Page 46 of Whips and Chains (Saint View Murder Squad #2)

VIOLET

H ours later, every barstool and seat at Psychos was taken, despite the fact it wasn’t party night. It was a mostly Slayers crowd, as it often was, their motorcycle jackets slung on the backs of chairs, their bikes all lined up in a neat row in the parking lot.

But Travis was in the mix as well, this time sitting at the far end of the bar, shooting me pointed looks whenever I turned in his direction.

Bliss eyed him. “Say the word and I’ll throw him out.”

But I didn’t want to cause a scene, and he wasn’t even doing anything, other than sitting there, reminding me he existed and he wanted money.

Didn’t mean he was going to get any. Hell, did he really think I would be working two jobs if I had any money to give?

I wasn’t going to hit up my brother and ask him for cash for me, let alone for the foster brother I had no desire in having a relationship with.

I knew how it would work. If I gave him a dollar, he’d just come back and ask for two.

It was better to just ignore him entirely.

He’d lose interest eventually when he realized I wasn’t the payday he was hoping for.

Anyway, he wasn’t going to be doing anything when Levi was sitting at the bar, catching my hip every time I moved past him and drawing me in for a kiss.

It was terribly unprofessional behavior, but I was powerless to stop it. I craved the trail of his fingers and kept finding reasons to be near him so I could feel it again.

Despite Travis being in the room, I was happy.

Levi made me happy.

His drink was empty, and I poured him another, pushing the beer across the bar top. He wrapped his hand around mine and leaned over, kissing me as a thank you.

Bliss sighed beside me. “You two are so cute.”

I smiled against Levi’s lips. I wasn’t sure how a biker who’d done six years in a prison would feel about being labelled cute, but if he objected, he didn’t say anything.

The bar door opened, letting in a gust of cool night air, and butterflies mixed with relief lit up my stomach at the sight of Whip in the doorway. On the other side of the front windows was X’s ice cream van.

Levi followed my line of sight and raised a hand in Whip’s direction.

Recognition lit up Whip’s features, and he quickly made his way through the crowd to Levi’s side. He gave me a quick smile and a, “Hey, sweetheart.” But I didn’t even get a chance to respond before his gaze was back on Levi. “Can I borrow you for a minute?”

I eyed X outside, leaning against his van. He waved to me, but he was stiff, and didn’t make a move to come inside. His attention was focused on Whip and Levi.

X and Whip had been gone all day. Which I couldn’t argue with, even though it had made me feel sick for hours wondering where they were, and if they were okay. They had lives of their own and didn’t report to me, but last I’d heard from them, they were off burying a body.

“Is something wrong?”

Whip shook his head and cleared his throat. “No. Just want Levi’s advice on something.”

I didn’t want to pry into something that Whip clearly didn’t want to give me details on. We weren’t married. I wasn’t privy to every conversation they had.

They were allowed to have conversations without me.

I leaned in, grateful for the noise of the bar that drowned out individual conversations unless you were standing right next to the person.

“Can X come inside then? I really want to talk to you all about the ‘making me bait’ plan. I’ve been thinking about it all day, since we all agreed it was a good idea. ”

Whip leaned over the bar top and kissed me. His hand found the back of my neck, holding me in place, his tongue pressing at the seam of my lips.

Instantly, all words fled my brain, and I was kissing him back, my relief that he was standing right here in front of me after being gone all day too great to do anything else.

I was dizzy and slightly breathless when he let me go.

“Hold that thought, sweetheart,” he murmured. “I can’t stay right now, but I’ll come back at the end of your shift. Okay?”

I nodded, pressing my finger against my lips. “Sure.”

Whip gave Levi another look and jerked his head toward the door.

X was positively twitchy out by the van. I was suddenly concerned, more than suspicious.

Levi clearly noticed as well. “Will you be okay for a bit, Vi? Aloha and Fang are here if you need anything.”

I waved my hand in a shooing motion. “I’ll be fine. Go.”

He took one last swallow of his drink and set it down.

I slowly picked it up and rinsed it in the sink, watching Levi and Whip head back outside to X. The three of them stood in front of the van, X and Whip doing a lot of talking, and Levi’s expression changing from neutral to strained almost instantly.

“That doesn’t look good,” Bliss commented idly from beside me, where she was cutting up limes.

“No, it doesn’t,” I agreed.

Both of us stared as Whip yanked open the passenger door on the van and Levi hauled himself inside, Whip and X following.

Bliss raised an eyebrow as they peeled away from the curb with a spin of tires.

“I guess they’re in a hurry to get somewhere,” I muttered.

Bliss put the knife down. “Or they’re in a hurry to get away from the conversation you were trying to have with them.” She raised her shoulder in a half shrug. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. Scythe told me about what you’re planning though.”

“No, it’s fine. I shouldn’t have been trying to have a conversation like that in the middle of a bar while I was on shift.

” I stared at the empty space where X’s van had been moments before.

“It’s just they seem to be trying really hard to avoid talking to me about it.

Whip and X were conveniently gone all day, even though what they were doing shouldn’t have taken that long.

And that’s the second time they’ve distracted me with affection when I was trying to talk to them.

” I frowned, disappointed in myself for letting them bamboozle me with hot kisses and promises of delayed gratification.

Bliss gave a little laugh. “Ah yeah. The ‘distract her with an orgasm’ technique. I know it well. War has definitely used that one on me a time or two.”

I smiled at her, so grateful to have another woman who could actually relate to the weirdness my life had become. I had barely scratched the surface on everything Bliss had been through, but she was where I wanted to end up. Happy. Successful. With men and children who loved her.

It didn’t seem like too much to hope for, and yet it felt so very far away.

Bliss leaned her ample hip on the edge of the sink. “You know they’re never going to let you offer yourself up as bait though, don’t you?”

I paused, my hand midway to the dishwasher. “No. We talked about it last night. We all agreed it was the only way.” I pulled her a few steps away, toward Nash’s office behind the bar. “There’re people after them. Me. The same people who are responsible for Toby’s death.”

Bliss’s teeth sank into her bottom lip in worry. “Violet, that sounds really dangerous.”

“I know. But I can’t just keep being the victim either. Never knowing where this guy is going to show up or how. It’s driving me insane. I need to know who it is and why they’re targeting me.” My heart squeezed. “I owe Toby that much.”

My throat got all blocked up at just saying his name.

I missed him so freaking much.

Bliss and Nyah and Rebel were great, but Toby was the one I wanted to be spilling all my secrets to. It was Toby I wanted to sit on the couch with and dissect every detail of whatever I had going on with three men.

And I was never going to get to do that again because some psychopath wanted to play games nobody could win.

I couldn’t just spend my whole life waiting for the next time he’d come out of the woodwork.

I needed to face it.

And the guys had agreed. But now they seemed hell-bent on doing just about anything other than actually talking about how we were going to make it happen.

What on earth could they have possibly been doing all day that was so important?

There’s no way it took twenty-four hours to bury one body.

I’d been around them long enough to know they worked a hell of a lot faster than that.

And they’d clearly been keeping something from me just now.

“I’m going to have to do it myself, aren’t I?” I asked Bliss.

I couldn’t blame them for wanting to keep me safe. That was noble of them.

If I had to make a bet, it would have been the three of them were off working out how to find this guy and cut me out altogether.

The idea didn’t fill me with the peace I needed.

They weren’t there.

They hadn’t been the ones to listen to that countdown. To know your life was about to end and there was nothing you could do about it.

They hadn’t been the ones to hold Toby while he’d died.

I didn’t just want the person responsible dead.

I wanted to take their life with my own two hands. To stare them in the eye and make them feel the fear Toby had felt in his last moments.

Bliss let out a long sigh. “You don’t have to do it alone, or with them. We can go to War. Or Fang.”

I shook my head. “They’re just going to go straight to Levi, and then we’ll be back at square one with them kissing me and…doing other things until I forget I was trying to have a conversation with them.”

Bliss nodded. “Vi, I’m not encouraging you to do this.

I just know I’ve been in your shoes. And that guys like Levi and Whip and X…

” She sighed. “I know men like them. It’s like they’re born with double the dose of protective genes.

They aren’t deliberately trying to keep you in bubble wrap, they just can’t help it.

The idea of you being in danger short-circuits their brains and makes them dumb. ”

I stifled a laugh. “Sounds about right.” But then I sobered. “But I need to do this. They don’t know what it feels like to be the victim. To have all your power stripped away.” I stared at her with big eyes. “I need it back. I can’t stand feeling this scared and sad and pathetic.”

Bliss pulled me in for a hug, and I let her because I needed it. I was terrified of doing this alone, but I’d been terrified in that warehouse with Toby dying on my lap too.

I’d survived, but I’d never gotten to look the person responsible for his death in the eye.

And I needed to.

“I need to draw them out,” I told Bliss. “Somewhere public, but private enough that other people won’t be there in case…”

In case things went badly.

I didn’t want any more innocent people getting hurt.

“The bluffs.” Bliss peered through the window in the direction of the road that would take me up there. “There’s a storm coming in. Nobody will be up there when the weather is shitty. Visibility drops to practically zero as soon as the clouds roll in.”

My stomach churned at the thought of doing this tonight.

I wanted to run to the bathroom and be sick, but I also knew if I didn’t do it tonight, I might never do it.

“I’ll text the guys right as I’m leaving.

Telling them to meet me up there. To hide themselves in the trees.

” I swallowed hard. “I won’t be alone. I’m just forcing their hand. ”

Bliss cringed. “What if they don’t get the message in time?”

“They will. I’ll use their group phones. They religiously carry those with them at all times in case they need each other.” I shrugged. “This time, it’ll just be me who needs them. They’ll be there. If I tell them any earlier than that, they’ll try to stop me.”

“Agreed,” Bliss said. “I don’t like it, but I can see why it needs to be this way.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I’ll come with you.”

“You absolutely will not. You have kids to think about.” I swallowed hard. “And this is something I think I need to do for myself.”

I wanted the guys there to back me up. But it needed to be me who put herself out on the line.

Toby had done it for me, paying the ultimate price for my safety.

It needed to be me.

Bliss dropped my fingers reluctantly. “Okay. So that just leaves the question of, how do you get this guy to follow you up there? You could put a public post up on social media maybe? Say you’re going up there to say goodbye to Toby?”

My gaze bounced around the room, eyeing the familiar and unfamiliar faces, and finally settling on that of my foster brother. I had no proof he was involved, and yet my brain screamed warnings every time he was near.

It was awfully convenient that he was back in town right as all of this started happening.

And he was on the list.

I dragged my gaze back to Bliss. “Whoever this guy is, he’s followed me before. He’ll follow me again.”