Page 19 of Victorious, Part 2 (The LA Defiance MC #6)

CLOVER

My forehead rests against Phoenix’s cheek as I close my eyes, letting out a long breath before I drop my cell into the sand. “I am so, so sorry,” I whisper, my hand sliding out to grab his tight.

His head pulls back, looking at me like he’s confused. “You’re sorry? Why?”

Slumping my shoulders, I twist a little in his lap. “Because I should have looked at the alert and made sure it was for my heart and not a glucose warning. This is on me. Completely. I was just, you know… in the moment.”

His hand comes up, cupping the side of my face, the gesture gentle and caring. “We both should have checked. We both know your watch alerts for multiple things. Now we know better, so we can be more aware of it if it happens again.”

Scrunching up my face, I let out a groan. “God, this is so annoying. Why can’t I just be normal?”

His face contorts, and it’s as if I have physically assaulted him.

His hands shoot out, grabbing my hips, and I let out a small squeal at the strength he shows as he hoists me in one swift movement, lifting and turning me to face him.

My legs instantly wrap around him, chest to chest, our faces merely inches apart while his hands move to grip either side of my face.

My head is still a little woozy from my crash.

Or maybe it’s from being this close to Phoenix.

I can’t tell right now.

His eyes lock with mine, a steely determination set in them as he stares me down. “Don’t you ever talk to me like that again. Do you understand me?”

My breathing hitches as I continue to stare into his eyes, confused at what he’s talking about. “I-I don’t—”

“If you ever, and I mean ever, talk negatively about yourself again, Clover. God help me!” The anger pouring from him resembles pure venom.

The veins protruding from his neck tell me he isn’t joking.

But all it does is make the corners of my lips turn up as I stare right back into those enraged blue eyes.

Slowly bringing my hand up, I trace the anger lines on his face, biting down on my bottom lip, trying to fight the urge to kiss him. He furrows his brows, clearly confused by my actions as he pulls back a little with a huff. “I’m serious, Clover,” he demands.

Smirking, my fingers continue tracing the lines of his face. “Oh, I can see that.”

He jerks back, his hand gripping my wrist, holding it in place.

“I’m not trying to joke around here, Clover.

You make a comment about wanting to be normal, and I’m trying to tell you that’s bullshit.

You don’t need to be normal. Normal is boring.

Normal’s overrated. What you are, Clover Cadell, is so much better than normal.

You may think that the monitor on your arm is like some form of Kryptonite, but I don’t see it that way.

I don’t see you that way. I see you as this bright light in the darkness that is my life.

” My breathing hitches, but he continues, “And those beeps? Those beeps that you think make you not normal, when I hear them, they tell me you’re here.

With me. So, when I hear those beeps, Clover, all I hear…

is you . Nothing else… just the harmony of you . ”

Well, shit.

Tears well in my eyes as I stare at him, my bottom lip quivering now.

He’s rendered me completely speechless.

I literally can’t talk.

My head is still feeling a little foggy, but honestly, it’s probably from the amazing words he just gave me. He weakly smiles, leaning in, pressing a tender kiss to my forehead while I try to find some way to function again.

But I’m failing miserably.

So, he simply pulls back, smiles, then leans past me for his backpack. “Crackers?” he murmurs, pulling out the pack and opening them with one hand, then presses them into mine. “Slow. Just enough to top up the juice.”

God, this man can read me so well.

Letting out a stuttered breath, I nibble.

One bite at a time. My body is starting to cooperate, but I still feel drained.

It’s as though I ran a marathon in the middle of a panic attack.

I rest my forehead against his shoulder, closing my eyes just for a second, needing a moment to compose myself.

Not only from the crash, but from him and the way he’s making me dizzy.

“You okay?” he asks, his voice soft but still thick with worry.

“You were prepared,” I murmur. “You had everything ready.”

Phoenix exhales slowly, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “Spent a night down a medical rabbit hole after I knew we were coming on this trip. Figured if I were going to be watching your back, I should actually know what to look for.”

The words hit harder than the sugar crash. Not an obligation. Not duty. He cared enough to learn.

“Most people panic,” I say, lifting my head from his shoulder to look at him again. “Or treat me like I’m glass.”

“You’re a hell of a lot of things, Clover. Breakable ain’t one of them.”

That warmth from earlier spreads through me again, mixing with the remnants of fear and exhaustion until I don’t know whether I want to cry or curl into him and never let go.

That’s when Dracula saunters up, dragging what looks like a mutilated lizard in his mouth as if it’s his Nobel Prize.

He drops it at Phoenix’s feet with a proud meow, breaking our moment.

Phoenix stares down at it with a look of pure disgust on his face. “Your cat’s clearly unhinged.”

I let out a weak laugh. “Yeah, but you love him.”

He snorts out a scoff. Undeniably, he’s trying to deny it. “No comment.”

We sit together on the desert sand for the next fifteen minutes while I try to bring myself back into some semblance of working order. I check my blood sugar scanner again, and the number blinks up at me.

Ninety-two.

“We’re back in business,” I state, sitting up straighter.

Phoenix finally lets himself breathe, his shoulders relaxing just a fraction, and he pulls my phone from me and begins working away on it. I glance at him, wondering what in the hell he’s doing. “Don’t you believe me?” I question, a little annoyed.

He chuckles, turning the screen to show me he’s sent a screen snapshot of my numbers to Maverick, typing that I am ‘All good.’

I chuckle, shaking my head, and snap my phone back off him. “You know he receives all my alerts and can check my monitor, right? He didn’t need the snapshot.”

Phoenix shrugs, sinking back into the sand. “Just wanted to be thorough,” he replies as a text comes back.

I raise my brow at Phoenix and chuckle. “He’s probably going to call me a smart-ass now, you know that.” I swipe to open the message from my brother with a sly smirk.

Mav: You better stay that way. Or I’m flying out and dragging your ass back myself.

I shake my head, rolling my eyes before I show Phoenix the message. “He’s not gonna let this go,” I mumble.

“Good,” Phoenix states, eyes still scanning mine like he’s memorizing me. “Someone’s gotta look out for you. Lucky for him, I’m already on the job.”

We fall into comfortable silence, both lost in our own thoughts and the hypnotic crackle of the camp stove flame. Dracula has curled up between our sleeping bags, purring softly.

“Phoenix?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you… for doing this with me. For not thinking I’m crazy for wanting to sleep under the stars.”

“Thank you for showing me there’s more to life than simply getting from point A to point B.”

I turn to look at him and find him already watching me. In the firelight, his face is all shadows and golden highlights, and something in his expression makes my heart skip.

“We should probably get some sleep,” I say softly.

“Probably.”

Neither of us moves.

The moment stretches between us, full of possibility, want, and the electric tension that’s been building, and on occasion exploding. We both know we’re standing on the edge of something that will change everything.

“Clover…”

“I know,” I whisper. “I know all the reasons why we shouldn’t.”

“But?” he asks, his voice laced with tension.

“But I’m tired of being sensible all the time. Tired of always doing what’s expected, what’s safe.” I sit up, meeting his eyes directly. “Tomorrow we’ll be in Vegas, and this, whatever this is, will get complicated. Tonight is just ours.”

Phoenix sits up, too, and suddenly we’re close enough that the warmth from his skin radiates through me.

“If we do this,” he says quietly. “There’s no going back. No pretending it didn’t happen, no writing it off as a mistake.”

“I don’t want to go back, and there’s no way this is a mistake,” I tell him honestly.

That’s all the invitation he needs.

He reaches for me, pulling me closer until I’m practically in his lap, and when he kisses me this time, it’s with a certainty that takes my breath away.

This isn’t the desperate, stolen kisses we’ve shared before.

This is a choice, deliberate and mutual, and full of promise.

Under the blazing canopy of desert stars, with Dracula purring nearby and the sand dunes singing their ancient song in the distance, Phoenix and I finally stop fighting what’s been inevitable from the moment we met.

His lips crush against mine again, deeper, as if he’s been holding this in for far too long.

His hands frame my face with reverence, thumbs stroking over my cheeks while his tongue explores my mouth with aching, deliberate precision.

I moan into him, arms wrapping tight around his shoulders, pulling him closer, anchoring myself to this moment.

One hand slides down, cupping the back of my neck while the other travels lower across my spine, over my hip, and finally gripping my thigh, pulling me tighter against him until there’s no space left between us. Every line of his body presses into mine, igniting nerves I never even knew existed.

I feel him, all of him, hard and straining through his jeans, pressing against the very center of me. My thighs clench in response, my breath coming fast, desperate gasps as he kisses down my jaw, then lower, nipping gently at the sensitive spot just beneath my ear.