Chapter 42
Shivana
We finished prepping the food and headed outside to a full lot. We spent the next few hours making sure the guys didn’t burn the meat, keeping the drinks flowing, and socializing. The men outnumbered women by a long shot, but the bunnies did their best to mingle with anyone without a woman glued to their side.
It seemed that all the women who traveled here were Old Ladies. Some were really fun and nice, some looked like they could rip my eyes out. I did my best to steer clear of Petrov, but he seemed like a salesman or a politician from what I could tell. Very handsome in a high-end kind of way; nice bright smile, and everyone seemed to respect him. He carried on conversations with men from all the chapters, but Hawk seemed to stay close.
Jackal ate with me but went to mingle with the other chapters afterwards. He did a few drive-bys to check on me, though.
When the men all seemed preoccupied and everyone was deep into the kegs, I finally asked Lacy to tell me about Petrov.
Daisy rolled her eyes and cut in first. “Gives me the creeps. But he’s some big, important guy. Like, mafia stuff.”
Lacy scrunched her face. “Shh, don’t be so loud.”
I looked around, but nobody seemed to notice we were even there. “Why, nobody is paying attention to us. Why did you shudder at his name earlier?”
Lacy looked around, then when she confirmed the coast was clear, she quietly said, “We rode to Jersey with this guy, Lynx–”
“The guy with the black eyes?” I asked. Not black irises, the man’s eyes were black, no whites to be seen. It was fascinating.
“Yep,” Daisy said. “He’s really nice, though. Looks tough as nails, but I peg him for a teddy bear.”
He was easily 250 pounds and solid as steel with tattoos all over him. Well, where I could see, so I could only assume they covered everything. “Teddy bear. Okay. Not the word I would use to describe him, but I’ll take your word for it.”
“Anyway,” Lacy said, “he drove us to Jersey because Falcon had an incident there.”
“He was shot by a hooker,” Daisy said before taking a long swig of beer.
Lacy’s eyes went wide. “Shh. Like I was saying,” she said as she tossed her ponytail over her shoulder, “he had a thing, and Eagle was there. So Lynx was ordered to drive us up. When we get there, we’re met with this guy in a suit who’s eyeing us like steaks.”
Daisy nodded in agreement, not cutting in this time.
Lacy continued. “So he does this weird kiss-our-hand thing, but he lingered too long, if that makes sense. But then Eagle came down the stairs and saw him holding my hand and shot him dagger eyes.”
“When was this?”
“Before you came and before their little break, break-up, whatever we’re calling it,” Daisy said.
“Well, I agree he’s creepy, but I thought something happened.”
Lacy shrugged. “Well, Daisy was taken to see Falcon, and I had to go sit with him and some other guys while we waited for them. Eagle eventually joined us again, but Petrov had me sit right by him and kept smiling and asking me questions. Eagle was grinding his teeth so bad I could hear it,” she said with a grin.
“Charming. So he’s a ‘boss’,” I said with air quotes, “and a tad skeevy, but nothing really happened? You guys never have good tea.”
Daisy chuckled and Lacy knocked back her beer.
“I’m going inside for a few. This humidity is killing me,” Lacy said as she stood.
Daisy and I followed her in, and we found Jeannie and Katie inside chatting. “There’s our bride-to-be!” Jeannie said before hustling to the bar. Sugar handed her a pile of things we’d stored back there for her.
Jeannie placed the faux tiara on Lacy’s head, then helped her put on a sash that said ‘Bride.’
“You guys, how sweet!” Lacy squealed.
I winked at Sugar, who I had spoken to about music earlier. We couldn’t go clubbing, but we could still give her the effect. The guys didn’t have to always have classic rock playing.
Love Shack came over the speakers and we all laughed, but then took to the open area and started dancing around. Coop moved the tables for us, and we took up the space, being silly, dancing, and drinking.
After a few songs, Mama Hen brought out a sheet cake and put it on the bar. Sugar lined up some birthday cake shots. She and Daisy had some beef, but she was nice to me and was a great mixologist.
I made sure Lacy had a shot, then the other ladies all grabbed one and Sugar rushed to make sure nobody’s hand was empty. I turned and gave her a look, but she seemed confused. “You too, hoe. Take a shot with us for Lacy. No woman left behind!” I shouted.
Sugar looked at Daisy, and for a moment, Daisy gave her stank eye. But then she grinned. “Pour a fucking shot, Sugar. C’mon!”
Sugar’s face lit up and she poured another. Mama Hen was beaming.
I lifted my shot. “Okay, okay, okay! Shh! To Lacy, may he always treat you like a queen, may his dick stay hard, and may his tongue keep working if it doesn’t,” I yelled over the party music.
Everyone laughed but raised their glasses and we all took our shots together. It was delicious. “Those are dangerous,” I said as I put the shot glass on the bar.
Sugar nodded as she collected the glasses. “Oh yeah. Too many of those and you’ll be buying Buicks.”
“You’ll what?” I asked, giggling.
Daisy grabbed my shoulder. “You know, that sound when you puke your guts up. Buick, Buick, Buick!”
My face twisted. “Oh, gross. I’ll never be able to look at a Buick again without thinking about that!”
Mama Hen was cutting the cake when Falcon came in and grabbed a chair, pulling it to the middle of the floor. We glanced around, wondering what he was doing. This was supposed to be our girls’ night.
But Falcon gripped Lacy’s shoulders and guided her to the chair. Daisy was right there, trying to get his attention, but he pulled out his phone as Lacy was seated, then tucked it away before he grabbed Daisy and walked back to the bar.
Jackal came in and stood by me, and then a few more guys followed him in. Lacy was sitting in the chair, asking Falcon what she was supposed to do with her hands up, confused.
I was confused, too. That was until Eagle came bursting inside and ran up on her like Magic Mike.
He started dancing around her, albeit a tad awkwardly, but we all cheered and some of the men whistled and hooted.
Lacy turned cherry red, and her lips looked like she was asking, “What are you doing?”
Eagle took off his cut, and draped it over Lacy’s shoulders, then he peeled his t-shirt off slowly as he tried to work his hips. It was hysterical. He had no shimmy to those hips, but it was still entertaining to watch.
He flung his shirt somewhere, then got all in her face again, attempting to roll his hips.
“Did you know about this?” I asked Jackal.
Eagle started to unzip his jeans, and Jackal’s hands went over my face. I pulled at them, but he tugged me closer to him.
“Lil Bird, you don’t need to see that boy’s junk.”
“Hey, the man is putting on a show for everyone,” I joked.
Before I knew it, though, Jackal had put his cut over my shoulders and I looked down, then when I looked up, he was in front of me. “I’ll show you a real man.” And he pushed me into a chair and women behind me all crooned.
I had the biggest, silliest grin on my face as he began a strategic strip tease, and he did know how to roll his hips.
His long hair swayed as he moved. He turned, giving us all a nice little twerk. The muscles on his back flexed, making his tattoos jump and roll with him.
By now Eagle was down to his boxer-briefs, and all the ladies were squealing and clapping.
Jackal leaned closer and pecked my lips. More cheers came from behind me. Off to the left, more men started peeling clothes off and dancing around the seated women. Even Nikolai, which honestly was kind of hot. He had to peel off a few layers and work off a dress shirt.
I definitely had the hottest of them all, but was drunk and silly, so of course I peeked. But before I got too much of an eyeful, Jackal leaned down again, nibbling at my ear before he said, “Let’s go to our room and I’ll finish this for you, Lil Bird.”
Standing, I turned and gave the ladies a wink. “You don’t have to tell me twice,” I said.
As I shuffled toward the door, I turned for one last look and now even Falcon and Hawk were playing along. Holy fuck. So many hot, tatted up men half-naked. Even Nikolai was sporting some ink under that expensive suit.
“Hey,” Jackal said with a sharp smack to my ass.
“Hey,” I squealed.
“Eyes on me, Lil Bird.”
Biting my lip, I grabbed his belt and tugged him through the door. What a fun party.