Chapter 30
Gabriella
“Gabriella.”
I cringed as Vienna said my name. I had been hoping to sneak out of this kitchen without having any awkward conversations.
I had been hoping to avoid him entirely, if I were being honest. The thought of having to face him—especially alone—after everything that had happened between us recently was humiliating.
I turned around slowly, trying to keep my lip from curling due to cringing so hard.
“What’s up?”
“Where are you escaping to?” he asked, placing his cup on the side and leaning against it casually, his legs crossed at the ankles and a knowing smirk on his lips.
“I wasn’t escaping.”
“Oh, no?” he said casually, his eyebrows raising and his smirk becoming even wider.
“No. I was just going to—”
“Furiously masturbate in your room again?” he asked, and my cheeks instantly flamed.
But he wasn’t mocking me. His eyes were dancing with laughter, his lips twitching.
“You’re an asshole, you know that?” I said. “You really couldn’t have given it an hour, no?”
“I doubt I’d have had an hour, based on how quickly you were running out of here. I figured it would be best to just be upfront. I heard you.”
I hate him.
“You heard me?”
I wanted to die. I actually wanted to curl up and die.
“Sure did. And, if you were a little bit quieter, you’d have heard me, too.”
I love him.
“Come on,” he said, holding his hand out to me.
“Where are we going?”
“Well, ideally we’d be going upstairs, and you’d be giving me the live show, not just the audio version.”
“Die, Luke,” I muttered under my breath, causing him to bark with laughter.
“But judging by that reaction, I can see luck isn’t on my side.”
“You think?”
His smile just got wider and wider.
“Come on. Lighten up. I’m going to give you the grand tour. Put your walking shoes on. It’s gonna be a long, fast-paced day.”
Immediately my mind went to other fast-paced activities and that stupid bearded behemoth laughed again.
I hate him.
“Five minutes, Gabby. See you outside.”
He pushed past me and I had to stop myself from inhaling deeply, dragging in lungfuls of his scent.
Great.
An entire day in Vienna’s company, with the visual of him doing that in my head.
Today was going to destroy me, I could see it now.
“Where are we going first?” I asked a little while later, having quickly thrown on some clothes and brushed my hair.
I’d had a stern talk with myself in the mirror, reminding myself that I was in my thirties. I was not ruled by my hormones, and I was not going to allow them to make a mockery of me again.
I didn’t quite believe it, but it was a start.
Vienna held out a jacket for me, and I pushed my arms into the sleeves, pulling my hair out of the back, aware that he was watching my every move.
“We’ll start from here and work our way around. You’re already pretty familiar with the place, so it’s just showing you the changes, really.”
“This place is pretty huge. Are you sure you’re up for it?” I asked, looking him up and down.
Vienna was a warrior, that had always been the case. But I was also painfully aware that he had been at death’s door only a few nights ago, and he hadn’t exactly taken it easy since then.
The bruises on his face were fading to yellow rather than the angry blues and blacks they had been, but they were still very prominent.
“I’m a big boy,” he winked at me. “I’ll survive.”
Get a fucking grip of yourself, Gabriella! I immediately hissed at myself, barely able to stop my eyes from drifting down his body and remembering all the ways he was big—very big in fact.
What did I tell you, hormones?
“Come on,” he chuckled, as though he knew my every thought. He held the door open for me, placing his hand on the small of my back as he guided me out.
“You know the clubhouse, and the bike shed is where it’s always been—though it’s not really used much. We tend to park up outside for easier access. There are a couple of bikes in there, and you’re welcome to take your pick of whatever takes your fancy.”
“I can’t just take someone else’s bike, Vienna.”
“Sure you can,” he shrugged. “They were purchased with club funds, and they don’t have a set owner. It’s a crime for them to be sitting in there gathering dust when they deserve to be on the road.”
“But… won’t Dante mind?”
“I’m the vice president?” he replied with a frown, as though that explained everything.
It didn’t.
My dad would have disembowelled any old lady who assumed she could ride a bike solo. He would also have punished his vice for thinking he could give things away. It didn’t matter that his vice was his own son. You didn’t just let old ladies have a say, a voice, or a bike.
And Nico?
I shuddered.
I didn’t even want to think about what Nico would have done.
We continued walking down the cobbled path and through the wall that surrounded the clubhouse. On the outside, directly next to the wall, was the garage, and in front of that, on the other side of the road, was a small seating area with a fountain in the middle and benches circling it.
“Rachel once filled that with washing-up liquid. Ten bottles of the stuff,” Vienna told me, pointing at the fountain.
“What? Why?” I laughed.
“Someone had complained about the state of the kitchen—”
“Please tell me it wasn’t Dante.”
“Nah,” Vienna shrugged.
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
He had the decency to look sheepish. “Maybe.”
“So what happened next?”
“Rachel took offence, and, of course, had to take it too far. She filled the fountain with washing-up liquid, went around every house in the compound, collecting all the cups and dishes she could find and threw them in. She then spent the next three days cleaning them as slowly as she could. Whenever someone tried to get their stuff back, she practically bit them.”
“Did you learn your lesson?”
He smirked at me and pulled his hair back, showing me a small scar under his ear. “She threw a plate at me after I picked her up and threw her in.”
I shook my head and allowed him to continue showing me the sights.
Around the seating area was a small convenience store, run by Jade, and a hairdresser, which was very much The Bird’s domain.
At the back of that was the tattoo parlour, which was owned by Dante and Hacksaw, with Hacksaw having taken on Jenna as an apprentice.
“It keeps her mind off Shark,” Vienna told me with a sympathetic shrug.
Down the street from the tattoo parlour was another pub/café, which was opposite a children’s play park.
There was also a small building with an animal sign outside that I had never seen before.
“What’s that?” I asked.
Vienna let out a barking laugh. “That’s Steph’s.”
“Its… a pet store? Here?”
“When I tell you it’s the lesser of two evils, just trust me on that one.
If she had her way, every shop here would be replaced with pet-related stuff.
She wanted to install parrots in the café next door.
Dante finally agreed to let her run her own pet supply shop, so long as she, and I’m quoting directly here, ‘stays the fuck out of my way for a minimum of ten hours a day.’”
“Wow,” I laughed. “She really winds him up, doesn’t she?”
“She never used to be this bad. Before Rachel came back, she was mildly annoying, but never like this. Ever since she and Rachel became friends, they’ve become a terrible influence on each other. And, now that they have Sin club as well, none of us are safe.”
I’d seen enough of Sin to believe every word.
We continued walking, passing through the small village that resided towards the back of the compound.
This had around fifteen houses in it, each for a member of the club and their family.
Nestled nicely in there was another cafe/library, which also doubled as a nursery for the children, run by Heather.
“Are there many children here?” I asked, not really understanding the need for a nursery.
“Not really,” Vienna said. “There’s Bee, Axe-man and Trex. There are older kids, like Ant’s nephews and they always bring a gang of friends with them. I like that, it’s starting to feel like the old Disciples again.”
I could tell by the shine in his eyes that he meant that. He had always loved being in the junior division, so to see it coming to life again had to mean a lot to him.
Towards the back of the village was another large bar, and the second main house. Opposite that was the club graveyard.
“Who uses the house now?” I asked, remembering that Crash and Kitty were supposed to retire there.
“It’s a dorm room, basically. I know Ant holds his Descendents meetings there, and they all pretty much sleep over every night. They’ve turned it into their own little fortress.”
“Are the Descendents going well then?”
“Yeah. It started with his nephews when he got custody of them. And then from there, they recruited a few lads from their school, and last I heard there were around fifteen members.”
“Wow. It feels like only yesterday you and Dante were running the youth division.”
“Yeah, and nearly driving Crash into an early grave because of it,” he chuckled.
He led me to one of the benches dotted along the side of the road. “We’ll take a break for a few minutes and then I’ll show you where everyone lives, if you want?”
“That would be nice. I also want to have a look in that pet store. And, if possible, I want to grab some shit from the convenience store.”
“Jade’s.”
“It says Devil’s outside.”
“Call it Jade’s—trust me.”
I looked at him with amusement, and he said: “I told you. Ever since Sin, you old ladies are well above your station. You gotta call it Jade’s or pay the tax.”
I laughed and asked him what the tax was, but inside I was replaying his words over and over.
You old ladies.
You. Old. Ladies.
Just like Rachel earlier, it had happened so casually, so easily and effortlessly, without either of them realising what they had done.
They made me feel as though I belonged.
“Speaking of old ladies, can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” he said, eyeing me warily.
“What happened between you and Rachel?”
“I—”
“You said earlier that it was best to just talk about these things.”
“I did,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“So…?”