Page 32 of Victorious, Part 2 (The LA Defiance MC #6)

“Earth-shattering?” I finish for her.

She nods, barely able to lift her head. “I think I saw heaven. And you? You took me there.”

I grin and pull her into my arms. “Then mission accomplished.”

Moving in beside her, I slide next to her on the bed, completely spent, and we lie here in silence for a while, wrapped around each other as the chaos of Vegas hums outside our window. Her head rests on my chest, one leg slung over mine, her fingers tracing lazy circles on my stomach.

“I love this,” she whispers, curling closer, her head tucked beneath my chin, fingers lazily tracing patterns across my chest as though she’s sketching something only we understand. “Being here with you. Away from everything. It feels like we can just… be ourselves.”

The rhythm of her touch is hypnotic, grounding me in a way nothing else ever has.

This woman is not just in my arms.

She’s under my skin.

In my bloodstream.

Carved into every breath I take.

“I know what you mean.” I press a kiss to her temple. “No expectations, no one watching, no—”

The words die as my phone rings on the nightstand.

It’s Alpha’s ringtone, and it cuts through the quiet like a gunshot.

We both go still.

Clover tenses beside me. “Don’t answer it,” Clover whispers, fingers tightening slightly on my chest.

And for a heartbeat, I don’t.

I just stare at the screen, wanting to stay here, tangled up in her warmth, in this pocket of peace we’ve built between stolen touches and aching want.

But I can’t ignore it.

Not now.

Not with war on the horizon.

“I have to,” I groan, reaching for the phone on the nightstand, guilt already settling low in my gut. “It could be important.”

Clover sighs but nods, sitting up and pulling the sheet over her chest. The way she looks at me, equal parts understanding and disappointment, feels like being tugged out of a dream I wasn’t ready to leave.

“Phoenix.” Alpha’s voice is tight, controlled, but I hear the strain underneath. “We need to talk.”

“What’s wrong?” I ask, furrowing my brows, already knowing I’m not going to like the answer.

“The Martinez twins came through with intel on Rhonda. She’s dirty.”

The words hit me like a physical blow, but I’m confused as hell. “Wait, back up. Who the fuck are the Martinez twins? I’m not following, Pres.”

“Two informants with backgrounds in corrections who worked at the same facility as Rhonda. They’ve been feeding us intel, and what they found…” Alpha pauses. “She’s not helping Montana’s mother like we thought. She’s been working for Javier’s people the whole damn time.”

Jerking my head back, I step up from the bed and begin pacing.

Naked and all.

“Sorry, come again?”

“She’s been feeding information to Javier’s people. But worse than that, she’s been making Montana’s mother’s life hell in there instead of protecting her like we believed.” Alpha’s voice is cold, deadly. “Everything we thought she was doing to help… she was fucking doing the opposite.”

I close my eyes, feeling the weight of reality crashing back down on us. The peace, the freedom, the bubble of safety we’d created, it’s all an illusion.

The war is still happening, and Montana’s mother has been suffering while we thought she was being protected.

I glance back at Clover as she sits up in the bed, clearly sensing the tension in my tone. “How bad is it for her?”

“Bad. Real bad. The twins think she’s been targeted specifically because of Montana’s connection to the club.

Rhonda’s been making sure she gets the worst of everything.

” Alpha’s voice carries the weight of betrayal and guilt.

“Montana doesn’t know the extent yet. I’m gonna have to tell him his mother’s been tortured while we thought she was safe. ”

I run a hand through my hair, the weight of this hitting me. Poor Montana. Poor Valerie.

“Are you and Clover safe?” Alpha continues.

“Yeah, we’re good. We checked in with Sin when we got here.”

“Good. Make sure you accept any protection he offers. Because if Rhonda’s been targeting Montana’s family, there’s no telling what else Javier’s people know about our operations.”

Clover is watching me from the bed, and I see understanding dawning in her eyes.

She knows what this call means, what it’s taken away from us.

“How long do you need us to stay put?” I ask.

“As long as it takes. We need to figure out how to help Montana’s mother and deal with Rhonda without making shit worse.

” His voice is grim. “They can’t know where Clover is, Phoenix.

If they’re willing to torture Valerie, a tough woman in prison, to get to Montana, imagine what they’d do to Clover, an innocent nineteen-year-old, to get to Maverick… ” He doesn’t continue the sentence.

He doesn’t need to.

“I understand.”

I understand all too well.

The Cartel and young women do not go well together.

Clover can not fall into their hands.

No matter what!

“Good. Keep her safe. Keep yourself safe. And check in every day from now on. We need to be more careful about everything until we figure out our next move.” The line goes dead, and I set the phone down with shaking hands.

“Phoenix?” Clover’s voice is small, uncertain.

I turn to look at her, and the sight breaks my heart. She’s sitting up in bed, sheet clutched to her chest, all the joy and freedom from moments before replaced by fear and a sobering understanding.

“She’s working for them,” I say simply.

Her face goes pale. “Who?”

Letting out a heavy sigh, I start walking back toward her. “Rhonda.”

She furrows her brow, sitting taller. “The prison guard?” She shakes her head with clear confusion. “But… we thought she was protecting Montana’s mother.”

“Turns out she’s been doing the exact opposite. Some informants with corrections backgrounds caught her making Montana’s mom’s life hell instead of helping her.”

Clover is quiet for a long moment, processing. Then she asks the question I’ve been dreading, “What does this mean for us?”

I sit on the edge of the bed and reach for her, pulling her against my chest. She comes willingly, curling into me like she’s trying to disappear. “I don’t know,” I admit. “But it means the real world just came crashing back in.”

She’s quiet against me, but I feel her tears soaking into my skin.

“Hey,” I say softly, tilting her chin up to look at me. “This doesn’t change what just happened between us. It certainly doesn’t change how I feel about you.”

“Doesn’t it?” Her voice is barely a whisper. “Everything’s different now. More dangerous. More complicated.”

“Some things are the same,” I insist. “The way I feel about you, the way you feel about me. That’s real. That’s not going anywhere.”

She searches my eyes for a moment, then nods slowly. “You’re right. I just… I wish we could have had more time. More of just us.”

“We’ll make time,” I promise. “Somehow, we’ll figure it out.” But even as I say the words, I’m not sure I believe them.

The call from Alpha has reminded me of something I’d almost let myself forget. In our world, happiness is borrowed, stolen in moments between the chaos.

And our moment just ended.

Dracula chooses right now to jump onto the bed, settling himself between us like he’s trying to offer comfort.

Or maybe he’s just claiming his territory.

With him, it’s hard to tell.

“Even he knows,” Clover says with a weak laugh, scratching behind his ears.

“Knows what?”

“That everything just changed.”

I pull her closer, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Outside, Vegas continues its relentless celebration, neon lights painting the night in bold colors. But inside our room, the magic has faded, replaced by the harsh reality of who we are and what we’re up against.

Tomorrow, we’ll meet with Sin. We’ll figure out security, safe houses, and communication protocols.

We’ll slip back into the roles we play in this dangerous world—the patched member and the sister he’s sworn to protect.

But tonight, for just a little longer, we’re still Phoenix and Clover, two people who found something real in the midst of all the chaos.

I just have to hope that once the chaos is done, we’re still here to celebrate that spark.