Chapter 41
Gabriella
Vienna and I didn’t emerge much that night. Or the next day. We were content to just be in each other’s arms.
It wasn’t always sexual, either. Sometimes we lay in silence, simply enjoying the fact that we were finally free to do this. Other times we talked—really talked. About anything and everything. Nonsense, business, and everything in between.
I finally revealed to him the extent of the horror I had been through with Nico. He listened quietly, absorbing every word, and then kissed me until I could barely remember my name, never mind the horror stories.
He told me about the club business, about Rachel and Dante’s history—which had me howling until my stomach hurt at some points. Rachel singing “I’m Henry the Eighth I am,” when she was arrested rather than answering their questions was a particular favourite of mine.
At one point, we heard giggling outside my bedroom door. When we went to inspect, we saw Jade and Imogen running away, having left a “fucking care package” outside—complete with water, snacks, and some chafing cream.
Delightful.
It was only after forty-eight hours in bed that Dante decided he’d had enough. At an ungodly hour, he kicked open the door and grinned manically at Vienna.
“Oh, no,” he groaned, pulling the pillow over his head.
“Oh, yes,” Dante smiled smugly. He grabbed the pillow and smacked Vienna with it. Then he went around the room and trashed the place—the bin was kicked over, everything was knocked off the desk, the doors were randomly pushed open, the shower turned on, and then cold water was thrown over Vienna.
Surprisingly, though, Vienna didn’t say a word.
It ended with Dante backing out of the room, his middle fingers extended on both hands. “Vienna, thank you for the opportunity—finally. Gabriella, it’s been a pleasure. Barbeque at one. Don’t be late.”
I stared at the empty space he had just been in and then looked at the soaking Vienna in shock. “What the fuck was that about?”
“Revenge,” Vienna muttered, wiping the water off his face.
“Revenge,” I repeated, looking at him expectantly.
“When Dante was kidnapped years ago by Macbeth, he and Rachel had a sex marathon on his return.”
“Let me guess. You interrupted them in a similar way?”
“Yep. That little fucker has had this planned for years. He could have picked any number of women to ambush me with. He was just waiting for you.”
“I don’t know whether to be horrified or flattered. Thank you for sharing your many female conquests with me.”
“You’re welcome. Be grateful I didn’t give you a number.”
He slapped his lips over mine and then jumped out of bed.
“Where are you going?”
“Didn’t you hear the man? Barbeque at one. I’m leaving with or without you, woman. You’ve not attended a barbeque until you’ve been to a Devil’s barbeque.”
Lord, give me strength.
“Get the fuck away from me, Vienna,” Sunshine hissed, waving his metal tongs in Vienna’s direction.
“I’m not doing anything,” Vienna protested, holding his hands up in surrender.
“You’re standing behind me.”
“Since when was that a crime?”
“Since you were fucking born. Move, boy, don’t make me tell you again.”
Vienna graciously took one step backwards.
Sunshine scowled at him over his shoulder, but then turned back to focus on the food. The second he did so, Vienna leaned forward, reached around and put something on top of the meat.
“What was that?” Sunshine hissed.
“What was what?”
“What did you just put on the burgers?”
“I took a step backwards, Sunshine. I didn’t touch your precious burger. I’m not Stretch Armstrong.”
“You’re a pain in the bastard ass.”
“That’s harsh. You’re so mean. And suspicious. Why are you always so suspicious, Sunshine? Why?”
“I fucking saw you, lad!”
“This place is very busy today. Maybe it was the dust from the floor that you saw. Do you want me to schedule you an eye test?”
“You’ll be dust on the floor if you carry on.”
Shaking my head at them, I decided to leave them to it and mingle with some of the other guests.
“Heads up!” a young lad shouted, and I just about managed to catch a ball before it hit me. “Hey, nice catch.”
“I grew up with a brother with a fierce kick. I’m used to dodging attacks.”
“It wasn’t aimed at you, I promise.”
I laughed at him. “Don’t worry about it. Who were you aiming at?”
“What have I told you about kicking that fucking ball like a maniac?” Ant hissed, seizing the teenager by his leather cut.
Ahh. A Descendent.
“Uncle Anthony, you know it was an accident,” the boy protested, his tongue in his cheek.
“Fuck off with that name.”
“Sorry, Tony.”
“And that one.”
“Sorry, Toto.”
“Fuck off in general,” Ant snapped, pushing the lad away. “Don’t you have something better to do than be a terrorist?”
“Your words cut me. I thought you were my uncle.”
“I’ll be your fucking murderer if you don’t git,” he warned.
The teenager grabbed the ball off me and went running in the opposite direction.
“Teenagers, eh?”
“You’ve no idea. I—” his words were cut off as the ball smacked him in his head. I bit my lip to smother my laughs as he bent down to retrieve it, and I caught the words, “sorry To-To, the ball isn’t in Kansas anymore,” written on it.
“Right, you little shits,” Ant huffed, marching over to the group of lads who scattered when they saw the large, angry biker raging towards them.
“They’re going to be a handful,” Rachel said, appearing at my side and handing me a beer.
I looked at her with a scoff. “Trust me, they’re puppies compared to what Dante and Vienna used to get up to.”
“Oh, yeah. I sometimes forget that you were around in those days. It’s weird, because I know you’ve always been here. But it’s hard for me to pair that side of the Devils with the side I’ve seen it become since I’ve been here, you know?”
“I know exactly what you mean. I barely recognise the place either. Warrior would have had all these women sweeping the place and serving drinks. Not because he hated them or anything, it was just their place at the time.”
It was Rachel’s turn to scoff then. “I’d like to see Dante dare try to tell me to service the men.”
“I have a feeling he knows exactly how that would go down,” I laughed.
As though Dante had actually issued the command, Rachel was currently glaring daggers at her bewildered partner, who was looking around trying to find the source of her irritation.
“That’s actually pissed me off. I might go give Dante another reminder of why he needs to stay on my good side,” she muttered to me, still giving him the dead eye.
I burst out laughing when I saw Dante on the other side of the courtyard gesturing wildly and mouthing, “What? What?”
“Tell me,” Rachel said, not looking in my direction. “Did you ever meet that mother of his?”
“Kitty? I sure did.”
“Awful woman,” Rachel shuddered.
“And may she rest in peace.”
“I’ll drink to that,” she said, clinking her bottle against mine. “I suppose she wasn’t too bad in the end. In fact, it was kind of sad what she became. She let Dante down terribly. Not to mention poor Bee.”
“She was a fierce bitch when I knew her. I don’t think a day went by when she wasn’t clipping one of the lads round their head.”
“Maybe just remove the fierce part. Bitch will suffice all on its own.”
“Remind me to tell you about the time Vienna super-glued all her shoes to the ceiling and cut the crotch out of all her trousers.”
“What?” Rachel laughed. “Why would he do that?”
“I can’t even remember the full story,” I laughed back. “All I know is she thoroughly pissed him off. And Crash took her side to keep the peace. So he got revenge in typical Vienna style.”
“Are my ears burning?” Vienna said, coming up behind us.
“Great,” Rachel muttered. “I was just thinking this party wasn’t torture enough and then you co—”
She choked and coughed as Vienna picked up his beard and slapped her in the face with it.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Rachel hissed, shoving his chest. “You’ve had her sat all over your face and you’re gonna hit me with your nasty beard?”
“Cheers, Rachel,” I said at the same time as Vienna beamed proudly.
“You never seemed to mind before.”
“I did. And also, Gabriella wasn’t here before.”
“Doesn’t mean someone wasn’t sat on my face.”
Rachel paused, narrowing her eyes to slits. “Who was on your face?”
“You don’t wanna know,” Vienna replied, gently grabbing my wrist and lifting my bottle to his lips. He licked his lips afterwards, and a dart of desire shot through me.
“No, no,” Rachel huffed. “Don’t start with the eye-fucking. Answer my question. Who did you have sat on your face?”
“You’re not going to like the answer.”
“Who, Vienna?”
“Spunky.”
“Spunky?!” Rachel spluttered. “The little club whore who almost got her teeth knocked out the first day I arrived? Beth’s sister? That Spunky?”
“How many people named Spunky do you know?”
Rachel shrieked. She grabbed hold of Vienna’s beard and tried to stuff it into his mouth. “You dirty, horrible, rotten bastard!” she hissed, shoving the hair with all her might.
“Vienna, can I have you up here, please?” Dante yelled.
“Gotta go,” Vienna said, stealing another swig of my beer before ducking Rachel’s next attack and practically skipping over to his president.
“I take it you don’t like Spunky?” I asked innocently.
“Bite me, Gabriella.”
“May as well. You’ve already tasted me. Fair’s fair.”
She burst out laughing at that and then linked my arm, leading me to the front of the crowd. “Come on,” she said, pulling me along. “We’ll only get bitched at if we miss this.”
“…we usually do this in Church,” Dante was in the middle of saying. “But since we’re all here, and we already did a vote last week, I figured now was as good a time as any. Darwin, can you come to the front?”
The crowd parted to make way for the prospect, who was looking pale and as though he wanted the ground to swallow him up.
“Remove your cut,” Dante demanded.
Darwin complied without hesitation.
“How do you feel your year with us has been, Prospect?”
“I think it’s been valuable.”
“What have you brought to the club, do you think?”
Fuck me, this was a bit intense.
Everyone was silent. They were all waiting for Darwin’s next words. No one offered him so much as a small bit of encouragement. In fact, everyone looked rather stern and serious. Even Vienna.
Fucking hell.
Darwin swallowed heavily. “I’ve helped with numerous brick runs whilst I’ve been here.
I’ve sat in on the road planning meetings, and learned my way around navigating routes.
I assisted with the rescue of our vice, kept guard over the clubhouse whenever it was my shift or someone needed assistance, and also attended every meeting and bike run, both compulsory and optional. ”
“And what weaknesses have you yet to overcome?”
“I’m sorry?”
“No one is perfect,” Dante said. “We all have our weaknesses. It’s learning to recognise them that stops our weaknesses becoming a hindrance. What are your weaknesses?”
“I err… well, I don’t always take the initiative. I wait to be told what to do a lot of the time. I should be securing my own leads. I also don’t always pull my weight in terms of cleaning up after Church or maintaining the club property. I could do more of that.”
Dante nodded. “What do you think, Vienna?”
“Is he in?” I whispered to Rachel, not listening to Vienna’s reply.
“Probably. The club voted for it, but ultimately the decision comes down to Dante. He never tends to go against club majority, that’s not his style. No point asking their opinion if he’s not going to listen to it, you know?”
“So what’s the point in all of this then?”
“It’s his final test,” Rachel whispered.
“Dante is fucking excellent at reading people. It’s one of the reasons he hated me so badly when I first came here, because I have mastered my blank poker face, and he couldn’t find a crack in my armour.
But for the most part, he nails everyone.
He makes the prospects sweat because he’ll be able to see how much they really want to be here.
Darwin looks like he’s about to piss himself and plead for forgiveness, so that’s a strong sign that he wants to be patched. ”
“Why would he go through the ordeal of being prospected if he wasn’t interested?”
“You’d be surprised,” she muttered, a dark shadow crossing her face. But then our attention was stolen by Dante shouting.
“You’re in!”
The crowd erupted then. Men shook their beers and sprayed them over Darwin. Others jumped on him, clapping him on the back. Some just jumped around in celebration on their own. And then Vienna took the stage.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone about the suggestion box.”
The crowd groaned.
“Fuck the box,” Tools shouted.
“It causes more shit than anything,” Riley said.
“Well, regardless of what you assholes think, I’m adding a suggestion anyway.”
The crowd groaned again.
“I suggest that Pivot is no longer, ever, in his entire life, allowed to participate in raps—including writing his own raps, reciting his own raps, or even thinking about his own raps.”
“Hear, hear!” I shouted in return.
The crowd looked puzzled, Vienna winked at me, and Pivot paled, trying to sneak off behind a baffled looking Liam.
“Do you know what?” Dante sighed. “I’m not even going to ask. Welcome to the brotherhood, Darwin. Everyone, enjoy the party.”