Page 12

Rachel

Vienna asked where we were headed, and I told him my suspicion about Ben being involved in all of this. He didn't show any surprise. He simply nodded at me and started driving.

That was the thing with Vienna. You never needed to explain yourself or defend your logic and reasoning. You said something, and as far as he was concerned, there must be a reason for why you thought it, so he was willing to see it through.

Vienna had to be one of my favourite men here.

Appearances really could be deceiving. To look at him, you would never think the huge, tattooed, muscled biker with the beard hanging to his chest and ferocious scars could be the sweetest man on the planet, and yet he had never once done a thing to hurt me, either verbally or physically.

He had endless patience for me, and endless patience for all the drama of the club.

Although, I suppose it was his job to be patient. He couldn’t exactly be the peacemaker if he was the one shit stirring when it came to important matters. I shouldn’t get carried away thinking he was doing this for my benefit when he was simply fulfilling his club duties.

Because, once again, it always came back to the club.

And what about Dante? My inner voice asked, and I had to suppress a cough of laughter.

Dante was a lot of things, but sweet and patient were certainly not one of them. I’m sure he had his sweet moments, but adding a scoop of sugar to a heaping pile of shit didn’t make that sweet either.

“Vienna?” I asked, wanting to voice something that had been on my mind for a while now.

“No, I'm not going to take a detour and go dogging with you, Rachel, and it's really irresponsible for you to have even asked me that.”

That was another thing about Vienna; you could never tell what the fuck was going to come out of his mouth.

“I find it concerning that's where your thoughts went. You were clearly thinking it.”

He shot me a sideways glance. “That's gaslighting, and I don't appreciate it. Men have feelings too, Rachel. I’m going to be bringing this up in church.”

“Fine. I’ll bring it up in my Sin meetings with the girls.”

“This is what I’m talking about. It’s always flirting with you. You think of me, you think of sin. It can’t happen.”

“Whatever,” I grinned at him. “Can I ask my question now?”

“Holy shit. Is the great Rachel letting me win an argument?”

“If it means I get to satisfy my need for gossip, then yes. So can I ask?”

“Shoot.”

“Why is it you don't have an old lady?”

He frowned at me. “There's enough Vienna to go around. Why would I want to tie myself down?” He said without missing a beat. In fact, he said it so quickly, it made me think that was his default response.

“I don’t buy that. You're using humour to hide something.”

“Coming from the expert herself. Well, no. You use violence and sarcasm.”

“When did this turn into a character assassination for me? We’re discussing you and your deflection tactics.”

“Hmm. Maybe you're right.”

“So, tell me the real reason, then. Please.”

“Just because it's humorous doesn’t mean it’s not true, you know.”

“But it’s not true. I can tell.”

“I never said it was, or it wasn’t. I was just correcting you.”

“You’re infuriating.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“You’re also acting like a child.”

“Can I just press the repeat button? Takes one to know one.”

“Fine, don’t tell me. ”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” he smirked back at me as I folded my arms in a huff.

“I’ll do your laundry for a week.”

“Big Mama already does my laundry.”

“You’re a grown-ass man. Why aren’t you doing your own washing?” I asked in horror.

“You just offered to do it. How’s that any different?”

“Because I’m bribing you. It’s mutually beneficial.”

“It’s beneficial for you to handle my dirty underwear? Rachel, you filthy, filthy devil. I’ve told you, you’re a beautiful woman, but I value my dick too much to take the risk.”

“I’d incinerate the underwear. Underwear, you should be washing yourself, by the way. Big Mama isn’t your slave.”

“Why have a dog and bark yourself?”

“Ha!” I shouted, jabbing him in the side. “There it is. Oh, you done fucked up now. Tell me, or I’m going to tell Mama you called her a dog.”

He scoffed at me. “She’s as likely to believe that as she is to believe I sprouted wings out of my arse.”

“You being insulting is probably the most believable thing I could say.”

“You’re forgetting – I’ve known Mama since I was a child. She’s basically been my actual mother. Whereas you’re the little whore who got her sons kidnapped. You could have me on recording, and she’d still find a way not to believe it.”

“See what I’m up against? I’ve no friends in this place, and I’m just trying to bond with you.”

“You’re not bonding. You’re prying.”

“So, there is something to pry into? Please, Vienna.”

He sighed. “Fine. You win. There’s no crazy gossip. I simply don't have time, Rachel. That is the honest truth. The club gets everything I've got to give.”

“But why? Other members have the time. Even members higher up than you - Dante, for example.”

“Yeah and look what it cost him.”

“You mean Laura? As sad as it is, she just wasn't built for this life.”

Neither are you. You’re looking for every reason you can to get the fuck out of here.

True. I did want to get out. But it wasn’t because I couldn’t handle standard club life. I didn’t want to be around when the inevitable explosion happened, when it all seemed so easily avoidable.

“Exactly. Not every woman is built for this life.”

“But Jenna told me that you could have a girlfriend who isn't a part of the club life.”

He shot me another side eye. “That might work for regular members, but not a patched member like me.

When Dante is the President, it's no secret he's going to make me vice.

I have a certain responsibility to bring in a suitable woman.

Not just to the club, but to her, too. Any woman of mine, old lady or otherwise, would be in danger.

Especially if other clubs got word that she wasn't bound by old lady status, and therefore without protection.”

“I guess I can understand that. But what's stopping you from finding someone right now?”

“What would be the point if there was no future? I don’t want to offer a woman false hope.”

“But she might come around to the idea if she had time to adjust before you became vice.”

“Do you know what my title is at the moment?”

I shook my head.I mean, I knew it. It was right there on the front of his cut, impossible to miss. But I didn’t really understand what it meant.

“I'm the peacemaker. So not only do I keep camaraderie amongst the men here, it's also my job to keep peace amongst the other clubs as much as I possibly can. I have my own moles everywhere - you said Dante told you about the prospect we had to take out a few weeks ago. That was only able to happen because I was able to speak to one of my informants and get the information I needed quickly.”

“Do you regret it?” I asked quietly. Sometimes, when Vienna was just being Vienna, it was easy to forget that he was a stone-cold killer.

Which was silly, because the man was built like a mountain, and had a vicious glare when he wanted to.

But I had only ever known him as a friend – and a sweet one at that, who always showed nothing but loyalty.

It was hard to connect that man with the man who killed mercilessly.

“No. He needed taking out, and I’ve worked hard over the years to make these contacts. I’ve no shame in using them. They’re the ones ratting their club, not me. ”

“Do you ever regret the time you’ve given to the club? Especially in light of what Macbeth has done. It’s robbed you of so much.”

“Not at all,” he answered, although I detected a note of hesitance in his voice. “The club is my life. It's all I've ever known, and I'd die to protect any one of my brothers.”

“There's never been anyone serious?”

He playfully punched me in the thigh. “ You're being fucking serious.”

“Come on, Vienna. I'm just trying to get to know you better.”

“Fine,” he said, sighing once more. Why did everyone always fucking sigh around me? “There was one woman.”

“Ooh, you!” I punched his arm. “You said there was no gossip! What was her name?” I asked excitedly, sitting up straighter in my seat and looking straight at him.

“Okay, you can take it down several fucking notches. This isn't a teenage sleepover. We're not swapping dating stories.”

“Spoilsport,” I muttered, flopping back in my seat and folded my arms.

“Pouting might work on Dante, but it's not going to work on me.”

I pouted harder.

“For fuck's sake!”

Pouting always worked!

“Her name was Gabriella. That's the end of it.”

“She was the one that got away, was she?”

“Something like that,” he said with a soft smile. A soft smile he quickly replaced with a frown when he noticed my wide-eyed gaze.

“You loved her!” It wasn't a question, and he didn't reply.

I sat back and mentally sifted through every conversation I had had with Dante, trying to place the woman's name.

I wanted to bring some happiness to Vienna's life.

He deserved it. Surely if I could find her, I could talk to her and let her see this club wasn't such a bad place and she would be happy here.

My, my, my, how the tables have turned! You couldn't wait to get out of here when Dante brought you. Face it, Rachel, you’re falling for him. You can lie to everyone else, but please don’t insult us by lying to yourself.

I wasn't going to dignify myself with an answer.

Although, I couldn’t put off that conversation forever.

Even I could recognise that the ice block where my heart lived was melting faster than I could keep it frozen.

I didn’t want to feel anything for Dante, but the prospect of never seeing him again had brought up feelings I wasn’t ready to face yet.

At least not before I figured out where I stood with him.

Relationships were fucking complicated. No wonder Vienna wanted to stay away from them. Although, I was still determined to bring happiness to his life, and Gabriella was the key. I just knew it.

“No, Rachel,” Vienna said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“I literally did not even say anything.”

“It's written all over your face, clear as day!”

“Well, maybe you should be concentrating on the road instead of my face.”

“I don’t know what Dante meant when he said you were blank and boring. Your facial expressions give everything away.”

“Dante called me boring?” I asked, my mouth dropping open. “Yeah, well, he’s shit in bed.”

“Whoa. We went from nought to a hundred real quick there. You take offense to being called boring?”

“No. Do you take offense to someone wanting to bring happiness to your life? If Gabri—”

“There's nothing you can do. Just drop it.”

“But—”

“No buts, just drop it. It would be an impossible relationship.”

“Nothing is impossible!”

“Since when were you a regular old Pollyanna?”

“Maybe if Dante—”

“It’s got nothing to do with Dante, and I’d appreciate it if you kept this conversation to yourself.”

“What? Since when do you keep things from Dante?”

“I’m not keeping anything from him. It’s just not important enough to talk about. The conversation is done.”

“You'll see,” I said smugly. “I'll find out who this Gabriella is, and I'll return her to you. ”

“She’s not lost, Rachel. She doesn’t need returning. She knows exactly where I am. She’s as much a part of this decision as I am. We both knew it was for the best.”

“We’ll see.”

He simply laughed.

I meant it, though.

Vienna deserved happiness, and this was such a small thing I could do for him.

We fell into a silence, both of us thinking about Gabriella. It was clear Vienna was reminiscing about her, and I just hoped I hadn't hurt him by insisting he talked about her.

I looked out the window at the darkness, watching the trees as we sped past them.

One, then two, then one, then three.

How many times had the trees seen this exact scene play out? What wisdom would they give us if they were blessed with the ability to talk?

Or would they simply mock us for making mistakes a dozen or more people had made before us?

The trees were wankers.

“What the fuck?” Vienna hissed, making me snap my head around to look at him as he slammed on the brakes.

“What? What is it?” I asked, following where his eyes were looking.

“Is that Dante?” I gasped, seeing a huge behemoth of a man marching down the street. “And is that fucking Callum ?!”