Page 37 of Viking

“Did someone hurt you? Tell me now and I rip their fucking dick off and jam it down their throat.

I shake my head.

“Fuck, Arie. I know you can speak. Tell me why the fuck you’re running into my room gasping like Hel is chasin’ you.”

“I-I was l-looking for you.”

“What happened?”

“N-n-nothing. I-I just ...” I lower my gaze, because I can’t meet his angry expression without cowering.

“Look at me. Where the hell were you?”

I glance up with tears threatening to spill over my lashes. His gaze softens, his entire expression softens, and he releases his punishing grip on my shoulders. His thumbs stroke circles on my flesh and I break out in chills once more, though the difference in the sensations is vastly different. This time I’m not afraid. This time I want him to touch me, to keep touching me.

“I-I was e-excited to see y-you. When I heard your bikes, I was cooking with Meatball and Calamity. I raced outside with Calamity, but you weren’t there, and then all of these people and bodies were pressing in around me and I ... I panicked. I ran here, to your room.”

His fingers snake up into my hair. Viking cradles my head and lowers his lips to my ear. “I told you to stay in the room, where it’s safe. I don’t like coming back from a run and not finding you here.”

“Calamity was with me the entire time.”

“Until she wasn’t.” He releases me and steps back until I can no longer feel his warmth.

“Please don’t hurt her. She’s my friend.”

“And let me guess, cooking was her idea?”

“N-no. It was mine.”

He arches a brow and studies my face, and suddenly I want to hide. “Don’t bullshit me, little siren. This has that little upstart written all over it. And I’m not going to punish either of you for it. She’s Blue’s old lady, that means she’s protected.”

Viking turns away and heads to the dresser. He tosses a bag on the bed and then pulls a hoodie and several pairs of jeans from the drawers and places them inside the bag.No. He’s packing his belongings, but he only just came back.

“You’re leaving again?” I accuse, my voice cracking with the words.

“Yeah. We’re heading up north.” His lips curl into a crooked smile. “Don’t look at me like that, darlin’. Niko is the President of our New York charter. He thinks he’s found a lead on your island. Me and the boys are gonna ride up there and take a look, but I’ll be back in a few days. You’re gonna stay here, in this room, and you’re only going to answer the door to CJ or Meatball, got it?”

“No. N-no, please.” I throw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his big body, desperate to keep him close as tears stream down my cheeks. “Please don’t leave. Don’t leave me here alone again.”

“It’s not safe for you, Arie. Fuck, you’re a seventeen-year-old girl with no social security number, no birth certificate, no fuckin’ parents. How the hell is that gonna look if we get pulled over by the cops? I’ll be back in a few days once I know more.”

“You’re lying.”

“What?”

“You’re going to kill them. If you leave me behind now, you’ll go to the island, you’ll kill the Brotherhood, and I’ll never get revenge.”

“Revenge is overrated, darlin’.”

Anger boils in my veins. My breaths come too fast, sharp, and painful, as if I can’t get enough air.

How can he leave me behind? Why can’t he see I need to do this for myself? I want to witness the fear in the Brothers’ eyes as blood bubbles up around the blade and I watch them take their final breaths.

I sit heavily on the bed. “I’ll never get back the parts of me I lost, because I’ll never know if they’re truly dead.”

“Arie, we’re not talking about putting down a stray mutt. Killing someone is ... complicated. It’s harder than TV makes it look.”

“I’ve done it before,” I counter, all of my bravado leaving me the second the words are out of my mouth.

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