Page 103 of Vipers and Vendettas

When I get out of the kitchens, I make my way upstairs to change, but as I go up, I realize I don’t really have anything to wear outside the house. If we’re going to the club, they’ll all be dressed in suits, and I’ll stick out like a sore thumb in my leggings and hoodie.

I bump into Axel outside my room, and he takes my hand and brings it to his lips.

‘Are you coming with us?’ he asks.

I smile at his antics. He’s always touching me as if he can’t help himself now that I’m here, and he knows I’m not going anywhere.

‘Yeah, I was going to, but,’ I look down at my tight clothes with a frown, ‘I don’t think I have anything to wear.’

He gives me an almost hurtful look that confuses me. ‘You don’t like your clothes?’

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘I love the clothes I have here, but all the dresses are on-call girls’ outfits.’

At his blank look, I tilt my head to the side. ‘Axel, they belonged to girls smaller than me right now.’ I pull my top taut over my bump. ‘They don’t fit.’

His face somehow gets even more confused. ‘Come with me.’

He takes my hand and leads me into my room.

‘Have you been in your closet lately?’ he asks as he opens the door and turns on the light.

‘No, it’s full of stuff I can’t wear now, so I haven’t even bothered to?—’

He puts his face in his hands and lets out a laugh. ‘Come in and look, sweetheart.’

I enter the closet and gasp. There are rows of dresses and pantsuits I haven’t seen before.

‘These are all in your current, wearable sizes, Jules.’

‘But … I thought. You bought all these?’

He frowns at me.

‘Not just me, but of course. I mean,’ he grins, ‘we all love seeing you naked, baby, but you can’t have those pretty tits out on display all the time.’

‘I thought everything was from your on-call girls,’ I mutter.

‘No, Jules,’ he says slowly, ‘everything you’ve ever worn here was bought for you and you alone. You might say we all have a little problem where buying clothes and shoes for you is concerned, although Daemon does prefer to stick to lingerie.’

‘I didn’t know,’ I whisper.

He kisses me. ‘Well, now you do. All of us were making decisions based on you coming back for two years, babe; we just didn’t realize it. You know Maddox hated the library before you came along, right? He always worked up in his room. Said it was quieter. Then you said you liked to read there, and suddenly, the library was his favorite room. And the reading nook!’ He shakes his head and chuckles. ‘He had that thing created as soon as he had the cash for it after you left but wouldn’t tell any of us why it was so important.’

I gape at him. ‘Maddox had that madefor me?’

‘Of course, he did! Can you imagine Maddox in there with a book and a glass of port?’ Axel grins slyly. ‘Bet he’s already tied you up and fucked you in there too, hasn’t he?’

My eyes widen, and I splutter.

‘The tattoo he has,’ I murmur.

‘Oh, you saw that, huh?’ Axel laughs loudly. ‘When we saw it the first time, all of us saw your face in it, but hestilldoesn’t realize he designed it with you in mind. But we all made decisions like that while you were gone. We all just wanted you to come back, Jules.’

‘I wanted to come back too,’ I whisper.

He gives me a grin and takes a long black silk dress down off a hanger. He holds it up for me to see. I nod, and he takes it out of the closet and lays it on the bed for me.

‘I’ll meet you downstairs,’ he says.