CHAPTER 17
EZRA
I have to say, this party is a little tamer than I thought it would be. Where are the piles of ammunition? What about the body shots? The hedonistic sex acts?
To be fair, I could see body shots happening here at any moment, so I can’t say it’s impossible at this point.
The only thing that really makes this any different than a night at On Wasted Ridge is that the club whores are barely wearing any clothes. Well, they don’t wear a lot more when out at the bar the club owns either, but still.
As we walk up to the bar, Bolt gives us a weary look. The moment we’re close enough, he grumbles, “I can give you a beer and I can pour shots. I can’t make some girlie drink for you.”
Graycie giggles while glancing at Opal. “Don’t worry, I don’t need anything.”
Opal snorts and shoots her a look. “Oh please, my brother has already ensured the bar and clubhouse will always be stocked with those flavored fizzy can things you love and have been craving.” She punctuates her sentence with a meaningful look down at Graycie’s belly.
Graycie lights up and I’m not sure if it’s because her favorite drinks are in stock or because Snake made sure it happened. “Thank you for adding them to the inventory,” Graycie’s voice is sweet.
Opal rolls her eyes before smiling. “I’ll take the praise, but I know you’ll let my brother think he has the glory.”
“He does,” Bolt mumbles and we all turn to look at him. His eyes widen and the tops of his ears turn red. “So,” he holds the word out, awkwardly, “what’s it going to be?”
Opal’s eyes glint before she leans across the bar slightly. “I’m going to walk you through the steps. You’re going to make a tequila sunrise.” She glances at me and wiggles her eyebrows. “Make that two.”
“Fuck,” Bolt gripes under his breath.
“Hey,” I admonish, “language.”
He freezes for a second and shoots me a look. Then he looks toward the ceiling like he’s searching for patience. He can search all he wants. I’m not going to be helping him find it.
“Sorry, Ms. Lyons,” he shakes his head before correcting himself, “Ezra.”
I practically preen while perching on a barstool.
Then I watch as Opal walks him through making our drinks. He hates every second of it. There are grumbles. There are mumbles. There’s a kerfuffle with the glass choice.
When he has to pour the grenadine in and use a spoon, he clenches his jaw so tightly that I’m almost a little concerned for the kid.
We’re not the only ones watching either. The brothers standing at the bar are quiet, clearly enjoying the show. Bolt doesn’t buckle though.
Sidewinder steps up to the bar just as Bolt is adding the garnish and placing our drinks in front of us. Opal tenses, but it’s not the flinch of someone afraid. It’s something else. An awareness.
I look at her, but she’s focused on stirring her drink.
She takes a drink and gives Bolt a proud nod.
“Good job. Next time, I’ll order something else.
If you’re going to be behind a bar, you might as well do the job right.
” A conspiratorial note enters her voice, “Maybe you’ll even come up with a drink involving your moonshine? ”
When I look at Bolt, he’s trying to hide a smile. “Let me know when you need another,” he tells us while pulling out a can for Graycie before heading back down the bar.
But as I watch him, there’s something a little different about him. I look at Opal and grin, “You’d make a good teacher if you’re ever interested in changing jobs.”
She snorts into her drink and shakes her head. “No, thank you. I don’t know how you do it.”
“I couldn’t do it either,” Graycie says, eagerly taking a sip of her drink with a look of delight on her face.
It’s good to see. She was so folded in on herself when she first came here. I’ve enjoyed meeting her again as she’s let go of whatever she was running from.
“You’d be really good at it. It’s a skill to get someone to an idea or figure out how to get them to buy into a new way of thinking without it feeling forced,” I push a little with Opal.
“Bolt,” there’s a warning in Sidewinder’s tone when the prospect hands him a beer which has me furrowing my eyes.
He walks away without saying anything else and heads right to where Snake and Titus are sitting. The crowd has grown at the table, but I notice the club whores haven’t approached them, even as they flit about the room like butterflies.
Opal laughs softly, the sound of it a little forced, “No, I’ve just learned to stroke a man’s ego because it’s easier sometimes than going at it head on. Not the same thing.”
She looks at me and there’s a flash of sadness in her eyes, but then it’s gone. I’m not sure if Graycie notices it or not. I want to push, but it doesn’t feel like it’s the right time. Or place.
“Anyway,” Opal’s voice brightens as she grabs my arm gently and her voice drops, “what is going on with you and Ryker?”
“Yes,” Graycie hisses. She glances around and then shakes her head. “Not here. Let’s grab a spot.”
Opal grins and claps her hands, none of the sadness remains. “To the booth,” she calls out and thrusts her finger into the air.
I can’t help but laugh, the three of us dissolve into giggles as we head over to one of the few booths in the room. It’s a good vantage point to see pretty much the entire space and the high backs surrounding each table make the space feel cozy.
The moment we sit down, I realize the other benefit, the walls help to muffle some of the sound.
“Okay,” Graycie’s eyes light up, “now spill. I have questions about a certain president and there’s no doubt in my mind that you have the answers.”
My mouth drops open as I look at Graycie with blatant shock. “Who are you?” I gasp out the question and it’s only half-way feigned, honestly.
I am a little shocked at her question.
Graycie giggles and shrugs one shoulder even though her cheeks turn a little pink. “I’m just saying, there’s a lot of man there to have questions about.”
I press my lips together and try to stop myself from laughing. She’s not wrong.
“Oh,” Opal exclaims and points at me, “I know that face. She’s not wrong, is she?”
“Nope,” I pop the p, completely unbothered, “not at all, but that’s all I’m going to say about it.” When Graycie’s face falls slightly, I wiggle my eyebrows at her, my voice an offering, “We could always talk about you and your biker.”
“Gross,” Opal shrieks. She plugs up her ears and closes her eyes like someone is going to pull out a sex tape or something. “La la la la,” she sings out, “we are not talking about that.”
“Then we’re not talking about my biker,” I tease her.
Opal’s shoulders slump. “Fine, you have a point.”
“Enough people already know those details,” I try not to glance over at where one of the brothers is getting a very…advanced lap dance. I can’t see who it is and I’m more than okay with it.
Graycie frowns, her eyebrows pulling together as she gives me a knowing look. “I get it. It’s not something I like to think about,” she admits.
Opal makes a humming sound. She cuts her eyes at me, “We don’t need to talk about the nitty-gritty naughty stuff, but if you need to talk about anything else then we’re here. I mean, I think we have to talk about it a little bit. Right? This is kind of big.” Her eyes sparkle, “You and Ryker.”
“I’m not sure it’s entirely sunk in yet, you know?” I glance at where Ryker is sitting to find his gray eyes already locked on me.
I knew he was looking. I could feel his eyes on me.
“It takes a moment,” Graycie says, her words coated with affection that has everything to do with Snake.
“I was terrified of letting Snake in, but he showed me he wasn’t going to stop having my back.
No matter what. He showed me what being loved feels like and the safety that home is supposed to represent.
He gave me this huge family,” she adds on, her eyes glazing with unshed tears when she looks around the room.
“Hey,” Opal interjects, clearly offended considering the pout on her face, “I was more than willing to give you the family and that has nothing to do with Snake. Stupid brother,” she grumbles.
I can’t help but smile as Graycie gives her best friend a quick hug. “I know, but it wasn’t going to be real to me. I don’t know if I could have trusted it without him helping to heal me. Then there’s the whole baby thing.”
“Fine, I’ll concede that I couldn’t have given you a baby,” Opal’s words are mulish.
“And it makes you the coolest aunt ever,” Graycie points out. Her eyes fill with tears again and she laughs self-deprecatingly, “These hormones are no joke. I could cry at any moment.”
“I bet Snake loves that,” Opal snorts and Graycie grimaces.
“Hates it,” Graycie’s words are light. “He looks so lost when I start crying, but there are benefits.”
The look Graycie gives me tells me everything I need to know; there are orgasms involved. I guess if he can’t distract her in any other way, why argue with what works?
“You know Jessi is always welcome here. She could have come tonight,” Graycie extends the offer so sweetly.
I shake my head and sigh. “Jessi won’t come near the club.”
Graycie’s eyebrows pull together as she asks, “Because of her dad?”
After dropping my voice, I tell her, “She was really close with one of the club kids back in the day, but then high school graduation came, and everything changed. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but they were together all the time, then he started prospecting and their friendship ended.”
“That’s really sad,” Graycie says and the only thing I can do is nod.
Because it is.
My words hang there for a moment before I glance around and ask the question I’ve been dying to ask, “Are the guys always this intense? I just mean there are times when I’m around Titus and it’s like,” my eyes widen, “I don’t even know how to describe it.”
Graycie and Opal both laugh, but I don’t. I’m kind of genuinely worried about this. Is it possible to drown in pheromones and leather? Because it feels possible.
“Yes,” Graycie assures me, even though it’s not necessarily reassuring, “they are.”
I slump back into the booth while sucking the last of my drink up the straw.
“I’m not sure I’ll survive it.” That earns even more laughter from both women and I hiss, “I’m serious.
It’s exhausting being turned on all the time and having my body being all jangly-wangly.
Feeling like prey from time to time is not something I’m used to. ”
Opal and Graycie are clinging to each other while laughing. All I can do is watch them. It’s not funny.
“Jangly-wangly?” Opal gasps out the question.
“You know,” I try to explain and make jazz hands in front of my torso, “jangly-wangly.”
Once they get themselves under control, which takes far too long as far as I’m concerned, Graycie wipes away a tear and shoots a smile over at Snake who is watching her like she’s the brightest star in the sky. “That’s actually a pretty accurate description,” she says, the words thoughtful.
“I’ve always been kind of take it or leave it when it comes to guys, but this feeling is beyond my scope,” I admit.
Opal gives me a sympathetic look and winces slightly as she offers, “Hydrate?”
“That is not helpful,” I deadpan.
“But solid advice,” Graycie offers with a knowing look on her face.
I cover my face with my hands, only peeking through my fingers when there’s a soft thud on the table. When I look up, Bolt is already heading back toward the bar, and three new drinks are on the table in front of us.
“He’s a good kid,” I muse.
“He is,” Opal agrees. Then her eyes focus on me. “Now, lets talk more about how you’ve become boy crazy, but only for a certain motorcycle club president.”
“I don’t know about boy crazy,” I defend myself and Opal just makes a dismissive sound. “I guess,” I pause and search for the right word, “this whole thing has moved fast and it’s overwhelming.”
“They’re men of action,” Opal says, her eyes filled with pride when she looks around.
Something flashes in her expression, but it’s there and gone so quickly before she looks at me again.
“When they know what they want, they go after it with everything in them. They don’t know another way and once they find the right person, their loyalty is absolute. ”
“This place might test you,” there’s a gentle warning in Graycie’s voice, “but that doesn’t mean you don’t belong.”
Warmth fills my chest and when I look back over at Titus, he’s watching me with a soft look in his eyes that makes me want to curl up in his lap. There’s safety there. And something more, something deeper than affection.
Something I could get lost in. Hopefully, he’ll find me.