Chapter Thirty-Two #2
“I can’t drink when I have to take her home! I mean, assuming she’ll even go with me now.”
“It’s one of Ice’s alcohol-free ones. Trust me, they taste like shit, but it’ll keep you sober.”
Well, damn. He’d thought of everything, right?
Caroline
OLD LADIES THEY WERE called, but they were anything but. They were beautiful, dynamic women. They were strong enough to handle men like those animals out there, and right now they were my last line of defence against them.
“That’s it, babe, just sit there and take a deep breath. You’re safe in here.”
“She’s safe out there too, Cammy, but they were being dicks,” a woman with dark hair and an almost dangerous aura said, sitting across from me on one of the worn leather sofas.
“Tor, it’s overwhelming, and you know it,” a pretty redhead said next, sitting beside her. She had a gentleness about her that made the other woman seem even more intimidating.
“I’m Lissa, and I promise you that you’re safe here to take some time to gather your strength again. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. They can be rowdy as hell.”
There was one woman who looked a little older than them, and they all seemed to defer to her as she moved over to join them on that sofa. She had a slight hitch to her step as she moved, but she looked glamorous, and at the same time, friendly and kind.
“I’m Ally. I’m Reacher’s old lady… uh, he’s the President of the original club. We’re all here because we joined the toy drive.”
“I didn’t, but that’s because I was here with the little one, but you know that, since we met earlier while the rest of them were out.”
I remembered her, and even her name. Cammy. She’d made me feel safer here once I realised a woman with a baby would willingly stick around.
“I don’t know many of the men in the club,” I whispered, embarrassingly shakily, as I wrung my hands together.
“Who do you know?” The strong dark haired woman spoke again.
The others were sitting around or standing around, and not really interrupting. A young blonde woman, and a slightly older one who seemed to be very conservatively dressed to be with a biker.
“Harley, obviously.” They all giggled a little, and that gave me a tiny boost of confidence. “Rocket, Grease, and Micro. I only met Micro once before today. I know he’s the President here, and I liked him. He seems kind.”
“Harley is the gentlest man I know from this club,” Ally said, and then she grimaced as Sophie glared at her, “I’m not saying anything bad about him, Sophie.
I’m just saying, Harley is like Has-Been, softer spoken, and the biker most likely to step up to help a stranger.
He’s different from most of the others.”
“Even your man?” I asked warily, and a few of them snorted or laughed. Ally herself smiled and shrugged.
“He’s a grumpy fucker, but he’s my old man and I love him.”
“Is that what they are? If we… if you’re ‘old ladies’, does that make them ‘old men’?” It sounded a little creepy, but from their laughter, I was probably wrong. It wasn’t laughter in a mean way, like they were laughing at me, but more like I’d made a joke and they appreciated it.
“She calls him that because it winds him up, that’s all. She’s got this weird kink where she likes to make her man cranky,” Cammy said with a laugh. They were all so open and free with information like that. Surely kinks were something to keep quiet.
“I… I don’t really know what to say to that.
We don’t do kinky things, or at least I don’t think they’re kinky.
Oh god. What if they are, and I just don’t know that?
” Silence fell after my badly chosen words, and I grimaced.
“Sorry, my mouth works before my brain sometimes. I shouldn’t have said that. ”
Jay shook her head. “It’s a fair point though. A kink for some people is just the norm for others.”
Sophie pinched her lips together, turning away from her, and she caught it, leaning forward with a frown.
“What?”
Sophie mimed zipping her lips, and Jay groaned. “Oh god, what? What has Grease been saying? We don’t do weird stuff, or… I mean, there was that one time… oh god! You know!”
Everyone else seemed to focus on her now, and she blushed. She actually blushed just like me, but then Grease had said she had a tendency to do that. It made me feel a little better to see it in action, to know I wasn’t the only one blushing here tonight.
“Oh god. Don’t ask me to say it. It’s… it’s private.”
The dark-haired scary woman, who seemed to be called ‘Tor’ leaned closer.
“Oh come on, you have to tell us now. This has to be good. It’s good, right?”
Jay shot me a panicked look, and I saw it for what it was. A cry for help.
“He likes going down on me,” I blurted, and all eyes turned to me. Oh god. Why did I say that?!
Ally sighed blissfully, nodding slowly. “My Reacher has quite the tongue, I have to admit.”
Sophie practically shivered in her seat as she spoke. “Yeah, Micro loves doing that too. He’s really… uh… anyway…”
We were literally having a sex talk. I’d gone from being a pathetic virgin to having sex conversations with other women, where I could actually contribute, because I’d had sex.
“He’s my first!” I blurted next and gasped, covering my face as I felt it burn hot with embarrassment.
Why did I just tell them that?! Why did I keep just coming out with stuff that I didn’t want others to know, and why weren’t they speaking?
I peeked out from between my fingers, and they were all just watching me, soft smiles on their faces.
“I think that’s lovely,” Lissa said, nodding to the others, “finding the right man, and having all those first experiences with him… that’s what I wish I’d had with Ice. Nobody before him comes close to making me feel the way he does.”
The young blonde lifted a hand. “Has-Been is my only too. I get it, I do. If you need to talk about stuff, I’m probably going to have similar thoughts. Oh! We should all exchange numbers!”
“And add her to the old lady chat!” Ally added, and then phones were out, and numbers were being passed around, and I realised whether I was his old lady yet or not, I had a new family, and I was really starting to like them.