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His hands skimmed up my bare back. “Let’s get dressed.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere,” I grumbled.
“Just outside. I want to have this conversation under the open sky with a bottle of bourbon.”
It was three in the morning and the clubhouse was quiet. No wild party this evening.
We stopped by the kitchen and Viper pulled a full bottle of bourbon from the top of the fridge. He didn’t even bother with glasses.
The night air wasn’t as muggy as I’d expected, and Viper lit a few torches to keep the bugs away. I sat in a camp chair and lifted my knees to my chest and hugged them. He sat in another chair and faced me.
Viper unscrewed the bottle and handed it to me.
“You first.” I took a long draught and then handed it back to him. He took three drinks to my one.
“I’ve got a younger sister,” he began. His tone was dark, as though he was reliving something he could barely stand to discuss. “Her taste in men is worse than my mom’s—which says a lot. I went over to her house one day while she wasn’t home to grab something I’d left over there. I’ve done that a dozen times before and never thought anything of it. But that time I walked in on my sister’s boyfriend raping my thirteen-year-old niece, Chloe.”
My breath hitched. “Oh God, no.”
He nodded. “I went into a rage like I’d never been in before. I beat that motherfucker so bad it looked like a war zone in the room. I bashed his face and skull in with my bare hands until he was unrecognizable, and then I left him for dead. I thought he was a goner, and I was glad. Fuck the consequences. I wasn’t me in that moment. It wasn’t aboutme. It was about Chloe…she…thatmotherfucker. But somehow, the bastard lived. They rushed him to the hospital, and he fucking lived. He was in a coma for three months before he woke up. I did five years for it.”
“That’sbullshit,” I blurted out. “You did time? Because you were protecting your niece?”
“I did time because my sister convinced my niece not to testify on my behalf. My sister is a lost cause. She’s mental. She was still in love and in total denial. She convinced Chloe that it would be better if she didn’t relive what happened, and before Child Protective Services got to her, she clam-shelled, and that was that. I could have gotten fifteen years, but the club got me a good attorney and he was able to get the sentence down to five.”
“Your sister stayed with the boyfriend, didn’t she?” I asked quietly.
“She tried. Went to visit that piece of shit in the hospital while he was healing. But when he came out of the coma, he bounced as soon as he could. I hadn’t been convicted yet, and he was worried if I got out, I was going to come back and finish the job. And I fucking would, in a heartbeat. My mom was furious with my sister over it. Never forgave her. Mom died while I was in prison.”
Emotion lodged in my throat. So many lives had been ruined because a piece of shit preyed on a young girl. Viper spending time in prison. His mom dying without getting to see her son free again. A family torn apart.
Without a word, Viper handed me the bottle of bourbon. I downed a good amount, my nose singeing.
“What happened to Chloe?” I asked.
“She ran away from home at fifteen. I have no idea where she is or what she’s doing.”
“Are you—I mean, do you want to try and find her?”
“I wouldn’t even know where to look. I just hope she knows that if she needed me, she could call and I’d be there for her.”
My heart split open as I looked at this brutal, giant of a man. A man who groused and scowled, who barely tolerated other people.
“I knew it,” I murmured.
“Knew what? That I was a bad guy?”
“No. I knew you try to keep yourself shut away because it’s too hard caring about others. And you’re not a bad guy. What you did was…God, Viper…”
“I only wish I’d killed him. Rid the world of one more shitbag who steals the light of innocents.”
“You were afraid to tell me. Why?” I asked. “What you did was heroic.”
“I’m not a hero,” he protested. “And I’m not a good guy. I’ve done shit for my club that in no way makes me a hero.”
“But I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about what you did for Chloe.”
“I just don’t want you looking at me with rose-colored glasses. I do bad shit. The club does bad shit, too. But I protect those I care about.”
