Chapter 14 #2
“His mother? And of course I know his last name. What kind of woman do you take me for? Holy hell…How the fuck did we end up discussing my sex life?” she looked at the sky, then she reached for the half empty tequila bottle again.
For each shot she poured herself, I got one too. So much for watching my intake tonight. I drank it down, reveling in this conversation.
“I thought it was more than just sex?” Rosa smirked. She was enjoying herself.
“Mom!”
“Handlebar is hot,” I chipped in. Cassie whipped her head in my direction and for a second, I saw the jealousy in her eyes. “I had a huge crush on him when I was younger,” I said, stirring the pot, making Rosa laugh.
“He is eleven years older than me, he screws the club sluts-”
“Nope, he isn’t like that,” Rosa said. “That’s why I’m not concerned if you wanted to get involved with him. He’s a good guy. Solid, would do anything for his family and friends and he knows his way around a vehicle.”
“Like that is a huge plus in the ‘pro’ column.” She made quotation signs with her fingers.
“I can change my own tires just like dad taught me and I have Triple A for everything else. I am not getting involved with him,” she huffed, folding her arms, and sitting back in the chair.
“Or anyone else. I’m happy with my life as it is. ”
“He’s good with his hands. That is a huge plus,” Rosa laughed. “Anyway, you protest too much, child of mine,” she patted Cassie’s hand. “All I’m saying is, you could do worse. You know your dad would approve.”
She pulled a face that reminded me of a five-year-old about to throw a tantrum, and I laughed, which set Rosa off.
“Yeah, go ahead, laugh it up,” Cassie snarked, but then she started laughing too.
Clearly, we had all had too much tequila.
“Hey, hey, hey ladies,” Connor appeared behind me, grabbing my shoulders, making me jump out of my skin. “What are we talking about?”
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Cassie pointed at me and Rosa in turn.
“Intriguing.” He rubbed his chin, grabbed me out of the seat and sat down before pulling me on to his lap. “How about we play, kiss, marry, kill?” he asked with a grin. “That way, no one has to tell me any secrets. I’ll figure it out for myself.”
“Oh, fun,” I told him.
“Okay, first up, Ballistic,” Connor said with a nudge of Rosa’s arm.
Cassie made a retching noise, glaring at Connor like he’d lost his mind. He just laughed and picked up my glass, placing it in my hand.
The way he was looking at me got my heckles rising. I shook my head hard, my hair swishing around my shoulders at the motion, slapping against his face. He brushed it down back over my shoulder in an almost tender gesture that was in direct conflict with the wicked gleam in his eyes.
“Mr. Hudson Kelley?”
“Kiss,” Cassie said, just as Rosa muttered. “Kill.”
Connor raised his brows at both women. I gave Cassie the side eye, but she just sipped her tequila and looked at me over the glass with a knowing smirk. I didn’t answer, despite Connor bouncing me on his lap.
“Really, Rosa?”
“Well, I’m sure not gonna kiss or marry him, am I?”
“Kiss or marry who?” Ballistic boomed from behind us.
He grabbed Rosa’s arm and pulled her up, lifting her off her feet so her legs dangled. He was laughing though.
“Woman, you better be meaning that because I’m the only one who gets to kiss your pretty face and...” he spotted Cassie and laughed, burying his face in Rosa’s neck. Then they started making out.
“Oh, fuck my life,” Cassie put her head in her hands.
Connor was laughing now, jostling me about on his lap. We were drawing attention. Especially when Ballistic lifted Rosa up high by the waist and she shrieked, batting at his shoulders and telling him to put her the fuck down.
“Parentals, act your age,” Ransom came over to save his sister and smacked his dad’s arm.
Ballistic just laughed again as Rosa wound her legs around his hips and they walked away. I glanced over my shoulder and a cheer went up as they rounded a corner heading inside.
“Gross,” Connor said, drawing all of our attention.
“You started it!” Cassie spluttered. Ransom looked grossed out himself, but he sat down and put his arm around his sister, giving her a sympathetic look.
“Could be worse,” he told her. “They could be doing it out-”
“Urgh, no, nope!” Cassie covered her ears. I wrinkled my nose too.
“God, shit, I just realized what I was about to say.” Ransom looked horrified.
“You see what you’ve done?” I poked Connor’s shoulder. “You have traumatized them.”
“Please stand, so I can take a bow,” he laughed.
Then he stood, but he set me down. I watched as he looked around and I saw his expression change. His eyes went dark, in a way I wasn’t used to seeing on him. I looked around and saw a girl moving herself on to Warren’s lap, facing him with her hands on his shoulders.
“Fuck,” he whispered.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” I said, holding Connor’s chin, so he was facing me, but his eyes were on Warren and the girl. “Connor, look at me.”
He did, but his eyes were no less stormy.
I looked back over and saw Hudson approach Warren.
He said something so that the girl had to get off him, and the two of them walked away.
Warren looked over at us as they headed towards another group of brothers, I could see the look in his eyes, pleading with Connor.
Hudson had read the situation and acted to fix it. I wondered how many times he had done that for them, and it made my heart ache.
Connor deflated a little but put a smile on his face as he saluted Ransom and Cassie and let me go.
“Where are you going?” I snagged his hand.
“Dancing won’t do it for me tonight, Curtsey,” he whispered. “I’m just gonna go hang out.”
“Stay with me,” I told him, not letting him go.
I could see he wanted to pull his hand away, he wanted to lash out, and he was struggling hard with himself.
“Please,” I got in front of him, not caring who was looking, although I could hear Cassie and Ransom talking about their parents. “Don’t leave me on my own. I need you.”
“You’re fine, Wave. You’re always fine,” he brushed my hair behind my ear. “Stronger than all of us put together.”
Then he pulled his hand from mine and walked away, disappearing into the crowd of people.
I started to go after him, but the music cut off and my dad’s voice rang out over the noise.
Everyone hushed and turned to look at him.
I barely heard what he was saying though, searching for Connor.
I made up my mind and started after him.
Everyone was cheering and out of the corner of my eye I saw the prospect, Kansas, head over to my dad who was holding up a new cut, beaming. The kid looked a mixture between nervous, tipsy, and excited.
The music started again, more cheering, but I kept pushing through, I had to find Connor. Someone stepped in front of me, and a spiked heel came down on the top of my foot.
“Ow,” I cried out, goddammit why did I not have any shoes on. I hopped, grabbing my foot.
“Oh, I’m sorry, did I step on you?”
I looked up at Tanya, she was smirking, not sorry in the slightest for what she had done. In fact, it was obvious she had done it on purpose. It was obvious she wanted to start something with me, but I didn’t give a fuck about some club whore. Connor was more important.
I elbowed her out of the way, her indignant cry left behind as I darted away too quick for her to react. Screw her and whatever stupid game she thought she was playing. Not with me, bitch. Not tonight.
I spotted Connor by the pool. He was staring into the water. No one was swimming tonight, the lights were off, so the water was like a dark sheet of glass. He was so focused that he didn’t hear me coming towards him. But someone stepped in front of me again.
Fortunately, it was a man, so I didn’t have to worry about fucking Tanya but when I looked up, all the blood drained out of my face.
“Waverley,” he smiled, but it wasn’t a pleasant smile, it was the smile of a sleazy opportunistic asshole, and it made my skin crawl.
“Long time no see,” he said as he leaned towards me.
“In fact, if I remember rightly, the last time I saw you…” he trailed off, but his meaning was clear and to punctuate it, he ran the tip of his finger down my forearm.
“Don’t touch me,” I hissed at him, he just smiled down at me. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Andrew Reinhart, the man who ruined my life. “You didn’t know,” he said smugly. “I work with your dad now. I’m currently deeply involved with a lot of things relating to the club.”
“You’re lying,” I said through my teeth. “You wouldn’t work with my father. With the club. Not after what you said. What you were going to do.”
“I was a kid then and you know how it is, you do and say stupid shit when you’re a kid. Besides, it got me what I wanted, didn’t it?” he laughed, and it was a horrible sound.
It brought back hideous memories, and I had to fight to stop my eyes filling with tears. This was the last place I ever thought I would run into him. In fact, I had hoped I’d never lay eyes on him again.
Andrew knew what this was doing to me and moved so that his back was to the crowd, his height and size hiding me from everyone.
“Besides, I’m making a shit ton of money off this gig. Why the hell would I stay away when I can use this place to help make me a millionaire?”
I didn’t know what to say to that. My head was reeling. Could he be serious? He was working for my dad? Doing what? My stomach revolted all the tequila I’d drank, and I felt the urge to vomit all over his preppy loafers.
“Come on, Wave,” he said in a smooth whisper. “We had a good time. Right?”
Andrew wrapped a hand around my wrist, licking his bottom lip. I glanced down, saw the gold band around his third finger and tugged my arm away, wrenching him so he stepped closer.
“Well now, sweetheart,” he said. “If you want to catch up, I think I could find a quiet place around here.”
“I am not your sweetheart, and I am not going anywhere with you, you fucking pig,” I snarled, letting the shock wear off and the anger take over.
His face morphed from its sleazy creeper look to indignant anger. He reached out and grabbed my arm again, squeezing tight enough to bruise. I struggled against him.
“Let me go,” I hissed. “Right the fuck now.”
“Come on, it’ll be like old times, you never fought me back then, remember?”
I started struggling again, trying to pull myself away, but he stepped into me, pulling me against his body, I baulked when I felt his erection against my hip. Without thinking about it, I reacted, and punched him in the stomach hard enough that he doubled over, his breath whooshing out.
“What the fuck, you bitch.”
He straightened up and went for me again like he was about to grab for me or hit me. I’d moved around him, so he was now facing the entire MC and he pulled up short.
He wouldn’t do anything where he could be seen.
No, Andrew Reinhart was a sneaky mother fucker who came at you in ways you weren’t expecting. He knew it would be a mistake to continue this here, in front of everyone.
I glared at him, challenging him to say something else to me. He laughed, his face looking a little crazed. As he stepped around me, he ran his hand down my arm, his fingers brushing the side of my breast.
“We’ll catch up,” he leaned to my ear. “Don’t you worry about that. I still have the pictures.”
Even though he walked away, the tension in my body didn’t lessen, not at that parting shot. I was catapulted back to that night. Not to the part where I got back to the compound and had the last piece of my heart broken but to what happened before I went home.
I looked up and saw Hudson staring at me. And, if looks could kill, I’d be dead on the ground.