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Diamond

With his first day coming up tomorrow, tonight he was looking forward to a relaxing evening of beer, steak, and hockey on TV.

Diamond had already met with his guys and set up who’d be watching the Snows. He’d put Mike and Kem with the son. Davey and Larson had the unlucky job of shadowing the senior Snows. And Titan was on Joelle Snow duty.

This was one of the cushier jobs, no doubt about it. Babysitting rich folks who only knew how to shop and go to the country club was going to be a cakewalk for his men.

Their usual jobs got a lot grimier, and more often than not, fists were thrown. Titan had only just recovered from broken ribs.

Diamond had considered babysitting the daughter for a hot second, but he didn’t want to be around a pretty face all day long and have to listen to her bratty whines about how unfair her life was.

“My main man, D. How’s it going?” Reno came to a halt in front of him. The guy was all smiles these days. Back when he first met the terrible twins, as he used to call Reno and Ruin, and sometimes still did, if he wanted to wind Ruin up, Reno always looked like he carried a bucket of stress on his shoulders.

He had a soft family to go home to today, and his twin brother was settled, too.

“Not too bad. Thought you’d gone home for the night?”

“I had, but Chelly left her dragon here earlier, and she can’t sleep without it.” He was such a dad, Diamond grinned. Michele was technically Reno’s step-kid, but she felt like family to all of them. Bright as a button, that kid. She called Diamond Uncle River. Besides his family, she was the only female to use his given name.

“You’re a good dad, Reno.”

The younger guy, by about ten years, cracked a smile. Diamond was coming up fast on forty, just another ten months.

He flashed a grin. “I won’t be tomorrow when I toss my girl out the door when her dad picks her up.”

Diamond smirked. He knew that look. “Gonna romance your woman?”

“I won’t be leaving the fucking bedroom all weekend, my brother.”

They laughed, and Reno went to find his kid’s stuffy toy so she could sleep.

Diamond would head home soon. He spent most of his time at the clubhouse. It had everything he needed. Good company, beers when he wanted one, food all day long, and he was a true-blue-foodie, so his stomach was constantly happy. The gym was just a few feet away in the basement, and he loved working out, sometimes twice a day. Plus, as a perk of being on Axel’s council, he had an assigned bedroom to crash in.

Diamond had never needed much in life.

Some might call him basic. He only made practical purchases, such as his bike, truck, and home. He wasn’t inhaling coke worth thousands of dollars or losing big at craps tables.

He embraced a simple lifestyle and saved a substantial sum for his retirement.

Bikers lived complicated lives.

Diamond intended for his later years to be smooth sailing, so he earned the cash now and planned for those relaxing times fishing on a lake somewhere.

Halfway through the game, he felt a presence hovering at the side of him. Cocking his head, he saw it was Charli. He couldn’t say how long the woman had been a club sweet bottom, but it was a while.

“Hey Charli, you’re here late. Everything okay?”

He didn’t want company, especially the female variety. Diamond wanted to enjoy his beer and the game alone, but she sat on the couch next to him.

“I was changing the bed sheets on the third floor and putting on a load of laundry. Those hangarounds got car oil all over them, and god knows what else,” She puffed out air, blowing up her bangs.

He knew little about the sweet bottoms. Did they have kids, families, or homes of their own? Truer still, he wasn’t all that interested to know. It was a shame that one woman had soured him against the entire sex.

“Why are you here? Are you looking for some special company?” she asked, smiling with a flirty glint.

“Relaxing with the game.” He said with his gaze on the mounted TV.

“So no, then?” she half chuckled. “The girls have been talking...”

The girls meant the sweet bottoms because as much as there wasn’t a lot of hate between the sweet bottoms and the old ladies, they were not sitting around gossiping together. If anyone, it would be Scarlett, the First Lady, who had more to do with them.

“That sounds dangerous,” he remarked, and she laughed again.

“You don’t mess with any of us, Diamond.”

He cocked his head to the side, arching an eyebrow. “Is that what you talk about? Who I’m fucking or not fucking?”

“Well. Yeah, sometimes,” she wasn’t embarrassed, and he wouldn’t have expected her to be. Sex wasn’t a taboo or shamed subject around the clubhouse. “I mean, any of us would spend time with you if you were interested. Since you split with Gloria, you don’t bother with any of us. We all thought you had a lucky escape there, by the way. Do you have a new girlfriend?”

Diamond stared at the woman with her knee pressed against his. “You thought I had a lucky escape?”

“Babe, yeah. She was awful .” She stressed the last word, and Diamond felt a twitch of a smile. “You only brought her around a few times. That was very telling, by the way. Usually, the guys who fall hard always want to bring their women here to hang out. It annoys some girls, especially Sonya, but not me. I enjoy seeing you guys happy, you know? But anyway, Gloria didn’t fit in at all and didn’t try to. She looked down on everyone. When you weren’t near, she’d bitch about everything. The food, the noises from the bikes and garage, the distance to get here. You could tell she didn’t like the old ladies, too. Oh, and how dirty the place was.” Again, Charli pulled a face, “Bitch, please, I know this place is clean because I’m one bitch who cleans it. You could eat your breakfast, lunch, and pussy off this floor.”

Diamond knew Gloria didn’t like the clubhouse, so he rarely brought her with him, but it wasn’t the primary reason. He realized it wasn’t right between them when she moved in. It was only months later he found out about her cheating escapades.

“We didn’t even think you looked that happy, but now you don’t mess with any of us, so we reckon you must still be holding a torch for her.”

That’s where Charli was wrong.

“Charli, let me ask you something. Do you want to fuck one of us every day? You’re in the mood to fuck every day?”

The woman blinked and hooked her lip between her teeth. “Well, maybe?”

“It wasn’t a trick question, babe.” He half-smiled.

“Sometimes, I’d like to hang out and watch a movie, you know? But that’s not what this place is about. Unless a guy wants to make you his old lady, we get sex or nothing. And I like sex, and you guys are good at it.” She threw him an impish smile.

Fair enough. Diamond could respect her answer.

“So you know, you’re not gonna be kicked out of the clubhouse if you don’t want to fuck someone.”

“Yeah, I know that.”

“Do you, though?”

She looked away.

“Scarlett pays you for the cleaning, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah, it’s all on the books. I even pay taxes! But I thought... well, some of us thought...”

“Thought what?”

“We wouldn’t be needed around here, and we’d get kicked out if we didn’t fuck those who wanted to fuck. I like sex, Diamond. That’s not what I’m saying. None of us girls are forced.”

“No, I get what you’re saying.”

“Party nights are so fun. And sometimes, when I hear Axel and Scarlett in his locked office...” She didn’t have to elaborate, everyone had heard the prez and his old lady getting it on. “It kinda turns me on, and then I need sex with someone. Oh, shit.” She gasped, “Please don’t tell Scarlett or Axel I said that! They’ll kick me out for sure!”

“I won’t say anything.” That would be funny, though. Axel wouldn’t give a shit. He didn’t care who heard him romancing his old lady. Scarlett would blush as red as her hair.

“So, I guess that’s why you don’t fuck around at the parties anymore. You’re not in the mood? Or don’t the girls do it for you anymore?”

Diamond couldn’t even remember the last sweet bottom he’d looked at, let alone touched. He knew he’d slept with Charli at least once, but that must be at least three years back. Long before Gloria came along and distracted him into thinking he wanted something serious. He used to party hard years ago, but nothing in recent times.

He didn’t share his thoughts. “It’s late, babe. You should get to bed.”

She climbed to her feet. “I think the fun-loving Diamond is in there somewhere. Don’t let that sour-faced bitch ruin you for the right girl. And until she comes along, you can always knock on my door, handsome.” She winked and sauntered off.

Once upon a time, Diamond would have considered it and probably tossed the woman over his shoulder and took her somewhere quiet to waste a few hours.

But he didn’t even feel a flicker of interest.

He didn’t want to blame one woman for the destruction of his dick, but it correlated to the same time Gloria did him dirty and made him lose trust in everything.

After kicking his legs out in front of him and hooking up his nearly empty beer bottle, he settled in to watch the end of the game before riding home.

The thought of meeting with the Snow family the next day didn’t fill him with enthusiasm.

If he had to choose between dealing with rich people and their quirks or having a conversation with Gloria, well, he’d have to take some time. That’s all he was saying.