a swig from the bottle, then passed it to Bear, pretended to ignore the fact that Bear never took a sip.

  Like a chaperone. But hell, it was a move Tals himself had pulled, and right now he just wanted to get fucked-up drunk.

  He was well on his way.

  “And what does Tals think?” Bear asked patiently.

  “Don’t get all child psychology on me,” Tals warned. “You being the child and all.”

  “Right.”

  “You’re just going to keep drinking instead of trying to get in touch with her?”

  “I’m not allowed to.”

  “Since when do you follow directions?” Bear asked. And Bear would definitely know, since he and Tals had known each other since Bear was ten and Tals, seventeen.

  Bear and Tals rarely spoke about where Bear came from . . . what he’d been doing before this, before Tals had recruited Bear and urged Preacher to take him on as a probie when he turned seventeen. Ultimately, Tals put Bear on his team of enforcers.

  Now he was twenty-three, a big brick wall of a guy, blond and good-looking. Football-player type. Because he had been at one point, but it wasn’t an injury that had pulled him off the field. Not physically, anyway.

  Tals never doubted him, which meant he’d not allowed Bear to doubt himself. And now Bear was comforting him as best he could. “If you want to go see her, go see her. I don’t doubt that she wants to see you.”

  And that was the problem—Tals didn’t doubt that either. It wasn’t her wanting him that was the issue . . . It was her commitment. It was fucking with him, with Vipers . . . with everything. He glanced at Bear, told him, “I keep fighting for her . . . and she keeps running. Skirting out. Deserting me. Betraying me.” Tals couldn’t keep the anguish out of his voice. His fists were tight, his throat burned, and Bear just watched him. Listening, no judgment, which would be more than Tenn could do. “I don’t think I
can keep doing this. I was doing fine and then she came back and fucked it all up.”

  Even as he said that, he knew it wasn’t true. “I’ll be fine,” he told Bear.

  “I know that.” Bear clapped him on the shoulder. “Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t lean on everyone.”

  “Yeah. Thanks, man.”

  Bear nodded. “Yell if you need me.”

  Bear knew when to leave Tals alone, not to push. Tenn knew it too, but that never stopped him from pushing.

  A few minutes later, he heard, “I didn’t mean to hear that,” from Holly, calling from the other side of the roof. She stepped around now. “I came out for a smoke.”

  She grinned like an errant child—Preacher didn’t like when Holly smoked, and everyone but Preacher knew that she would often come out here and sneak smokes. Particularly when she was stressed, which was a lot lately.

  She hid a lot from Preacher. Preacher hid a lot from her. Maybe all relationships were fucked-up.

  “That’s all right. Nothing you don’t know. Nothing everyone doesn’t know at this point.”

  She nodded. Walked over, crouched down and held out her cigarette. He accepted it, took a long drag and exhaled. While he did that, she cleared her throat and said, “She feels helpless, Tals, and when a woman feels helpless, she’ll do anything to gain back any sense of power. Even if it’s the stupidest possible thing she can do.”

  Holly took back the cigarette and straightened then, and it was obvious, based on her tight expression, how much it pained her to admit it, never mind say it out loud. She took a last drag, tossed it and said, “We’re training the day after tomorrow, right?”

  “Right,” he echoed. As she walked away, he murmured, “Thanks.”

  “Welcome.” And after a pause, “We like to be bossed around too. Never admit it, though.”

  He smiled into the darkness for the first time in twenty-four hours, even as he muttered, “Women.”

  Chapter 24

  What made Tals finally leave the roof was seeing a man in a dark car pull across the street from Vipers. He was alone, and he was carrying, but he looked more worried than anything, kept looking over his shoulder as he walked toward the clubhouse.

  Tals was down the stairs to confront him in under sixty seconds, but the guys guarding the door had gotten to him first. Rally was holding him in a choke hold as he brought the guy toward Tals. “This is Hugh Montgomery. Says he’s here to talk to Preach.”

  Tals nodded, way more calmly than he felt. Assessed the struggling man for a quick second, then said, “Rally, let him go and you can tell Preach he’s here. I’ve got this.”

  “No problem, Tals. I took his piece already,” Rally assured him, then went inside.

  “You alone?” Tals asked.

  “I want to speak to Preacher,” Hugh demanded, then narrowed his eyes. “I recognize your voice.”

  “Good,” Tals growled. They were the same height. Tals was lean while Hugh was soft. And even though Hugh was pretending to be all tough guy, Tals could see the sweat beading on his forehead, the way his eyes jerked around. Like he was nervous as hell.

  Could be because he was surrounded by MC members.

  Could be because he knew someone was targeting him . . . and by extension, Maddie.

  Hugh tried again. “I’m not dealing with anyone but the head of your organization.”

  Tals rubbed his chin. “Not sure why you think you get to make demands. Seeing as how I’m the guy you framed for trying to kill you, maybe I should actually make the punishment fit the crime.” He didn’t move when he said it, but Hugh paled and seemed to shrink a little. Then he put up his hands.

  “I had nothing to do with that. The police found the patch. I didn’t see who grabbed me.”

  “Pretty convenient story—you’re forgetting you gave the police names. Plus, you sent the police here to fetch Maddie before that. Seems like you had a plan in place. And you’re going to tell me what it was.”

  Preacher walked in then, nodded at Tals to continue. Tals told Hugh, “This is Preacher. For right now, you and I are going to talk. Got it?”

  Hugh nodded. Then he looked at Preacher and nodded again before explaining. “Look, I called the police and told them I was wrong about the names. That I couldn’t be sure. I said that I never got a call from anyone at Vipers, but that I made the call because I was trying to get Maddie back.”

  “And they believed you?” Tals demanded.

  “I know how to convince people,” Hugh told him, and there wasn’t anything like bragging in his tone.

  “And you did this from the goodness of your heart?”

  Hugh glared at him. “I did it because Maddie asked me to. And because I owe you. You offered to protect me. I threw you under the bus. But to be fair, whoever took me planted enough to make me think of Vipers—I didn’t kidnap myself.”

  Tals nodded, his heart racing. Now the dropping of the charges made sense. So did Maddie’s leaving. “I’m going to tell you straight out that we didn’t have anything to do with your kidnapping. Any idea why there’d be a bomb wired to your ex’s car?”

  “She’s my wife,” Hugh said through gritted teeth.

  “She’s in danger because of you. So I’d start talking.”

  “Or what?”

  Tals smiled and it unnerved the hell out of the executive. Hugh shifted. Stuck his hands in his pockets while Tals pretended to have patience.

  And then he was tired of pretending, so he grabbed the man by the back of his collar and shoved him down so his cheek kissed the hood of the pool table.

  Tals spoke casually. “Going to ask one more time. What the fuck are you involved in?”

  Rocco chose that moment to enter. “Is there a party going on and you forgot to invite me?”

  “We’re entertaining Hugh Montgomery,” Preacher explained. “Tals might strangle him before he has a chance to talk, but I’m not going to stop him.”

  “I came here for you to protect me,” Hugh managed. “I want to take you up on your offer.”

  Preacher raised his brows, Rocco snorted and Tals laughed, saying, “That’s a good one—we make you an offer and you frame us.”

  Preacher leaned down. “For someone who’s asking for help, you’re not giving us any incentive.”

  “I made it right with Flores. And I have money,” Hugh promised.

  “I don’t need your money,” Preacher told him. “I’m interested in keeping Maddie safe. So start talking and I’ll make my decision then.”

  “Can you tell him to let me up?” Hugh asked.

  Preacher looked at Tals and smiled. “This one? You can’t tell him anything.”

  * * *

  Rocco let himself into Lola’s unmarked car while she was inside the café getting coffee. No one noticed, because it was pouring rain, a freaking Noah’s ark kind of deluge, and everyone was tripping over themselves trying to keep covered while running for it.

  He was soaked too. Wiped the hair off his face, glad he’d let Cass, their local bondsman, know he might be getting another call. In a few minutes, Lola came out of the coffee shop, bag in hand, and got in.

  Even though she appeared to be looking down at the ground as she walked fast, Rocco had no doubt that she’d spotted him. Maybe even before she’d left the shop.

  To her credit, she was calm. She pushed her hood down and opened her coffee. “I guess you really did miss me, Rocco. Or at least, the handcuffs. Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll be spending time with us—on the state’s dime—very soon.”

  “If I’d known you were so focused on handcuffs, Lola—”

  “Cut the shit and get out of my car. You know I can arrest you just for this,” she warned.

  “You could, but you won’t, Detective. I’ll keep it short—you’re focusing on the wrong people.”

  “You say my title like it’s a curse.”

  He shrugged, not denying it. “You’ve had issues with Vipers since you got here.”

  “Is t
his going somewhere, Counselor?” she prompted, pretending to be bored.

  “Hugh’s tied in with the Albanians. Has been for years.” He pulled a small tape out of his pocket and put it on the console between them. “He told us everything.”

  “He’d tell you anything to escape your wrath. Where is he now?”

  “He’s safe.”

  “Safe?” She laughed. “I don’t have to frame you with false information or false evidence. There’s enough there for me to make arrests legitimately. I know that. It’s a matter of time before one of you screws up big enough to dismantle the whole crew.”

  “You and what army? The DEA and the ATF and other agencies have been trying to shut MCs down forever. If you’ll notice, their focus is on one-percenters, which Vipers isn’t.”

  She laughed, shook her head. Stared at the roof of her car. “There it is. The argument my sister used on me all the time. Like the fact that you’re not classified as killers or drug runners or gun runners, the fact that you don’t identify as such makes it all better.”

  “I’m not defending the Heathens. Never will. But—”

  “But nothing,” she spat fiercely. “You killed her as surely as if you’d been in the room. This whole MC mentality, the culture, the lifestyle . . . you pull innocent women in.”

  “Like Calla?”

  She froze. Raised her chin defiantly. “Pound for pound, let’s compare law enforcement and MC men, and we’ll see who has the higher percentage for abuse.”

  But she was nervous. If he hadn’t slept with her, he wouldn’t have known, but because he’d been intimate with her, he had the keys to the kingdom.

  It was nothing he wanted to use against her. But if she was going to fight dirty, he had no choice but to do the same. “Your sister wasn’t killed by a Viper. It was a Heathen—and that’s an entirely different animal. If you don’t get that after what happened with Calla and Cage’s stepbrother . . .” He trailed off, shaking his head.

  Her face hardened. “If you think I’m discussing my personal life with you—”

  “But you’ll get naked with me?”