Viper's Kiss (Back Down Devil MC #8)(92)

Maybe that’s what hurt Jett the most.

He took her back to the room and threw her to the bed. He shut the door, locked it, and put his gun down. He then grabbed his belt, took it off, and threw it at her. Lena rushed to kick up on the bed, gripping the sheets.

“What are you going to do?” she asked, her voice cracking.

“Thinking about tying you the f*ck up. But I’m not going to. I’m going to prove to you that I’m trying to trust you. And in return, you better f*cking talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“There is. How does Victor know Angelo?”

“You know Angelo?” Lena asked.

“We all know Angelo. He’s a dumb ass restaurant owner in town. He’s been getting hustled and beat up for years. Is that Victor doing it?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“There’s a woman named Annie,” Lena said. “She’s very sick. She’s dying. Complete confusion and whatnot. She needs care all the time. I think she’s somehow related to Angelo. It’s all a big family thing. Victor is waiting for Annie to die because she has money. Maybe Angelo has money and Victor is taking it…”

Jett shook his head. “This is all f*cked up.” Jett approached the bed. He looked down at Lena. “Why’d you run?”

“I left you a note to read,” Lena said.

Jett grabbed the note and ripped it up. “I don’t care about written words. I want to hear you say it.”

“This,” Lena said. “All of this. There’s no ties to us, Jett. No reason I was left dangling on your motorcycle. You were looking for a sign and there was none. So I wanted to slip away and get away so you didn’t end up in this mess. I stabbed him. I stabbed Victor. I didn’t kill him. And now he knows I’m alive and I’m here. He’s going to kill you. He’s going to kill me. He’s said before about coming after you guys.”

“Fuck him,” Jett said. “He’s in our town. In our territory.”

“You don’t know how big the family is.”

“I don’t care, Lena. And what would running get you?”

“It would save you.”

Jett took a deep breath. “My father was on the inside. Connected. He killed my mother. Because that’s how it all went. And I was supposed to go along that path but I didn’t. I fought away from that path for my entire life. I know what it feels like, Lena. I know. I’m not going to let you run out there and get killed.”

“Miller wants me dead too,” Lena said. “Rightfully so. If he orders you… or he just wants to…”

“I’ll take care of Miller,” Jett said. He then sat on the bed. “You just have to tell the f*cking truth. I know you’re afraid. I know you’re worried about the truth. You’ve lived in lies your entire life, right?”

Lena nodded. Her eyes quickly filled with tears. “Everything is a lie.”

“But you’re not,” Jett said. “Your beauty. Your eyes. Your body. None of that is a lie, Lena. I’ll protect you. I’ll help you. I’ll take on Victor. I’ll take on anyone.”

“For me?”

Jett made fists and looked at them. “For everything. I’m not going to let that shit come into this town. We don’t back down from a fight. We keep going, and going, and going. It’s how we survive. And we’ll survive this.” Jett looked at Lena again. “And you’ll survive it too. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be danger. Lots of f*cking danger. It’s kind of our thing around here.”

“Yeah,” Lena said. “I know danger. I’ve seen Victor hurt people. Kill people. I’ve seen what his guys do to people.”

Jett reached and touched Lena’s soft cheek. “Whatever you’ve seen, beautiful, is nothing compared to what we can, and will, do. Angelo is a piece of shit to us, but he’s in Frelen and he deserves our protection. We’re going to need you to make all this happen. So I’m going to offer something really stupid…”

Jett couldn’t believe what was coming from his damn mouth. Maybe it was years of staring into the empty eyes of a lot of women. Maybe it was that forced attempt at something when he looked into Ada’s eyes. But the second Lena opened her eyes, he knew whatever he thought he had with Ada was a complete joke and lie. She f*cked him for protection, and he f*cked her because it felt good. That was it. The sting of loss caused by her murder was that Jett didn’t have her to f*ck anymore.

Now he had Lena.

And now it had a different feeling to it.

“Something I’m going to regret for different reasons,” Jett added.

“What?”

“Leave. Right now. I’ll toss you on the back of my ride and take you to a bus stop. Grab a ticket east or north and just go. Be gone from all this shit.”

“What will happen to you? They’ll blame you.”

“Fuck that,” Jett said. “I can make something up.”

“You’d do that… for me?”

Jett cupped Lena’s cheek and nodded. “I can’t explain it, Lena. But I’d do that for you. Because I know you’re not meant for lying and this messy life. If someone could have given me an out…”