Reader challenge!

I am getting a fair few readers, but not anywhere so near as many reviews as I'd like, so I have a challenge for those who are brave enough to take it! Nearly every chapter I write begins around one line of dialog I particularly want to use. I hear that line in my head and then figure out how to make it work in context. This one is no different. Can you spot that line? Leave me a review and tell me which one it is!

-0-

It was only early afternoon when V came into the office. Gemma watched her walk in and noticed that she didn't look like someone who had spent the morning falling apart. In a black tank top, worn jeans, boots, and sunglasses, she looked pretty much exactly like she looked any other day. The way she came in, though, wasn't typical. She was apologizing before she'd even shut the door. "Gemma, I'm so sorry…"

Gemma waved her hand. "Been slow. Everybody got a late start today." She looked V up and down again, reaffirming her assessment that there wasn't anything noticeably off about her. "Besides, you got way bigger things to worry about."

V looked questioning. Gemma didn't wait for her to ask. "Clay wants to see you. Now."

"What did I do?"

"Club business. Just go find him."

As she left the office, V rolled her eyes. Trust Gemma to plead ignorance of club business whenever her knowledge might come in handy. There was nothing about the Club that woman didn't know.

When V found Clay in the garage, he didn't say a word, just nodded towards the clubhouse, then followed her inside, Jax beside him. Neither of them spoke until they were in the Chapel. V felt Jax's eyes on her, but didn't meet his gaze. The whole situation had her even more on edge than she'd been already.

Clay didn't mince words. "You take a shot at Darby last night?" He was glaring at V, making her feel trapped in his stare.

"What?" V was confused. She hadn't really known what to expect coming in here, but this certainly wasn't it. Darby?

"Somebody did a drive by on Darby's place last night," Jax said. "He's at St. Thomas. In critical."

V looked at Jax now. His expression was hard to read. He wasn't glaring like Clay, but he didn't look particularly friendly, either. "No, Jesus," V shook her head. "Of course not."

"You sure about that?" Clay's face hadn't changed.

V looked at him with wide eyes. Did he seriously think she'd done this? Christ. "Yeah, I'm sure. Look," she sighed," you can ask Chibs. He was with me."

Clay turned from V towards Jax. "That gonna be a problem?" he asked.

"No." Jax didn't elaborate.

"Good. One more thing we don't need." He returned his attention to V. "I'd better not find out you had anything to do with this."

V felt her temper rise. Fuck this old man. He clearly already knew she'd been with Chibs and had an alibi, so why the fuck was he making her say it? Just to try to get at Jax? She met his gaze, feeling her own eyes turn cold as she did. "You and me need to get somethin' straight," she said. "You think I don't get it. I do. I serve at the pleasure of the goddamn king. This club saved my life, and it's your club. I don't like lettin' Darby off, but if that's the way it's gotta be, then that's the way it is. I didn't shoot the motherfucker, and I'm not gonna head to St. Thomas and hold a pillow over his ugly Nazi face, either."

Clay smiled meanly. "That's quite the speech. You practice that?"

V didn't respond, just continued to glare in his direction.

"V, everybody understands why you hate Darby," Jax said.

V cut him off. "I don't think you have a fucking clue why I hate Darby," she replied. "But you don't need to. It's not your problem." She looked at Clay again. "That all you wanted?"

Clay smiled again. "Since you got your back up, no, there's somethin' else. You got a fight. Next weekend."

"Fine." V got up then and left the room without a further glance at either one of them.

Clay chuckled. "Guess makin' her into an Old Lady was never really in the cards."

Jax didn't answer. As was so often the case, he felt like taking a swing at his stepfather, but he knew he wouldn't, and there was no use arguing with him, either. He couldn't reconcile this hostile, closed-off V with the woman he'd been with so recently, but he had seen her coming and he wasn't surprised at her appearance. He was strangely relieved, too, to see her go.

-0-

"Hey, you got a minute?" Chibs was just leaving the garage when V approached. He was surprised to see her, and doubly surprised that she was coming up to him so calmly. He wasn't sure how she'd react to what had happened that morning, but his best guess had been avoidance. Here she was, though, standing in front of him, looking just like she always looked.

"Yeah," he looked around, checking instinctively to see who could be listening. "You want to talk about this morning?"

V shook her head. "No." She began to walk towards the boxing ring. He followed her, sitting next to her on the picnic table.

"It was my fault," he began. He couldn't really think of anything he could say to make what happened any better, but figured starting with taking the blame was always a safe bet.

V stopped him. "We don't need to talk about it. It won't happen again. It's done."

Chibs peered at her, wondering what she meant by it not happening again. This had better not be her telling him to shove off. "Princess, it might happen again," he said, but once again she interrupted.

"I got a fight. Next weekend."

"What?"

"Talked to Clay. He wants me to fight next weekend."

Chibs shook his head. "You're not ready."

"Then get me ready." V stood up. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. We gotta step things up. I need you to spar with me for real—no more bullshit."

Chibs had the odd sensation that the conversation was a moving target that he couldn't quite get a hold on. "Wait a minute, back up. You talked to Clay. He tell you about Darby?"

V nodded, clearly impatient. "Yeah. I told him I didn't have anything to do with it. He said you already covered for me. Thanks." Her tone was curt. "Now can we get in the ring? I'm serious; you gotta work me for real now. No pulling punches."

Chibs stared at her. "Princess," he said slowly, "I don't hold back, I'm gonna hurt you. You know that."

For the first time since the conversation began, V smiled. "Now you're getting it. You know that lesson about pain you promised? Let's have it."

Chibs closed his eyes behind his sunglasses. So this is where they were now. OK, he could roll with that. "Come here." V stepped towards him. He pulled her between his legs, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. "You sure you want that lesson in the ring?" he smirked.

"Old Man," she replied, her voice low, "I want that lesson everywhere." She moved slightly closer to him and lowered her voice even further. "But consider this your only warning. I think for a minute you're goin' easy on me? Treatin' me like I get some kind of injury pass? I'm gone." She pulled out of his grasp.

Reading you loud and clear, Chibs thought. He wasn't really surprised this was the direction she'd gone. You do what you know. His mind returned briefly to his conversation with Gemma, her chiding him about crazy women. It was insane and stupid to even be thinking about getting back on this ride with V. He knew, because he'd done it before, how likely it was that he'd end up hating her and himself. But here he was anyway, standing up and heading with her into the ring.