Page 155 of Reaper and Ruin

Levi just nodded.

I fell in love with Levi just a little more. It was one thing for him to make room for Whip when there was an attraction between the two of them, just as strong as the one between me and Levi.

But it was next-level sweet for him to recognize X’s place in our relationship and for him to make room for it.

X’s honest thank you told me he felt it too.

We all stripped off layers, and my body ached as I crawled beneath the covers, gratefully flanked either side by Whip and Levi, not minding I had no room because there was nowhere else I wanted to be.

Silence settled over us almost immediately, and I was practically asleep when a thought splintered through my brain and my eyes flew open. “Francine offered a reward to anyoneon the list who took one of you out.” My body that had been on the verge of complete and total relaxation suddenly went into hyperdrive, muscles tensing, a sense of doom and despair floating down around me, invading the bliss bubble I’d found myself in. My body shook at the sudden, very real notion that there were a hundred or more ex-crims out there somewhere, still all thinking they were going to get some sort of reward for hunting down the men I loved.

But X waved me off from his nest on the floor.

“We’ll make sure word gets around that the newest member of Murder Squad ended Francine. And that with her dead, there’s no reward for coming after us. That should take care of it.”

I lay back down among the blankets. I couldn’t help smiling at the ludicrous idea that men like that would be scared of someone like me. Except, hadn’t I earned that respect? Hadn’t I done things I never thought I was capable of, all of them fueled not by hate, but by the love I had for the men surrounding me?

“You’re a badass, Violet Garrisen,” Whip whispered sleepily.

For the first time in my life, I believed it. Not because I’d killed Travis and Francine. But because I’d finally stepped out of my own way. I’d let go of the girl who’d been abandoned, overlooked, unloved. And I was finally walking in the shoes of the woman I was always meant to be.

Out of ruin and into the sun, surrounded not by the family I’d been born into, but by the one I’d created for myself.

EPILOGUE

Nyah

Irubbed my hands together briskly and stomped my feet on the hockey rink flooring. “Let’s go, X!”

Beside me, Violet’s eyes were bright and shiny, excitement and pride shining as her breath misted in front of her lips. “I’m so nervous for him.”

Her phone rang, and she took it out, blinking at the display then answering it quickly. “X?” She listened for a second, then sighed and said, “Okay. When I hang up, I’ll do it. Good luck. I love you.”

She ended the call, and I raised an eyebrow.

“Did he need a last-minute pep talk?”

She shook her head and leaned down to pull something from beneath her seat. “No. That would be too normal.”

It took me a second, and an almightily pissed-off hiss, to realize the thing that had been beneath the seat was a cat carrier with a very angry feline inside. “What the…?”

Violet shook her head and held it up so the cat could see the ice through the mesh of its enclosure. “X insisted Harold neededto come and that he would feel like he wasn’t part of the family if he didn’t. Look, Harold. Daddy is going to come out of those doors any minute now.”

I hid a laugh.

Dax leaned over from my other side, offering everyone some of his fries, though quickly removing his hand when Harold tried to take a swipe at him through the mesh of his prison. “I can’t wait for this. The team here is terrible. X’s show is going to be the best part of the game. If anyone is well-suited to being a club mascot, it’s him.” He shoved another fry into his mouth. “What’s his costume like?”

Violet grimaced. “It was supposed to be a python but—”

“Ladies and gentlemen!” the announcer said with fake enthusiasm over the loudspeaker, cutting her off. “Please put your hands together for the newest member of the Saint View Vipers, team mascot, Vicious the Viper!”

The lights in the rink went out for dramatic effect, the spotlight shining down on the doors at the far end of the rink.

X, dressed in his homemade, sparkly snake costume, stood there proudly.

I tried to hold in a laugh. “I can see where you were going with the snake…but does it kinda look like a…”

“Big black sparkly dildo?” Whip asked.