Vipers Rule Page 18

  “That was a mistake.”

  “Like your sister made? And you think getting rid of Vipers will erase it?”

  She clutched the wheel hard. Her knuckles whitened, and tension filled the car. For a moment he did worry she’d arrest him, no matter how much she knew it wouldn’t stick.

  That didn’t stop him from pushing it. “At the end of the day, arresting the wrong people will fuck you up.”

  She hadn’t moved from her position, and he turned and opened the door to leave. Before he could, she spoke. “Tell me, Rocco, if I looked into your background, what would I find?”

  He stilled. Closed his eyes against the rain pouring into the car, slamming him with what felt like sharp pins. “Are you going to tell me, Detective?”

  “Based on what you just told me, you don’t need any reminders.”

  He didn’t wait to hear if she said anything else—he was out of the car, closing the door, walking through the rain until it soaked him to the skin.

  And then he walked some goddamn more.

  Chapter 25

  Tenn exited her deck as silently as he’d come, leaving Maddie with the ball in her court. If she’d wanted, he would’ve taken her back to Vipers—to Tals—but there was still a lot to think about.

  Maybe too much thinking has always been your problem.

  Irritably, she told herself to shut up. Out loud. She could see her breath laden with frost more clearly now as the temperature dropped. She stared out over the railing toward the driveway. The view wasn’t the best, but it had been harder to see in summertime, with the trees in full bloom.

  But the night Tals had stolen her car, the cherry-red Mustang had been parked so she could see it. Probably the result of her being careless when she’d parked, or maybe a recent rain tamping down the branches, but either way . . .

  * * *

  It was one of those perfect end-of-the-summer nights, a little bit cooler and infused with the scent of yellow Jessamine that bloomed abundantly around what was arguably the largest, grandest house in all of the Jessamine community.

  Maddie leaned over the railing of the porch that connected to her third-floor suite of rooms, listening to the sounds of mockingbirds as they searched for their perfect mate. This ritual had been going on for weeks, alternately frustrating and fascinating her. They were searching loudly in the trees this season, and even if she tried to sleep before they started their night calls, the cacophony was loud enough to wake her.

  But tonight she hadn’t been asleep. She’d taken a cup of tea with honey onto the porch, and she moved away from the railing to sit in the padded chaise. She pulled the blanket she’d brought with her over her legs, as she wore only shorts and a tank top.

  Grams’s house was so secluded that she didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing her. Even if they did, she was hardly wearing anything scandalous.

  But tonight she wished she’d been scandalous. If she’d flirted a little more, or even smiled in Tals’s direction . . .

  What? You’d invite him up here for tea?

  “Get real, Maddie,” she murmured under her breath.

  She noted a figure on the property, and she stilled, not wanting to call attention to herself in case it was a thief. Or worse.

  She blinked as she struggled to focus in the darkness, but when the figure got under the soft lights of the driveway, she saw exactly who it was.

  Tals.

  Had he come here for her? When she’d left the lake, he’d been deep in conversation with Sissy, and Sissy was practically in his lap, listening to whatever stories he was telling her and giggling.

  But no, he was circling her car now, the one she’d gotten as a present on the day of her sixteenth birthday. To her it signified guilt as surely as if the word had been placed on the vanity license plates instead of her name.

  It was embarrassing to her, but her friends in Jessamine loved it. She’d let many of her girlfriends and several members of the football team her group regularly hung around with take the sporty car for a drive.

  She’d refused to put it into the garage, as she was still having trouble navigating backing out. Now Tals was stealing her car. It gave her a thrill, even as she got angry.

  If her grandmother and father hadn’t been away, she probably wouldn’t have called the police. But they were. And she knew the police would grab him and she could simply decline to press charges. But she’d show him that he couldn’t just come in and take what he wanted . . . not after he’d ignored her.

  Even though he’d been chasing her for years before that.

  She ignored that and dialed the local police.

  * * *

  “I knew you didn’t sleep, but damn, this is how you knew I stole your car.” Tals’s voice came quietly over the railings behind where she sat, putting her mind squarely back in the present. Somehow, she didn’t jump or get scared.

  She swore she’d sensed him on the grounds in a way she hadn’t sensed Tenn. Calmly, she stood and turned to see Tals standing on the deck behind her, almost right where Tenn had been. “It’s not like I was waiting for you to show. You were quiet . . . and if I hadn’t been on the roof, looking at the stars, I wouldn’t have noticed you.”

  He shrugged. “You wouldn’t let me drive it.”

  She raised her chin. “You stopped asking.”

  He said, “Ah,” and nothing else, like it was the secret to a puzzle he’d long been trying to break. And maybe it was.

  “Tenn was here.”

  He gave a small smile. “I figured. He runs hot when he’s in protective mode. Then he cools off and thinks shit through. He’s more protective than I am, which is damned hard to do.”

  “He told me that the charges were dropped.” She paused. “Hugh is here. He says he has no idea what’s going on with the bombing and the kidnapping—the real culprits behind both.”

  Tals’s face darkened. He glanced toward the closed glass door and then moved closer to her. “Flores and the DA weren’t happy about releasing us, but after Hugh recanted . . .” He paused and she gave a brief nod, her concession to already knowing that. “Flores tried to say that we planted the fake patch on purpose, but hell, Flores knows better. We don’t fuck with our symbols. Ever.”

  “How would she know that?” she asked.

  “Her sister dated a guy from another MC. Didn’t turn out that well, which is why Flores is hell-bent on lumping all MCs together and making sure we all go down. But the counterfeit patch trick is an old one—in this case, we’d have no reason to attempt to kill Hugh. And if we went to kill him, we’d have succeeded.”

  A chill ran through her at how easily he said that—and meant it too. “You went to the hotel to bring Hugh into Viper protection.”

  “Yes. Because we found out some new developments. We had a hint of it before the arrests, but now we know for sure.”

  “Like what?”

  He sighed. Glanced back at the door, then motioned for her to sit down. It wasn’t until she did that she realized her legs were trembling.

  He sat next to her, close but facing the door to her room. He hesitated a second before telling her, “Hugh’s involved with some really bad guys. Has been for years. I don’t expect him to admit it to you, but you have a right to know that this isn’t just going to end.”

  “How bad?”

  “He’s been doing a lot of creative accounting. Nothing that would seem suspicious to the shareholders, but he’s basically laundering money.”

  “How’s that possible? And why? He’s got money.”

  “Sometimes enough isn’t enough. Sometimes guys get pulled in unwittingly, and once you’re in, you can’t get out. From what I know, he’s caught up with a group who’s got ties to the Albanian mob.”

  “I can’t . . . This doesn’t . . .” She stopped. Caught her breath. “I never knew anything about this. How’s that possible?”

  “He didn’t want you to know. It’s not like he’d have them over for dinner.”

&nbs
p; It’s not like she had dinner with Hugh all that much over the course of their marriage either. “We didn’t share bank accounts. It was his apartment. He paid those bills and I paid mine. Things were separate. Everything was separate. How did you find all this out?”

  Tals looked grim. “We didn’t have to dig too much. Cage, Tenn and I have some connections—it might’ve raised some flags, but hell, they’re pretty much waving in the air like beacons right now anyway.”

  She shook her head, trying to clear it. “I ran part of a major corporation. I had a team of people under me. I placed millions of dollars’ worth of orders, flew all around the world. I knew the business inside and out . . . but I had no idea what was happening with the man I lived with. But wait . . . I didn’t know. So why are they after me?”

  “He was trying to get out from under them. They’re pulling him in deeper, which is what happens with this shit. Once you do a job for them, they own you. And it’s exactly what I figured—they threatened to hurt you if Hugh didn’t continue.”

  Her heart dropped, and as bad as that was, she could just tell there was more. “Don’t try to protect me, please.”

  “Fuck.” He pounded his fisted hands on his thighs, then told her, “They told Hugh they’d kill you and then frame him for the murder.”

  “And then they showed him they know how to frame someone . . . because they kidnapped him,” she whispered.

  “When you ran here, to me, they saw a convenient way to get rid of both of you, and they could easily force us to shoulder the blame. And that shit makes Preach really unhappy.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  “He’s trying to make contact, to convince them that they need to leave you the fuck alone.”

  “And Hugh?”

  Tals laughed somberly. “He already came back to us for protection. He told us what you had him do . . . and I understood why you left.”

  “He needs protection . . . from me,” she promised, and she noted he was biting back a grin.

  It was nice to see him smiling. “That’s the Maddie I know. At this point, Hugh claims he’ll call them off you. That you won’t report any of it. And you won’t. I know you want to be honest, but there are better ways of dealing with it than going to the Feds. This kind of shit needs to implode on itself.”

  She knew she wasn’t in any position to take on this battle, or drag Vipers into it. “Do you really think that it’s true? That Hugh can call those guys off that easily?”

  She wanted an immediate yes, but, like Tenn, he’d give her honest. “I want to believe it,” he started carefully. “I don’t think the Albanians want a war with us. They’ve dealt with some MCs on the East Coast before and it didn’t end well.”

  “But?” she prompted.

  “If Hugh could pay them off so easily, why didn’t he do it earlier?”

  She sighed. “I was thinking the same thing. Dammit. How does a guy like that end up involved in such bad stuff?”

  Tals laughed harshly. “Hard to believe that good guys can do bad shit, right?”

  She sighed. “You’d think I’d remember that.”

  And here they were. Again. She knew they’d get there, but she’d been enjoying their peace treaty.

  “For the future, I’m going to make sure you know it,” he promised.

  “I know you, Tals. I really do.”

  “I know you too. There was something about you. I could see it clearly from the first time I walked into the school freshman year, and I didn’t get how no one else could. You weren’t like the other kids from your group. I used to watch you, earphones on, smiling. You’d get lost in the music. You were okay being alone. You never looked completely comfortable in the crowds down by the lake.”

  He knew her—he’d always known her. “I should’ve stayed. I should’ve tried with you.”

  Tals shook his head. “When it’s right, it’s not trying.”

  “You’re right,” she relented. “Back then it was less about that and more about me. At first I wanted to get out of here, be independent like my dad wanted me to be. And then, after what happened, Grams wanted me out of here. It was an escape. But it’s different now. I didn’t come back here with any expectations, but . . . I’ll admit, I was hoping you were here.”

  “And what happens when you need to escape again, Maddie? Because you’re running. Rare to see a woman doing it, but I recognize the signs.”

  “Because you’ve run?”

  “You see the men in my family? Extended and otherwise, they specialize in that shit.”

  “And you?”

  “I’m not stupid enough to throw away the real thing.”

  His honesty cut right through her, but it was refreshing. He’d do exactly what he said he would. He’d be there for her. And she hadn’t done the same.

  As if reading her mind, he caught her chin in his palm. “Hey, I understand why you left.”

  “I threw it away.”

  “No, you walked away. Big difference.”

  Could she ever convince him of what she knew in her heart—that she belonged with him? Before she could attempt it, he told her, “This isn’t about a simple conquest. Although make no mistake, I’ve already fucking claimed you. In my mind, you’re mine. I know you feel the same. I can’t fool myself that badly, but I know now why you ran this time—you came to find Hugh. You think you brought bad shit on the MC. But the thing you need to learn is that you don’t get to make those kinds of decisions.”

  Her mouth dried. She couldn’t have said anything if she tried, but he didn’t really need her participation for this, beyond listening.

  He began to walk toward her as he spoke, his voice low. Husky. Dangerous. “Gonna tell you something—I’m done handling you. You need to make your decision right now. If you’re with me, you are fucking with me.”

  “Handling me?” she repeated.

  He ignored her. “This decision isn’t just about us, baby. That’s what you’re not getting.”

  She was getting something—hot and bothered by the way he was actively stalking toward her. She should feel pressured. Threatened. At the very least, annoyed by the way he was speaking to her.

  Instead? She was ready to take her clothes off even more than when he’d broken down his own door to get to her.

  As much as she wanted that, she wanted his demands to go on a little bit longer. “Then maybe you should explain it to me.”

  A slow, lazy smile slid across his mouth. He was on her, pressing her to the railing at this point with just his presence . . . and oh, how she was impatient for his hands. “I’ll break it down for you, Maddie. If you’re mine, then you are mine. You don’t get to pull this in-and-out shit. There’s no running away because you think it’s good for me—no running home because your family demands it. You are with me. You run shit by me instead of running from me. Because you’re mine, it means you’re part of Vipers. And if you have Vipers’ best interests at heart, Vipers will have your back. I don’t expect you to put yourself in physical danger for us, but part of that is listening. Staying put when you’re told.”

  “When I’m told—”

  “So we can keep you safe.” He paused. “See, you can stay here. Hang out with your father, grandmother, ex, whoever. And that’s your decision. Or you can come back to me. So you can call me if you’re ready. When you’re ready. Because your running shit? Ends today.”

  She stared up into his eyes. He looked fierce and handsome. She wanted to go with him immediately, but he put a stop to that before she could even say it out loud.

  “If it were up to me, I’d put you over my shoulder and take you out of here right now. Walk you out in front of your family, tell them that I’ll keep you safer than you’ve ever been in your life. But there’s more to it than that. This shit with your ex? That will pass. But you came here . . . and I still don’t know if you’re ready to actually stay here, or if this is a passing thing to get you back on your feet. I won’t hold you back, Maddie, just like I won’t
let anyone hold me back. I’ve made my decision—I’m where I want to be, and I’m old enough to know that you’re who I want to be with. Ball’s in your court for this. I’m not letting you make any decision with me standing here—it’s got to be on your own terms. Because once you step back across Vipers’ threshold, you are mine.”

  He kissed her then, hard, fast, with a ferocity that she swore she could come from. He ripped his mouth away, muttering, “So fucking sweet. Addicting.”

  And then he was . . . leaving. Really leaving her alone, with her decision to make. It took everything she had not to run after him.

  Even though she did. But by the time she looked over the side of the porch, he was already gone.

  Chapter 26

  A few clicks through Holly’s bank account, thanks to Rocco, and several phone calls later, Preacher had exactly what he was looking for.

  And then he went looking for her. She was still at the clubhouse, although she was getting dressed to go to work.

  “Going in late?” he asked from the doorway. He hadn’t bothered knocking this time—and he always knocked.

  She knew something was up, because her shoulders tensed a little before she said, “It’s good to be the boss. And my first client’s not until midnight.”

  “You don’t take walk-ins anymore?” he pressed.

  She turned, hands on her hips. “What’s this all about, Preacher? I don’t have all night.”

  “You’ll have what I say you’ll have,” he warned. “And I didn’t say you could have a hired gun looking out for you.”

  She threw her hands up in the air. “Fine. I should’ve run it by you. From now on, I’ll keep notes on everything, including my toilet schedule.”

  “Holly—”

  “You guys have enough going on. His only job for me is to keep an eye out for suspicious newcomers.”

  Preacher was grateful as hell for the information she’d gleaned about Hugh, but that didn’t erase the anger. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? We provide protection for you—that’s why we let you stay.”

  “I know, Preacher. You’re very clear on that every single time you mention how indebted I am to you. How lucky I am to be here. I know how precarious my tenure is.” Her arms crossed.