Chapter 10 – One Month Later
PAGAN
ONE MONTH LATER
“Your woman looks like she’s enjoyin’ herself,” Boot observed from beside me.
He took a long pull from his beer bottle and pulled air in over his teeth appreciatively.
“And this Lucky Shamrock booze is some voodoo shit. I wanted to dry out for a few weeks after the holidays, but I can’t fuckin’ help myself. It’s like damned crack.”
I stared at my Dubheasa’s attempt to win her ‘twerk off’ with Roxie over at the ‘girls' table’ they always seemed to adopt whenever I brought her to Vortex. “Aislynn had a word with Maeve and got us a deal on our bulk orders,” I explained. “We get a weekly delivery for here and the clubhouse, but we sell out in four days. It’s a ball-ache keepin’ up with demand. ”
“Order more,” he demanded.
I signaled to the bartender to fetch us fresh beers.
“Can’t. The O’Sheas are still expandin’.
There’s only so much they can produce until they move their operation to their new brewery.
I told Maeve that she should seriously think about lookin’ at investment offers, but she’s determined to keep it in the family. ”
“Shame,” he muttered. “Could’ve been a lucrative deal for us to buy into.”
“Yeah, that’s why I fished. The problem is, Maeve and Callum have offers already. Mac Meadows, who owns the farms that harvest their fruit, and the Speed Demons, who are like their extended family. So we’d be shoved to the back of the queue anyway.”
“Talkin’ of business, when’s Gridlock arriving?” he asked, taking another swig from his bottle.
Our tattoo shop was all built and ready for take-off.
We had a prospect who wanted to apprentice, and we’d brought in a brother from California, who was an up-and-coming tattoo artist, to run the shop.
Zara wanted to learn, so she was going to work reception and see what she could pick up along the way.
We were actively looking for a female tattooist and piercer to join the team, and had a shortlist of candidates already.
All we needed was for Grid to show his face, choose who he wanted, and we’d be rocking ‘n’ rolling.
The takings at Vortex were through the stratosphere.
We’d taken on a couple more dancers over the New Year, and profits were through the roof.
It meant we could open the auto-parts store sooner than anticipated.
A few brothers who’d worked in auto mechanics had approached me about opening a small garage where we could do simple stuff like brake checks, oil and tire changes, and simple diagnostics, and it appealed, especially since I loved tinkering with cars and bikes.
I had no complaints.
Even with Aislynn.
Since our ‘teething problems’, we’d gotten along great, but then, I hadn’t seen her much.
She’d been down in Denver finishing off her internship, while I’d been up here running the club.
The weather hadn't been on our side either, and I wasn’t one for cages, so it had been Aislynn who’d mostly driven up and down the I-25 and I-80, though even then, the time we spent together was always too brief.
I had the boys this weekend, so Ash had arranged time off and driven up for our regular Friday night party. Thug had flown out to Cali to get Rex and Rome and was bringing them back to Rock Springs airport via Denver around lunchtime the next day.
Aislynn was meant to leave before the boys arrived, but I was thinking about asking her to stay.
The only thing that held me back was... well.
.. me. I’d never introduced a woman to them before.
In fact, they’d never seen me with another woman.
I even stayed away from the whores when they were here ’cause I didn’t want them thinking it was more than it was and getting attached.
Bree had a man, and although he was a douche, I’d always kept out of it because he was respectful with my kids.
My involvement with them started and ended with our sons, and apart from the generous check I sent her every month to care for them, we had no contact unless there were big decisions to make.
Then, about three months ago, one of the brothers saw Breanna scoring off a dealer he knew, and it wasn’t a bit of bud or a one-off gram of recreational coke.
It was smack. I didn’t know if it was Breanna using or if she was scoring for her man, but honestly, I didn’t care.
There was no way my boys would grow up in a home where drugs were being used.
The first time I held my sons, I swore to everything holy that they’d never have the childhood I did.
And I meant it.
My stare followed Aislynn, who was dancing around the girls’ table with Zara and Roxie, giggling and being a dork, and I instinctively smiled at how happy she looked.
My boys would love her. Rex would play it cool around her and act the big man, while Roman would be a goof and probably develop a giant crush.
But they’d both respond to her sweet for sure.
“I like her for you,” Boot declared.
My eyes stayed glued to my woman’s antics as I replied, “Worry about yourself. Fab’s got his eye on Zara; though I gotta say, she looks good tonight.”
“Fuck,” he cursed quietly as Fabio came up behind Zara and slid his arms around her waist.
My lips twitched at the stupid fuck as I watched Fabio plant a kiss on her lips.
A weird noise escaped Boot’s throat.
I caught Aislynn’s eye and jerked my chin at her.
She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, whispered something to Roxie, and headed over, beaming a smile at me as she approached.
I opened my knees, waiting for her to nestle between them, then almost purred as she ran her fingernails gently over my head. “You havin’ a good time, baby?”
“Yeah,” she breathed.
“You want another drink?”
“No thanks,” she murmured, wrapping her biceps around my neck. “I’m driving home early tomorrow morning. I think I’ll go back to the clubhouse and turn in soon.” She dropped a kiss on my mouth, her eyes dancing with humor. “I’m going to ask Lizzie for a lap dance first.”
My cock thickened, and I growled softly.
Aislynn giggled.
“Cocktease,” I breathed against her lips.
“You betcha,” she breathed back.
“Jesus fuck,” Bootneck griped from beside me. “Can’t be arsed with this PDA shit. See ya later.”
“Was it something I said?” Ash asked the second Bootneck disappeared.
“He’s pissy ’cause Zara’s all up in Fabio’s dick,” I explained.
“If he likes it, he should put a ring on it,” she returned.
“Told him the same myself, baby. Says he’s not ready for an ol’ lady.”
“Then the eejit will have to watch Zara be all up in Fabio’s dick.” She waggled her eyebrows at me. “I know a secret.”
My head pulled back slightly, and I gave her a questioning look.
“Zara’s thinking about giving up the club girl business. She’s struggling to see how she’ll work twelve-hour days at the tattoo shop and then stay up half the night looking after the brothers’ needs. She has more seizures when she doesn’t look after herself, and she has to put her health first.”
“I get it,” I said grudgingly. “I’ll be sorry to lose her from the clubhouse. Zara’s a favorite of the brothers, so they’ll whine for a few weeks, but thems the breaks.”
“She’s worried about her health insurance,” Ash added.
“I dunno why. She’ll still be employed by the club, just in a different job.”
Aislynn smiled prettily at me. “God, I love how much you look after those girls. It proves underneath that sexy serial killer exterior, you’re a big ol’ softy, and I’m not totally loo-lah for being with you.”
I barked a laugh. “Yeah, you are. And I am a softy, until I’m not. You’ll do well to remember that.”
“Well, duh,” she sassed. “Why do you think I’m here? I love your soft side, but I love your bad side, too.”
I swallowed so hard, I felt my Adam’s apple bob.
Ash had started throwing the ‘love’ word around a lot lately, even in our phone calls, and it set my teeth on edge.
I liked her, and I saw a future for us, and I was more touchy-feely with her than any other woman I’d had, but I wasn’t there yet, and probably never would be.
I wasn’t the star-crossed lovers type. I liked her, and yeah, I’d caught feels, but my boys and my club would always come first.
She seemed to be going at a hundred miles an hour, and it made me wonder if introducing her to my boys this weekend would be too soon. Not because I didn’t want her to meet them, or them her, but more because it might send the wrong message.
She needed to slow her roll.
I pushed her away and leaned back to grab my beer from the bar top. “I’ll get a prospect to take you home if you’re bushed.” I knew I was being dismissive and probably a bastard, but I couldn’t deal with her being all up in my shit.
Her eyes widened on me, and her mouth formed a cute little ‘O’.
“You said you were tired, right, babe? Early start tomorrow. Need your ass outta here in plenty of time before my boys turn up. Can’t have ’em meetin’ any old bitch, can I?”
Aislynn took a step back, visibly wounded.
Yep, I thought, I’m a bastard.
“Don’t talk to me like that?” she snapped loudly. “What’s going on with you tonight? Your whole attitude changed in the space of five seconds.”
I took another pull from my bottle, my eyes drifting over her shoulder to study Candy as she twirled the pole topless. “Dunno what you’re talkin’ about.”
Aislynn craned her neck to see what I was looking at, then slowly turned back and stuck her tongue inside her cheek while she stared contemplatively at me, no doubt plotting my death.
I could’ve gotten lost in those dark blue eyes—hell, I wanted to, but I had a point to make.
I liked her, and things between us had been good, so good that she was getting a little needy.
It would be nice to give her all my time, but I had a club to run, and my boys were visiting.
Though it sounded harsh, even to my ears, Aislynn wasn’t my priority. In fact, she was last in the queue.