Chapter 24
Katarina
The last few days were interesting. Hawk was attentive while giving me space with my friend.
We didn’t speak about the day at the restaurant again, though.
We did have some amazing sex, and something seemed different with him.
Not in a bad way. Outside of the bedroom, he stayed closer to me when we were together.
His touch was firm at times, like he was making sure I was still there, and other times delicate, like he was afraid to hurt me.
The connection between us was stronger, and not just physical.
At least I thought so. Even though he was my husband, we didn’t speak much about feelings and I didn’t want to ask a question I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer to.
Klara and Niko were still here. While Niko kept himself busy with Hawk and the others, Klara stuck with me. It was nice having her around, especially since the other ladies I’d gotten to know somewhat had been away at the rally in Florida. They’d be back sometime today, though.
Because they’d gone and some of the bunnies were with them, it was quiet.
Sugar had stayed and Klara and I spent a lot of time at the bar with her when we weren’t in the kitchen with Mama Hen.
Kristie was also around, but she and Rooster were liplocked most of the time if she wasn’t at work, so I hadn’t gotten to know her as well as Lacy, Daisy, and Shiv.
After we had breakfast and helped prep lunch for the guys still around, Klara and I decided to take a little tour.
“I haven’t really looked around the clubhouse,” I told her as we walked down one of the halls. “I’ve been down the other hall where the common area is, but this is new to me.”
From the looks of the hall with doors spaced equally apart, I thought we may be in the living quarters. Most of the guys were either having lunch or not around, and the others still weren’t back yet. Trying one of the doors, it was locked, but the next wasn’t.
It was dark and quiet, so I slowly poked my head inside. There was a bed, completely stripped, a nightstand with a lamp, and a dresser, but it was completely bare. Not just Hawk’s house kind of bare, but empty besides the furniture.
Klara was over my shoulder trying to sneak a peek. “Well, let’s see it. If we’re invading their privacy, at least make it worth it.”
“Shh,” I said as I batted at her arm. “Plus, I’m Hawk’s wife. Is it really private from me?”
She didn’t answer so I turned to find a cocked brow and crossed arms. “Then why are we sneaking around? You’re not one to pull that card. Don’t forget yourself.”
Rolling my eyes, I replied, “Fine. You’re right. We need to leave this hall.”
Just then, a door clicked and we both froze, my hand still on the door knob of the room we were about to snoop in.
“Hey, Katya,” Sugar said, pulling a door behind her. “You lost?”
“Um, w-we,” I stammered, “I was looking for the laundry.”
Sugar came closer, smiling. “I won’t tell. Plus, that was Butch’s room. Nobody’s been in there for a while.”
I recalled that name. “Butch?”
Sugar’s face fell and her stance became rigid. “I need to get moving. If you really wanted to see the laundry, I can show you.”
Waving her off, I huffed. “No, that’s not necessary if you’re busy.”
Sugar forced a smile, then walked down the hall.
Once we heard the door that led to the bar open and close, I grabbed Klara’s hand and we kept walking.
“Oh, Butch. I didn’t get the full story, but apparently he was a problem.
Not around anymore.” I considered that could mean far away or no longer alive.
Lacy had told me a grand story, but I got the feeling some parts were missing.
“I thought you said no snooping?” Klara questioned.
Shrugging, I said, “I wanna poke my head in there. She stays in the bunny quarters.”
I had asked the other ladies if the bunnies slept with a new biker each night, and they assured me that the bunnies usually stayed in one of the rooms meant for them.
They also alluded to the fact that even if the bunnies spent some private time with anyone, they usually ended up back in the bunny-room before morning.
Stopping in front of the door, I paused.
Klara nudged my arm. “Well, are we going in?”
Suddenly, I was nervous. But I didn’t know why. It was the bunny room. And I knew exactly where Hawk was. Plus, I didn’t think he’d have ever gone in there. Or did he?
My mind was going a hundred miles a minute still when the knob clicked and the door swung open.
“Oh, hello,” Jeannie said with a huff. Her hand went to her chest. “Didn’t expect someone to be lurking on the other side of the door.”
“Sorry. I was just giving Klara the grand tour. Klara,” I said, patting her arm, “This is Jeannie. She’s a regular but not a bunny.
Right?” I asked with a faux grin. I wasn’t sure how to classify her since she was around a lot but didn’t live here.
It was annoying that she popped up even when most of the ladies were gone.
“Not really a bunny. I would say more of a hangaround, but that’s more of a biker thing. I’m just a girl,” she said with a big smile. She seemed less on-edge today. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot.
Klara’s head tilted a bit and she casually pointed at Jeannie. “You look so familiar. Were you a dancer, by chance?”
Jeannie grinned. “Well, I’m a dancer, but an exotic one. Do you dance?” she asked, her eyes looking her up and down.
Klara still had the frame of a ballerina, the posture, and the attitude. “I danced professionally for a few years with ARB but it’s been some time.”
Jeannie flipped her blonde ponytail over her shoulder. “How lovely. I took ballet when I was a child but grew up.”
Nope. I stand with my original judgment. “Say, Jeannie. Don’t you have a home of your own?”
Her grin was sinister almost and her brown eyes turned to slits. “Yes. I was only stopping by. I hoped the girls would be back by now. The clubhouse isn’t the same without them.”
Matching her smirk, I answered, “No, they truly have been amazing to me. Fast friends. But Sugar and Kristie have kept us good company the last few days.” She didn’t have to know Kristie wasn’t around much. She was super kind when she peeled herself off Rooster long enough to grab a bite to eat.
Jeannie’s brows pinched, but only for a second. I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t staring her down. “Sugar. Interesting choice. Anyway, I gotta run. But I’m sure I’ll see you around later.”
Klara scrunched her face with an obviously fake smile and said, “Mmkk, buh-by. See you later.”
Jeannie grimaced then stepped between us to leave.
We watched as she walked down the hall for a few seconds before Klara pushed me into the room. She shut the door behind me and we looked around to see if anyone else was in there.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Seems empty,” Klara said as she started poking around. She stopped briefly and looked over at me. “That woman is a bitch.” She ran her hand over her sleek, dark hair, then went back to investigating the room.
“Ugh, I thought so, too. But the other ladies love her,” I said with an eyeroll.
“She’s very familiar, but I’ve only been to strip clubs back home. I can’t imagine where I know her from,” Klara said with a curiosity to her tone.
“You’ve been to many strip clubs?” I asked as I smelled one of the perfumes on the vanity.
She shrugged. “Here and there. Mostly when I was still performing.” She looked over her shoulder at me with a sly grin. “It’s very difficult to go home to rest after a show. Not many places open late. Plus, we usually got free drinks from the thirsty men.”
I tossed a makeup brush at her but she just tsked, tsked as she went on snooping. “I thought the same thing. That Jeannie seemed familiar, but I haven’t been to any strip clubs.”
“Maybe she just has one of those faces. Like a categorical bitch face,” Klara said as we both kept looking around.
The room held several sets of bunk beds and was quite cramped but was over-the-top girly and fun, with lots of pastels, plenty of storage space, fun and colorful tapestries, fairy lights strung along the walls, and more makeup and fragrances than that of some beauty counters.
“It’s like a never-ending sleepover,” Klara said. “They all live here?”
“Well, not all,” I snapped. “Jeannie doesn’t, yet she comes all the time. But a lot of the women around do.”
“And they like this?”
“Well, it’s safe for them. They all have reasons for being here, but none really talk about it much. I get the feeling they’re hiding from bad men, but I could be wrong.”
“How terrible… but fortunate they have a place to lay their head.”
After a few minutes of quiet searching, I mused, “I didn’t get to have many sleepovers when I was young. Well, a few when I was very young, but not when I was a teen.”
Klara stopped poking around. “That’s so sad. I was always at a friend’s house or they were at mine. Mostly other dancers. But I was never alone.”
“I was often alone. Unless I was training. But they were paid instructors. Much older, and men that knew Father would make sure they were never seen again if they tried to get too close.”
I had to lie through my teeth to Papa to even go on the few dates I had with the boy I lost my virginity to.
I also enlisted the help of one of the only friends from my all-girl school so my driver thought I was with her.
All of that work for very little fun. But I was determined to lose it on my own.
After the terrible experience, I wasn’t as interested in all that work, and hadn’t been with another man until Hawk.
But as the daughter of Nikolai Petrov, I couldn’t just come and go as I pleased, so even meetups with friends were an ordeal.
Many of the other girls at school had somewhat similar families, or at least families with money and power of some kind, but they also had their own friends and sisters or cousins.
I had Niko and my trainers.