Jaded: (Beautiful Biker MC Romance Series), page 44
We waited until Brady was back and then we headed upstairs.
“Good night?” I asked when we got inside my room.
“So much fun,” she said, glowing, then her expression dropped a little. “Well, mostly.”
“Forget about Skip’s bitch. She’s shootin’ herself in the foot and you’ve got friends. Clearly. Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she whispered, smile returning.
“How about some Petite Mort?” I offered.
She smiled wide. “Glad it didn’t make you mad.”
“You talking up my skills to your friends? Not at all. Though obviously some shit’s private.”
“Of course. I’ll only wax lyrical about your skills and your equipment in a general sense.”
“Obliged.”
“And maybe your equipment’s jewelry,” she added. “Though can I have grande instead of petite?”
I laughed. And then she jumped my bones.
***
My girl was naked and passed out and I was thirsty as fuck. It was a couple hours later, and I’d wandered to the kitchen to grab a drink. Nolan and Bront were there talking low. Both shut their mouths when they spotted me.
“’Sup brothers?” I opened the fridge.
“Hey, Jesse,” Nolan greeted enthusiastically. Too enthusiastically.
Bront said not a word. And that meant I was tweaked.
“Get Skip’s bitch home safe?” I asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, yeah,” Nolan nodded too quickly.
Bront punched him in the arm. “You’re such a dumbass,” Bront muttered and then looked to me. “Sara blew him.”
“Bronto, fuck!” Nolan winced.
“This is Jesse,” Bront said, like I’d be an obvious person to tell. No idea why he thought I’d wanna know this shit, but he kept talking, eyes on me, “She wants Skip to know about it. I told him to say nothing. Not only is he puttin’ his life in his hands if he does, it’s playin’ into her hand. This is what she wants. She made a pass at me last week up here. I turned it down. This one didn’t have the same level of self-control.”
“I was driving! She just…” Nolan gestured wildly, “got it out before I knew it, we nearly drove into a fuckin’ tree. We wound up in a ditch and… shit happened.”
“Fuck,” I muttered and drank back half the Coke I’d opened.
“I didn’t touch her. Not before or after,” Nolan’s hands were up.
“He should keep his mouth shut. Pretend it didn’t happen,” Bront said. “Right?”
“Don’t know, man. This is your club. Skip is your brother. He’ll kill you for sure if you tell him, but not tellin’ him when his woman wants him to find out? She might spread it around anyway. You’re not in a good spot, brother.”
“He told Justice already,” Bront added.
“What’d Justice say to him?”
“Justice hasn’t answered his text. I’m just a hot-blooded man,” Nolan reasoned. “She’s a babe. And she wasn’t takin’ no for an answer. I figured it was either get my dick sucked or get it bit and deal with an angry woman. She sucked me off and then let me drive her home. If I fought, I might not’ve gotten her home without a hassle. I was just fulfilling my duty there.”
“I’m goin’ to bed,” Bront muttered.
Nolan looked at me with panic. “What should I do?”
“This shit ain’t my shit,” I said with a shrug. “If Skip were someone I had even a shred of respect for it’d be a different story.”
“Keep your mouth shut and stay away from her,” Bront suggested and then his door shut.
I headed for bed.
“Can’t figure out for the life of me why Skip’d stray havin’ a hot piece like that in his bed,” he mused.
I turned around and said, “If a man cheats, it’s rarely because his woman isn’t enough. Usually, he’s just a dickhead who thinks gettin’ empty pussy means he’s still got it. He doesn’t.”
22
A Few Weeks Later
It’d been a very eventful couple weeks for the Dominion Brotherhood MC.
First, there was the event that sparked a conversation with me and Deacon that went something like:
“Yo, D?”
“Yeah, man?”
“Don’t generally waste people’s time with stupid questions, but feel like I’ve got no choice.”
“Shoot,” he invited.
“Did I just see Fork kidnap your sister with you watchin’?” I laughed, figuring I had to be wrong, regardless of the fact that’s what it looked like.
“That’s exactly what you saw,” he said casually and went back to the brake job he’d been working on.
I took a minute to process that, giving him time to elaborate. Finally, he looked at me and grinned.
I’m sure my expression was one of shock.
So he explained, “He’s perfect for her. Thinks he’s not good enough. And she’s perfect for him bein’ so strong, from what I could see she wouldn’t let him scare her off. Probably hasn’t stopped tryin’ to convince him he is good enough.”
Despite Deacon’s chill attitude about it, the rest of his family did not react the same way. That was a shit storm and a half that caused a fuckin’ ruckus. Fork’s extreme reaction was evidently down to her pushing his buttons. Tongues wagged about her going on two back-to-back dates, one with a cop, then her being featured scantily clad in a local calendar aimed at bikers and motorcycle enthusiasts. The boys’d had a fit, and not just the ones related to her. There were a lot of pissed off bikers around and that calendar was not to be seen or mentioned on clubhouse grounds. The girl was hot. And that’s what pissed the brothers off most of all. Knowing the club princess was fap fodder for a fuck-ton of bikers was bad enough. That it’d put her under an even bigger spotlight in terms of Jackals radar was even worse. Because they’d already planned to kidnap her, then they did actually get their hands on her. We didn’t want them having a third opportunity.
This meant we went from having people escort her going on dates to seeing Fork snap, kidnap her, and disappear. It was more than obvious the girl dated to get his attention. While Deacon was chill about Fork going gonzo and kidnapping her, Deke, Ride, and Spencer were not. They were all breathing fire, especially Deke, for the next few days until Fork came back to ask Prez for her hand in marriage.
I was not there to witness it, but the way Deacon later told me about it, Fork asked for Jojo’s hand in marriage in the parking lot two seconds after Deke’s fist collided with Fork’s nose.
Gigi was tickled pink that they were getting married, disappointed we couldn’t go to Vegas for the wedding, but I was helping hold down the fort while they were gone and considered it my honor to do so knowing Deke and his sons could enjoy the wedding knowing I had things in hand for the garage.
I brought Nolan into the garage to help me on Friday and though he was annoying as fuck, he wasn’t bullshitting about being pretty good with a wrench.
A week later, the garage and dealership were shutting down for the rally at Sturgis. Some of the brothers were staying back because they didn’t want to leave the clubhouse and Valentine businesses unmanned, and there were enough non-MC employees around to keep things chugging along at Deke’s Roadhouse, so that stayed open.
When I asked Gigi if she wanted to go to Sturgis, she told me she’d gone the year before with her stepsister and the memory of that was gonna curdle in her belly. She suggested I go without her. I had no intentions of doing that and I didn’t mind not going, hearing that Skip and Sara were going.
I didn’t plan to hide from them and didn’t want my girl doing it either, but for the moment, I was enjoying the reprieve from the drama where Sara was concerned. The Nolan/Sara shit managed to stay under radar so far, too, but I wasn’t sure for how long.
Sara hadn’t been around since the night in Deke’s Roadhouse, which allowed my girl the room she needed to feel welcome. The girls paired up with the Valentines had been keeping her included in trips to the bar for lunch, in movie and chat sessions in the back room where they all spent a lot of time, too. Andie the baker and Lulu the hairdresser were also around a lot, too. Gigi got along with them both. I was still braced for any further Sara drama.
“We’re off for a few days then. What do you wanna do instead?”
“You don’t wanna just stay here and keep an eye on things for Deke?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Deke hired a security company to watch the grounds since most would go to the rally but there are a few brothers stayin’ back already. Me stayin’ back for Easter and for the wedding means I won’t have to do it the next few big events. We should do something. Get outta town for a few days.”
“Could we visit your parents? Maybe stay there overnight and then spend a little time at Deke’s cabin? If that’s okay with him, I mean.”
I liked that idea. Deke gave me the green light on that, telling me that no, Jackals probably didn’t know where his safe house was since the guys Fork had disposed of might be the only ones with access to the tracker info on Fork’s truck. Fork had disposed of the cell phone with the app on it, saying it was rudimentary. Since then, we’d burnt out that Jackals van in the woods and put up two trail cams on Deke’s property.
But Deke wanted an alarm system and more trail cams put up to cover all potential access points just in case, liked how Fork had planted some trail cams around some of the Jackals hideouts giving us the ability to see what was what from his phone. So I was gonna install some when we got there so they could keep an even better eye on the place.
He told me to make sure I was armed, giving me a key to his gun safe in the basement. Ride gave me the specs of the system he wanted for it and laid out where he wanted all the new cameras installed.
Me and G drove to Bismarck in my pickup truck after getting escorted the first hour by Scott and Nico. Deke had put the two of them together on assignment a couple times since their time in the ring and Scott seemed to be okay with him.
And my girl fiddled with my radio, taking charge of the music without asking, and she looked happy. Very fucking happy.
***
“Your momma still suspects nothing?” she asked as we pulled down their street.
“Nope. Haven’t talked to her in at least a week. She loves surprises. She’ll be tickled.”
She clapped her hands happily.
I wasn’t sure if they were working or not, but after finding their driveway empty, we showed up at the bar.
Since it was around nine o’clock, things were in full swing, girls on stage, most of the tables and booths full. Arch was manning the bar and his face lit up when he saw us.
The Playpen wasn’t a dive bar. It was absolutely a titty bar, but it was a little more upscale. It was spotless, with nice furnishings and good lighting. The servers dressed in halters and leather miniskirts and the clientele was more than a couple men sitting up in pervert’s row. Yeah, there were always men on their own up front, but in addition to that there were groups of tradesmen coming in after work as well as couples on a spice-night (a night out to spice up their sex life). It was also popular for stags and more recently also for bachelorette parties, too.
Ma didn’t run a skeevy titty bar. She wanted to be known as an exotic nightclub with more. That’s why she had events, trivia nights, did fundraisers for the local area, and had set up an extra dance floor to the side for anyone who wanted to get up and move to the music, keeping their clothes on, of course.
When I bounced there, I regularly found myself reminding people that the only ones permitted to take their clothes off were the employees.
“Holy shit! Fernanda!” Archer bellowed.
Ma popped up from behind the bar, making me jolt in surprise at her sudden appearance, not to mention the fact that she was directly in front of him.
Ma squealed in delight.
“Fuck sakes,” I muttered at what it looked like.
“Surprise!” Gigi sang out giddily.
“Hey!” Ma greeted in return, then when her eyes settled on my grimace, she waved her hand like the notion in my head was ridiculous.
“I was stocking, since his knees are buggin’ him,” she defended, while flipping the bar top over to come and wrap her arms around my girl.
They hugged like they were long lost besties.
Arch laughed heartily, then went serious. “Yeah, she was stocking but now I got a new fantasy.” He tapped his noggin and smiled. “Thanks, Jesse.”
My lip curled with disgust. Arch laughed again and wrapped his tree trunk arms around me. I slapped his back.
“Good to see ya, son,” he said.
“You, too,” I returned before Ma and Arch switched places.
Ma was in her usual work attire, a business suit, hair piled up on her head, though still looking like she belonged in the titty bar with her stripper shoes, heavy makeup, her jewelry, and two of her blouse buttons undone, showing off the tops of her bra cups. She wasn’t joking when she said that she dressed for work like a hot executive who could, at any minute, tap into her inner exotic dancer. I was used to this.
“Hugging the girl before your son? I’m offended,” I muttered, then gave her a grin.
She already had both arms around me. She tugged my head until it lowered enough for her to drop a kiss on my forehead, then she planted more loud smooches on my left cheek, then my right.
“What a fantastic surprise! How long are you two in town?”
“Till the day after tomorrow if that’s cool.”
“Of course it’s cool. We’ll get the bar covered tomorrow night and do something. Have a party maybe. Hey Arch?”
“Sounds good to me, babe.”
“We don’t wanna interrupt your routine,” Gigi said, getting hugged by Arch. “But we wanted to see you guys.”
“What’s the scoop?” Ma asked. “Not goin’ to Sturgis?”
“Most of the club’s gone to the rally. We decided to come here a couple days, then spend some time at Deke’s cabin.”
Arch waved at Tiff, Ma’s assistant manager who was on the other side of the stage, speaking to one of the dancers. “Take over for a bit, will ya, Tiff?” He looked to me and my girl. “What are you two drinking? We’ll grab a booth.”
***
Gigi’s eyes were on Summer, who was working the pole. Her mouth was slack and I found it comical the way she stared.
“She’s so good at that,” she finally said, not taking her eyes off her. “What kind of upper body strength does it take to accomplish that?”
“A whole lot of it,” Ma put in. “I used to be almost that good. Taught that girl. She could already dance when she got here, but I taught her some moves on that pole, and she took it from there and now she’s the best we’ve got.”
“Wow,” Gigi muttered and then took another draw on the straw of her vodka and orange juice.
I was nursing my beer, eyes on my girl rather than on the stage. I’ve always appreciated talent on a pole, other than my mother being that talent, which thankfully wasn’t something she did after she took over managing the place. And I’d seen enough of Summer and the other girls swinging that I didn’t feel the need to watch. I also didn’t feel the need to keep my eyes averted like some of the men here on dates with their women. I always found it funny when I bounced here that couples would come in for a spice-night and it was easy to see who was a newbie at that notion because the men felt too self-conscious to pay any mind to the talent for fear of getting a face-slap from their significant other.
Ma abruptly announced, “I think we oughta take this to the office.”
“Why?” I asked.
“So we can hear one another better. Music’s so loud,” Ma lied.
My head cocked to the side as I studied her.
Arch looked at her questioningly. “Huh? I can hear ‘em just fine.”
“Too noisy. And it’s filling up. Best we leave this booth for paying customers.”
“Don’t sweat it, Fernanda,” Arch waved his hand. “I’ll pay for our drinks.”
“Who manages this joint?” Ma demanded through clenched teeth, her eyes shrewd in a way that I knew was the delivery of a strong message. Arch was missing her point.
My eyes scanned the space knowing my mother had a reason for wanting to move us out of the bar.
There was why. Three girls sitting at a table in the front row, one more than familiar set of eyes focused on me while the other two sets pretended they weren’t looking at me. I hadn’t even clocked her arrival, which wasn’t like me. I’d been too focused on staring at G.
Chelsea had clearly been watching the way I’d been staring at my girlfriend by the stricken look on her face when my eyes landed on her.
She tried to smile. She wiggled her fingers in greeting.
My teeth clenched and my blood started to simmer, heading straight for a rapid boil. My eyes cut to Summer, who was still working the pole, and Summer’s eyes ping-ponged between me and Chelsea.
Why Chels was here now was beyond me, I’d been out for well over a year. This was obviously down to Summer, who withered under my glare.
“What’s goin’ on?” Arch unwisely asked.
Gigi’s eyes moved to me, and they were probing. Nobody could miss the vibe and the fact that so many sets of eyes were on us. Not just Summer’s. Not just Chelsea’s and her friends’ eyes. Also a couple of other dancers and servers who knew the history.
Chelsea wanted me to see her. Chelsea was in a little black strapless dress and wearing the necklace I’d bought for her birthday just months before I went to jail. And I knew from experience that Chelsea had also been sizing Gigi up. Was she working out a plan to figure out how to get rid of her? Why else would she be here? Chelsea got to her feet.
I shook my head in warning, making sure she couldn’t miss that I did not want an approach. She walked my way anyway, long black hair swaying in a way that used to get my blood pumping harder. Despite the throbbing music, it was like the sounds of her heels clicking on the floor had the same cadence as when Sara Ford’s heels came toward me. With purpose that I wanted absolutely no fucking part of.
