Page 31 of Vengeance (Ruthless MC 4)
And I begin to wonder if Hyena wasn’t wrong about her being perfect for all three of us.
But then she starts saying the right things. Not just the right things, the perfect things. Right before she asks him for a kiss.
Vampire pauses—for way, way too long. And not that I would know much about the genre, but I suspect that if this really was a rom-com, Doc would start second-guessing herself and try to run off at this point. I can almost hear Hyena chanting, Don’t fuck this up.
But then Vampire steps forward and pulls her in by the back of her neck. Real truth, it’s more Ryan Gosling than Disney rom-com. The Mouse doesn’t allow tongue—I’ve heard.
But it’s a solid first kiss. I almost can’t blame Hyena when he yells out, “Woo-hoo. It’s about time!” like he really is watching a rom-com.
Except the female lead in our new favorite rom-com isn’t allowed to wear clothes or sit on any surface that isn’t a bed or a toilet.
Or a counter that we put her on.
That one rule gets added to the list the next day when I can’t resist taking her before her morning bath. Then after hearing the story, Hyena decides to do the same on the kitchen counter to abide by the having-sex-with-someone-else rule.
She and Vampire might be keeping it PG-13 with lots of make out sessions all over the house. But Hyena and me stay R-rated. At least before breakfast and after dinner, according to the study schedule Vampire comes up with for all of us.
Over the next two weeks, we fall into a routine. After breakfast, Hyena studies with her, using the flashcards Vampire picked out. Then I take over after lunch with whatever practice test Vampire slated for the day. Hyena and me get to have her to ourselves after dinner. But before her last meal of the day, Vampire comes in for a session that’s half strategy and half making out like teenagers on the bed.
He's still awkward sometimes. They both are. But every day that goes by, he seems to get more and more comfortable with her. No more pushing her off his lap. In fact, he swaps out his morning bath time for always getting to feed her breakfast himself.
And when I ask him how he’s able to keep his hands off of her, he just shrugs and says, “Yeah, I want her. More than I’ve ever wanted anybody in my life. But it’s enough to be around her. She’s the couple of hours I look forward to most in the day.”
I mean, that almost sounds poetic. Maybe he really is morphing into a rom-com hero. Not that I’d know anything about that.
The happy-and-falling-for-each-other movie montage hits a record scratch about a week before Christmas, though.
A knock sounds on my bedroom door right after her dinner, and I jolt a little when I open it to find Doc.
I jolt a little. She’s never come down to my room before. I always come to her after Hyena shoots me a text.
“Hey,” she says. “I hope this is okay. Hyena went to do some laundry because I guess that’s a thing everybody in this house has to deal with except me.”
I chuckle at her good-humored jab. She’s funny. But not like Hyena. She’s somehow wry without being mean, and it always feels like I’m laughing with her.
She raises both hands. “I know I’m not allowed in your room. That’s against the rules. I’m just—you know, worried. I can’t take the boards without finishing my residency. And I can’t stick to the rules here in Nebraska while I’m supposed to be in Tennessee finishing up at Nashville Baptist. You see me studying like a beast here. I just want to make sure I’m not wasting my time.”
Prickles go up in the back of my head. She’s fishing for information. Vampire warned us about that—that she might try to come after us individually.
I can’t blame her. By the time she’s done with her residency, she’ll have put in twelve years of work to just get to the point where she’s allowed to sit for the licensing exam.
But Vampire’s still figuring out the logistics of her finishing up her residency here in Nebraska during our safe house season. Plus, everything we’ve got planned after that. Even I’m not clear on all the details. There are a few working parts, a lot of them complicated and time-sensitive.
Besides, as Vampire reminded us at that morning meeting the day after she gave herself to us…
“We do not want to present this woman with a half-ass plan.”
Hyena agreed. “That’s right. She is not one for that loose plan stuff. I’ll tell you that.”
And I had to agree too.
But now Doc’s at my door, looking for some kind of reassurance.
I think about all those times she talked to me about her life as a resident. Told me things she wouldn’t necessarily tell other people. Because even if she couldn’t admit it to herself yet, I was the person she wanted to seek out when she had a bad day. The one member of Vengeance she actually felt comfortable enough to talk to about her work stuff.
