Page 30 of Vengeance (Ruthless MC 4)
“You could try to run,” I clarify.
My chest constricts with that possibility. But I channel some of Hyena’s charm to add, “Or you could stay here with us and study for your boards, just like we planned. I know you like a good plan.”
She considers me for a long beat. Then seems to decide to agree. “Yes, I like a good plan.”
Another awkward silence descends. I shift from side to side, and she squeezes the backpack even tighter under her folded arms.
Hyena would know what to do here. He’d say something funny to make her laugh, then hug and kiss her. But…
“I’m not…I’m not Hyena. He’s good at this stuff. I’m not even Des-E. He hates to talk. I…” I swallow hard. “I just can’t.”
“Unless you’re giving orders or issuing threats.”
A smile ghosts across my lips. “Unless I’m giving orders or issuing threats.”
More silence. Maybe short blurts of conversation are all we’re capable of.
Des-E’s right. I’m fucking this up. I’m the weak link in this quad we’re trying to make happen. At this point, it feels like I have two choices.
Leave with an awkward excuse or…
Just leave.
I’m leaning toward B when she says, “Vampire?”
“Yeah?”
“You know, you don’t have to be like Des-E and Hyena. I understand you guys are a package deal. But maybe—” She carefully unfolds her arms but keeps her eyes on her feet. “Maybe we could be different. Maybe, with each other, we could be who we really are deep down inside—two awkward high schoolers who genuinely can’t believe this is happening and are trying really hard not to freak out.”
Finally, she raises her eyes to meet mine. But this time she doesn’t fold her arms over her breasts.
“Like, if Hyena’s an R-rated sex comedy. And Des-E is an intense dark romance. Maybe we’re a slow burn. We don’t have to have sex—not until you feel you can trust me. We can be one of those high school rom-coms where people cheer just because we finally kissed.”
First of all, I’m turning forty in a couple of years. Second of all, I took her ass two days ago.
This is all to say, we are in no way a high school rom-com.
But my heart thunders in my chest, and my stomach tightens like it did during that playoff game, right before my cousin Keane shot the winning goal against the Montreal Snow Owls, the Boston Hawk’s biggest rivals. And “More Than a Feeling” started blasting because we were headed toward our first Stanley Cup in over a decade.
“So how about it?” Doc was so psyched to get her study materials earlier. But now she lets her backpack slip down to the floor like it doesn’t matter.
Not as much as my answer to her next question.
“Want to have our first kiss?”
CHAPTER 14
DES-E
For the record, I do not like high school rom-coms. If you click on the avatar above the D in the account I share with Vampire and Hyena and look at my "Watch Again" list for Netflix, you will not find anything below a hard R. Narcos, Queen of the South, all that old Hong Kong and new Taiwanese mafia triad shit. That’s what I like to watch.
Officially.
But after a long season of activities that can range from maiming to killing, do I sometimes open up an incognito tab on my laptop and log in to the old account I still share with my family back in Texas?
Do I maybe make myself a big pour of tequila and, you know, chill out with a Christmas movie where no illegal shit whatsoever happens and either a single woman from a big city or a high school girl gets over herself and her generic issues in time to get a Christmas kiss?
Was I one of the fifty-three people Netflix called out for watching A Christmas Prince every single day for eighteen nights straight when it first came out?
And do I know all the words to every song from High School Musical, The Descendants, that random Z-O-M-B-I-E-S movie, and pretty much every Disney film with any romance in it that’s released during the current millennium?
No comment.
I’ll just say, when we walk out of the room to leave Vampire and Doc to it, I’m the one who motions at Hyena to leave the door open and peep around the corner to watch them hopefully make up. You know, classic Hannah Montana. Or so I’ve heard.
Luckily, Vampire has his back to the door, so he’s not catching us in one of his perimeter scans. And Doc’s so busy looking at the floor, she doesn’t see us either.
It does not go too hot at first. Vampire’s shifting from foot to foot, like he’s about to sprint any second. And when he finally gets real with her, she accuses him of being a nerd. I can see how red his neck turns all the way from the door.
