2. Everly #2
Watching the big men slinging drinks growl and grumble, barking the occasional laugh, was kind of comforting.
These men wouldn’t hurt a woman. I saw it in their eyes when they looked at the women who ordered.
Not leering or even flirting with them. Hell, they didn’t even smile at the majority of the other women around me.
But I felt a sense of safety within those four walls that I’d never gotten at any club in LA.
While I waited for my turn to order, I was able to people-watch.
Evie was settling in with Abi and the others.
They were all laughing as Delaney talked animatedly, using her hands every time she spoke.
It took me a little while to realize she was using sign language.
I knew a few basic phrases in ASL, but I had never given it much consideration.
No one else in the group was using it, but I noticed they looked directly at her if they spoke to her.
Keeping an eye on my sister made me aware of the people surrounding the table of women.
A booth full of men was off to one corner, some of them wearing the MC cuts, but a few men who were sitting there weren’t.
They were talking and laughing with one another, but every single one of them would glance over at the group of women with affection.
On the other side of the bar, there were pool tables, each of them occupied.
Raucous laughter blended with the echo of billiard balls pounding together.
Too many people stood between the bar and that section for me to see much of the action, but I kept hearing a few of the same men laugh.
It was the belly-deep kind of laugh, gruff but loud.
Every time I heard it, I found myself smiling.
“What can I get ya?”
I looked up into the bartender’s green eyes before flicking my gaze to his cut. It proclaimed him an Enforcer. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it sounded important. “I need a pitcher of margaritas. My friends said that Jack would know what kind of tequila they favored.”
He turned his head in the direction of my table without my having to tell him.
His gaze skimmed from woman to woman before landing on Nishia.
She had pretty dark hair and glasses and sat beside Delaney.
One side of Jack’s mouth ticked up, something in his eyes shifting before he turned back to me.
“I’m Jack. Another pitcher of margaritas coming up. Anything else?”
“Cranberry and whatever lemon-lime soda you have for me.” I handed him my credit card and ID. “Can I start a tab?”
“Sure thing. Anything else I can get ya, blondie?”
“That should be enough for now.” I waited for him to give my card and license back, and then he placed my cranberry and soda in front of me.
“I’ll bring the pitcher.”
“No offense, Jack, but I don’t know you. I’m not going to give my sister and our friends drinks I didn’t see you make.” I might have felt safe in Hannigans’, but I wasn’t stupid. “I don’t mind waiting.”
“Smart girl,” he said with a nod. “But that’s my woman and family over there. Your friends belong to me.”
I shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t know you. What I do know is that sometimes family is more dangerous to a person than a stranger. I’ll wait for the margaritas.”
He paused in the middle of mixing the large container, something flickering deep in his green eyes as he looked at me a little closer.
Intense blue eyes flashed through my mind, reminding me of Reid and making my heart do a little kick.
Our brief meeting the day before had knocked me on my ass.
When he’d left to take care of the clogged pipe, I’d almost begged him not to go.
I hadn’t let myself think about him all day, but I felt an ache inside me that reminded me of when I would have to leave Evie at the end of our visitation each birthday.
That hollow, empty sensation in the middle of my chest hadn’t eased since I’d last seen him.
“What’s your name?” Jack asked, pulling me out of my head and back into the present.
“Everly,” I answered without hesitation, wondering if he was asking to make sure it matched the name on my driver’s license and credit card. With makeup on, I looked my age, twenty-one. Without makeup, sometimes I looked like I was fifteen.
Dear ol’ Mom had some amazing genes when it came to the outside wrappings.
She’d still looked like she was in her twenties when she died, and that was on top of her boozing it up every single day until her sudden death.
Her organs had been shutting down without anyone guessing because she showed no surface signs that she was in organ failure.
“Someone in your family hurting you, Everly?” Jack’s tone had shifted from neutral and professional, turning colder, darker.
The grumpy middle-aged men on either side of me scuttled away, picking up their drinks and pretending not to cower from whatever demon had suddenly possessed the large biker bartender.
But all I felt was that continued sense of safety. I considered his question. No one had ever physically harmed me in my family. Mom had been more of a danger to herself than anyone else when she was drinking. And I’d never actually had a real conversation with my father.
Emotionally, my parents had eviscerated me, heart and soul.
“I’m not in any danger, Jack,” I finally answered honestly.
“You come tell me if that changes, Everly.”
I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. If only Evie had had someone like that when we were younger. He placed the pitcher on the bar top, making sure the lid was on tight before scooting it closer to me. “Tell Nishia to have fun for me, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I promised, picking up the plastic container.
Hands full, I turned in the direction of our table and came face-to-chest with someone…
big. I blinked, taking in the black T-shirt that was stretched tight over a hard chest, the stitching on the leather vest immediately telling me it was an Angel’s Halo member.
Another Enforcer, according to the patch on his chest. I needed to do a deep dive on the overall hierarchy within MCs.
Enforcer seemed like a badass position to hold in a club.
Tipping my head back, I had an easy smile on my face until I saw a pair of intense blue eyes.