11. Roxie
ROXIE
What about Screamer?
“You’ll never guess who I saw last night.”
The excitement in Melody’s voice is infectious, and I grin. I haven’t spoken to her, Greg, or Sammie since I let them know I arrived at my destination safely. The four of us agreed that I wouldn’t tell them where I am, at least for now.
“Who?” I ask.
“Tiffany Smith,” she replies, referring to an old coworker of hers who was fired after fucking their boss in the office bathroom.
“No way. Did you talk to her?”
“Hell no. I was leaving a restaurant after dinner with my parents, and she was sitting at a corner table with some poor schmuck.”
“Did she see you?”
“Sure did,” she confirms. “And girl, if looks could kill.”
“I mean, you are the one who turned her into HR.”
“Only because I was hoping they’d offer me hazard pay for having to hear the noises those two were making,” she says with a shudder. “I still don’t know how my lunch didn’t make a reappearance.”
We talk for a few more minutes about the fallout from the report she made, laughing until she suddenly sobers. “Hey, Rox?”
“Yeah?”
“Has Jace tried to get a hold of you?”
Instantly, my good mood vanishes. “No.” I don’t know why, but that makes me sad and happy at the same time.
“That’s good. I talked to Greg yesterday, and he said he saw Jace at the gym.” Before I can ask any questions, she continues. “I guess he asked Greg where you are, and when Greg wouldn’t tell him, not that he could, Jace threatened him.”
“Dammit, Mel, why didn’t you lead with this info?” I snap.
“Because you actually sounded happy when you answered,” she counters. “I… I didn’t want to ruin the mood.”
Sighing, I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “Yeah, okay. I get it. So, um, what happened when Jace threatened Greg?” I ask, my heart aching for my friend.
She chuckles. “That’s the best part. Turns out, an off-duty cop was at the gym and overheard the threat. He escorted Jace to his car, and the gym trespassed him from the property.”
“Oh, that’s hilarious.”
“Even better is that Greg said a few of Jace’s buddies were there, too, so I’m sure he was humiliated.”
“God, I wish I could’ve been a fly on the wall.”
“Me, too.” A beep sounds in the background, and she says, “Oh, hey. That’s my door buzzer. Gotta go.”
“Okay. Thanks for calling.”
“Talk soon?”
“Absolutely.”
I disconnect the call and lean against my headboard. When Melody called, I’d been about to head out to the main area of the clubhouse for a drink, but I need a few minutes to myself to process what she told me.
When she asked me if I’d heard from Jace, I’d told the truth. But what I didn’t do was remind her that I bought a new phone and got a new number. I didn’t expect to hear from him. At least not yet.
I know exactly why that makes me happy, but I wasn’t expecting to feel even an ounce of sadness.
He was your fiancé.
Upcoming nuptials or not, the man beat me. Maybe not throughout our entire relationship, but once is enough.
Right?
Right. If I’m being honest with myself, I should’ve left a lot earlier than I did. Pride and stubbornness are two qualities that have always gotten the best of me.
As for Jace asking Greg where I am… Well, that’s exactly why my friends don’t know.
But they know about Marble Falls and Shuffle.
Be that as it may, they don’t know that this is specifically where I landed.
A knock on my door pulls me from my thoughts, and I stiffen at the sound. Forcing myself to relax, I get to my feet.
“Who is it?”
“Open up, Rox,” a feminine voice calls. Rae. “You’ve been cooped up in here all week, and I’m here to see that that changes.”
I open my door, and Rae sways on her feet. “Did Shuffle put you up to this?”
She snorts, then burps, which tells me she’s drunk. “I don’t answer to your brother. Saint’s the only man who gets to order me around.” She leans in close, cupping her hands over her mouth. “And between you and me, I like it when he gets all bossy.”
I grin. “I’m sure you do.”
Rae and Saint weren’t hitched when I left, but they’ve been together for as long as I can remember. Rae and I were close growing up, but when I left Marble Falls, the friendship fizzled.
She grabs my arm and drags me into the hall. “C’mon. I’ve missed you, and I’m done waiting for you to crawl out of your hole.”
I want to argue with her, demand she let me go and continue wallowing, but she’s right.
If I want to avoid questions from my brother and the others, I can’t stay in my room forever.
It’s bad enough that it’s been a week since he took me to the shop.
I’ve managed to dodge his inquisition, but he won’t hold back forever.
“I’m coming,” I say, laughing as she trips over her own two feet, and I have to steady her. “Where’s the fire?”
Rae stops in her tracks and looks at me with a serious expression. “If you’re lucky, maybe it’ll be in your pants later.”
“Jesus, Rae. Who the fuck would that even happen with? Huh?”
“You’ve been gone a while, babe. Plenty of new dick.”
“I’ve been here a little over a week and haven’t seen?—”
“Please don’t finish that fuckin’ sentence.”
Rae and I both jump at my brother’s intrusion. “Eavesdropping will get you nowhere,” she sasses.
“And orchestrating a fuckfest for my baby sister will get you into trouble,” he retorts, arms crossed over his chest.
“Oh. My. God,” I bite out. “First of all, I’m not a baby. You’re only five years older than me. And second, I’ll fuck whoever I want to fuck.”
“The hell you will,” he scoffs. “Over my dead body will you cozy up to one of my brothers.”
What about Screamer?
The thought pops into my head unbidden, and heat creeps into my cheeks.
“Oh, oh, oh!” Rae exclaims. “You’ve already got someone in mind, don’t you, you slut?”
Shuffle covers his ears and starts humming as he walks away. Rae’s grin is devilish.
“You’re insane,” I accuse playfully. “You know that, right?”
“I don’t care. You know that , right?”
“I do.” I slide my arm through hers. “How ‘bout a drink?”
She throws her head back dramatically. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Three shots and two beers later, and I’m feeling pretty damn good.
Or I was until the ‘plenty of new dick’ Rae mentioned walks in.
The usual crowd has thinned, other than Saint, and has been replaced with men who range in age and looks.
Unfortunately, I find myself comparing them to Screamer, which is ridiculous because I don’t even know the man other than to know he scares me.
“Hey, gorgeous,” one of the bikers says as he sidles up next to me at the bar. “Haven’t seen you here before.”
Rae, the lady that she is, snorts for what has to be the hundredth time tonight. “Oh, boy,” she mutters before downing the shot Saint just set in front of her.
The alcohol in my system bolsters my confidence, so I straighten and face him. “Then you haven’t been looking hard enough.”
That’s true, to an extent. I may not have physically been here for a few years, but there are pictures of me with Shuffle and the rest of the brothers all over the place. If he’s spent any amount of time in the clubhouse, and his prospect patch tells me he has, he should know who I am.
That and the fact that I know Shuffle sent out a text to the entire club announcing my arrival and to pronounce me off-limits. I know because he made a point of showing me.
“Baby, I’ve been looking for you forever,” he says, his eyes heavy with lust.
Now it’s my turn to snort. “That’s the best you can come up with?”
A second prospect joins him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “Give him a break, sweet cheeks. Seth’s still learning.”
I turn to Rae. “Is my name Baby?”
She grins. “No.”
“Sweet cheeks?”
“Nope.”
“Huh. Then what is my name?”
“Like, your legal name or what most people around here know you as?”
“Either works,” I tell her, and I hear Saint failing to hold in his laughter at the entire exchange.
“Well,” she begins, tapping her head like she has to think. “Your legal name is Roxanne Lynn Allen. And wha?—”
“Wait… Did you say Allen?” Seth’s face turns ashen.
“And what people around here know you as is Shuffle’s sister,” Rae finishes as if she hadn’t been interrupted.
“Aw, fuck, man,” Seth’s friend whines.
I smile sweetly at the two men. “Any other questions?”
Seth’s expression shifts in a split second, and rage enters his eyes. “You set me up.”
“Set you up? How the fuck did I do that?”
He looks from me to Saint. “This is some sort of test, right? It’s gotta be a test.”
“No test,” Saint replies. “But if it were…” He whistles. “Man, you failed miserably.”
Seth returns his attention to me. “You stupid bitch,” he seethes, grabbing my arm and yanking me toward him.
That’s all it takes for me to go from alcohol-induced confidence to terrified. I don’t get the chance to pull away or yell because Saint is across the bar so fast, knocking Seth to his ass.
“I’m gonna go get Shuffle,” Rae announces from behind me.
“You just fucked up in epic fashion,” Saint grunts between punches.
“I had nothing to do with it,” Seth’s friend insists.
The noise in the room fills my ears, and my limbs begin to shake. I’m transported back to my last night with Jace, and when my knees buckle and my vision darkens, I collapse on the floor.