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"Mags has her. She's at the Spotted Cobra." He said, whipping a U-turn.

The engine roared as he pushed the gas nearly to the floor, heading toward the neutral bar. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen him push his baby this hard to get somewhere, a point punctuated by him nearly drifting the car around a corner as the thought crossed my mind.

"I–"

"No." He snapped, cutting me off.

"What?"

"Whatever you're about to say. No. I don't really want to fucking hear it, Az. Unless it's something about you figuring out how you're going tofinallypull your head out of your ass. Or how you're going tostoppiling your bullshit, and tension, and antagonism on the situation we're all in." His voice was laced with impatience and anger as he snapped at me. "We've talkedabout it several times. I've given you patience and time while we sorted out what we were dealing with. The one thing we have learned is that Victoria is not the villain of this story. She's either a victim or an unfortunate bystander, and there's too many coincidences for it to be the latter. You need to sort it the fuck out, and if you can't, you'll be sent on hiatus just like Leighton."

I stared at him as his words sunk in. I opened my mouth to respond before just shutting it again. I didn't know how to react because I knew he wasn't wrong. Sometimes, I wasn't even sure why I was angry at her anymore, and I knew even less why I couldn't let it go.

We'd covered the distance from where we were in Northside to the Spotted Cobra in what had to have been record time. Rich had barely stopped the car and cut the engine before we both opened the doors to climb out. A couple of people milling about the entrance scattered when they saw us coming. The sense of self-preservation overruled the common knowledge that everyone knew this wasn't the place to cause trouble.

I grabbed Rich before he burst in the door and motioned to him to calm down. I didn't look forward to being greeted with a shotgun for entering the place in a fury. Recognition dawned on him, and he straightened his shirt, steadying himself for a second as his mask of control slipped back into place. I knew the routine. I was used to doing it myself.

We strode into the bar a couple of minutes later, and before we'd gotten more than a couple of steps from the door, Mags pinned us to our spots with a stone-cold glare that made me a little nervous. My gaze slid hesitantly from her to the woman sitting before her. Her head was in her hands, and her shoulders were shaking slightly. It took me a couple seconds to figure out what was going on.

She was crying. Why the fuck was she crying?

"If you two come in here doing any of that dick swinging I've been hearing so much about, I'll remove your ability to do so." Mags sneered at us as we moved closer to the pair of women.

"What?" Victoria's voice sounded laced with an emotion that pulled at my chest painfully. She sniffled slightly, and she turned her head slowly toward us.

"We're not here to start anything. We know the rules." Rich said calmly.

"I ain't worried about that, big man. I know you do." How she said it made it perfectly clear it wasn't a compliment. "I've just been told the most interesting story of this young lady's most recent history. You five feature heavily, and I have to say. It's not a flattering tale for you boys."

"Mags, we–" I started.

"Stuff it, Az. You have a lot of fucking nerve. Well, the lot of you do. Butyou… Some things are just needlessly cruel. Prudence would be disappointed in you, Az Casadei." She snapped at me. Her statement was as good as a slap to the face. I couldn't do anything but take a few stunned steps backward toward the door.

Rich moved toward Victoria slowly, almost like he was afraid she would run again if he got too close.

"Take her home, Richard. And give her space. She's under your protection. She's not one of your rank and file. Learn how to talk to your girl, or you'll do more damage than you'll be able to fix," Mags said firmly, but some anger drained out of her voice. It had hints of sadness in it. Rich nodded as he finally reached Victoria's side.

"Princess, you had us worried. Let's get you home. We'll have Craig cook you up something fresh for dinner." His voice was soft, soothing even. He picked up and shook the vodka bottle that was next to her.

"Make whatever it is light. She's fucking wasted, but she's held it down. I'm impressed." Mags said, smirking slightly.

"You just want to take me back to the cage you made of my childhood home…" Victoria said sadly, hiccuping slightly. Rich looked back at me by the door. I, again, didn't have anything to say. A dark, sick feeling twisted in my gut at the pained way that sentence fell from her lips. She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, she looked past him and at me.

"What did I do to you? Why–" She hiccuped and looked like she would burst into tears again. "Why does it feel… like you just enjoy hurting my feelings? Is it just to knock the rich girl down a few pegs?"

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from responding. It was painfully apparent that anything I said wouldn't be helpful right now. I was staring down the result of my own bullshit, and I knew it. I was starting to wonder if I shouldn't just let Joey and Craig kick my ass when we got back. It'd probably hurt less than the look she was giving me.

I tore my eyes away from Victoria to look at Mags. She was looking between the three of us with an unreadable expression. I could only wonder what this all looked like from the outside. We probably looked like a cross between pathetic and awful. My familiar urge to hit something returned, and I bit the inside of my cheek again.

"No, Princess. We're… we're gonna work on that, okay? But you gotta come home, baby," Rich crooned, brushing some of her loose curly locks behind her ear.

His voice dropped low enough that I couldn't hear what he said to her, but after a couple of minutes, she nodded, and he sighed, relieved. He helped her to her feet, but she wobbled heavily when she tried to move away from the bar, and he had tocatch her before she fell. He shook his head before he pulled her up into his arms.

She hadn't taken her eyes off me with that sad expression, but with his soft murmuring, she finally turned her face away from me and buried it in his chest as he moved past me and out of the bar.

I turned to follow, feeling my uselessness in this situation like a weight on my chest.

"Az." Mags' voice made me pause with my hand on the door. "I don't wanna see your girl in here again crying her booze. Don't be sorry, be better."