Page 1 of Unbound By You (The Viper’s MC #1)

HARLOW

I lie on my side in the dark bedroom, watching her chest rise and fall as exhaustion and the whiskey take hold. The tears started the moment I stepped through the front door, and they didn’t wane until her lashes fell closed. Then, sleep pulled her under.

There was no missing the welt blooming on her cheek or the dark purple bruise already formed around her left eye. The split in her bottom lip left a crusting line of blood down her chin that she hadn’t bothered cleaning off. And those were just the injuries I saw right away.

My best friend had been beaten to a pulp by the man she was head over heels in love with, and I was raging inside. I wanted to drag her to the hospital to get checked out and then right over to the police department to file a report, but she refused.

Instead, I cradled her in my arms on the living room floor as she cried her eyes out and tried to give me every excuse in the book.

I couldn’t stand it. She’d done nothing wrong, nothing to deserve the treatment he’d dished out in a fit of rage over something as trivial as working late with a co-worker.

He’s a piece of shit, and the longer I lay next to the one person in my life who’s always been there for me, the more I want—no, need to find him and make him pay.

The whiskey blows off her breaths in shallow puffs, filling the air between us. She’ll be out until morning with the amount of alcohol she consumed. It seemed like a good option at the time, a way to numb her senses, both inside and out.

I drop a kiss on her forehead and roll slowly out from under the comforter, pulling on my scraped-up combat boots. I don’t bother changing out of the leggings and oversized tee I’m already in, but I do snag my leather jacket from the back of her computer chair.

It’s a toss-up if the October air will have a bite to it the moment I step back outside toward my bike. I grip the knob on her bedroom door, looking over my shoulder to give her one last look before stepping into the hall.

Closing the door quietly behind me, I tiptoe down the long hall, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the pitch-black room. I can’t see shit since thick curtains blackout every window in the house, and Lexi doesn’t believe in leaving a light on for safety.

My slow steps falter and my chest and forehead hit a solid wall. But it’s not from the hall. No, this is another body. I open my mouth to scream, panic rising as I imagine Evan standing in front of me, back to finish the job.

A hand clamps over my mouth, somehow finding it without issue in the dark. I don’t hesitate, sinking my teeth into the soft tissue of the calloused palm trying to silence me.

A hiss hits my ears, but they don’t loosen their hold. I mumble my pissed pleas to be let go, but neither of us can understand the words trying to push free.

If that’s how this is going to go, I’ll need something a little more persuasive to break away. My fingers quickly fumble to find my jacket pocket, diving in and pulling out my blade.

I push the release button and bring the steel to where I assume their neck is. It’s a guess in the dark, and my blade lands faster than I expect, pushing against the skin a little deeper than intended. For now.

I nick whoever this is, and their hand releases from my mouth for a quick second. In the time it takes me to draw oxygen deep into my lungs to scream and warn Lexi, the same hand wraps around my wrist, skillfully stealing the blade.

In a whirlwind movement, I’m spun around. My equilibrium is thrown off, and I topple back into them.

“Watch it, wildcat. You might have claws, but I bite.”

It’s then—and only then—with my back pressed firmly against his hard chest, an arm wrapped around my frame, his other hand clamped back over my mouth, and his lips settled next to my ear, whispering those words, that my body makes the connection.

It’s the way his deep timbre falls over the nickname he’s had for me since I was sixteen. Since the day I punched him, a grown man, in the face.

“Silas.” My muffled whisper relaxes my rigid frame in his arms. His hand lowers, and the other tucks, what I can only assume is my knife, back into my pocket.

I don’t move. Something about being engulfed in his arms, surrounded by his smell of exhaust and leather, makes it impossible. He might be Lexi’s older brother, but he’s been my obsession since I was a kid.

The fifteen-year age difference wasn’t something I noticed until I was a teen myself. Silas never acted like all the other adults in our lives, he was the mysterious black sheep who only showed up when Lexi had something special going on.

It didn’t help that Lexi’s mom was a cunt to him anytime he showed up. Looking back, she was threatened by the reminder he gave her husband of his first wife.

“Come on,” Silas says quietly, unfusing our bodies and dropping his hand around mine.

He pulls me down the rest of the hall and out into the living room, flipping on the lamp sitting on an end table. The light illuminates the space, making me squint at the harsh difference. When my eyes adjust, I can finally take him in.

It’s been almost a year since I’ve seen him around, and he’s somehow gotten more attractive.

His dark hair is longer and messy, the top half pulled back into a bun.

Random tattoos cover every inch of exposed skin, which I can see under his leather vest with a club patch over his heart.

Stories and experiences he’s never shared haunt his midnight-blue eyes that almost look black and stare down at me.

“What…” we both say at the same time, breaking the silence.

He crowds my space, backing me up until my legs hit the back of the couch.

“What are you doing here, Silas?” I choke out, his nearness making it hard to string a sentence together without fumbling over my words.

He looks me up and down, taking me in. “Where were you going, Harlow? It’s two in the morning.”

Clearing my throat and shaking the nervous energy from my bones, I meet his eyes. “I had something to take care of.”

“That something wouldn’t happen to be named Evan, would it?”

I steel my features, not wanting to give myself away. “It doesn’t matter. Now, if you don’t mind, Lexi’s sleeping, so be quiet.” I move to make my way past him, but he doesn’t allow it.

“And if I do?”

I scrunch my face in confusion at his question.

“Mind,” he clarifies.

His big paw grips tightly around my hip. He’s never done that before. I suck in a breath at the contact that bleeds warmth right through the thin material of my leggings.

I focus on the space where his body touches mine. Chunky silver rings break up the tattoos on his fingers, but it’s the torn knuckles covered in dried blood that steal my attention.

I don’t think, grabbing his hand and bringing it to my face to inspect. “What’d you do?”

“Answer my question first. Where are you going?”

I huff out a sigh, knowing he’s not going to drop it. “Why’d you ask if it had to do with Evan?”

“Do you always answer a question with a question?”

“Do you?” I give him a smirk with a raised eyebrow.

“Jesus, woman. Have you always been this frustrating?”

“Another question,” I point out, but decide to break our ride on this dizzying merry-go-round. “Yes.”

“Yes, it’s about Evan? Or you’ve always been this vexing?”

“Both.” I shrug because it’s true, and if he spent more time around, he’d know it firsthand.

“Then take your ass back to bed and forget about it.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” He kills the small space between us, grabbing my neck and pushing my chin up to meet his eyes. I might be five-nine, but Silas has a good seven inches on me.

“You’re not going anywhere tonight. Back to bed.”

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to? I’m not fifteen anymore.”

His hand tightens around my throat, and my pussy automatically takes notice, pulsing with excitement. We have a thing for not breathing—in the right circumstances.

“Wildcat,” he says in a strained whisper.

Something fights behind those stormy eyes, and I wish he’d let it break free.

“Evan won’t be a problem anymore. Stay out of it.” It’s not a request. It’s a command, punctuated by the tightening of his grip.

A throaty moan bubbles up, and I don’t even care at this point. He’s crossed a line tonight, a line I’d like to imagine never existed in the first place.

His knee pushes between my legs, the rough denim pressing against my core through cotton leggings.

“Fuck, do that again,” he demands.

When my hips swivel back and forth, searching for friction against my pulsing clit, I give him exactly what he’s asking for. My eyes tighten as the high of everything washes over me.

“Faster,” Silas instructs, keeping his hand tight and his knee in place.

I oblige, caught in my own chase to explore the euphoria he’s offering in the dark of the night. I don’t question why now or what’s different. I have one thing on my mind, and it’s right at the tips of my fingers.

“What the fuck!”

My eyes fly open, landing across the room on my best friend. It’s a bucket of ice water thrown right over me, snuffing out the fire Silas stoked to life.

Her gaze bores into me, hurt and confusion crossing her face.

“Lexi, I can?—”

But Silas moves from in front of me, catching her attention and cutting me off. His long strides eat up the space between us and his baby sister.

“That motherfucker,” Silas growls, taking in Lexi’s face. The black eye is in full bloom, and the red welt still crosses her pale cheek.

She drops her eyes to the floor. “Si, don’t. I’m fine.” She tries to placate him the same way she did me earlier tonight.

“Don’t bullshit me, Lex. The proof is all over your fucking face.”

I can’t see his face since I’m behind him, still glued to the couch where he left me. But I’d bet millions, the same anger that he managed to distract me from, is written clear across it.

Her body deflates, and the tears I worked so hard to chase away come streaming back down her face. She collapses into his chest, and he pulls her into his embrace.

Silas has always been an amazing older brother. It’s why they stayed close even when their entire family dynamic was a mess. They never let the drama put a wedge between them, much to Lexi’s mom’s dismay.

While they’re both distracted, I right my clothes, double-checking to ensure my knife is in my jacket pocket. I shuffle across the living room floor, listening to Lexi’s painful sobs and Silas’s soft murmurs of calming support, the polar opposite of the man I just let feel me up.

When I reach the entryway, I grab the key to my bike, my helmet and sneak out the front door.

I know he told me to forget about Evan, but no one fucks up my best friend and gets to walk away from it unscathed. Evan thinks he’s untouchable in this town because of his last name. But I couldn’t care less that daddy dearest is the mayor.

He will pay.