Eve listened intently and carefully. She set out with the best intentions; she was going to withhold any judgment until she had all the facts. But the more the whole sordid tale unfolded, the more absurd it seemed to her.
Douglas Taylor was one of the founding members of the Diamondbacks, as well as their former president. He was a middle-aged man who gave it all for his club and who was more than happy, when the time came, to step down and hand the reins over to Alec. He stayed on as vice president, supporting the MC and remaining one of the most important elements whose contribution was vital on all operations. He was respected and well-loved.
So was his old lady. Margaret Taylor was pretty as a flower and tough as nails. She was the only one who could take Douglas’ infamous bad temper in stride and cool his head when it got too hot. Her death sent Taylor over the edge. And it was brought on by Lind.
It had been an accident, Lucas said. An operation gone horribly wrong. The Diamondbacks and the Sicilians had been rivals since the very beginning, fighting over territory and deals. Skirmishes, mostly, but lately the Italians had grown bolder and more violent. The last drop came when they killed one of the Diamonds. That’s when Alec decided that enough was enough and the matter would have to be settled once and for all.
The Sicilians’ president wasn’t as young as Alec. In fact, he was from Douglas’ generation and had founded his club in the same way that Taylor had founded his. Everyone knew that the best way to get to Mastropopolo would be through Douglas—specifically, through Douglas’ wife. Filippo Mastropopolo had asked Margaret to marry him once, but she had turned him down in favor of Douglas. The Italian had never gotten over the insult.
It had been Lind’s idea to use Margaret as bait. Douglas had opposed it, but his old lady was also tired of the Italians’ violence and was hell bent on playing a role in making it stop.
It went wrong. Somewhere along the line, some part of the gear got jumbled. The Italians had gunned Margaret down before any of the Diamondbacks waiting to ambush them had the time to even blink.
Douglas never forgave them. He always blamed Lind, and he quickly spiraled until he took drastic measures. His first and, so far, only attempt at killing Lind had fallen short. The Diamondbacks burned his ink off his back and all but exiled him. The only reason why they didn’t kill him was because Lind refused to let them do it. Taylor had sworn revenge, but they hadn’t heard from him since.
Now, five years later, he had resurfaced, and he was apparently madder than ever.
Eve absorbed every word quietly and let it sink in for long, still minutes after Lucas had stopped talking. Her head was reeling.
“I only know the story from secondhand,” he said, breaking the silence. “I wasn’t around yet when it happened. But I think Lind blames himself for what happened, too.”
Well, he should, Eve thought, ferociously. She was even taken aback by the fierceness of her thoughts. Still, she couldn’t help it. As much as she had made it a point not to judge, it was very hard not to. What kind of man used a woman as bait? What kind of man willingly put an innocent in danger?
She shook his head. She needed time to process everything that she had just heard.
“Are you okay?” Lucas asked.
Eve hesitated. She briefly considered lying, but what was the point, really? “No,” she said quietly.
“Shit.” Lucas cursed softly. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you. Please, don’t say anything to Lind.”
“Believe me, I have no intention to.”
Eve could only imagine how that conversation would play out.
“I need some food,” she said.
Lucas looked at her in surprise.
Eve shrugged. “I’m a nervous eater.”
He nodded as if he got it, which he clearly didn’t.
Eve put in the call for a late night pizza, and when the delivery guy came, it was Lucas who got the door and gave him the money. It was a small thing, but it resonated horribly with Eve tonight. She couldn’t even greet the pizza man at her own door. She had hoped that, once she knew the truth of why this was happening to her, she would have coped better with the situation. Instead, it only made it seem more grotesque. It only made her angrier.
They shared the Hawaiian pizza at the kitchen table. The silence was heavy, and Lucas spent most of the meal throwing her nervous glances. He was clearly waiting for her to explode, which Eve thought she couldn’t fault him for. After all, she wasn’t quite sure what her final reaction would be either. She always knew that Lind had done less than commendable things in the past, but what she had learned tonight put him in a completely different light from Eve’s perspective.
“It was because I didn’t have anyone else,” Lucas said suddenly.
Eve looked up at him. “Huh?” she said.
“Earlier you asked me why I joined the Diamondbacks,” he clarified. “It was because I didn’t have anyone else.”
“What about your family?” Eve asked.
“I never met them,” Lucas said, and he said it so carelessly and matter-of-factly that Eve actually winced, feeling a tug at her heartstrings. “I was raised in an orphanage.”
“I’m sorry,” Eve offered sincerely.
He shrugged. “Don’t be.” He took a swig of his second beer, which he was clearly struggling to make last. “Anyway, the Diamondbacks became my family. When you don’t have anyone, it’s only natural to gravitate towards a dynamic that offers you protection. Eventually, bonds very similar to that of family are formed.”
Eve stared at him. It was a pretty accurate social analysis, one that she would not have been expecting from a biker, not even from one as out of the ordinary as Lucas. “How are you so smart?” she blurted out before she could think about what she was saying. She cringed as soon as the words were out of her mouth. “Shit,” she said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it in a condescending way.”
“It’s okay,” Lucas dismissed easily. “I know what you meant. And to answer your question,” he said, biting down on a massive slice of pizza, “I went to college.”
Eve blinked, taken aback. Now that she had not seen coming. “You have a college degree?”
“Actually, I’ve got two.”
Eve’s eyes widened. “Two?”
“Yep.” Lucas grinned, clearly enjoying her shock. “One in psychology and one in social studies.”
Eve shook her head, impressed. “Seriously, what are you doing in a motorcycle gang? A mind like yours could be doing so much better.”
For the first time since she had met him, Lucas’ features actually hardened. “I don’t want to do better,” he said, his voice suddenly distant. “I am doing better. The Diamondbacks are better to me. They’re my family.”
Eve cringed. “I’m sorry,” she said, as sincerely as she could. “I didn’t mean to offend.”
“Let me ask you something,” Lucas said. “If you’re so convinced that we’re the devil, why are you even with Lind?”
Eve did her best not to show him just how deep his words cut. They hit her square in the chest like a well-packed punch.
Apparently, though, she wasn’t doing a great job at masking her emotions, because it was Lucas’ turn to cringe visibly.
“Aw, hell,” he said, groaning. “I’m sorry, Eve. I didn’t mean it. I just get defensive, that’s all.”
“No, you’re right,” Eve said, dismissing his apology. “I was out of line.” She swallowed the last piece of her share of the pizza and stood. “I think I’m finally going to hit the sack now.”
“I hope it’s not on account of what I said.”
“It’s not,” Eve reassured.
She was lying, of course. She bid Lucas good night and kept thinking about what he had just said all through her routine of getting ready for bed, and she kept on thinking about it even once she was finally under the covers and had turned off the light.
In the dim light cast by the city lights outside, Eve stared up at the white ceiling in her bedroom and thought about everything she had heard tonight. More than all that she had been told, her mind kept coming back to Lucas’ final question: “Why are you even with Lind?”
Eve used to think she knew the answer to that question. Now, the more she thought about it, the less she could come up with any reason at all. Could she have made a terrible error in judgment? Could she have been kidding herself when she believed they could make things work between them, even if they came from such different worlds and backgrounds? Could she have wasted five months of her life?
Restless, she reached for the cell phone on her nightstand and tapped on the display, making it come to life. There were no notifications. She opened all texting and calling apps just in case, but none had anything new to show her. Lind had not called. He had not texted. He had not reached out at all. In fact, Lind had spent the past few weeks withdrawing more and more into himself and pulling as far away from Eve as he possibly could. At least, that’s how she felt, and he sure as hell had done nothing to prove her wrong yet.
She put the phone down and tried unsuccessfully to go to sleep. Her mind was buzzing with thoughts, her body running on pure adrenaline. Funny, the power that words had. She didn’t remember being this agitated even while she was being held captive—either time.
She groaned as the memories entered her mind. She had been kidnapped twice in the span of a few months. That must have been some kind of world record. Could she really live like that? Was this really what she had signed up for?
“It was because I didn’t have anyone else.”
More of Lucas’ words came back to her, demanding her attention.
“You asked me why I joined the Diamondbacks. It was because I didn’t have anyone else.”
As far as Eve knew, Lind didn’t have anyone else either. Was that why he had joined too? Was he looking for that sense of shelter that Lucas had hinted at? That must have been the case. Lind had been looking for shelter and protection. He had been looking for closeness, for belonging. He had been looking for brotherhood. And he had found it all with the Diamondbacks.
It was then that Eve realized that she didn’t stand a chance. How could she even begin to compare with the people who had given Lind the home he had never had? There was simply no contest, and Eve suddenly felt like the biggest idiot for ever thinking that there might be.
She took a deep breath, trying to steady her emotions. She tried to put herself in Lind’s shoes, to imagine what he must have felt when he made his choice for such a drastic lifestyle, but there was just no way that she could even begin to understand. It was just too different from what she knew.
For the next couple of hours, Eve lay in bed and tried to decide whether she could get past everything that she had learned. Could she cope with the knowledge that she would always come second to the man she loved? Could she accept his past? Could she get over the fact that he could be as ruthless as the rumors about the Viper said?
She wasn’t sure she could. If anyone had asked her the very same questions a few weeks ago, Eve would have said yes to all in a heartbeat. But back then she had only had a vague sense of who the Viper was. Having an idea of it was very different from touching Lind’s dark side with her own hands. For the first time since they had embarked on their tentative relationship journey, Eve began to really think that she may be in over her head.
Besides, she reflected, she was pretty sure Lind didn’t love her. At least, not in the same way that she loved him. He had pulled away too readily for Eve to believe that he might have the same kind of feelings for her. The more she tried to think of a way to get close to him once again and salvage their relationship, the more she came to realize that it couldn’t be done.
She clenched her jaw against the sudden assault of tears. She blinked angrily a few times, refusing to let them fall. She was not going to cry for him, she decided. The way she saw it, he already held too much power over her. It infuriated her that, even as frustrated as she was with him, she had not been able to get him out of her head for one second of the past few weeks.
The Diamondbacks would always come first, Eve knew that now. It didn’t matter what she did, she simply didn’t belong in this rough, strange world of his. The realization was killing her; she could actually feel her heart breaking. How could she have been so stupid? Did she really think they were compatible after all? Did she really think she could change him? Did she really think the Viper was just a job persona, something that Lind could get rid of the minute he stepped through the door to be with her?
Eve shook her head in the dark.
Stupid, she reproached herself vehemently. So fucking stupid.
And who was to say that, given the circumstances, Lind wouldn’t use her as bait too? Taylor kept eluding the Diamondbacks, and Lind was getting more frustrated by the hour. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and God only knew what a snake could do when cornered.
Eve’s stomach clenched. It killed her to be thinking that way about the man she had fallen hopelessly in love with, but in light of what she had been told tonight, she couldn’t help it. It was the club’s mission right now to find Douglas Taylor and get rid of him once and for all, and Eve was beginning to think that Lind would stop at nothing to settle the score.
She couldn’t help sparing some thoughts for Taylor and his late wife. She tried to imagine how he must have felt, and all in all, as absurd as everything still seemed to her, she figured she couldn’t entirely blame the man. Sure, going mental and attempting to murder people wasn’t exactly a great response, but atrocious pain could do that to a person. Eve couldn’t think of anything more atrocious than losing the one you love in such a violent, senseless way.
She thought of Lind, and despite it all, she sent up a quick prayer to a God she wasn’t even quite sure she believed in to keep him safe. Lind’s obsessive drive to bring this matter to a close scared her; she wasn’t sure what he was capable of doing. She wasn’t sure what kind of danger he was willing to expose himself—and others—to.
She swallowed past her suddenly dry mouth. She couldn’t believe she was actually afraid of Lind.
“Anyone in their right mind would be.”
Was Lucas right? Had she been out of her “right mind” to never fully consider Lind’s dangerous nature before? It was just that he was always so gentle with her…he made it easy to forget about who he really was, the role he played in his world.
Eve thought about it all until her head hurt. And just when she was finally drifting off to sleep, something flashed through her mind. An image. A memory. A man with a burnt back enjoying the twins’ special attentions in one of the privets of the nightclub where they all danced. Douglas Taylor.
Eve’s heart began to pound in her chest. She had actually seen the man who posed such a threat to her. The twins had bragged about him afterwards, said he was a gentleman. Their ménage had not stopped at the nightclub; they went to his house quite a few times after that night. According to the girls, he paid them well and treated them better.
Eve considered this new piece of information. It may be that the twins were still in contact with him. It may be that they were aware of his whereabouts. It may be that they could help with finding him.
She shook her head almost as soon as those thoughts entered her mind, pushing them forcefully away. There was no way she was exposing the girls to any possible danger. There was no way she was involving them in this. She was not like Lind. The chances of them actually getting hurt if they were to share any information on Taylor with the MC were admittedly slim, but they were there nonetheless, and Eve wasn’t going to take any chances at all. She was not like Lind.
Tears came back to fill her eyes then, and this time she allowed herself the luxury of letting them fall. There was a time when she thought that being like Lind was a good thing. There was a time when she thought that he possessed only—or at least, mostly—good qualities. Where had that time gone? Why couldn’t she see the good in him like she had done so effortlessly in the past?
She just couldn’t get what Lind had done to Margaret out of her head. How could he even think of using an innocent woman as bait? How could he even think that was a good idea?
“I think Lind blames himself for what happened, too.”
How could he not share such a fierce demon with her? Deep down, Eve knew that Lind was still a good man. But he was a damaged man, a self-destructive and destructive man who had pushed her away when she needed to be close to him the most.
How could he keep her in the dark? Did he not realize that by not telling her, he was only exposing her to more danger?
Eve’s head was spinning. She was confused and conflicted, torn between resenting the man and loving him even more. Most of all, Eve was hurt. She was hurt because now more than ever she realized that the man she loved was slipping away from her, and there was not a damn thing she could do about it. More importantly, he was not doing a damn think about it either, and that realization hurt most of all.