Page 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

Archer

Vivian has been holed up in her office since she got home hours ago. Nova is in there with her and I am man enough to admit I’m getting pissed off. I get she has shit to do but come on, we’ve been without her all day and she can’t even spare us an hour to just… hang out for a minute?

“You look like a wounded puppy,” Hayze teases.

“Fuck off, jumper cables,” I bite back.

“Why the fuck do you call him that?” Vox asks me.

“Because he’s always starting shit.” Ezekiel is the first to burst out laughing followed by Vox, even I can’t help but smile. Hayze sits across from me on the other sofa, glaring.

“Oh fuck, that name suits the big bitch,” Vox wheezes out, the sound of their laughter has both the girls poking their heads out of the office that is just off the living room where we are all hanging out, trying to act like the four of us aren’t sitting here pouting because our girls aren’t paying us any attention.

When the fuck did I become a whiney bitch?

Since I fucking allowed myself to fall head over heels in love with my best friend’s little sister, that’s when!

“Why are you two laugh-crying?” Vivian asks, looking slightly worried at the sight of her brother and Ez rocking back and forth clutching their stomachs.

“Archer’s being a bitch, Vivi baby.” I roll my eyes and turn to my idiotic best friend.

“Grow the fuck up,” I snap.

“Fuck you, I don’t have to grow up until I finish school, my mom said so.” At the mention of school, Vivian drops her gaze and shoots Hayze a scathing look but he ignores it as he stands and crosses the room. Vox and Ezekiel finally manage to get themselves under control as Hayze comes to a halt in front of the girls. “Vi?”

“Yeah?” she answers quietly.

“Baby, we aren’t worried about school, it was just a joke.” Hayze tries to sooth her worries but we can all see she isn’t picking up what he’s putting down.

“You should be though. You and Archer have practice and you both are missing it because you’re here with me,” she claps back.

“Technically, so is Vox,” Nova adds which just has Vivian looking more guilty. She has nothing to feel guilty about though, we all want to be here and there will be other schools. Granted they won’t be the best in the country with the best football program but who cares.

“All of you should go back to CHU, I can handle this on my own,” Vivian says, then disappears back inside her office. Nova comes to join us and she looks just as shaken by Vivian’s dismissal of us as well.

“She doesn’t mean that,” Nova says just as Vox grabs her arm and tugs her onto his lap. He wraps his arms around her and buries his face in the crook of her neck. I envy the fucker, I wish Vivi would give into us the way Nova does to him, but I can feel she is still hiding something and it’s something big. Why she won’t trust us and let us help, I have no fucking idea.

“Yeah, she does,” Ez says dejectedly. “She wants us gone so she doesn’t have to worry. She has something big planned and from what I can garner, it’s all got something to do with The Night Of The Saints.”

“No. She’s been upset since that guy gave her a letter.” Nova yelps when Vox leaps to his feet and nearly knocks her on her ass. The three of us follow after him. Vivian is on the phone when we enter the office. She looks up from her laptop and the sight of the four of us standing here fuming with rage that she didn’t tell us about the fucking note has her sighing.

“Vance, I have to go but I’ll send you what I have and just keep working on the appeal.” She ends the call and drops the phone to her desk. “What?” she snaps.

“You got a fucking letter and didn’t think to tell us?” Vox shouts. Vivian doesn’t flinch, she just turns… cold and her eyes take on a hard edge.

“Why the fuck would I tell you about the letter when it was addressed to me? You may be my brother, Vox, and in charge of your masked crew but I am the one calling the fucking shots around here. You will know what I choose to share when I choose to share it. Now, if that is all, get the fuck out of my office, I have work to do.” She dismisses us by grabbing her phone and making another call. “Phil, it's Vivian. I just spoke to Vance…” Her conversation becomes white noise as my blood begins to pump and it's all I can hear ringing in my ears. My anger winds up winning and I lean across the desk, snatch the phone from her hand and end the call.

She stares up in outrage, but before she can utter a single word I speak. “He’s your brother but I’m not, and I have every fucking right to know what is in that fucking letter.”

If looks could kill I would be six feet deep in the fucking ground from the way she is glaring at me.

“What the fuck makes you think you have a right to know?” she snarls.

“Maybe the fact that I’ve made myself at home between your legs?” I snap back.

“You’re fucking dead, motherfucker!” Vox roars, but I pay him no mind knowing that Ezekiel and Hayze will hold him back while I deal with our girl.

“Is that what this is?” Vivian asks as she climbs to her feet and rests her hands flat on her desk, leaning forward slightly. “You think because we fucked you have a right to know all my secrets?”

“Yeah, I do,” I answer.

A dark chuckle escapes her. “Tsk, tsk, Archy baby. We fucked years ago and you blocked me out but now that the shoes on the other foot you don’t like it?” Her words hit their mark, shame and guilt war inside me for what I did to her.

“No, I fucking hate it. I hate that you will let us fuck you and penetrate your body but not your heart or mind.” Vox continues spewing threats behind me, I can hear Hayze and Ez grunting as they fight to keep him back. “Let us in, Vivian!” I scream. She doesn’t flinch or even bat an eye at my plea.

“No. I banished the four of you a year ago to fulfill a promise I made to myself and I will see it through. Your presence here won’t change anything, my plan is in motion and all you are doing is trying to derail it and I won’t allow that to happen.” She tears her gaze from me to look at Nova, the look in her eyes is vicious.

“Vivian, I am begging you please don’t!” Vox screams but his twin is too lost to her own anger to stop. Nova moves in front of Vox facing Vivian, my girl may look like a monster but Nova looks like a fucking she-devil.

“Whatever is about to come out of your mouth better be worth it, Vivi. You want to hurt him, I can see it in your eyes, and you know the only way to truly break your brother is through me. Make it worth it, Vi, because you know I won’t go down without a fight,” Nova declares. Vox is pleading with his eyes for Vivian not to tell her the truth. Ez and Hayze hold Vox back by his arms, refusing to allow him to move an inch.

“Send them back to CHU and I’ll tell you where your mother is,” she announces. The guys release Vox and move to my side.

“We aren’t leaving you!” Hayze growls.

“Yes, you are. The four of you need to leave. You do better from a distance in the shadows where no one knows who you are. Go, don’t come back. I banished you once and called the hounds off from tracking you but I won’t do it again.” Hayze and I begin to argue with her but Ezekiel just stands there locked into a stare off with her, I don’t know what’s happening but I know there is more to this than her wanting us gone. I can see it, beneath the malice and anger that she is terrified.

“A favor asked is a debt owed, baby. Ask it and we shall deliver,” Ezekiel says in a vicious whisper that has her inhaling a shuddering breath. She shoots a quick look to Vox before turning back to Ez asking him without words. “He will leave and do what is asked of him by the lordess.”

“Like fuck I will, I’m not going anywhere,” Vox argues but Ezekiel ignores him.

“Where they rest for eternal life is where a favor is asked. The stone with the head is where you will be led. Be certain of the favor you ask, no second is offered. The debt will be collected when the favor is complete. A favor asked is a debt owed.” Why the fuck is Ezekiel reciting the passage of the Filthy Few?

“Leave,” she demands. Ez nods and turns to Vox.

“You once trusted me with your life and never once questioned my loyalty to you. I am asking you to do that once more, trust me now, brother, one more time.” Vox stares at Ez for a long moment before looking at us.

“The four of us?” Vox asks Ez while still keeping his stare on us.

“We’re going old school, time to leave, brothers,” Ez announces. I take one last chance to look at Vivian, she meets my stare with a pleading look in her eyes to not fight and leave.

“This isn’t over, not by a long shot,” I force out through clenched teeth.

“Like Nova says, 4221, baby,” Hayze adds. Vivian closes her eyes briefly. When she opens them again they are devoid of all emotion.

“That ring on your finger means something, remember that,” Ez says, then stalks out of the room, leaving Vox standing there staring at Vivian, trying to read her thoughts.

“I’ve always dreaded this day. I never wanted you to not need me and yet here we are.” Hearing the pain in Vox’s voice has me feeling sorry for the big fucker. “Alter ego it is,” he says, then storms out of the room, leaving me and Hayze alone with her and Nova.

“Look after him for me.” I frown at Nova.

“What?”

“I’m staying, Archer. Make sure he doesn’t do something dumb and keep him safe for me.” I can hear the anguish in Nova’s tone, this girl is fucking strong. She has survived the death of her best friend and here she stands days after losing her mother, vowing to help Vivian in her time of grief when she should be mourning the loss of her own mom. I close the space between us and wrap her in a hug.

“You keep my girl alive and I’ll keep your boy from killing every fucker to get to you.”

“Deal,” she whispers as I release her and face Vivian once more. She refuses to meet my stare and that shit burns.

“Hayze, we’re out,” I say as I walk my ass out of that office and away from the one person who has the power to bring me to my knees. Vivian is many things but she isn’t a malicious bitch. That person in that office is a fraud. I don’t know what’s going on but I trust Ezekiel enough to know he wouldn’t have walked away without a fight if he didn’t have a plan.