Page 19

Lacey

A t some point I realized that I needed to go to the restroom badly. I couldn’t remember exactly how many drinks I’d had or how many times Rosie had decided to make me doubles. I just knew I was about to burst, and I was also more than a little bit tipsy.

While I was in one of the stalls, I heard footsteps as two women entered. They were giggling and talking about which single brother had the best ass. I smiled to myself because they were happy and clearly just as drunk as me. I didn’t think much about what they were saying until I heard them say Rebel’s name.

“Of course Rebel’s ass fills out a pair of jeans nicely too.”

The other woman’s voice became disapproving, “Tonya, you can’t talk about him anymore. He’s got an old lady now.”

The one she called Tonya chided her. “God girl, when did you turn into such a stick in the mud?”

“I’m not,” the second girl said defensively. “Benny was my favorite prospect for a long time. He’s a demon in the sack and buys the best gifts, but we can’t keep acting like he’s single when he’s not.”

“Yeah, but it’s hard not to because the club girls talk about it all the time. They say he gives the best orgasms,” Tonya said wistfully.

“I can attest to that part being totally true.”

“Damn it, girl, I knew it! The worst part is, I thought we were going to be a thing the night he got patched in, but he sent me away in favor of some dog-faced bitch from the outside. That girl was nothing to write home about.”

Her friend responded, “He might have been too overwhelmed by your beauty.”

Tonya snorted a laugh, “Yeah, lots of men are. I just wanted a little sample of that man because I heard he was a real sweetheart and gave outstanding sex.”

“Not only that,” her friend commented. “He gives nice gifts too. I’m wearing the gold bracelet he bought me. I’ll let you see it when we’re finished,” she said from the other stall.

“I’ll bet it’s really pretty. If so, I’m gonna be jealous. He gave Jenny expensive perfume once and Brea a new cell phone. I just joined a few days before he was patched in and really missed out.”

“Well Tonya, he’s off the market now. We don’t wanna be caught talking about him like he’s single when he’s not.”

I froze, taking in their conversation from both sides, since I was in the middle stall, and they were on either side of me.

Tonya, who’d talked about his fine ass and all the amazing gifts he’s given the other club girls replied cheerfully. “He’s not taken yet.”

Her friend gasped. “He is, and you’re playing with fire to claim he isn’t.”

Tonya’s voice turned smirky. Maybe voices couldn’t be smirky but hers sure sounded that way to me. “Do you see a property cut on that bitch? Because I sure as hell don’t.”

After a brief pause her girlfriend admitted, “You’re right about her not wearing his property cut. I don’t know what to think about that. He’s not put her in his cut, and he allows her to hang all over him, but he also doesn’t sleep with any of us anymore. It’s a weird situation.”

“True. I remember all the girls saying he was insatiable.”

“Yeah, he was. Those were the good old days.”

“I think if he had the hots for this Lucy bitch, he’d put her in his cut. The other girls say Rebel always played the field and was an equal opportunity bed partner when he was a prospect.”

It pissed me off that she couldn’t even get my name right but had a buttload of insults she felt comfortable spewing.

“Yeah,” her friend said in a wistful voice. “I remember the times when he’d carry one of us under each arm to show how strong he was and then cart us off to bed.”

“Yeah, I remember the others talking about that too,” Tonya lamented. “Damn, if I’d only come a month or two earlier, I could have gotten a piece of that action.”

“You would have liked him and he for sure would have loved having you in his bed. You’re beautiful and open minded. That was the magical combination for Rebel, if I remember correctly.”

Tonya’s voice turned snarky, “I bet she only does missionary, and I don’t see how one woman could really satisfy a man like Rebel. He’s too much. Once I heard about his voracious sexual appetite, I thought he’d just settle down with a couple of us club girls eventually and forgo marriage altogether. I was planning to be one of those girls too.”

Damn, were these two ever going to leave their stalls? I was getting sick of hearing them talk about Rebel that way.

“That would have been wild,” her friend responded. “I could actually see him laying claim to two women in my mind’s eye.”

My heart hurt to hear them talking about how he used to fuck all of them stupid. I clutched my clothing to keep my jeans from dropping to the floor.

The first club girl said morosely, “I don’t think he’s all that enamored with her. He likes her because she’s Zoe and Alison’s friend and it means he’s rubbing elbows with the club officers when he’s with her. It’s a huge status upgrade from a prospect, to running with club officers.”

By this time both of them finally decided to leave their stalls and were washing their hands while moving on to talking about which prospect they thought was going to get patched in next.

I took care of my personal business and stepped out of the stall to wash my hands. As the warm water flowed and I pumped soap into my hands, I thought about their words. A memory floated through my mind of him talking about getting in the shower to keep from having several rounds of morning sex after a full night of sex. Those two club girls were right, I wasn’t a sex machine. If he had the kind of sex drive they talked about, there was no way he could find being only with me satisfying. Knowing that cut deep.

I dried my hands and went back to sit with my friends, the mellowness that I’d had when I’d gone into the restroom had evaporated and I felt stone-cold sober. Although I plastered a smile on my face, I was anything but happy. Still, being with Zoe and Alison made me feel temporarily better about my situation. I should have talked to them about the things the club girls were saying but I was too humiliated to bring it up, especially about Rebel using me to get in with the club officers.

I couldn’t seem to shake off the idea that maybe, for all his sincerity and how he seemed to be falling in love with me, Rebel might have ulterior motives for taking a liking to me. Maybe he liked me and was leveraging his relationship with me to propel himself to a higher status in the club. Anything was possible, but I wasn’t stupid.

I knew most of the club girls were objectively beautiful in a way that I wasn’t. I had never had particularly low self-esteem when it came to looks because I’d always been described as cute in an innocent kind of way, pretty and attractive. Men didn’t exactly flock to me, and I’d had my heart broken more than once, but I’d never had a hard time getting dates. But Rebel had been feasting on beautiful women, sometimes taking a couple to his bed at the same time. How could I possibly compare to that? The cold hard truth was that I couldn’t compete with beautiful women throwing themselves at him every night. The only thing I had to offer that he really wanted was my contacts with Zoe and Alison, which he could use to fast-track himself to the officers of the club he loved and so desperately wanted to fit in with.

Ugh, thinking about this made my head hurt. Zoe and Alison were arguing about whether the old ladies should start their own companion club. When they turned to look for my input, I just shrugged. “There doesn’t seem to be enough old ladies interested in riding their own motorcycles to make something like that viable.

Zoe gestured to me, but spoke to her sister, “See, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

Before Alison could continue the debate, I told them, “I’ve got a splitting headache. I think I’m going to head to Rebel’s room and grab some sleep.” It was a good ruse because I was pretty sure they wouldn’t want me leaving the clubhouse drunk.

Alison’s eyes shot over to her sister and then back to me, “I hope our debate didn’t contribute to your headache?”

I shook my head. “Of course not. It’s a tension headache that’s been slowly building all day. I just need some rest and I’ll probably be all better in the morning.”

Zoe leaned over and asked, “Do you need me to get you some pain killers?”

Holding up my purse, I shook it, “I’ve got a bottle of ibuprofen since I was pretty sure I’d need it at some point.”

“Alright, we’ll let you rest and one of us will check on you in the morning.”

“Thanks for understanding,” I told them. After I walked off, I glanced over my shoulder to see Zoe watching me leave. When she saw me looking, she smiled and waved and then started debating with her sister again. I could tell because she was waving one hand in the air as if she was trying to accentuate some point she was trying to make.

I was really tired of stressing about all the crazy shit going on in my life right now. I needed to hunker down somewhere I felt safe and try to get some sleep. I’d told Zoe I was going to Rebel’s room, but to be honest I didn’t want to have to talk to him when he got back. Hearing what those club girls said had really shaken my confidence. Once Zoe’s attention was no longer on me, I went straight to the prospect that was the most involved in the cleanup at my office. Eric saw me coming and began looking around behind me for Rebel.

When I approached him, he jerked his chin at me. “What do you need, Miss Lacey?” It was cute how his tone of voice was gruff and all business.

“I was hoping to get a ride home.” I didn’t really need to explain more because he immediately realized why I was asking for a ride. The police had finished with my parents’ house, it was still a mess, but it was no longer a crime scene, and I didn’t think it was likely that whoever had trashed the place would return.

“Ah, I see. You’ve been drinking it up with the girls and don’t want to drive intoxicated.”

“Yeah, that’s about the size of it,” I told him. Anxiety was twisting in my gut, making my palms sweat and my body a little shaky.

He immediately agreed. “I’ll take you but I’m going to take one of our vans. I don’t want Rebel on my ass for putting his old lady on the back of my bike. The brothers are possessive over their women, and I don’t wanna do anything to mess up my chances of getting patched into the Dark Slayers one day.”

I fidgeted with my purse, wishing he would get a move on. “That’s perfectly fine by me,” I murmured as I followed him out to the back patio. I already knew that was where they kept their vehicles.

He opened the passenger door and helped me into the van, clearly worried that I might be more intoxicated than I appeared. It was cold outside, making me wish I’d brought a coat instead of a light sweater. Eric got in, started the van up, and then flipped on the heater. He rubbed his hands together near one of the vents. I preferred to wrap my arms around my stomach and tuck my fingers under my arms because that vent was still blowing cold air.

He glanced up at me and asked, “I’m sorry about your home getting broken into. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have your office vandalized and then your home. Are you okay?”

“I’m really not. I’m stressed out, overwhelmed, and I really just want to crash out in my own bed.”

He froze for a second before saying, “The police released your home from being a crime scene real quick.”

I shrugged and told him, “I guess homes getting broken into are much more common than a place of business.” I was still a bit worried about having to go back home, and leading Eric to believe everything was okay was a shitty thing to do, but I couldn’t face up to Rebel coming back to the clubhouse and wanting us to do what we usually do at night after everything those club girls said. I needed time to think about the situation and decide what I was going to do about this. I wasn’t about to leave Rebel over this, but I might slow down our relationship a bit until I could be certain that his recent personality switch was genuine and not some form of love bombing. I mean, I didn’t think it was, but I couldn’t seem to stop second-guessing myself on this issue.

I suddenly realized that Eric had pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road. When I turned to him, he mumbled, “You seemed so deep in thought I was beginning to think you might have fallen asleep.”

“No. I’ve just got a lot on my mind,” I told him.

“I know you didn’t ask for my opinion, but Rebel is a really good listener. I used to go to him when I first became a prospect to find out his opinion on situations I found weird. He would always make the time to talk to me and explain things in a way even a newbie could understand. Go to him and trust that he’ll do right by you, Miss Lacey.”

I gave him a tired smile. “Thanks for that bit of honesty, Eric. I really appreciate it.”

“Are you sure you’re okay about going home?”

I reluctantly admitted that I wasn’t. “No, but I want to rest my head on my own pillow and chill out. I know Rebel and your club officers think the two break-ins are related, but I think maybe our house was just a random event, not related to the office. I’m scared, but I doubt anyone is going to break in twice when they didn’t bother to take anything the first time.”

Eric looked concerned. “Look, I’m not gonna tell you how to live your life. However, if you feel comfortable going home, I’ll stay outside and make sure whoever broke in doesn’t show back up and catch you by surprise.”

I sighed. “You Slayers have a protective streak a mile wide.”

“It’s who we are, ma’am.”

“Well, I hate for you to waste an entire night out in the cold. How about you crash out on the sofa downstairs, and if it’s looks like it’s going to be a clear night, you can shove off whenever you like?”

“That’s a mighty nice offer, but I can protect you better when I’m guarding the perimeter of your home from the outside. Plus, I don’t think Rebel would like the idea of me being in your home.”

By then, he was pulling into my parents’ driveway. “If you get cold and change your mind, we leave our spare key under the welcome mat.”

His expression turned shocked. “You shouldn’t do that. It’s not a wise move from a safety perspective.”

“We’ve been doing it for years, Eric.”

“Yeah, I get that. You know I’m gonna have to report this to Rebel, right?”

I shrugged and opened my door. “Do what you got to do there, Eric. I know you guys have your own code, and I don’t want you to get into trouble.”

He looked at me for a minute before giving me a genuine smile. “You’re a real nice lady. I see why Rebel is so taken with you.”

“Goodnight, Eric. Try to stay warm.”

“Will do, Miss Lacey. Rest easy knowing you will always be protected by our club.”

“Thanks for that,” I told him before heading into my house. It was still early evening, but my plan was to take a shower and drift off into a dreamless sleep as soon as humanly possible.

I took off my shoes at the door and padded my way up the stairs, choosing to ignore the mess I didn’t have time to clean up. I yawned as I opened my door. Some kind of safety-conscious instinct prompted me to lock the bedroom door behind me. I didn’t think too much of it and got in my shower. Being back in my childhood home was where I needed to be right now. When I stepped into the shower and felt the warm water flowing over my body, it warmed me from the inside out, and I finally felt myself relax.