Chapter 9 On to the Next
Nell
My stomach dropped somewhere below the floor as I watched Rick walk away and leave me there in a room full of strangers by myself.
He still hadn’t introduced me to anyone besides the groom who had already disappeared with his brand new wife.
I couldn’t help but feel like everyone in the room was judging me.
Most avoided even glancing in my direction, but I wasn’t blind.
I saw the way they side-eyed me and turned away.
A few had sneers on their face as they did it - the women mostly.
The men clad in leather looked more curious than anything. Still none of them approached.
I sat there and stared at the door my husband had gone through moments ago.
It was the same place they’d taken that woman - Roxy - when she had her little meltdown.
Rick had told me about sleeping with her once before, so at least that part hadn’t been a surprise, but I never anticipated walking into a place where everyone thought there was more going on between them.
Never mind the whole horrible idea that the woman herself had it in her head that she was meant to marry my husband.
I shook that thought off and ended up with a full-body shiver as if my body knew there was evil intent in the air and tried to protect me from it.
Two older women made their way to my corner.
At first, I smiled up at them, thankful someone was finally going to speak to me.
Then I realized one of them looked a lot like an older version of Roxy.
She had dark, almost black locks that curled down to her shoulders.
Her dark eyes slitted with hostility as she snapped into a spot directly in front of me with hands on her hips.
Then she leaned in and kept her voice low without missing a bit of the ominous tone she meant to serve as a warning to me.
“Don’t get comfortable here,” she announced.
Part of me wanted to laugh because I was the furthest from comfortable as could be.
The only thing less comfortable was the night when I had to fend off my roommate’s fiancé who tried to rape me.
If that wasn’t a sad commentary on the turn my life had taken over the past week or so, I didn’t know what was.
“The club doesn’t want you and once the new and shiny wears off, Baffle won’t want you either.” The woman, who I assumed was Roxy’s mother, cackled as that last jab slid off her poison tongue.
The other woman, who stood beside her with arms crossed over her chest, bobbed her head in agreement.
Her blonde hair was pulled back in an updo that allowed her leather cut to show off that she was someone’s property.
Both women wore them. Rick had told me enough about club life on the way here that I knew it meant they were married to, or claimed by, a club member.
“You don’t fit,” the blonde said.
On that, we were in total agreement, but I didn’t bother to respond. Both women were older. It was obvious that the first one was Roxy’s mom, but I wondered who the other was. She seemed to have an air of authority about her.
“Baffle already knows that. It’s why Roxy is his priority and you’re left tucked in the corner like the trash he forgot about. You should just pack up and get gone before it gets more embarrassing for you.”
“Hey!” A man who stood not too far off called out. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
The blonde turned and snapped up straight to face him. “Who are you to call me out, Brady? You’re not even a club member here.”
“I’m your new daughter-in-law’s uncle. If Sammy heard you speak to another woman that way, especially Baffle’s brand new wife, she would have dragged you in front of your son and demanded justice and you know it.
Fuck, I’m not even a member and I know, as the former top lady around this place, you’re supposed to do better. She’s the VP’s ol’ lady.”
“They’re only married - supposedly.” She glared back over her shoulder at me as she dropped that last word off like she didn’t believe the claim her precious Baffle had made about our status.
“That doesn’t mean she’s been claimed. Do you see a property patch on her anywhere?
” The first woman snapped. I noted the blonde didn’t talk back to Brady again.
Her face had taken on an ashen pallor as other people started to tune in to what was happening in the corner.
While they were all still occupied with the man who came to my rescue and the two women, I quietly slid out of the corner as they hashed out biker-lady etiquette.
“My daughter is meant to be his wife!” I heard the darker-haired woman shriek at someone. “They’ve been written in the stars since Roxy was born.”
Wow!
That was a whole lot of pressure to put on a little girl from birth.
Hearing that made me wonder what the dynamic had been when everyone was younger.
Ultimately, though, it was none of my damn business and I didn’t appreciate becoming a pawn in the fucked-up schemes of other women.
I’d already been put in an impossible situation the week before with my former best friend choosing her rapist, fiancé over me.
I shivered again as I quietly made my way out of the clubhouse.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the same door we had come in, so when I went to find Rick’s Harley, I had no clue which one it was.
Truthfully, most of them looked the same to me in the low light.
There were motorcycles parked everywhere, most likely because so many people were there for the wedding.
Still, not knowing which one had my few possessions in the saddle bags sucked.
It meant I wasn’t going anywhere just yet.
I could leave my few clothes behind but I wouldn’t chance leaving my aunt’s things somewhere again.
I glanced around and finally noticed a picnic table to the far right side of the building from where I stood just outside the front door. The lot was paved, but I still managed to toe some loose rocks along the way and watched as they skittered a few feet from where I’d disturbed them.
How is this my life?
It wasn’t safe to go home. I’d lost most of my stuff, thanks to my former roommate’s now husband.
I wasn’t even sure if it was safe to go back to the studio space I owned across town from the townhouse we use to share.
I wasn’t sure if she had ever mentioned it to Johnny, but if someone really wanted to find it, it was a matter of public record since I owned the building.
Hope that he hadn’t gone there and destroyed my latest piece, or any of my equipment, sat heavily on my chest. That would mean that something had gone right for me this week, and I wasn’t sure that was possible.
I parked my butt on the bench, then leaned back and stared up at the night sky.
There wasn’t much light pollution in this portion of New Mexico and the stars seemed so different here, like they were given permission to shine so much brighter than in other places.
I wondered if there was a grand plan, what my future path looked like.
It didn’t seem like being a biker’s woman was really on the agenda for me.
I tried to live a good life, be a decent person, and keep my head down.
So, why in the hell was I the one who lost everything more than once?
It seemed as though I’d already lost my brand new husband, too.
My body shivered again as the chill of the night settled into my bones.
My jacket, along with my ID and the little bit of cash I had, was somewhere with Rick’s motorcycle.
I didn’t have much in the way of clothing either, since I’d traveled light for the trip to Vegas and all my stuff from my apartment in Flagstaff had been trashed.
So, there I was, lying on a bench in the middle of the desert, at night, with nothing but the stars to keep me company as my body temperature slowly started to drop along with the chill that settled over the night air.