Winter tried to slide off Viper but he held her still. “I am so sorry about your brother,” Winter said softly.
“Rider, Knox, and Gavin were tight. They wanted to come up to Treepoint with him, but I wouldn’t let them. I didn’t want to scare everyone off before the deal went through and the house was ready for us to move into.” Tears filled Winter’s eyes as she saw he held the guilt of his brother’s murder inside.
“It wasn’t your fault Viper, it was no one’s fault except my greedy cousin.” She lowered her head to his chest. His hand moved to stroke the back of her neck.
“There is one more you haven’t told me yet who it is.” Viper redirected her attention.
Winter raised her head staring into his eyes seeing that he held no ill will towards her because of Vincent’s actions. Her attention returned to the tattoo gazing at the last symbol. She was almost sure the cards themselves were a clue but she was stumped.
“Joker?” Viper shook his head. “Ace? Poker?” At that a laugh rumbled through his chest.
“No.”
Winter gave it one more try. “Luck or Lucky?”
Viper’s laughter stopped and he looked at her in surprise.
“You are good. Congrats.”
“Is he in your Ohio house?”
“No, he’s still in the Seals. Lucky came out of the service for a while, during the time we started the club, but he missed the service.”
“Were you close?”
“All eight of us are close, but yes, Lucky and I were close. He is a good brother, one of the luckiest bastards I know.” His finger touched the hand of cards on his chest. “They call this hand of cards a Deadman’s hand. Lucky is one of the most lethal son of a bitch to ever be in the service and they give him the jobs men usually don’t walk away from.”
“I thought that went to Shade.”
“What do you mean?”
“His symbol covers the whole tattoo. He is the protector of the club, isn’t he.”
“He is our enforcer, yes,” Viper said carefully.
“I saw him lay out several of you during the picnic, all together it took four men to hold him back.” Winter didn’t try to hide the admiration in her voice.
“You saw that?”
“I could hardly miss it, I thought he was going to rip poor Charles’ head off.”
“Charles, who?” Winter tried to hide her smile at Viper trying to dodge the truth without telling an outright lie.
“Lily’s high school boyfriend, I’ve told you that before,” she reminded him.
“What makes you think he was after that kid?” Again he tried evasion, this time it was her giving him a look that doubted his intelligence. Did he not remember she was a principal of high school males, where they learned the bro code in the first place? Winter thought.
“Because Shade wants Lily?” Winter asked smiling wryly,
“What’s so funny?” Viper’s eyes narrowed on her.
“Well he is going to need Lucky’s good luck to accomplish that feat.”
“You don’t think it would work out?” The bro code reappeared again when he thought Winter didn’t think Shade and Lily would make a good match.
This time it was Winter who tried to dodge the question, sliding off Viper she got out of bed to go to the bathroom.
“Winter, he’s a friend of mine, I want to know,” he demanded when she came out. “Don’t you think he is good enough for her?” A trace of anger could be heard in his voice.
Winter stopped, gazing back at him before going to the closet and pulling out a towel needing time to think of how to answer his question. Wrapping the towel around herself, she walked back to the bed sitting down beside his sprawled body.
“Lily is a beautiful woman.” Winter tried to explain in a way that he would understand her hesitation at the possibility of a relationship between their two friends.
“She is attractive,” he admitted slowly.
Winter gave him a smile to let him know that she could never be jealous of Lily’s beauty. “She is beautiful inside and out.”
“She’s beautiful,” Viper conceded.
“Has Razer discussed this with Beth?” Winter asked curious.
“Beth refuses to discuss Lily.” Viper at this point realized that Winter knew the whole club was aware of Shade’s intentions for Lily.
“She is very protective of Lily, Beth is also a little oblivious where Shade is concerned.” Viper lowered his lashes and his face went impassive at her words. “I am not.” Winter’s voice turned hard.
“Say what you are getting at.”
Sighing she continued, “Lily has a lot of issues, and I don’t know Shade well enough to know if he will be able to handle her with the care she needs. If he screws up, he won’t get a second chance.”