“Because he's on edge. He doesn't trust there's not another rat in the ranks right now. Macbeth is his son, and whilst we all knew he was a treacherous bastard, we never thought he would take it this far. So, it's just me.”
“What about Hacksaw? Or Zach?”
Vienna simply shrugged. “They're keeping up appearances. I'm not planning on busting Dante out single-handedly. But I am following a lead. It makes sense that I wouldn't be at church,since I'm usually the one speaking to rats in other clubs or dealing with other charters of the Devil's.”
“I thought church was mandatory?”
“It is. But there's always an exception. Besides, I won't be missing it completely. I'll just be delayed.”
I thought about that for a moment, before I asked; “what lead are you following?”
“Yours,” he said, smiling at me as I frowned in response to him opening a car door. “You're not riding bitch on my bike. I love Dante like a brother, but even I know that doesn't make me immune to his temper. If he catches you on my bike, with your hands around my body, he'll kill us both without even blinking, wounded or not. Get in the car,” he finished, going around to the other side to climb behind the wheel.
“I’m allowed to be near other men, you know. Maybe his ego shouldn’t be so fragile and delicate if he can’t even stand the thought of me taking a lift.”
“The car is a lift. The motorbike means our bodies are touching, connecting, wrapped around one another. Which would lead to a metal pole wrapped around my head. You’re a lovely friend, Rachel, but you’re not worth it.”
Fair enough. Can’t argue with that logic.
“What made you decide to listen to me?” I asked as we both closed our doors.
“I was never not going to listen to you. Every lead is worth following up.”
“That’s not the impression I got. In fact—”
“You could just say ‘thank you’, Rachel.”
“I… Thank you.”
“Don't sweat it, kiddo. So, tell me about this great idea of yours?”
Chapter 9
Rachel
Vienna asked where we were headed, and I told him my suspicion about Ben being involved in all of this. He didn't show any surprise. He simply nodded at me and started driving.
That was the thing with Vienna. You never needed to explain yourself or defend your logic and reasoning. You said something, and as far as he was concerned, there must be a reason for why you thought it, so he was willing to see it through.
Vienna had to be one of my favourite men here. Appearances really could be deceiving. To look at him, you would never think the huge, tattooed, muscled biker with the beard hanging to his chest and ferocious scars could be the sweetest man on the planet, and yet he had never once done a thing to hurt me, either verbally or physically. He had endless patience for me, and endless patience for all the drama of the club.
Although, I suppose it was his job to be patient. He couldn’t exactly be the peacemaker if he was the one shit stirring when it came to important matters. I shouldn’t get carried away thinking he was doing this for my benefit when he was simply fulfilling his club duties.
Because, once again, it always came back to the club.
And what about Dante?My inner voice asked, and I had to suppress a cough of laughter.
Dante was a lot of things, but sweet and patient were certainly not one of them. I’m sure he had his sweet moments, but adding a scoop of sugar to a heaping pile of shit didn’t make that sweet either.
“Vienna?” I asked, wanting to voice something that had been on my mind for a while now.
“No, I'm not going to take a detour and go dogging with you, Rachel, and it's really irresponsible for you to have even asked me that.”
That was another thing about Vienna; you could never tell what the fuck was going to come out of his mouth.
“I find it concerning that's where your thoughts went. You were clearly thinking it.”
He shot me a sideways glance. “That's gaslighting, and I don't appreciate it. Men have feelings too, Rachel. I’m going to be bringing this up in church.”
