Page 68 of The Viper's Wife

I shrink into my seat. “I’m not doing that.”

He scrubs a hand over the top of his head and laughs darkly. “I gave you your space. I let you do what you wanted. I let you live alone. We’re done with that now. Get the fuck up, pack your shit, or I’m bending you over the hood of the car and spanking your ass raw in the middle of the street.”

I launch to standing, nearly stumbling on my death-trap heels. “Don’t be a dick.”

Nico grabs my arm. “You see, that’s the thing. I think you like when I’m a dick. I’m racking my brain over here,and I can’t find any other explanation for why you marched your pretty ass over to a fucking strip club besides to get some attention. You got a thing for angry guys, Val?”

I clamp my mouth shut. I’m too tired to argue with him.

Nico sighs.

His coat is barely long enough to cover my ass as he drags me up the driveway like an oversized rag doll.

He tears open the front door—unlocked—and stops fully in his tracks.

“What the hell?” Nico glances at me, shock and anger clashing in his features. “Did you know about this?”

I wrap his jacket around myself. By the look on his face, he’s either a very good actor, or he had no clue.Contradictions, contradictions.“Don’t play coy, Nico. You knew.”

“I had no fucking idea—” he cuts himself off, jaw tightening. “Your stuff still here?”

“No. I’m staying with a friend?—”

I shriek as Nico picks me up, swings me over his shoulder, and walks back out of the house.

My pussy is on full display as he takes me down the front steps and carries me to the car. He drops me back onto my heels and yanks open the door. “Get the fuck in.”

I don’t argue, not when he’s on edge like this, and scramble to get inside before he lashes out.

The second I’m inside the car, Nico slams the door shut, walks around the front, and throws himself into the driver’s seat. For several long moments, he doesn’t say anything, just breathes harshly, his hands curling into fists on his thighs.

“Where does your friend live?” he asks through gritted teeth.

“Nico—”

“Not tonight, Val. No more. We’re done with this shit.Tell me where your fucking friend lives, or I call up Salvatore, and have him send a man there.”

I tell him the address, and he starts driving.

I want to cry. I clench my jaw and stare out the window instead.

Let him be fucking mad—that’s the whole point. He’s at his breaking point? Good.

This is what the rest of his life will be like if he doesn’t pick someone else.

So he didn’t know about my house getting broken into. That doesn’t absolve him of anything. If he really is innocent, then this whole experience can be a glimpse into what he’s signing me up for.

When we get to Lacey’s apartment complex, I remember the duffel bag of cash that I have in her bedroom. Nico can’t go upstairs with me. I don’t know what he’d do with it—he says he’ll give me an allowance, but I don’t trust that. I don’t trust him.

He pulls into the parking deck and unbuckles himself.

“Wait,” I say. My heartbeat ramps up speed. “Let me see if Lacey will bring my things down. Please. I don’t want her roommates to see me.”

“She better be quick, because you’re not going up there without me.”

“Can I use your phone?”Myphone is still in the club. All I have is my lingerie and my cash.

Nico shoves a phone with a taped-up screen into my hand. I tap out Lacey’s number with shaking thumbs.