Page 28 of Vengeance (Ruthless MC 4)
And I know Hyena thought I was safe because he assumed I took her in the bathroom earlier. But having her in my lap for breakfast was unbearable. That was the real reason I tried to hand her off to Des.
“Seriously, man. Why are you holding back?” Des-E asks, as if he’s read my thoughts and has decided to use more of his precious words to try to talk some sense into me. “This situation with her is paradise. Why are you trying to ruin it?”
“I’m not trying to ruin this,” I insist to Des-E. “I just…”
They wait. But I have no explanation, other than not trusting that this could be real. Not believing that we could actually be getting what we want—who we want after all this time pining after the smart, beautiful doctor.
And Hyena sighs and says, “Well, I’m done with this cute board. I think it’s time to bring it upstairs, and maybe we can give her that special gift to make up for Vampire’s behavior.”
Des-E snaps his fingers.
“Great idea!” he says before jumping up to grab the surprise we’ve been keeping in his room downstairs.
And I guess I could stay behind. Make myself a bowl of non-soggy cereal for breakfast instead of going upstairs with them.
They’re right. Having her here is a dream come true. But I gave up on dreaming. A long time ago.
I’m not like them. I can’t just throw myself at happiness. To me, happiness looks exactly like a grenade. I don’t trust it. Especially when it comes in the form of one tantalizing woman.
But I guess I’m not completely hopeless. In the end, I trail after Hyena and Des-E up the stairs. And I hang back to watch from the shadows as she tells Hyena it’s obvious I don’t want her, and he responds with a partial version of my truth.
“It’s not that he doesn’t want you. He’s just scared to want you is all…”
There’s a reason Des-E and Hyena would follow me into hell if I asked them to. I saved their lives after a mission went wrong back in the Middle East, and in their minds, that means they owe me—forever. Yeah, according to them and the medal I received after that mission, I’m some kind of courageous hero.
But I’ve never felt like more of a coward as I listen to him explain to the woman who chose us why I all but pushed her off my lap.
She doesn’t look like she believes him. But he manages to steer her away from that subject. And I get to see her whole face light up a few moments later when we present her with our gift.
“Oh, my goodness, are you serious? I can’t believe you got everything I need to study for the boards!”
She throws her arms around Des-E and smacks him loudly on the lips—then Hyena.
It was my idea to grab her backpack, with her laptop and all her study stuff, before we extracted her from the house. But I don’t go in to get a hug and kiss of my own. I just watch.
That’s all I deserve. It doesn’t matter how grateful she is for the gift. We could have lost her. Because of me.
“Basically, I have to memorize this whole book and take a bunch of practice tests,” she explains to Des-E and Hyena, pulling a thick textbook out of her backpack and setting it down on the table next to the armchair. “Did you manage to grab my flashcards too?”
She rummages through the backpack and answers her own question with a squeal. “Yes! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
More hugs, but Hyena says, “It was V’s idea.”
He nods toward me. And her expression becomes a lot less happy when she finally notices me standing at the door. Like a creep.
“Thank you too.” Her voice is the total opposite of Elissa’s. Stiff and formal.
I match her tone with a cold, “You’re welcome.”
But I can practically hear Des-E urging me to do better. So I add, “How can we help?”
“Oh, I don’t—” she starts to say.
I take a step closer. “If you try to say you don’t need help, we’ll make a rule about you only being allowed to study if we’re in the room with you.”
Doc glares at me. But also suddenly figures out how to delegate.
As wary and unsure of herself as she appeared when she offered us her virginity, she seems to know exactly what to do with us when it comes to divvying up study tasks.
She puts Hyena on running flashcards. “Since you like a lot of back and forth,” she tells him with a teasing grin.
And she puts Des-E on grading her practice tests.
And as for me…
She tips her head back to regard me with a thoughtful look. “You seem like you have a lot of natural project management skills. Could you be in charge of keeping us on a schedule? You know, making sure we don’t get so distracted by the other stuff that I don’t hit my study goals?”
