Page 41 of Victorious, Part 2 (The LA Defiance MC #6)

“You want me to?” I ask, my voice rough.

“I want you to stop treating me like I’m going to break,” she says. “I want you to show me what you’ve been holding back.”

Jesus Christ.

Before I can respond, her phone starts ringing again.

We both freeze, staring at the screen.

Maverick.

“Fuck,” Clover breathes. “He knows. He has to know. Why else would he be calling this early?”

“Answer it,” I say, my protective instincts kicking in. “I’ll handle it.”

“Phoenix—”

“Trust me,” I state, taking the cell from her hands. “We knew this conversation was coming eventually.”

I hit the answer button, putting it on speaker. “Hey, Mav,” I say, my voice steady despite the adrenaline coursing through my veins.

“Phoenix. Morning. Just checking in. Everything good out there?”

He sounds normal. Tired, but normal. Not at all like a man who just discovered his baby sister got married in Vegas, more like one who was up all night worrying about the mother of his unborn child.

“Everything’s fine,” I say carefully. “Clover’s still sleeping.”

“Good. Let her sleep. You two had a long drive yesterday.” There’s a pause. “Actually, since I’ve got you on the line, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

My blood runs cold.

This is it.

“What’s up?” I ask, trying to keep my voice casual.

“Sadie and I have been talking, and we think maybe you and Clover should stay in Vegas a little longer than planned. The situation here is tense, and honestly, I’d feel better knowing she’s far away from all this shit.”

I blink, caught off guard.

This isn’t about the wedding.

He doesn’t know.

“How much longer?” I ask.

“Maybe another week? Two at most. I know it’s not ideal, but—”

“It’s fine,” I say quickly. “Whatever you think is best.”

“Good. I’ll call Sin later today and let him know. Just… keep her safe, Phoenix. That’s all I ask.”

“Always,” I reply and mean it.

“I know you will. Also, and there’s no need for alarm, but I just want to be honest with you here,” he states.

Furrowing my brows, I exhale. “Shit happening at the club?”

He clears his throat. “Yeah, so much. But that’s not what I am talking about.

We had the doc out here last night to check on Sadie, and before you go into a meltdown, she and the baby are fine.

It was just heartburn, and I am keeping an eye on her.

But I just thought you should know, seeing as she’s your sister.

And seeing as you’re taking care of my sister, I thought I should do you the courtesy of keeping you in the loop of what’s happening with yours. ”

Widening my eyes, my stomach rolls with an anxious wave of guilt.

I should tell him.

Man up and tell him.

“Thanks, Mav. Thanks for taking such good care of Sadie. I appreciate it, brother.”

He lets out a long exhale. “Goes both ways. I know you’re taking good care of Clover for me.”

Tell him!

“All right, I’ll let you go. Tell Clover I called when she wakes up,” he says before I get the chance to man the fuck up.

And then the line goes dead.

Clover and I stare at each other in stunned silence.

“He doesn’t know,” she finally says.

“He doesn’t know,” I confirm, feeling like a complete jackass.

“Rhyan was right. He hasn’t checked Instagram yet.”

“Apparently not.”

We sit here for a moment, processing the relief and the reprieve. But there’s something else, the realization that we have more time. More time in this bubble, more time to just be us without the immediate pressure of her family’s reactions.

“Two more weeks,” Clover says softly.

“Two more weeks,” I agree.

She looks down at her ring, then back up at me. “We’re really married.”

“We’re really married,” I reply, and somehow, the realization eases my guilt.

Because right now, Clover is my priority, and telling Maverick can come later.

“We have two more weeks to figure out how to tell everyone.”

“Or…” I say, sliding closer to her, “… we have two more weeks to enjoy being married before the real world crashes back in.”

She considers this, biting her lip in that way that drives me crazy. “I like that better.”

“Me too.”

I lean in to kiss her, but her phone starts ringing.

Maverick.

Again.

“What the hell?” Clover says, grabbing the phone. “He literally just hung up.”

This time, she answers it, putting it on speaker again. “Mav? Phoenix says you just called.”

“Yeah, I know. Listen, I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me.”

My stomach drops.

He knows.

He has to know.

“Are you and Phoenix… involved? Romantically?”

Clover’s eyes go wide, her face draining of color. She looks at me, panic written across her features.

“I…” she starts, then stops.

“Clover,” Maverick’s voice is gentle but firm. “I’m not angry. I just need to know. Sadie thinks she’s picking up on some vibes, and I want to hear it from you.”

Clover is struggling, torn between lying to her brother and telling him the truth, between protecting what we have and being honest with the family she loves.

So, I make the decision for her.

“Yeah, Mav,” I say, my voice clear and steady. “We are.”

The silence on the other end of the line stretches for so long I wonder if the call has dropped.

“Phoenix,” Maverick finally grumbles, his voice deadly quiet. “What did you just say?”

“You heard me,” I reply, reaching for Clover’s hand and squeezing it. “Clover and I are together.”

“Together how?”

“Together in every way that matters,” I state. “I’m in love with your sister, Mav. And she’s in love with me.”

Another long silence.

He finally breathes out a long breath. “Jesus fucking Christ, Phoenix. She’s nineteen years old.”

“She’s old enough to make her own choices,” I say firmly.

“She’s my baby sister.”

“And she’s my…” I pause, looking at Clover. We haven’t talked about how much to tell him. How much truth can he handle right now?

“I’m his girlfriend,” Clover interrupts quickly, stemming the flow of information we give him while squeezing my hand back. “We’re dating, Mav. And I’m happy.”

“How long?” Maverick asks, his voice tight with barely controlled anger.

“It’s new,” I say. “Recent. But it’s real.”

“Define recent.”

“Mav,” Clover says softly. “I know you’re upset, but—”

“Upset?” His voice explodes through the speaker. “I’m fucking furious! I trusted you, Phoenix. I sent you to protect her, not to… not to fucking seduce her.”

“It wasn’t like that!” I growl, my own anger starting to rise. “This isn’t some casual thing for me. I love her.”

“You barely fucking know her!”

“I know enough,” I snap. “I know she’s brave and smart and funny and stubborn as hell. I know she lights up every room she walks into. I know she sees the good in people, even when they can’t see it themselves. I know she makes me want to be better than I am.”

“That’s not—”

“I know she takes her blood sugar medication at 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. every day,” I continue, not letting him interrupt.

“I know she has nightmares about losing the people she loves. I know she puts honey in her coffee instead of sugar, and she can’t sleep without checking her phone one last time to make sure everyone’s okay.

I know she hums when she’s happy, and she gets this little crinkle between her eyebrows when she’s concentrating.

” The line is quiet. “I know she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” I say honestly.

“And I know I’d rather die than let anything hurt her. Including you being pissed at me.”

“Phoenix…” Maverick’s voice is different now, still angry but something else too. Resignation, maybe.

“I’m not gonna hurt her,” I say. “I swear to you, on everything I hold sacred, I will never hurt her.”

“You already have,” Maverick says quietly.

“The second you crossed that line, you put her in danger. The club’s at war, Phoenix.

We’ve got enemies who would love nothing more than to get their hands on someone I care about.

And now she’s an even bigger target because two people would lay down their lives for her. ”

The weight of his words hits me like a sledgehammer.

He’s right.

By falling for Clover, by letting this happen, I’ve made her a bigger target.

I’ve given our enemies another weapon to use against the club.

Against him.

Against me.

“Mav,” Clover says, her voice shaking. “Don’t blame Phoenix. This is as much my choice as his.”

“You’re nineteen, Clover. You don’t understand—”

“I understand plenty,” she interrupts, her voice getting stronger. “I understand that I’m tired of everyone else deciding what’s best for me. I understand that Phoenix makes me happy in a way I’ve never been happy before. I understand that love doesn’t follow anyone else’s timeline or rules.”

“Love?” Maverick’s voice is strangled. “Clover, you don’t even know what love is.”

“Yes, I do,” she says firmly. “And I know this is it.”

The silence stretches again, thick with tension and unspoken consequences.

“We’ll deal with this when you get home,” Maverick finally says, his voice flat and cold. “Both of you. We’ll figure out what the hell we’re going to do about this mess.”

“Mav—” Clover starts.

“I’m done talking about this,” he cuts her off. “I need time to think. Just… just stay safe. Both of you. And Phoenix?”

“Yeah?”

“If you hurt her, if you break her heart, if you so much as make her cry… brother or not, I will end you. Do. You. Understand. Me?”

“Understood,” I reply.

“Good.”

The line goes dead.

Clover and I sit in the silence, the weight of what just happened settling over us like a heavy blanket. The wedding rings on our fingers suddenly feel a lot heavier, and the reality of what we’ve done is a lot more complicated.

“Well,” Clover finally says, her voice small. “That went better than expected.”

I look at her as if she’s lost her mind. “Better than expected? We only just told him we’re together. How do you think he’s going to react to the actual marriage part?”

“He didn’t disown me,” she points out. “And he didn’t order you to stay away from me. Trust me, for Maverick, that was restrained. We’re just warming him up.”

I run both hands through my hair, the adrenaline crash hitting me hard. “Fuck. I should have handled that better. Should have eased him into it instead of just dropping it on him like that.”

“Hey,” Clover says, moving closer and cupping my face in her hands. “You were protecting us. Protecting what we have. That took courage.”

“Did it? Or did I just make everything ten times harder for you?”

“Phoenix,” she says firmly. “Look at me.”

I meet her eyes, seeing the determination there, the certainty.

“I don’t regret this,” she says. “Any of it. Last night, this morning, or telling Maverick the truth. Do you?”

I think about it for a moment, the potential consequences, the complications we’ve just created, the anger in her brother’s voice, and then I think about how she felt in my arms last night.

How she looks right now, fierce and beautiful and mine .

How she makes me believe I might actually deserve something good in my life.

“No,” I say. “I don’t regret it.”

“Good,” she states, leaning in to kiss me softly. “Because I meant what I said. I love you, Phoenix. Whatever comes next, whatever we have to deal with, I love you.”

“I love you too,” I say against her lips. “More than I thought I was capable of loving anyone.”

She smiles, that bright, sunlit smile that makes everything else fade away. “So, what now?”

“Now…” I say, rolling her underneath me on the bed, “… we celebrate our first morning as a married couple. Properly this time.”

“But Maverick—”

“Maverick already knows we’re together,” I point out, trailing kisses down her neck. “The damage is done. Might as well enjoy the benefits of being on his shit list.”

She laughs, the sound turning into a gasp when I find that sensitive spot just below her ear. “I like this rebellious side of you.”

“Oh, baby, you haven’t even begun to see the bad boy in me yet. You want choking and hair-pulling? I’ll show you my bad side.”

“I can’t wait,” she arches beneath me.

“Good,” I say, claiming her mouth with mine. “Because you’re stuck with me now, Mrs. Evans.”

“I can think of worse fates,” she murmurs against my lips.

And as I lose myself in kissing my wife, I can’t help but think that whatever hell we’re about to catch from her family, whatever complications we’ve just created, it’s all worth it.

She’s worth it.

We’re worth it.

Even if the whole damn world disagrees, I will burn it all down for her until there is nothing but us left standing in the ashes.

Clover wants a bad boy. Well, I was raised in hell.

If she wants me to be a Steel Serpent, I have the next two weeks to show her who I truly am.

And at the end, she will barely be able to walk.

Ask and you shall receive, Mrs. Evans .