28. Lex
CHAPTER 28
Lex
My idiot brother left his jacket in the bar on Friday.
I haven’t questioned his reason for being in the bar, and since I’m on my way for a drive, which means walking past the bar to get my car, I offered to pick it up for him.
I reach the door, my hand on the wood, and pause. There’s a window in the top part of it, and there, seated at a table on the other side of the dance floor, is Vani. She’s sitting with her back to me, but I’d recognize that hair and those tattoos anywhere.
She’s not alone. That bitch, Angelica, is sitting with her, and there’s a man I don’t recognize opposite.
Scratch that. I do recognize him, but I wish I didn’t.
My stomach knots. That’s Jarl Olsen. What the fuck is he doing here?
I clench my fists. Deep down, I hadn’t wanted it to be true. I’d wanted us to be wrong about her. But now she’s sitting, hidden away in a dark alcove, talking to that son-of-a-bitch. We were right about her all along.
I take out my phone and text the others. Urgent meeting. NOW. Our place. No excuses.
Saint’s jacket forgotten, I turn and move at a jog back the way I’ve come. My cell buzzes in my pocket, but I ignore it. It’ll just be Zane or Saint wanting to know what’s up. This kind of information isn’t something I want to share via text. They can find out when they come to meet me.
It doesn’t take me long to run back to the mansion. Neither of the other two are there, but then they don’t understand the urgency in the same way I do.
I can’t sit. I’m too angry. Instead, I pace, clenching and unclenching my fists. My mind is a swirling whirlwind of confusion and anger. I’m furious that Vani has the nerve to betray us, but I’m also hurt that she has.
Movement comes at the door, and Zane and Saint burst through at the same time.
“What the fuck is so urgent?” Saint demands.
Zane nods and curls his fist, indicating he’s ready for a fight.
“I just saw Vani in the bar. She’s talking to Jarl Olsen.”
Saint’s jaw drops. “What? You’re sure?”
“One hundred percent. We were right about her all along. She’s a fucking plant.”
My brother drops into a nearby chair and covers his face with his hands. “ Putain!”
I take a few paces, unable to keep still. “We must watch our backs. We don’t know what Jarl Olsen is doing here, other than having secret meetings with Vani, of course, but we need to be extra careful.”
Saint sucks his teeth. “Maybe it would be better if we confronted him ourselves. Put the record straight.”
I angle my head toward my twin. “You think he would listen to us? I heard the man is a psychopath.”
“We go to Dean Rossi, then, tell him Jarl is sniffing around.”
We look around at each other. This seems like the best plan.
But Zane picks up his notepad and scribbles something down. But what happens to Vani then? The dean will send her home.
I grit my teeth. “Maybe it’s for the best.”
A silence falls over us, and I know we’re all thinking the same. No matter how much we might hate her and can’t trust her, we also don’t want her going back to live her life in the MC without us.
We don’t want to admit it, but we need her like we need fucking water, or air. How the hell do we square that need with the anger and mistrust?
Saint hangs his head, his fingers knotted together between his knees. “She’ll get away with it, then. She’s fucked with us this whole time, and she’ll get to walk right out of here.”
“She won’t,” I say. “Dean Rossi will make sure she knows what he thinks of her.”
Saint snorts. “You really think that’s enough? A telling off from the dean? Nom de Dieu , Lex. That’s nothing.”
He lifts his blue eyes to mine, identical in every way, and I’m surprised to find them glassy with unshed tears. Is he really going to cry over Vani? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him cry the whole of our adult lives. Not since we were teenagers. Fuck.
“Saint,” I say. “Bro…”
I put my hand on his shoulder, trying to offer him some comfort, but he shrugs it off. What’s he so upset about? Is it that Vani has betrayed us, or that if she leaves, we’ll most likely never see her again?
Zane is affected, too. I’d prefer him to be angry, to be kicking holes in walls and throwing things, but instead he’s just standing there, his jaw rigid, and his gaze locked on a spot on the floor.
“We have to tell Dean Rossi,” I insist.
Zane writes again. That isn’t the Vipers’ way. We deal with our own shit. We don’t go running to the dean.
Saint reads it and nods. “Yeah, I agree.” His face hardens. “Maybe we just … keep her. Just for us?”
Like a beast scenting blood, Zane raises his head and his gaze locks on Saint. A slow smile spreads across his face.
Shit, this is going south fast, because although I’m not averse to the idea of keeping her as our own special fuck toy, it’s a death sentence.
“So, we fuck with her, punish her, and then what?” I throw at them. “We can’t just make her ours. Lock her up in a fucking cellar or something and keep her as our own little pet putain . At some point, someone is going to notice her missing, and then her dad is going to bring the whole of the MC down on this place. The first thing Angelica and her little friends will do is point them in our direction.”
I’m so frustrated. There’s no winning this game.
My brother gets up. “I still don’t think we can let her go. She needs to know what she’s done is not okay, and that people don’t get to mess with us like that and get away with it.”
Zane writes something on his pad. Well, it’s been a wild ride. Why not go out in a blaze of glory?
“Seriously?” I stare at him, my eyes wide, and then at Saint.
He has a bitter smirk on his face. “She’s fucked with us, we should fuck with her, and let the cards fall where they may. None of us know the outcome once events are set in motion, but she’s not getting away with this, Lex. Maybe you’re too soft for her and want to let her go?”
I narrow my eyes. “Screw you.”
“No one comes between us,” he states.
I hate where this is going, but if they’re all in, then I’m in with them. It’s our way. I make a fist and extend it in front of me at chest height. The others do the same.
I grit my teeth. “Remember who we are.”
We press our fists together.
Zane mouths, Hot Blood.
“Hot thoughts,” I say.
My twin follows. “Hot deeds.”
I unison we say, with Zane mouthing, “We are Vipers.”
We remain that way for a moment, and then I break apart from them.
“Okay. Let’s not rush into anything. We can tell Dean Rossi we’ve spotted Jarl Olsen on campus. He’s bound to want to know. We don’t have to mention Vani at all, do we?”
“He’ll see,” Saint says. “Rossi will want to know where we saw him, and then he’ll check the security cameras, and he’ll see Jarl with Vani, and he’ll kick her straight out of here.”
“Fuck.”
At least he’d kick that bitch Angelica out with her too. Zane writes. Then he adds something else and pushes the pad at me and Saint. We could always try to be more honest. Admit she means something to us.
“And then what?” I demand. “We tell her we forgive her, and we want to work through it? That’s bullshit, and you know it, especially after what she’s done.”
Despite my protests, the question lingers on my mind. What does she mean to us?
We want her. We crave her. Hell, Saint fucking welled up over her, but what does it mean?
Zane fixes me in his serious gaze and signs. It’s better than her leaving. You know the truth, even if you won’t say it.
“If we tell her,” I say, “she might use it against us.” I don’t voice my worst fear that by giving our Venom power over us by admitting we feel something, we give her the power to break us.
Is it really a risk we want to take?