“Excuse me,” Arianna murmured and hurried out of the dining room after we’d finished with dinner.

I watched her leave. She was wearing jeans, a flowy blouse, and heels. I tried not to be a complete creeper, but the way her jeans stretched over her ass sent heat racing through my system.

“Would you like more dessert, Viktor?”

Jerking my gaze off her daughter guiltily, I smiled at Celia. “No, thank you. Everything was great.”

Bass nodded happily as he plowed through another piece of chocolate cake. They’d used food to fill in the gaps of conversation and if I ate anything else, I was going to burst.

“Where’s the bathroom?” I asked.

“Alexandria can show you,” Celia chirped happily.

I fought back a groan, but gave Alexandria a smile. She came around the table and grabbed my arm, forcing me to bend it so she could loop hers through.

We left the dining room and took an immediate right, and went up the staircase. I clenched my jaw as Alexandria ran her free hand up and down my forearm. There wasn’t anything wrong with her, but the longer I spent around her the more convinced I became that I couldn’t marry her.

She’d barely held herself together during dinner. Her true self kept peeking through during the meal, despite the fact that her family was sitting all around us. I’d now gotten to see her on her ‘best’ behavior and what she was like alone. Neither inspired much confidence that she and I would get along. She was constantly sniping and chiding her sisters, and she’d made it very clear that she was Sal’s favorite—except maybe for Abel—and that he gave her everything she wanted.

We stopped outside a door and she smiled at me. I opened it and frowned when I saw a bed with a canopy over it. There were a ridiculous amount of pillows resting at the head of the bed.

Small hands shoved me inside the room and I watched her warily as she closed the door behind us.

“Alexandria,” I said with an irritated sigh.

“I just wanted us to be able to get to know each other a little better without my parents around,” she said softly, walking toward me. “We hardly got any time together at the park.”

I stood my ground even though I wanted to back away from her. Her hand ran down my chest, and I grabbed her wrist to keep her in line.

“What’s wrong?” she asked breathlessly.

Jesus. What wasn’t wrong? I didn’t know her. I was pretty sure I didn’t like her, and I wasn’t about to let her feel me up in her bedroom with her parents waiting for us downstairs. I’d never been big on people touching me to begin with and her hands on me didn’t change my mind.

“Nothing. I need to use the bathroom,” I told her in a clipped tone. Stepping around her, I beat a quick retreat out the door. Once in the hallway, I didn’t stop because I knew she’d be coming after me. I stepped inside the nearest door to wait for her to go past.

“Why are you in my room?”

I froze as Arianna’s voice wrapped around me like silk. Turning my head, I spotted her sitting at a desk. She was sitting in front of a computer set up that actually made my dick twitch. I’d been right, her computer set up and mine was damn near identical. I wasn’t sure whether the hardware or the woman was responsible for my chubby, but either way I was drawn toward them like a moth to a flame. I wasn’t sure what it was about Ari that was different. The thought of her touching me had me hardening even more. I knew which sister my body was voting for, I just needed to wrap my head around taking her choice away from her.

The knock on the door had me freezing in my tracks again. Arianna’s brows went up and a small smile played over her lips. She jerked a thumb toward a door and I gratefully stepped into her bathroom.

“Is he in here?” Alexandria demanded. Her voice floated through the door and I shuddered at the waspish sound. Now that she wasn’t on her best behavior it came across clearly.

I leaned against the wall, next to the door, and blatantly listened in.

“Keep your grubby little hands to yourself, Ari. He’s mine.”

“I never said I wanted him. If you want to be sold off, then be my guest,” Ari responded.

“Don’t be such a child. Papa explained all of this already, and it’s not like we didn’t know this would happen one day.”

“Just because he raised us with the expectation that we’d be shipped off in arranged marriages doesn’t mean we have to be happy about it,” Ari grumbled at her sister.

I felt bad for them. Well, for Arianna at least. Not that I was in any position to feel sorry for her since I was in the same dead-end situation.

“If it’s not him, it’ll just be someone else, Ari. At least he’s hot.” I heard a door open. “And by the way… It won’t be him for you. I’m the oldest, I will be getting married first.” The door slammed shut.

I silently counted to ten before I came out of the bathroom. I hadn’t really needed to use it, I’d just wanted to get away from the oppressive atmosphere downstairs.

Ari watched me grimly. “She’s gone,” she told me when I hesitated in the doorway.

“Thanks.”

We stood, staring at each other. Her gaze was calculating. “Why are you doing this?”

I raised a brow at her in question.

“Getting married. It’s being forced on us—well maybe not Alex—but why are you doing it?”

She’d been at the meeting, but I doubted Sal shared his secrets with his daughters. It hadn’t occurred to me that she may not know much about what was going on. I was surprised she hadn’t asked at the park when we talked. My only guess is with the deadline looming this was becoming as real for her as it was for me.

“Our club needs to align with your father,” I told her, watching for her reaction. “This is his price for peace.”

She sighed. “I figured it was something like that.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“You’re too gorgeous to need an arranged marriage.” She shut her mouth so quickly her teeth clacked together. Red crawled up her neck.

I had to bite back the laugh even as I flushed a color that matched her own. She obviously hadn’t meant to be that honest with me. I let my gaze roam down her body. It was nice to know that she was as attracted to me as I was to her.

The club girls who hung around at all the parties the MC threw had come onto me more than once. Usually, after they’d been turned down by one of my brothers. Between that and not wanting my first time to be with someone who’d slept their way through the MC, I’d refused them every time.

I was twenty-two and a fucking virgin. I suspected my brothers in arms knew, considering I didn’t socialize, but it wasn’t something I talked about. Being a red-blooded male I had the urges, I just hadn’t been able to drop my walls around any females long enough to lose my V card. Instead, I spent entirely too much time watching porn. It did the trick and made it so I didn’t have to open up to someone else. Being vulnerable wasn’t a position I was fond of. I’d had too much of that as a kid.

My gaze landed on Arianna’s again. Here was a woman who didn’t care about the club—or my status in it, for that matter. That was appealing to me.

Despite being gorgeous, her older sister only induced mind-numbing panic and a need to fucking run when she looked at me. Arianna on the other hand had me going from half to full mast with one embarrassed glance.

What I’d heard after ducking into the bathroom made me hesitate, though. Arianna didn’t want to get married. She didn’t want to be forced to take a husband. I’d suspected it, but having it confirmed made me feel damn guilty.

The silence had stretched on too long between us, but Arianna was studying me as intently as I was her. She had the same confused look that I was sure was on my own face.

A door slamming out in the hallway made Arianna jump. For once, the sound didn’t evoke a flight or fight response in me. I sucked in a breath and watched the woman in front of me. She held her breath, listening hard at the door.

Footsteps pounded past, then another door slammed. “She’s going to search this entire house for you.”

My eyes were drawn back to hers. She was like a magnet, pulling me in. I stepped in closer to her. My heart was slamming inside my chest. Arianna’s eyes widened and she tipped her head back to keep eye contact with me. My gaze dropped down to her lips as they parted.

The door wrenched open at her back, and I stifled a groan as I saw Alexandria standing there glaring at us.

“I knew it!” She shoved her sister out of the way, grabbed my arm, and pulled.

I let her drag me out into the hall, but my eyes stayed on Arianna. She looked down at the ground and worried her lower lip between her teeth. That was the closest I’d ever come to kissing someone, and it looked like she’d been just as affected by it as I was.

“Come on. Papa is looking for us,” she said, while towing me along. Her strength surprised me. Not that I couldn’t have easily stopped her if I wanted to. I let her take me out of Arianna’s room because I didn’t trust myself to be alone with her. Something told me Sal wouldn’t like me messing around with his little girl under his own roof.

Then again, maybe he wouldn’t give a shit. The man was hard to read, and I prided myself on that ability. He had two faces, the one he showed the world, and one only his family—and maybe enemies—saw. I could tell by the way Celia and her children reacted to his movements and were constantly watchful of his moods that he wasn’t the more jovial version he showed everyone else. It was like they were terrified of him. Abel was the only one who seemed calm although distant in his father’s presence.

Sal watched Alexandria and I closely as we came back into the dining room and I felt that knowing tingle as it raced down my spine. I’d spent my life around men like him. I didn’t know him yet, but my gut told me he wasn’t trustworthy. Not that our club trusted him. He had a lot to prove before we’d extend him that courtesy. That didn’t mean we wouldn’t use him for our own gains.

Arianna hurried in as I was slipping into my seat. Bass gave me a nudge with his elbow and a questioning look. We’d been gone longer than was normal for a bathroom break.

“So… Viktor…”

I focused on Sal, who was studying me. I returned his hard stare with one of my own.

“Yes?”

“Who will you choose?”

I darted a quick look over at Arianna. She refused to look up from the table. Movement caught my attention as Alexandria shifted on her chair.

“Come, tell us now,” Sal insisted.

I considered telling him to fuck off, but he was right. I had made up my mind. It wasn’t going to change and if I made my choice now, I could get out of this house. “Arianna,” I said firmly.

What happened next would’ve been hilarious if it wasn’t for the fact that this was real life—my life. Alexandria jumped up so fast her chair flew out behind her. She let out a screech that would’ve made a pterodactyl proud and tackled her sister from her chair to the ground.

My jaw dropped. A deep rumbling sound came from my side and I glared over at Bass who didn’t have the same issues with laughing at the women rolling around on the rug.

“Girls!” Celia hissed, trying to restore some order. It didn’t work.

Alexandria was on top of Arianna and was ripping at her hair while screaming, “He’s mine!” at the top of her lungs.

It was a bit of a stroke to my ego, I wouldn’t lie, but I also didn’t want these women fighting over me. I wasn’t sure Arianna was fighting for me so much as trying to keep her sister from yanking her hair out of her head.

I stood up and shot Sal a glare since he was just passively sitting there, letting his girls duke it out. Nothing phased the man, it was an incredible lesson in self-control. I caught a hint of malice and glee in his gaze and realized that the man may not be completely sane.

Going around the table, I was just about to pull Alexandria off my fiancée when the sickening sound of crunching bone made everyone freeze. Abel grabbed his sister when I hesitated and pulled her off Arianna.

Alexandria was holding her nose and sobbing as blood poured from between her fingers. “You stupid bitch,” she wailed, then jerked out of Abel’s arms and ran out of the room. Her mother hurried after her.

I held my hand out to Arianna. She eyed me warily, but took it and I pulled her up to her feet. “Nice shot,” I commented.

Her lips twitched as she tried to repress a smile, and Abel chuckled.

“Welcome to the family,” Abel said and stuck a hand out for me to shake. When I took it, he pulled me in a little closer and whispered, “I’ll deny it if she asks, but you chose the better sister.” He winked at Arianna, then turned and strode out of the room.

My mind was blown. Just like that—apparently—everything was done. I glanced over at Arianna. I couldn’t tell from her expression if she was pissed or not. She’d completely shut down after the smile she’d given me. I didn’t know her well enough to gauge her mood, and wasn’t that fucked up? I was marrying a stranger. Worse, I was forcing her to marry one as well.

“Congratulations,” Sal said, approaching now that his daughters had settled their skirmish.

I hadn’t grown up with a normal family and my MC brothers fought shit out all the time, so who knew? Maybe this was normal amongst siblings.

“Thanks,” I muttered and tried not to flinch when Arianna tensed next to me.

“Papa-”

Sal cut Arianna off with a steely look. Guilt overtook me. I hated taking her freedom of choice away from her.

“I’d like to set a long engagement,” I told them. “It’ll give us time to get to know-”

“No.”

My brows shot up at his clipped response.

“I’ll work it out with your president, but the quicker you get married, the better for everyone,” he relented and gave me the explanation I’d silently asked for.

“No,” I parroted. His eyes narrowed dangerously. My heart started beating so fast I could barely hear anything over it. “You’ll work it out with me. Here and now.” Sal had already gotten his way in multiple situations. Besides, from what I’d seen of him tonight, if I didn’t start this marriage by standing my ground I’d be a slave to him forever. I may not be the most assertive of my brothers, but I was still a Viking and a man, and Sal would respect that, or I’d make him.

Sometime in the middle of our talk, the two younger girls had left the room. I felt Bass come and stand at my back. Arianna moved to stand next to me. It was the three of us squaring off against Sal.

“You’ll work it out with us,” Arianna said. I could finally tell how she felt about this. She was pissed. I didn’t miss the slight tremble in her hand, though. Standing up to her father wasn’t easy for her. A protective instinct filled me and I shifted slightly so that our shoulders brushed, a sign of solidarity. If Sal wanted to take us on, he’d be fighting against us both.