Chapter 6 #2
I get up so quickly, my chair starts to topple. I move to stop it from falling. Then I make a swift exit. Saint would fucking kill me if I got even a suggestion of the curve of her breast.
Pippa’s research must have taken longer than I thought, because by the time I return to the clubroom, Ace and Toni are back.
He’s got her in our special corner, the one where his gaming machine is set up.
I realise, there’s probably not much he could have shown her, apart from, here’s the kitchen, there’s the heads, and outside, there’s Saint’s new house, and the foundations for Short’s.
And, there’s the bunkhouse. He knows that’s off-limits.
Neither brothers, prospects, nor club girls would want a stranger being given a guided tour of their home.
Watching them enthusiastically stabbing at the remote controls, a wave of jealousy goes through me.
That’s our game. She’s an interloper. But, intrigued, I walk behind them to watch, having to curb the snort that would otherwise have come out of my mouth.
He’s letting her win. Fuck, he beats me most of the time, and easily.
She really hasn’t got a clue. That triumphant exclamation that’s just come from her mouth? Totally unearned.
I do take a second to be proud of my son. He could have wiped the floor with her. Even Trip can play better.
And then her obvious enjoyment hits me in another way.
It’s as if I’ve been given another chance, a do-over with a woman I was once very much physically attracted to, enough that I lost my head to her.
Could this be the universe’s way of making things right?
By tempting me with a woman who possesses similar assets, but a different character.
One I already like far better. And someone who, according to Pippa’s research, has all her mental faculties and doesn’t take medication to steady them.
Had she lived, there’s no chance Josie would have been playing war games with my son.
“I’ve brought snacks.”
I spin around at the bearer of the announced sustenance, knowing by her voice it’s Trixie, a club girl.
She’s carrying a tray full of sandwiches and chips.
Ace grins at her as she draws up one of the smaller tables and lays her burden down.
It’s obvious she must have been talking to them earlier, as neither Ace nor Toni shows any surprise at the bounty she’s brought.
“Thank you,” Toni says politely.
“You’re welcome,” Trixie replies, as she pulls up a seat and sits by them. “Who’s winning?”
“She’s kicking my fucking ass.”
“Ace,” Trixie says in an admonishing tone, which makes me bristle. If anyone should be correcting my son’s language, it should be me and not some fucking club girl, especially not one for whom I have ambivalent feelings.
“Well, she is,” Ace states with a shrug.
From her expression, unseen by Toni, Trixie knows Ace is going easy on his aunt.
And by her compressed lips, she doesn’t like it.
Now I’m wondering why a club girl is even walking around the clubhouse while my son’s around.
They know they’re not allowed to be here, wearing their skimpy, barely there clothing and touting their services, while he or Trip is here.
Yet, Trixie’s not wearing those shorts that show the curves of her ass, nor the cropped top that manages to be both too low and too high at the same time, risking nipple slip at every movement.
No, she’s dressed in respectable-length jean shorts and a normal-sized t-shirt.
She looks the most respectable that I’ve ever seen her.
I’m surprised as fuck when she takes it on herself to talk to Toni.
“Are you familiar with the Kings of Anarchy? Or motorcycle clubs in general? Hey, look, you’ve got him. Take him by surprise, shoot there…” She offers her hand to high-five Toni when Ace’s online guy is wounded. Not fatally, but Ace is going to have to concentrate on building up energy for a while.
Instead of huffing and throwing his remote down as he would with me, Ace just grins.
“I don’t know anything, well, except for those programs they show on TV.” Toni gets back to the question she’s just been asked.
Trixie sighs. “I suppose you mean that series that was popular a few years back? Well, babe, the Kings outrank them. They are the real thing.”
She’s caught Toni’s attention, and I don’t know whether to step in. But if she’s warning her about us, isn’t that fulfilling my objective? So why do I start worrying a club whore is going to run her off?
I’ve waited too long to butt in, allowing Toni to ask, “What do you mean, the real thing?”
“For a start,” Trixie obliges her. “The Kings are vast. They have chapters in almost every one of the fifty states. Hurt one, and the others will come calling. One thing all Kings have in common is that each chapter is a family. Mismatched, maybe, and certainly not blood, but when these men call each other brother, they mean it, just as if they came out of the same womb. And they’ll do anything to keep those under their protection safe.
Wives, old ladies, children, club girls, and even extended family. ”
While I’m wondering whether Trixie’s just giving her the facts of life, or issuing a cleverly subtle warning, Toni bites her bottom lip, and after a moment says, “That must be wonderful. I can appreciate that, because, apart from Ace, I’ve no family left.”