Page 14 of Vicious

“What do you mean?” My voice came out in a squeak.

“You’re seriously fucking this job up, kid.” His voice was stern, though it was more fatherly than rude. “Bear told me you spent the night in Viper’s room. What’re you doing?”

“I was just going through the photo albums, and I fell asleep,” I said quickly, scrunching my face at the silence that followed my excuse.

“Hannah, you know you’re family to me, right?” Vinny finally spoke, his tone taking a softer tone.

“Yeah...” I turned right as I made it to the highway, noting a huge block of bikers coming right toward me, signaling to make the turn toward the clubhouse.

“I usually tell you, whatever it takes to get the story, you know? Well, this isn’t like that. Those guys are like family—Viper included. I love the kid. He’s a solid guy, and I’ll always feel that way, but you don’t understand what you’re getting yourself into.”

“I’m not getting into anything,” I replied, my heart fluttering as I met the gaze of averyhot Viper passing the Tahoe. I gave a small wave...

But he didnothingin reply.

“I hope you’re not. I don’t want to see you get hurt, Hannah. I know things have been hard for you lately with all the family drama. I don’t want you to get into something that you’re not equipped to deal with. I know the appeal of the MC life, but Viper isn’t the kind of guy who’s going to put you first.”

“I’m aware.” I sighed, feeling sick at the mention of my family drama at the moment. There was nothing like your parents getting divorced after thirty-five years of marriage and two kids—it was a mess, and strangely painful.

But I was dealing with it just fine.

“Just... be cautious around him, Hannah. He should come with a warning label, you know. There’s a reason his nickname is Viper, for heaven’s sake. He’s not someone you get in bed with.”

Oof.

I hadn’t considered the background of his nickname. “I’ll keep that in mind, Vinny. But really,” I urged. “I’m not going to get into anything that I can’t handle.”

“I hope so, kid. Ireallyhope so.”

Me, too.

Chapter 6

Viper

“I don’t understand how we fucking missed the drop,” Tippy groaned, his hands running over his face. “Weneededto make this deal work. I’m supposed to be moving it to Vegas this week.”

“Man, I just don’t understand. There’s no way that we missed the drop,” I argued, shaking my head as the irritation burned in my chest. “I think we were undermined—or maybe they took our fucking money and just didn’t drop the guns. We’ve never done business with the Deadheads, and I don’t trust them.”

“They need this deal just as much as we do, and who would’ve undermined us?” Tippy dropped his hands. “Who the hell would’ve known that we were supposed to be there in the first place?”

“Someone who’s watching us,” I said in a low voice, leaning across the table. We were situated in the booth in the corner of Rosie’s. Thankfully, it was only the middle of the afternoon, so the place was devoid of customers—other than a couple of older men sitting at the bar. “I just think that someone slipped in and picked up the guns before we got there. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“You’re sounding fucking crazy.” Our president shook his head. “Silent Kings hate us, but they barely know the trade we’re in. We’ve only had a couple of transactions with DH. I think you just failed to set it up right. You admitted you didn’t send the confirmation text—too busy fucking that reporter.”

“Bro, Ineversend a confirmation text—I’m only supposed to reply if it’s not on,” I exasperated, annoyed by the anger in his voice. “There’s no way in hell that I would mess up a drop. Weneedthe money right now, and weneedthat relationship with the Deadheads in order to make the deal with Hernandez in Vegas.”

He was silent for a few moments, his dark eyes jumping between mine. “Yeah, okay, fine,” Tippy finally sighed. “There’s no point in fighting with each other over this. Just don’t fuck up the next shipment this weekend. I’ll push the run to next week.”

“Deal.” I reached for my beer, agreeing silently to disagree. I knew I hadn’t fucked up the transaction. All I cared about was the club...

And I still felt like something was up with it not going through.

“Before the rest of the guys show up, and we have to break the news that everything went wrong—and there will be no party tonight. I do think we should talk about the new visitor at the clubhouse, your reporter friend.”

My stomach tightened at the second mention. “It was just a one-time thing last night. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. I just haven’t gotten laid in forever. I don’t think she’ll be back around.”

“Bullshit.”

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