V
There was nothing more annoying than men keeping their damn secrets, but it sounded like something big was happening here, so I wasn’t about to let yet another man keep me in the dark.
“I swear to god, if you don’t tell me, I’m going to make a scene, Rocket.”
The stranger chuckled, and we all looked shocked, as his wide eyes reached mine.
“I like her,” he whispered, lowering his face to Nixie again almost immediately.
Rocket’s phone buzzed on the table, and I saw the sender was called ‘CallToArms’ but it vanished almost instantly, and he tilted it away as he checked it. Call to arms? That sounded like a battle call.
“Who’s the target?” I asked softly, and he sighed, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.
“Posh bastards in the corner.” Huh.
“The ones just paying their bill?”
Rocket cursed, and the other guy flinched, and I wished I’d been introduced so I wasn’t thinking of him in my head as ‘random guy’ or whatever.
“Fuck. We can’t let them leave,” Rocket hissed at us, and I groaned. Sometimes it took a woman to do a man’s job, right?
I pushed away from the table and turned to look at the men again.
They were gathering their things, getting ready to leave, and I did something hasty, and probably stupid, because I had no idea what they’d done to have the club after them.
Who knew that was even a thing? I fluffed up my hair and strode across the bar, with Rocket hissing something at me that I couldn’t even hear.
I stopped beside their table, and focused on one of the two older men sitting there.
“Clive? Clive Ashford?”
He frowned at me, shaking his head slowly as the other guy laughed.
“Can’t believe people don’t recognise us anymore. It’s pretty insulting.” Ugh, even his voice was slimy.
“Are you sure? I swear I used to see you in the clinic. You have a Shih-tzu, right?”
The other man laughed again, but the guy I addressed just looked confused.
“I don’t have a dog, lady.”
I leaned a palm on the table and pretended to bite my lip in a sultry way. Honestly, I had no idea how to look sultry. I probably just looked constipated, but his eyes focused on my lips, nonetheless.
“I remember thinking how sexy you were. A real silver fox.” My inner self gagged at the thought, because there was nothing attractive about the bastard, but I was playing a part, wasn’t I?
“I wish we didn’t have to get going, as entertaining as this is,” his friend said as he stood up, “but we’ve got an early start in the morning.”
I twirled a lock of my light brown hair around my finger and eyed him slowly.
“Pity. I’ve always had a thing for silver foxes, and there are two of you. Every woman fantasises about-”
“Alright, that’s enough,” I heard Rocket snap, just before he wrapped both arms around my waist and pulled me back.
A couple of guys I assumed to be bikers stepped past me, and leaned close to speak to the men as Rocket pulled me further away, his face in my neck in a way far more intimate than our relationship had been so far. He was breathing hard, like he was fighting to stay calm.
“Rocket?”
“Fucking hated you being so close to those assholes, woman. Jesus. I just wanna get you in a shower, so I can wash the very idea of them from your skin.” What the hell?
I tried to turn in his arms, but he gripped me tighter, as the now-four bikers escorted the men outside, somehow making it look like they’d bumped into friends and were going to hang out.
I noticed then that none of them were wearing the leathers that Rocket and his friend were, but I’d instinctively known they were his brothers.
Rocket led me back to the table and sat me down.
“What are we doing?”
Rocket ordered three cokes, for us and the other guy, and sat me down in the seat he’d been in when I arrived.
“Why aren’t we going with them?”
“This is Has-Been, one of my brothers. Has, this is V, a terrifying fucking lady.”
The guy called Has-Been laughed, looking a little brighter than he had looked so far.
“Nice to meet you, V. We’re staying put for a bit. Don’t worry.”
I turned to face Rocket, who’d dragged another chair over to sit beside me.
“But-”
“We’re wearing our cuts,” he said, leaning close, “so we can’t look connected to those fuckers, see?”
I glanced around the pub, noticing that nobody was really paying attention to us anyway.
“That doesn’t make any sense, you just dragged me away from them.”
He lifted a shoulder. “Sure, and that’s problematic, but easily explained as me taking my wayward woman in hand, when she’s flirting with other assholes.”
There was so much to unpack there, but I went for the last part.
“Suggesting you’re an asshole yourself.”
Has-Been laughed, still a slightly ragged sound, and petted Nixie’s head after he’d inadvertently startled her.
“She’s got your number, man.”
“Bite me. Listen, V… those guys aren’t going to be seen alive again, you feel me?” Rocket was whispering in my ear at this point, and his warm breath on my neck sent a shiver down my spine. I shouldn’t be finding that hot, when he was just telling me they were going to kill those guys.
“Why?” Maybe I shouldn’t have asked, but Rocket shrugged, turning to look at his brother Has-Been, and that poor guy shuddered.
“Let’s just say they’re uh… problems from my past.”
“Vague much?”
Rocket pushed my drink at me. “Shut yourself up with this, woman. We can get moving in a few minutes. We’ll meet the others at the uh… place.”
I reached over and flicked his ear, because I was too much of a lady to throw the drink at him, but he’d just pissed me off. He cursed, slapping a hand over the stinging ear as he shot me a horrified look.
“What the fuck is it about my ears? First Nixie, now you!”
Has-Been was chuckling, and murmuring to the pup he was cradling against his chest once more, and I’ll admit it took me a moment to remember the picture of Nixie trying to lick or bite Rocket’s ear, but it came back to me when I caught sight of that wounded look on his face again.
“Don’t talk down to me, Rocket. I get it, there’s some kind of club… I don’t know… justice system, and they’ve done something, and I don’t get to know because I’m just a little woman, but how you talk to me determines what happens to your ears. Got it?”
He rolled his eyes, rubbing at his lobe.
“You already abuse them enough with all that yapping at me anyway.”
His phone buzzed on the table, disturbing me before I could give him hell for that statement too. Honestly, I wasn’t mad at him really, just I was starting to really enjoy the banter with him.
“They’re ready for us, brother,” he said quietly to Has-Been, who took a deep breath and nodded once, seeming to be working on gathering his strength.
Whatever those men did to him was bad enough that it was taking all of his courage to face them.
He was cute, in a boyish way, with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
There was a little blonde scruff on his chin, but it didn’t add any age to his looks.
Maybe he’d always look young and cute, except for that tiredness in his eyes.
The haunted look that said he’d lived a hundred years in hell, probably at the hands of those monsters.
“What shall we do with Nixie?” He asked as he kissed the top of her head, and passed her back to Rocket, and that bastard looked right at me. He thought he was sending the little lady home with the pup? Fuck that.
“I’ll take her, but I’m coming with you.”
Rocket groaned. “Kinda defeats the object, V. I don’t want either of you near this.”
I shrugged, reaching out to take her warm little body from him.
“Just as well you don’t always get what you want, dickhead.”
“Definitely like her,” Has-Been muttered, as we left the pub, and headed toward our vehicles.