Page 134 of Down & Dirty: Reaper

A soft snort hit his ears.

This shit was nerve-wracking for him. He was so damn glad she found it amusing.

Five sets of eyes bounced from him to her as she trailed him inside and closed the door.

“She can’t be in here!” Chaos yelled to no one in particular. To Vi, he said, “You know the rules, Vi.”

She stepped next to Reaper and shrugged. “Those rules don’t apply to me.”

Here we fucking go. She always had to buck the damn traditions.

“For fuck’s sake, woman,” Rage barked. “You’re a goddamn parta this fuckin’ club. They fuckin’ apply to you. To all you women.”

“Well, get over it, cuz. I’m here to make sure you don’t dogpile him.”

“He don’t need your fuckin’ help, Vi,” Zeke muttered with a shake of his head.

While that was true, telling her that would fall on deaf ears.

“Too bad. I’m not leaving until after the vote.” Vi clapped her hands sharply together once. “Well, let’s get it going.”

Wheels smirked. “You’re the last fuckin’ club sister I’d expect to wanna be claimed.”

“That might be Lexi,” Chill said.

“Or Indie, Scarlet, Bri, Piper…” Cruz added with a shake of his head. “The list is endless.”

“Lucky I got a good one,” Rage grumbled. “Lyric don’t give me shit or cause me goddamn heartburn.”

“You cause your own heartburn,” Vi told him.

“‘Cause I gotta protect you crazy bitches,” he growled.

“You don’t have to protect us. We are perfectly capable of protecting ourselves.”

Before anyone sitting at the table could challenge her on that, Zeke smacked the gavel on the table. “Jesus fuck! Let’s get this shit over with before this whole damn thing goes sideways.”

Too late.

The club president focused on Reaper. “Why are you here?”

Was Zeke fucking with him? He knew why Reaper was there. Maybe he just needed to play the game. “I want to claim Violet DeeJay Dougherty.”

The room went dead silent.

And, fuck him, Vi was actually speechless for a second. Or maybe even five.

Then, Wheels let out a loud hoot and stomped his boots. “Goddamn! He used her full name and everything!”

Reaper scanned the officers to see them all exchanging glances. “What? Should I have said I wanted to claim this bitch instead?” He hooked a thumb at Vi.

He glanced at Vi to see her tuck her lips between her teeth and her struggling to keep from laughing.

“What?” he mouthed to her.

“You could’ve just used the shortened version of my name,” she informed him. “This isn’t some legal proceeding.”

He cursed under his breath at his mistake and turned back to the table. “I want to claim Vi.”