Chapter Four #3
Geez, he was smarter than she’d thought. He was probably right.
“I won’t back out.”
“I dare you not to back out.”
“I won’t!”
“Great. I’ll text you the details as soon as I get it all scheduled. Now crucial question, should I order us all matching pajamas for the adventure?”
A laugh belted out of her as she imagined them all wearing tank tops with little pajama shorts with printed cartoon hearts on them. “Whatever you think is appropriate,” she told him.
“It’s too late to knit us matching ones. I might be able to get fast shipping on them though.”
“Vic,” Bridger called.
Vic turned and his packmates were heading for the door. Tabian was holding Earl’s cage.
“Shit, I have to go. I drove them here.” He shrugged and rolled his eyes. “I kind of had to kidnap them to make them hang out with me.”
Gah, she liked this man. He was fun and full of life and positivity. Very different from her ex, Cian. Very different from her sister, and the Elders, and really all of the new members of the Coeur d’Alene Lake Pack too.
Vic was just…different in good ways.
“I’ll walk out with you,” she told him, and thanked Denise for the basket. She stopped by the table, grabbed her cookies, and followed Vic out of the bar and to the parking lot. Tabian and Bridger were already crawling up into a light gray Dodge Ram in the back of the parking lot.
“I like your truck,” she told Vic as he pulled them to a stop near her car.
“It’s used but new to me. I’m getting my own house tomorrow too.”
“Wait, this is move-in week for you?” she asked, feeling guilty that she was making him do a wine tour. He had his own busy life. He didn’t need to pause it for her.
“It’s just a small house and I don’t have much stuff.
Your dad had our homes repossessed in your territory when he stripped us of our Pack titles.
I’ll have this house already half-paid off, and no one can ever take it from me.
I don’t have many material things though, so it’ll be an easy move.
I’ve been living in my Second’s spare bedroom, and everything else I own is in a couple boxes in the garage. I’m starting from scratch.”
“You said all of that so easily, like it’s not a huge, horrible thing you’ve been through.”
“What’s horrible about it?”
“I mean…you were kicked out of your home, and Aro made the rule that you will never be in a Pack again. You’re Rogue for always.” But even as she said it and watched the softness in his face, it really didn’t sound so bad.
“Who gives a shit what Aro said? I still have my Pack. We just go by a different title, and now we operate outside of government control. I don’t have to pay the huge fees and taxes for living on that land.
I just pay for my house and chip in for property taxes split between the entire Pack.
It’s eight hundred bucks a year now instead of a thousand a month.
The loan is under a human’s name. I even have a good interest rate on my house.
I hated the Rogue stuff at first, but I’m good with it now.
” He shrugged. “My people are okay, we have space to Change, I have a steady job, I’ll have my own den after this week, and I have the most well-behaved hamster on the planet.
I taught him how to beg for treats. And I’m standing here, talking to you.
Life doesn’t suck. You just have to look at it from a different lens. ”
Huh. She really liked that.
She was staring up at him, her head cocked as she’d been listening to him, so when he leaned in suddenly and pressed his lips to hers, she wasn’t prepared at all.
Lyric froze. He let his lips linger there for a three count and then eased back. “Are you going to slap me?”
Her eyes were getting dried out from her lack of blinking. “I don’t think so.”
“Good. Can I kiss you again?”
“I don’t think that’s—”
He leaned in, but she was more ready this time, and she slipped her arms around his shoulders and held him tightly as she kissed him back this time. His hands went roughly to her waist and he dragged her closer, and angled his head the opposite way, thrust his tongue into her mouth.
Lyric lost her mind with lust. Every cell in her body reached for him.
She hopped up and he caught her and walked her backward as she wrapped her legs around his waist. His kiss deepened as her back hit the driver’s side window of her car.
He slid his hand against the side of her throat as he kissed the devil out of her, then gripped her hair gently.
Honk!
She jumped and gasped, dislodging herself from him. Her feet hit the gravel, and Vic tossed his truck a dirty look.
“Sorry,” he grumbled. “They’re cock-blocking idiots.”
Lyric placed her hand over her mouth in shock and looked around fast. She’d forgotten anyone could see them. What if one of her Pack had been here? What if they had seen her lose her mind with Vic in such a public way just now? She would be punished!
Honk!
“Hold on!” Vic’s voice echoed across the parking lot. Frown etched deeply into his dark eyebrows, he dragged his gaze to her. “I have something for you.”
“If this is going to be some gross wiener joke—”
He slid something into her hand. She looked down at the small box of colored contacts in shock.
“I brought a pair just in case I saw you tonight.”
The butterflies were back. Did he realize how many presents he’d given her tonight? The neon shirt, bought her bingo cards, introduced her to his Pack like she wasn’t to be hidden, encouraged her to book a weekend getaway with people who might be nice to her, and now this?
“Thank you,” she whispered. She looked up at him, and pushed up onto her toes, then pressed a gentle kiss to his lips, and then to his cheek.
His smile as she lowered her heels back down to earth had her heart racing. He was so hot.
“Don’t be one of those guys,” she murmured.
“What guys?”
“The ones who get a girl interested and then don’t text for three days.”
He pulled out his phone and texted her, Not my style.
She giggled and texted him, Good. Send.
He texted her again. Let me know when you get home safe.
You too. Send.
Bye, Pretty Lyric.
She smiled at her phone, and then up at him. Softly, she said, “Bye, Hot Vicious.”
He turned to leave, but she remembered something. “Oh! Hey Vic? Your shirt.”
“Keep it. Sleep in it. Live in it. Send me pictures in it,” he said through a wicked grin as he walked backward.
Lyric hugged the basket to her stomach to try and control the fluttering sensation she felt there and watched him open his driver’s side door and gripe at Bridger and Tabian.
Lyric got into her car and got a glimpse of herself in the rearview mirror.
She liked the way she looked right now. Her smile was stretched across her whole face, her eyes were bright, and her cheeks were a rosy pink.
She looked happy, and she knew it was all because of him.