Chapter 22 #2
Jesus, I was so sick of hearing that shit. He knew what we had. It was proven by the fact that he’d been begging me back for months, promising to change. How fucking dare he make out I was overreacting?
“If it meant so little to you, why can’t you leave me alone?” Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Donovan and Callum approaching with their friends, Atlas and Breaker behind them. Cash, the Speed Demons prez, joined them, and they all lined up a few feet behind Pagan.
“I never said that,” Pagan argued in a measured tone, but I caught his underlying frustration.
I tried to soften my tone. Arguing wouldn’t get us anywhere. “We’d been out, and we had a great time. You said you needed to get back to the clubhouse because you had an early run. You didn’t even wait for me to drive out of the goddamned parking lot before she got on her knees for you.”
Pagan’s jaw clenched angrily. “I just want you to hear me out, baby—”
“My sister’s asked you to leave her alone,” Callum called over. “Back off.”
Pagan craned his neck, his fists balling when he saw the small army of men standing behind him. “Bet you’re enjoyin’ this.”
“I don’t enjoy seeing my sister upset,” Callum shot back. “But it seems to me you don’t give a fuck about hurting her because if you did, you’d show her some respect. Now, she’s asked you to back off. Do as she asks, or we’ll slap a restraining order on your ass.”
“You think that’ll stop me?” Pagan jeered. “I own the law.”
“That’s not quite true, brother,” Atlas corrected. “Maybe you’ve got connections in Rock Springs, but here in Hambleton, the law’s owned by our mayor, who also happens to be a former Speed Demon. You’ve got no reach, at least not around these parts.”
Donovan pushed past Pagan and stood at my back, resting a hand on my shoulder in an obvious show of support.
Pagan looked down at me and reached out a hand. “Last chance, baby. Come with me and talk it out, or I'll take this shit into my own hands.”
My laugh was brittle. “I don’t think so.”
Pagan dropped his hand and turned his back on us, then he jerked his head as he stalked toward the doors leading to the parking lot with his boys following.
A bad feeling slid through my gut.
Pagan never gave up that easily. He wouldn’t like being publicly called out that way, and he certainly didn’t like taking no for an answer. He may have walked out, but something told me I shouldn’t trust it.
Donovan leaned down and asked me, “You okay, Sis?”
I nodded, but I felt unnerved. My gaze went to the door Pagan had just stormed out of, and I bit my lip thoughtfully.
“Yo! Ash,” Callum called over. “You good?”
I flashed him a fake grin, but all I wanted to do was cry. It wasn’t that I hated confrontation, but I didn’t want to do it with an audience.
Rosie must have noticed I was rattled because she asked, “Wanna go to the restroom to freshen up?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I need to regroup.”
She stood and gently pulled me to my feet.
“I’m coming,” Kennedy called over, draining her glass.
“And me,” Maeve said, standing from her chair.
“I’ll get the Pornstars ready,” Tristan told us as he turned toward the bar.
We all reached down to grab our purses before heading toward the bathrooms. Rosie fell into step beside me like the mama bear she was, and Maeve took my other side.
“I had a confrontation with Pagan when we got here,” Mae quietly explained. “I almost peed my pants. I can only imagine how you feel after that just happened. He looked mad as hell.”
Rosie pushed the ladies’ room door open and gestured us through.
Kennedy strutted to the basins, fluffing her hair up and glancing at us all through the mirror that spanned the wall. “I thought he’d go after Callum at one point, and props to your guy, Rosie; he waltzed straight past Pagan to stand at yours and Ash’s backs.”
“I thought Pagan’s head was about to explode,” Maeve said nervously.
“I don’t get why,” I replied, genuinely confused.
“It wasn’t like he gave two shits about me.
If he did, he wouldn’t have dogged me. Pagan was right in what he said; we hadn’t had the conversation, but I was open and didn’t hide the fact that I was into him, and he didn’t hide that he was into me, either.
That was why it was so shocking to be confronted with Saskia getting him off.
But what sent me over the edge was the fact that it was her he did it with.
I told him the first time we went out what she’d done to my brothers and what a bitch she was to Maeve in the past. Then, as soon as my back was turned, he stuck his dick in her mouth. ”
“Savage,” Kennedy grated.
“Totally.” Maeve nodded.
“My point is,” I continued, “I obviously didn’t mean that much to him, or else it wouldn’t have gone down like that—excuse the pun. So why’s he so pissed?”
Rosie dug inside her bag and pulled out a lipstick. “Seems to me like he’s suffering from a classic case of ‘don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.’”
“I hear ya, sister,” Kennedy drawled. “He fucked around, and now he’s finding out. Girls like you don’t come along often, Ash, especially not in his world. You’re special, and he knows it.”
The restroom door suddenly opened, and I rolled my eyes as Saskia sashayed inside. Her steps faltered when she saw us, and a nasty smile spread across her face. “Jesus, it’s like I just walked into a really cheap and nasty episode of Sex and the City.”
“I don’t know how you’ve got the nerve to criticize anyone when you look the way you look,” Rosie retorted. “I get your new career consists of spreading your legs for bikers, Saskia, but it doesn’t mean you have to dress desperate too. Where’s your dignity, woman?”
I managed to hold back my laugh, but Kennedy and Cara didn’t.
Saskia’s eyes narrowed on Rosie. “Now there’s the pot calling the kettle black.”
“Maybe,” she shot back. “But you take skank to a whole new low.” Ro’s eyes dropped to Saskia’s crotch area. “I mean, we can see your vagina. Glad there’s no kids here; they’d run away screaming that we were all about to get swallowed up by a big, black hole.”
I busted out laughing, and Saskia’s glare slashed toward me. “I don’t know why you’re laughing; it was good enough for Pagan.”
“I’m glad I never slept with him then,” I replied with a sneer. “God knows what I’d catch after he’s been with you. You’re not exactly discerning about who you fuck.”
The nasty smile appeared again, and Saskia looked at us all in turn. “Nope. And neither are any of your men.”
Kennedy waved her hand casually. “Yeah, yeah. So you probably fucked Kit before I came on the scene, but then Kit fucked everybody, and in his defense, it took him having PTSD to get into bed with you—that’s if you even had him in a bed. You’re a dirty-fuck-in-an-alley girl if I ever saw one.”
I raised a hand to cover my mouth.
Cara laughed and crowed, “Burn.”
Maeve giggled.
Saskia turned toward her. “I hear you’re knocked up. Jesus, you’ll be the size of a whale in six months. Bet your husband comes looking for me when he can’t stand to look at your fat ass.”
Maeve paled, but she gave Saskia a withering look.
“I don’t care what you say. Callum married me and ended things with you, and that’s why you hate me, isn’t it?
I got the ring you wanted. All that time, you were just a booty call, and then I came along and locked him down in no time.
It may have been arranged at first, but our second wedding wasn’t, and it took my husband less than a month to propose for real.
You just can’t stand that it wasn’t you. ”
Saskia’s cheeks blazed, and she took a threatening step toward Maeve. “You don’t know anything, you fat bitch.” Her arm swung back to hit Mae, but Rosie pushed her out of the way so that Saskia’s hand whizzed toward her instead. She let out a grunt and reached up to grab it.
I watched, open-mouthed, as Rosie lost her shit. Her fingers dug hard into Saskia’s skin, and she stepped closer, leaned across, and screeched, “She’s fucking pregnant.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” Saskia spat.
Rosie’s eyes flared. She pulled her free arm back and landed a punch across Saskia’s face, making her crumple to the floor. Then she grabbed Saskia by the hair and started to drag her outside.
“I fucking love taking out the trash,” Cara crowed, opening the door to allow Rosie to pull Saskia down the hall and into the bar while the bitch screamed at the top of her lungs.
By the time we hit the party, everyone’s attention was already on the corridor where Rosie came into view with Saskia doubled over as she stumbled alongside her.
“What the fuck?” Donovan shouted.
“Go on, Ro,” Atlas yelled.
“Saskia tried to hit Maeve,” Cara shouted.
Shouts and roars filled the air, but Rosie ignored them all and stomped toward the door, dragging Saskia by the hair as she went.
I turned, and my heart jolted when I saw Cruise standing to one side with his phone angled toward Rosie and Saskia. It looked like he was recording, but why would he do that?
I turned and followed the girls outside, shielding my eyes as bright lights shone against the doors of the clubhouse.
My stomach dropped when Pagan’s voice called out, “Did you get it all, Cruise?”
“Yep,” the brother replied, sauntering past Rosie, still holding his phone up.
“What are you doing?” Rosie murmured just as Donovan stalked out of the clubhouse doors toward the furor.
He caught Rosie around the waist. “Let her go, baby. They’re videoing.”
My eyes jerked to study Pagan as he called over, “Don’t mind us. We’re just collectin’ evidence. Who’s gonna call the cops? Saskia wants to report an assault.”
My heart took a nosedive.
Oh my God.
“Shit,” Kennedy muttered from my side.
Rosie immediately released Saskia’s hair.
Saskia rushed toward Pagan, who sat astride his bike, smirking, alongside his club brothers. As Saskia approached, he jerked his chin at Castle, who was beside him, silently ordering Saskia to get on behind the VP.
My eyebrows pulled together.