Chapter Eleven
Sweet Jealousy
Anthony
It’d been a long time since I felt that victorious about anything. I rode with a smile for several miles, unable to believe my luck. I didn’t really know where I intended to take her, but I figured as long as we were riding, she wasn’t going to ask to get off.
If money were a concern, she wasn’t going to waste any on a cab. So, distance was king.
She didn’t seem to mind, and she didn’t panic when I took curves or got back on the interstate. The gas was low by the time I reached Peoria. Which was a shame, I’d have driven clean to Chicago if it meant more time with her.
Instead, I took the exit and hit up the first gas station I found.
“I was wondering if we were ever going to stop, or if there was a destination in mind.”
I smiled, somewhat relieved that her upset had passed.
“There is a casino here somewhere.” I was sure of it.
She stopped stretching, and placed either hand slightly behind her hips as she stared at me, “A casino? Right, cause I’m dripping in extra money to waste.”
“I don’t remember asking after your money,” I pointed out, once I got the nozzle where it needed to be.
“So, you brought me all this way to let me gamble on your dime?” The disbelief in her tone was enough to make me laugh.
“Why not?”
She gave a slow, stiff nod.
“And then?”
“You’re getting a little ahead of yourself, I’m still grieving the lost waffles here.”
Her pretty, blue eyes snapped to my face, and she fought a smile as she stared down toward the river, “I mean– You had an hour to stuff your face, if you sat there twiddling your thumbs and taking it out on waitresses, that ain’t my fault.”
My jaw dropped at the mention of the waitress and she swallowed a laugh, the smile breaking free.
“I don’t like assholes.”
“Have I been one toward you?” I asked, letting go of the handle when it clicked.
I removed the nozzle, returned it to the pump, and turned to confront her silence with a spiked brow.
“Actually, you have,” she quietly charged, “You went from being a God of Seduction to acting like an entitled King of Twats when I wouldn’t give you my number in the champagne room.”
I couldn’t stop myself from laughing as I widened my eyes with feigned shock, “What did you just call me?”
“Mhmm.” She nodded, “You heard me.”
“Thank God, they didn’t let you assign road names.” I shook my head and snatched the receipt when the machine finally spat it out.
“Mhmm. So, where are we really going Mr. KoT?”
I hooked my hand around her hip and hauled her against me. The little squeal that clipped from her left me smiling against her lips as I tried to shush her.
“I told you, lunch at the casino.”
I took her hand and led her back to the bike.
She hopped on and we made the short journey along the river until we arrived at the casino and hotel.
I parked closer to the boat, since I wasn’t sure of our plans just yet.
The signs out front listed Ray’s Catch as having seafood broil, while another mentioned a place called the Taste Shack with gyros and all you could eat wings.
I led her into the lobby and slowed before asking, “What kind of girl are you?”
She leaned into me before whispering back, “The kind that would have been grateful for a drive-thru or a bag of chips.”
I snorted, hooked her pinkie with mine and led the way toward the wings.
“Just you two?” a girl in crisp black slacks asked when we entered.
“Yeah.”
“Excellent. Table or booth?”
“Booth,” I answered, almost before she could finish the question.
When we arrived at the cozy, red-leathered booth, I glanced at Crystal and tipped my head, “You first, I’m not having a repeat of the Waffle Spot.”
Color tingled her cheeks and she fought a smile as she scooted across the bench. I sat down beside her, trapping her in the corner before I finally gave my attention to the waitress.
“I’ll have a sweet tea.”
“Sounds good to me,” Crystal seconded, when the lady looked her way.
“Great, I'll be right back with those,” the server announced, before offering each of us a menu.
“How did you know they’d have a restaurant here? Is this your usual scheme, swoop chicks up and steal them away to the casino?”
I grinned and studied her before shaking my head, “Nah, my Aunt Daisy likes to come up this way for book-convention-type things. She used to make me and my brother come with her when we were younger.”
“You’re close with your aunt? That’s nice. I don’t really know any of my mom’s people.”
“Close–” I tipped my head, “She’s closer with my brother, really. I tend to disappoint her if we’re being honest. All her hopes of seeing one of us past the clutches of our father’s sins and club are now firmly invested in my younger brother, Eric. He’s off in the military.”
“Eric Aviston,” his name fell from her lips, and for the first time in my life, I was jealous of my little brother.
Before I could say a word, the waitress was back. “Do you guys need a few minutes?”
“No.” Crystal shook her pretty head and pointed to her menu. “Could I have ranch with the cauliflower wings?”
“You bet.” The lady nodded. “Anything else?”
“Hm… What is the soup of the day?”
“Stuffed Pepper soup.”
“That sounds good, I’ll have that also.”
“Great. And, what about you?”
I blinked, having barely looked at the menu.
“Same—Wait.” I scrunched up my face realizing she’d asked for vegetarian chicken wings. “No– I want wing–wings.”
Crystal let out a little giggle and my attention cemented on her.
“He wants wing-wings. The ‘big boy’ kind.” [MH1]She winked at the waitress before turning her attention back to me and nudging my arm with her elbow. “You want her to put the sauce in a little cup for you or–?”
“Absolutely not. I want bone in, honey barbeque. That soup does sound good, make it two.” I stared back at her and passed the menu toward the waitress without shifting my gaze. Eventually a smile broke and once the woman moved on, I whispered with a laugh, “You’re something else.”
“Am I?”
“You know you are.”
She used her straw to stir her tea and averted her gaze.
“You know my brother?”
“Hmm?” She fought a smile and hesitantly met my gaze again.
I sat back and tried to act like I wasn’t damn near holding my breath on the answer and she shook her head and laughed.
“I wouldn’t say I know him. He was friends with my neighbor, Oak O’Brian. I used to see him coming and going over at Oak’s house when we were kids.”
“Right.” I relaxed a little and slid my hand over hers. “You don’t ever go back? Like, to visit?”
She stiffened, and I teased my thumb along the edge of her hand until she forced a smile that I knew in my soul was fake.
“I’m gonna go back in a few months. It’s a have to kind of thing,” she quietly admitted, and for a minute I thought that was all she intended to say. “I’ll be twenty-one. I intend to stop by on my way to Texas and grab my sister, Joplin.”
“You’re going to Texas for your birthday?”
I could get behind that. Texas was warm. It was as good a vacation spot as any and the thought of her little ass on the beach...
“No. I’m moving there.”
“What?” The word flew out of my mouth, and I turned to confront her, my body twisting in the awkward confines of the booth.
The fear that instantly took over her features made me inwardly curse myself. I gathered her hand in mine to soften the response and tried to laugh it off.
“What the fuck do you mean you’re leaving for Texas? Wh-why? What’s in Texas?”
Her lighthearted shrug baffled me further.
“A chance at a future.”
“I’m offering you that. Right here. In Illinois.”
She huffed, amusement carrying in her breath as she smiled and shook her head.
“Crystal, I’m fuckin’ serious.” I slid my fingers between hers and hugged her hand.
She avoided my gaze and twirled her tea with her straw.
“Why?”
“I’ve struggled long enough here in Illinois.
I’m always moving from apartment to shitty apartment, begging for shifts and doing odd jobs.
I don’t have anything solid because I’m constantly juggling instead of planning.
I can’t do this anymore. I need good paying, steady work and a lease in my own name. ”
“So, what, you’re going down there alone?” I squinted at her, not really buying it.
“I hope not, I want to take Joplin with me. She’ll be better off with me than in the place she is now.”
“Yeah? Why isn’t she here now?”
“She’s only fifteen. My mom will let me take her, but when she sobers up, she’ll report it and claim ignorance. I’d rather be in Texas than Illinois when that happens.”
“You intend to adopt her?”
“She’s better off with me,” Crystal repeated, her attention shifting from me as the waitress returned.
She laid the food out and flashed a smile before heading off again.
“So, what’s your story?” Crystal asked, while pinching a piece of breading off her cauliflower. Steam rolled out of the opening she created.
“What do you mean?”
She dunked the cauliflower in her ranch and studied my face like she was imploring me to be serious, “You want me to believe the dreams you’re selling, and you say you’re real, but you’ve told me more about your brother, than you have yourself.”
I broke up the two crackers in the plastic pouch, ripped the corner off and poured it over the soup, “What do you want to know?”
“The things you don’t tell people. What’s your biggest secret?”
I huffed, folded the crackers into the soup and glanced toward her, “If you were mine, I’d answer.”
“Yeah?” She almost sounded shocked before the sarcasm bled in, “And what percentage of the truth would that answer carry?”
“Damn, girl…” I dropped the spoon and tried my best to look wounded.
“I saw who you entered the Cabaret with, your friends. One introduced us, remember?”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
She smiled and returned her attention to her cauliflower.
“Nah, what does it mean… To you?” I repeated.
“Your patch? Not a damn thing. I’ve seen it around Swanwick.” She shook her head and raised a single shoulder. “But I wasn’t around long enough to get tangled up with them.”
“Then what makes you think I’d have anything to lie to you about?”
She slowly nodded her head and cleared her throat, before saluting me with her tea. “See.”
Her eyes said more than her lips, she shut up after that one little word, wrapped them around the straw and stared at me while she sipped.
“What am I supposed to see?”
“You don’t have any reason to lie to me, and yet you’d have me believe the Steel Disciples are–”
“An MC,” I finished for her.
“As long as we agree they’re not boy scouts.” She smirked and spooned some of her soup.
“They’re my family, my friends.”
“What about your aunt and brother?”
I gently bobbed my head in confirmation, “It’s been the two of us since I was in middle school.”
“What about your parents?”
“Gone.”
She nodded and sucked her spoon clean, “So, what do you do when you’re not riding that motorcycle everywhere?”
“I like to race and stunt. I like to travel.”
“Huh.” She huffed, “Stunt?”
“Yeah. I do dumb shit on the bike. Most days I’m good at it, sometimes the local emergency room gets to test their skills and luck.”
“That’s how you make money?”
I bleated with laughter and squinted, “Fuck no.”
I realized it was a question of what I did for a living, and I couldn’t very well tell her I trafficked marijuana and pills for the club. So, I babbled, “My, uh, my friend… He sold me that ol’ strip club on the edge of town.”
“You own a club…” She all but called bullshit with her eyes alone, patiently blinking and tipping her head.
“It used to be a club. I haven’t re-opened it yet.”
“Right.”
I reached for her plate and picked up a cauliflower bite. I knew it’d taste like shit, but I had to distract her. I dunked it and my fingers into her ranch and promptly shoved the damn thing in my mouth.
It had the firmness of a french fry, but I couldn’t bring myself to swallow no matter how long I chewed.
So much for seductive distractions!
I took up a napkin and tried to discreetly spit it out, much to her amusement.
“How the hell can you eat that?” I laughed.
“They’re good. It’s an acquired taste.”
“Yeah? What if I acquire a taste for you?”
She turned in the booth and peeked over the back of the seat, raising up just a bit to do so.
“It hasn’t escaped my notice, Mr. K.o.T., that you rather like gambling,” she teased.