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I was deemed too insane to deal with employees after I burned one of their eyes out for calling me scum.
It’s been a whole two days since I got to kill someone, and I’m getting restless.
He knows what I am—death. Ryder might be the face, Garret might be the enforcer, the muscle, and Kenzo the dealer…but me? I’m the fucking Grim Reaper.
“It seems Rob’s daughter is quite the legend. Name’s Roxy, owns that dive joint across town like he said. Lot of bastards even seem scared of the girl, others respect her. She ain’t going to be an easy take.”
Diesel’s face splits with a grin. “I think I’m in love. Do you think she would shoot me if I ask?”
They’re going to learn that money can’t buy obedience. I’m no man’s object. They are going to regret the day they took me. Vipers? Bitch, please, I bite too.
When you’re a kid, they tell you stories of monsters hiding under your bed or in the dark. They don’t tell you of the very real human ones. Those who prey on people weaker than them, or even the monsters that hide within ourselves.
They will never know how close I am to the edge. Diesel went over it a long time ago, but he learned how to live in the dark. Kenzo walks that line, and Ryder? Ryder holds it all back with pure fucking strength. Me? I beat it down.
“There is nowhere in this world you can go, nowhere you can escape us, princess.”
Roxxane hates that she wants me. Feeling is mutual, love.
Tomorrow, or I guess later today, I’ll put my careful walls back up and slip into a suit, changing back to the cruel leader of the Vipers, but here and now, with her sleeping against my chest, our legs entwined and fingers laced together…I let myself be weak. For just a moment. For her.
Like recognises like.
“So are you, Little Bird.” He winks before leaning in and kissing me hard, not seeming to realise I’m frozen. He pulls back, looking way too happy. “I told you, you’re ours, Little Bird, and you’re never getting away from us. This is just to show people. You wear our marks, we wear yours.”
Those who love us have the opportunity to hurt us the worst, and in my experience, they always do.
“I’m falling in love with you, darling,” I murmur, and she freezes. “Don’t, love has a way of changing to hate,” she whispers fearfully, and I lift my head. It’s my turn to hold her. “We started with hate, baby, I don’t think it’s going to go the other way for us. Love can hurt, I know that.” I look to the grave pointedly. “But it also gave me those stories, which I treasure to this day. Anyway, it’s not something you can stop, Rox.”
“I love you with all the broken, blood-stained pieces of me,” he murmurs, and then he’s gone. She gasps, stumbling back, and looks at me in shock.
“Roxy, I need you to listen for once and keep that pretty mouth of yours shut until I’m done. You’re the love of my life, darling. Someone I didn’t even know I was searching for all these years. But you’re here, and I love you more than words, which is why I’m giving you these keys. I know you can never love me the way I love you when you’re not free. I’m hoping, I’m fucking hoping, that even though you can leave, that you’re free, and I promise you are. We won’t chase you, we won’t hunt you. You are truly free…I’m hoping that you will still want to stay. With us. Love us, Roxy. I know I’m not
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“Stay, be ours. Keep Ryder sane, melt that ice and give him the love he never had but deserved. Love Garrett, even though he struggles to love himself. Love Diesel, even though it might kill you…and love me, even though I don’t deserve it. Be my greatest win.”
“I love you, Little Bird. You’re the gasoline to my fire. I never would have let you go, and the others wouldn’t have either. They are idiots if they thought they could,”
You can never be too careful, and with Roxy expecting me home, I find myself wanting to live.
Ryder Viper is a fucking weapon…to my vagina.
Lady Wick…nah, that sucks, I’ll come up with a kickass name on the way.
And now I will come for her, always. I will save her, and then I will damn her, making her mine forever. If there’s one thing I’ve learned since I found out she was gone, it’s that I can’t live without her. Not anymore. She worked her way under my armour, under my ruined skin to the fighter, the warped killer beneath, and she loved him and made him love her. She is my reason to breathe now, to fight my demons every goddamn day.
“Do you always keep your grenades there?” she inquires, the firing still going on around us. “Not always, sometimes I keep knives or tacos in it,” I murmur as I palm one.
“Tacos?” she echoes. “I get hungry when I fight.” I shrug and pull the pin, tossing one, and then cover her.
“If she wasn’t ours, I would totally stalk her, hack her cameras, watch her through the windows, the whole nine yards.”
‘Throw me to the wolves, and I will come back leading the pack.’
Is he behind this door? Fuck, let him be okay. I ain’t the praying type, but right now, I’m praying to anyone who will listen, God and Satan, ’cause let’s face it, if anyone is gonna have our backs, it’s probably my dude Satan.
“Wherever you are is home,” he whispers.
And when Garrett groans and opens his eyes, clashing with Roxy’s gaze, it’s clear that without her…we are nothing. What started as a business deal has grown into something much more than we could have ever imagined. A life. A home. Love.
Vipers never fall…unless it’s for a tattooed, foul-mouthed bar owner.
My heart cracks at his words. Ryder, God, my poor Ryder. So worried all the time. No wonder that ice is there, it keeps him and everyone around him safe from the fire within. D uses it, Kenzo blocks it, Garret unleashes it, but Ry? Ry lives in it.
why. Maybe it’s because I knew this was where I belonged. In your arms. So you have demons? Baby, they match mine. We can do this together, but no more icing us out. We are family. They won’t judge you, just like you don’t judge them. It’s time to let go, Ryder, let the ghosts die with that hotel, because you have so much more to live for now. And I will remind you every fucking day if you need me to. I will take it all, every bit of anger and destruction. Paint it across my skin, I’ll wear it gladly. I’m yours, Ryder, and you’re mine.” He searches my eyes. “Promise?”
