Page 42 of Whips and Chains (Saint View Murder Squad #2)

LEVI

V iolet sat up, still impaled on my softening cock, her eyes huge. She stared at the door Whip had just slammed behind him, and then gazed down at me. “Did I do something wrong?”

She covered her tits with one arm, suddenly self-conscious, the other hand grappling for the sheets.

A hot rage filled me. I bucked my hips, flipping her down onto the mattress and kissing her mouth hard. “You are fucking perfect. He’s what’s wrong.”

I pulled out of her with a groan and grabbed my pants.

“Where are you going?” She tucked herself into the sheet.

“To ask him what the hell is problem is!”

“Levi! You don’t need to—”

But I was already storming out of the room, barefoot, trying to do my pants up as I went.

Everyone still left in the common room looked up as I crashed through it, all eyes on me. I did a quick glance around the room, searching for Whip. But I already knew he wouldn’t just be there, hanging out and drinking beers.

He’d left the room like he wanted to be anywhere else.

I ran for the door, and once I was outside, I hooked right, knowing he’d be headed for the gates, his car on the other side of them.

“Whip!”

He stiffened, his form barely visible in the dark night. The road to the gates wasn’t lit, but the light from the clubhouse and a full moon helped.

“Go back to Violet,” Whip said quietly. “I’m going home.”

I ran along the path, not exactly sure why, just knowing it pissed me off that he was walking out like Violet was one of his clients he could just fuck and then leave.

Like I was one of his clients he could fuck and then leave.

Even though I was acutely aware it was exactly what I’d done to him after I’d blown him in X’s bedroom.

I didn’t care. The two of us hurting each other was one thing. Hurting Violet was a different story altogether.

“Whip!” I ignored the rocks stabbing at the soles of my feet. “Fucking hell, would you just stop for a second?”

He didn’t, but maybe he slowed, because I caught him, grabbing his arm, spinning him back to face me.

We both breathed hard, me from the run, him from I didn’t know what.

We were so fucking close our breaths mingled.

“What the fuck was that?” I forced my brain to make coherent words, even though being this close to him did things to me that made it really hard to concentrate.

His voice was low and sharp, with a strong hint of bitterness. “It was sex, Levi. Get over it.”

“Get over it?” I reared back, blinking at him. “I’m not going to fucking get over it. You just walk out without a word? She’s in there asking me what she did wrong. What the fuck am I supposed to tell her?”

The clubhouse door banged open again, but neither of us turned back to see who it was.

Whip shook his head. “She didn’t do anything wrong. Go tell her that. Fuck. She did everything right. Too fucking right.” He ran his fingers through his already mussed-up hair. “I need to go.”

Maybe it was the alcohol.

Maybe it was the way I hadn’t been able to keep my eyes off him while he’d been inside her.

Watching him fuck, watching him lose control…

I’d been jealous of Violet in that moment.

Jealous of his hands on her body. Jealous of the time he’d taken with her, building her up, always concentrating on her.

All I’d been able to think about was what it would feel like to have his hands and attention all on me.

To trust him with my body the way Violet had trusted him with hers.

Now I was fucking glad I hadn’t, since apparently, he could fuck like that and then just walk on out like it hadn’t meant anything.

“You’re such an asshole,” I swore at him. “What the hell is your problem?”

His fist connected with my face so fast and hard I didn’t even have time to react. I stumbled back, surprise hitting me just as abruptly as his fist had. The force of it threw me into a soft body behind me. On instinct, I grabbed her, steadying us both so I didn’t take her down with me.

But I didn’t understand any of this.

Since when did Whip lose control like that?

I hadn’t even seen Violet come out of the clubhouse. But she was there, wrapped in nothing but the sheet from my bed.

“What the hell, Whip?” Her gaze ran all over me. “Are you all right?”

I gave a curt nod, though one side of my face where his fist had connected throbbed. But I’d had worse. I was fine, apart from a burning need to punch Whip in the dick for being such a cunt all of a sudden.

But I didn’t get a chance. Because Violet was all over him, her anger palpable.

She turned blazing eyes in his direction. “You’re punching him now? What are you doing?”

He swore, his regret was written all over his face. He threw his hands up. “I don’t know. Okay? I don’t know!”

She was a bigger person than I was because something instantly softened in her. It took me a few seconds longer, but the anguish in his voice, and the way he tugged at his hair, eventually got to me too.

He scrubbed his hands over his eyes. “I don’t know.”

Violet stepped in, pulling his hands away and peering up at him. “What did I do wrong?”

That got him. He stopped and cupped both sides of her face. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. This is all me, not you. You…” He sighed. “Fuck, Violet. You are so fucking perfect.”

“I’m not, or you wouldn’t be running away from me right now.”

He groaned, dragging her in tighter. “It’s not you—”

“Yes, it is,” she cut in. “I’ve heard the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech a thousand times. I know it’s me.”

He kissed her fiercely, claiming her lips so passionately I felt like I was intruding and had to look away.

“It’s not you,” he said again. “It’s how much I want you. And how much it’s going to kill me when you pick him.”

I lifted my head, my gaze meeting his.

Violet opened her mouth and tried to answer, but Whip shook his head.

“I had a wife once. Two kids. A family. A normal life.” He sucked in a deep breath, trying to continue, even though it was clearly agony for him. “People I cared about. And when I lost them, I died too.”

Violet didn’t say anything. Just stared up at him, her fingers wrapped tight around his, like that might keep him from running away again.

“What happened to them?” I asked bluntly.

He stared at me, his eyes broken. “A drunk driver hit our car one night when we were on our way home from my son’s Little League game.

It was barely five in the evening, and this guy was six sheets to the wind.

” He swallowed hard. “Car flipped. The three of them were killed. I walked away without a scratch.”

My stomach sank, twisting with a sick feeling of regret and sorrow and pain.

Violet’s gasp was only muffled by the way she clapped her hand over her mouth. “Whip…”

I shoved my fingers into my pockets. “Shit. I didn’t know…”

Whip lifted a shoulder. “Nobody does. First rule of murder squad. No personal details, right?” He laughed bitterly. “Except I screwed that up. Kissing you. Fucking around with you. I kept blurring the line, and now I’ve crossed so far over it I can’t even see it.”

He gazed down at Violet. “I just can’t do this again.

It hurts too fucking much. You love Levi.

You have since the day I met you. Whatever we just did…

it’s only going to end in both of us getting hurt.

And that’s the last thing I want for you.

” He gave her a tight smile and tucked her hair behind her ear.

He let her go and stepped back toward the gates again.

Suddenly, I was really fucking scared that if I let him walk through them, then I might never see him again.

“What if she didn’t have to choose?” I blurted out.

They both stared at me.

But it was Whip who saw through it first. “What if Violet didn’t have to choose?” He swallowed hard. “Or what if you didn’t?”

His words hit deep. Too fucking deep, in a place I wasn’t ready to fully admit to. I didn’t know what I wanted from Whip.

All I knew was I didn’t want him to walk away.

That it might end me if he disappeared in the night, and I didn’t know where he was or if he was okay.

Fuck.

I didn’t know how to say any of that. My tongue felt ten sizes too big for my mouth, and I couldn’t get out the words.

Violet took pity on me. “It’s late. We’ve been drinking.

Nobody is going anywhere tonight.” She swallowed hard.

“Nobody has to choose anything right now. I need you both. Tomorrow, or next week, or sometime soon, I’m going to be offered up on a platter for a psychopath.

But for tonight, I’d really like to forget about that and sleep knowing I don’t have to keep one eye open. ”

She stared up at Whip, clearly already knowing I wasn’t going anywhere. “Please stay. I don’t want you to leave.”

His resolve crumpled. “Okay, sweetheart. Whatever you want.” He put his arm around her neck, drawing her into him, breathing deep the scent of her hair.

They walked back toward me and the clubhouse.

I readied myself to trail behind them, following them back inside.

But Violet, with her sheet tucked in on itself so she didn’t have to hold it up, caught my wrist as they passed, her fingers sliding down, palm pressing against mine until we were holding hands.

That’s how we returned to the clubhouse. Whip’s arm around her. Her fingers wrapped around mine.

A public declaration that nobody was choosing anything.

At least not tonight.

I woke to the creaking of the bed, my back smushed up against the wall but Violet’s soft, curvy, very naked body curled up in front of me. I snaked a hand around her belly, barely awake, but my fingers heading straight down to cup her pussy.

She moaned in her sleep, and without even opening my eyes, I massaged her clit.

“Are you leaving?” she asked.

“Are you insane?” I mumbled into her shoulder, inhaling the scent of her skin. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“She meant me.”

I cracked open an eye to see Whip off the bed and putting on his clothes. “Oh. You.”

He rolled his eyes but leaned down, sinking his palms into the mattress so he and Violet were face-to-face.