“You wouldn’t even make it across the kitchen.” Viper pried her fingers off the knife she hadn’t even realized she was holding. “I know what you want. And you know what I want. I’m sure we can come to some arrangement that satisfies us both.” He laced his fingers through hers, and brought her hand to his lips, seemingly oblivious to Mario standing in the doorway. “And if not, I’ll just take you, although I would much prefer things to be the way they were when you wanted to be with me.”
“You severed that connection when you murdered Bill, and everything you have done since then has ensured it will never come back.” Her voice rose in pitch, and she wrenched her hand away.
“You don’t fucking get it.” Viper pounded his fist on the table, upsetting the plate of antipasto, and rattling the glasses. “The things you hold in such contempt I do for my club. I have to keep order. I have to keep control. Bill stole from us. If I didn’t send out a message, then every gang, every criminal, every MC would start circling. This is a world where only the strongest survive. And if you think the Sinners are not exactly the same, then you are totally and utterly naive.” He barked the last words and Evie stood so quickly, her chair crashed to the floor.
“They aren’t the same as the Jacks,” she countered. “They have honor and integrity. They have a creed and a code, and despite what they do, they have a sense of moral decency. Everyone in the club volunteered to help rescue T-Rex, despite the risks. Nothing was more important to them. They refused to leave a man behind. And yet, when your old lady was in the Sinner dungeon, you didn’t give a damn.”
“She knew better than to let herself get caught,” he spat out.
“And that’s where you’re different. No one said that about T-Rex. They honored him for his sacrifice. They admired him. And they mourn him.”
“Jagger killed my son.” Viper’s voice rose to a shout. “He turned my daughter against me. The Sinners kidnapped Doreen, burnt down Mario’s restaurant, and blew up my clubhouse without even considering that someone might be inside.” He stood and rounded the table, coming at her so fast she was forced to back away. “Where is the honor in that?”
“You killed your son.” She hit the wall and put out a hand to stop him. “Arianne told me what happened. You kidnapped her. You were trying to kill her and Jeff intervened. And you alienated her. You beat her and gave her to your VP when she was sixteen.”
“I would never have killed her,” he growled. “She was bait for Jagger. And when he showed up, I tried to kill him, but she was in the way.” He grabbed Evie’s wrists and pinned them to the wall on either side of her shoulders. “Don’t tell me there is any difference between the Jacks and the Sinners. And don’t use that as a justification for your decision to fuck a Sinner when you belong to me. What I do as president of the club has nothing to do with who I am as a man, and that’s who you wanted. Marcus. Not Viper. And that’s who wants you.” He bent down to kiss her and Evie turned her head so his lips landed on her cheek.
“You can’t have me. Not the way you want. Even when you want to be Marcus, Viper comes through. You want to kiss me and yet you’re hurting me. You want me to come to you willingly, and yet you kidnap my son to bring me here. Violence is in your nature. Violence is who you are. Violence for the sake of violence. Violence is your choice for achieving your ends. That’s the difference between you and Zane. He can be violent, but at heart he is not a violent man.”
Despite his outlaw life, the Zane she’d fallen in love with as a child was still there. Always trying to protect her, save her, keep her from getting hurt. She had no doubt, if he had known about Ty, he would never have left Stanton. Just as she had no doubt that he was on his way now.
“Jesus Christ.” Viper tightened his grip on her wrists. “Don’t you understand? I gave you Marcus. I have never asked a woman out. I have never gone on a date, nor have I ever walked away when I could have had a woman in my bed. I could have taken you the first time we met. I could have stripped off your clothes and fucked you over a table in your shop and no one—not Bill, or the mechanics, or any of my men—would have stopped me. I pretended to be a goddamn civilian for you, and I got nothing for it except to find out you’re fucking the enemy. I even spared T-Rex for you because despite his Sinner cut, he was trying to save your life.”
Her brain fuzzed with pain. Was T-Rex still alive? What about the body they’d found in the Black Jacks’ dungeon? “You’re hurting me.”
“And you hurt me. But no more. I will have you, Evangeline. Whether you are willing or not.” He thrust his knee between her thighs and kicked her legs apart.
“Don’t do this.” She struggled in his ironclad grasp. “Marcus … you’re just showing me I was right about you. Show me I’m wrong. Show me the humanity that I know you have inside you. Show me man who mourns his son and misses his daughter.”