Page 25 of Wild Card (Royal Bastards MC: Cody, Wyoming #1)

TWENTY-ONE

Ash

S he’s avoiding me. Ruby is doing everything in her power to avoid me, and it’s driving me insane. I’ve thought about fuckin’ one of these club sluts just to try and cleanse my brain of her, but every time I go to do it, something stops me.

“You good?” Zander slaps me on the back when he joins me at the clubhouse bar.

“Yeah, just wanna get this situation sorted so I can bail,” I admit.

“The drug situation… or the female situation?” he asks, raising his eyebrow at me accusingly.

“There ain’t a female situation,” I assure him, knowing he ain’t buying the shit I’m selling but refusing to get into it with him. The thoughts I got are much better in my head.

“Well, tonight is gonna be the perfect opportunity for you to let loose. It’s Wraith’s birthday, and this place is gonna be crammed full of desperate pussy.

“Wraith don’t seem like the partyin’ kind.” I glance across the room to where he sits, a few of the others surrounding him are playing cards, but he ain’t participating, he’s just staring at the table with heavy dark eyes that look full of torment.

“Well, no, but… Any excuse.” Zander shrugs. “C’mon, it’ll be fun. Give us a chance to really suss this charter out.” He nods his head over to Cass, who stops writing in her notepad to grab him a beer.

“Not all of us judge a charter by the parties they throw.” I huff a laugh at him. I’ve never understood why Zander chose the nomad life; he’s everyone's buddy, and one of the most sociable guys I’ve ever met. Maybe he just bores easily and likes a change of scenery.

“So how do you judge this one?” He leans in closer and lowers his voice.

“I don’t. I’m not sticking around long enough to care,” I tell him, getting up and making my way over to a table where no one is sitting. I’d much rather be alone to wallow in my self-pity.

Zander wasn’t lying when he said the club would be full of desperate pussy.

The place is heaving full of women all wanting to wear a Royal Bastard badge of fuckin’ honour.

You can barely see across the room, for people, and the yard outside is just as crammed.

Malice is manning the grill, and Zander’s taking his own advice, talking up two girls at the same time.

All while the birthday boy sits in silence, drinking his beer.

“Why the long face, ya not heard that this is a party?” Hack slides into the booth beside me and wraps his arm around my shoulder.

“Dude, that cute little redhead has had her eyes on you all fuckin’ night.

” I can tell he’s already wasted, so I forgive him for his lack of attention to my personal space and smile at him.

“I ain’t in the mood for it,” I tell him.

“Who is ever not in the mood for pussy? Come on, man, it’s like Freshers’ Week in here when we open the clubhouse doors.

Wearing the cut is a guaranteed first-class ticket to Pussyville.

Look at her batting those lashes at ya…” He looks over to the redhead and raises his bottle. “She’s yours for the takin’.”

“I don’t wanna take,” I tell him firmly. I’m really starting to think that Ruby has ruined every other girl for me. No one compares to her, and it fuckin’ sucks.

“This is about our Ruby, ain’t it?” He laughs at me.

“ Our Ruby?” I check I heard him right.

“Hell, yeah, our Ruby! That girl is the spirit of this town; everyone knows her momma was a whore before she came here, but they all loved her, too. Ruby and Josie are good people. Good, honest, genuine people. Whole town was devastated when she died.”

“What happened to her momma?” I figure asking Hack while he’s drunk will save having to explain why I care.

“She got sick. Too stubborn to see a doctor, and by the time she did, it was all too late. Ruby nursed her through it. Never gave up hope.” He smiles sadly, making me feel guilty for killing his buzz.

“You knew her well?” I ask

“Everyone knew Josie; she came to this town lookin’ for a fresh start for her and her girl, and she changed it.

Her kindness became infectious, and Ruby…

she sure is somethin’. You know she spends every Friday afternoon picking up prescriptions for the elderly folk in town?

” He takes a sip from his bottle. “Kinda makes you feel like ya oughta do better.” His face creases up thoughtfully.

“You know why she’s marryin’ that asshole?” I ask him.

“What? Apart from the obvious?” He chuckles.

“Ruby ain’t marryin’ Brett Porter for the money, she ain’t like that.” I shake my head, refusing to believe it.

“No, she ain’t, but Brett can offer her stability. Chicks dig the cut brother, but only when they’re lookin’ for a good time. It’s easier just to accept that as fact, and enjoy what we can.” He looks back at the redhead and winks at her.

“Is that what you're doin’ with the Porter girl, accepting you can’t have her?” I decide now is a good time to call him out on it.

“Esmé?” He throws his head back and laughs. “What makes you think that?” He doesn’t give me a chance to answer before getting up and making his way over to join the girl on the other side of the room.

I continue to sit alone, taking everything in. There's no sign of Byron or Grizz. Cass is busy working the bar with some help from the club whores, and everyone else is being sociable. Everyone except Wraith, and he’s looking like he wants company even less than I do.

By the end of the night, all my brothers will be balls deep in pussy, while I lie in my bed pining for the girl in the room opposite mine, hoping that she’ll knock on my door and ask me to take her away from this madness.

I swear I’m hallucinating when I see her step through the door, looking at her surroundings warily as Esmé takes her hand and excitedly bounces toward the bar.

Instinctively, I get on my feet and make my way across to her.

“As–”

“What the fuck ya doin’ here?” I ask in a tone that's unwelcoming and short. It instantly makes the smile she had for me fade from her face, and I hate myself for it.

“It’s a party, ain’t it?” She giggles awkwardly as she looks around at all the people, and I watch the heat spread up her neck as she rubs the back of it, self-consciously.

“It was Esmé’s idea.” She looks to her friend, who must already be drunk because she's dancing at the bar, swinging her head from side to side and choking Moby with her hair.

“It was a bad one, you need to leave,” I tell Ruby. I don’t want her in my space right now. This is where I come to try and escape all that.

“We just got here.” She looks up, all confused and frustrated.

“Yeah, well, this ain’t the place for you.”

“Ash, why are you being a dick?” She laughs like this is some kinda joke, and when she goes to join Esmé, I side-step and block her.

“I mean it, I don’t want ya here.” I’m done with this girl taking up all the space in my head. I need to block her out. As soon as Hack’s sober, I’m gonna ask if he minds me crashing at his trailer for the rest of the time I’m here.

“We just came here to have some fun; the bar’s dead, Earl told me to take the night off. Are you seriously gonna send me away?”

“Course, he ain’t.” A voice comes from behind me, and when I turn around and see Byron, I feel my temper flare.

“Prez…I–”

“Since when do you call the shots around here?” he asks before looking back to Ruby and smiling. “As ya were, darlin’, you tell Cass your first drink’s on me.”

“Thank you.” She sticks her nose in the air and moves on to join her friend, who is looking like she could do with a ride home, instead of another drink. I don’t know how she’s standing on those legs of hers; they’re wobbling all over the place, and she’s pouring with sweat.

“You told me to stay away from her. I was just doin’ what you asked.” I turn back to face him and hold my hands up in defeat. I can’t seem to do right for fuckin’ wrong around here.

“She ain't doin’ no harm, and you should have better control of yourself. Go give Paris your attention, she’s been hot for you since ya got here,” he tells me, tipping his head toward one of the club whores.

“I’m good,” I assure him.

“Ya sure? Cause you sure as hell don’t look it,” he accuses me.

“I’m here to do a job and, rest assured, I’ll get it fuckin’ done.

” I head back to my booth and do my best not to look over my shoulder to see what Ruby’s doing.

Nothing she does should concern me. I need to start taking Hack’s advice, and I’m sure I’d feel a hella lot better with an empty ball sack.

I’m about to stand up and make my way over to Paris when I see him.

Brett-fuckin’-Porter, looking all outta place in one of his fancy tailored suits as his eyes scan the room.

He scowls like he’s angry when he sees his target, and when I notice him marching directly toward Ruby, I quickly dart in front of him before he gets to her.

“Can I help ya?” I ask, standing far too close and forcing him to look up at me.

“Get out my way,” he orders, breathing outta his nostrils. “Ruby, I’m taking you home!” he yells at her over the music, but she doesn’t hear him; she’s too busy trying to prop her friend up.

“Can’t ya see she’s havin’ a good time? We’ll make sure she gets home safe,” I assure him with a cocky grin that I know will wind him up.

“Get out of my fucking way,” he tells me again, getting more and more impatient.

“Or you’ll do what? Swing for me like you swung for her?” I laugh at the sorry son of a bitch, because he’s caught me on the wrong fuckin’ day.

“You're far too pussy for that,” I remind him.

“Brett.” Ruby’s startled voice comes from behind me, and she quickly barges her way in between us.

“I…I was just–”

“What the fuck are you doing here? You know the kind of girls that hang around places like this.” He turns his anger on her, and it makes my blood turn red fuckin’ hot.

“It’s not that kind of party. We were just hanging out; Esmé really wanted to come.”