Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Bram and Vivian had left for Noble’s before we had.
The five of us took my car because it fit everyone more comfortably.
Wyatt drove, Roe rode up front with him, and the girls and I sat together in the back seat.
As we pulled up to Noble’s, I watched Lemon stare out the window at all the many motorcycles and bikers out front.
She didn’t show any fear. Just genuine fascination and curiosity.
Wyatt parked in the back like he had the last time we’d come when live music was playing.
“Don’t wander off,” I reminded Lemon as we climbed out. “Please stay with one of us at all times.”
Roe and Wyatt walked behind us as we headed for the back entrance.
“Is it really as dangerous as you make it seem?” Lemon asked.
“The club is loyal to their own, for the most part.” Mac linked arms with her.
“You’ll be fine as long as you stick with us,” she assured her.
“It’s just because you’re an outsider and that could lead to misunderstandings, especially when alcohol is involved.
Just treat this as if you’re going to a party.
Have fun. Just don’t leave your drink unattended. ”
“And in this case, we’re your drink. Don’t leave us,” I added.
“I don’t really like going to parties,” Lemon said, reminding me of how little she interacted with people at Kendry.
“That’s because rich-kid parties suck,” Wyatt said as he took longer strides to get to the door first and open it for us. As soon as the heavy door revealed the inside, loud rock music poured out.
An arm went around my waist before Roe stepped up next to me. Mac and Lemon went in first. As I walked in, Roe took my hand in his so we wouldn’t get separated.
With Lemon holding her hand, Mac took the lead, moving around people and tables through the main room. As soon as there was a spot open at the bar, Mac beelined for it.
I let go of Roe’s hand to squeeze up next to her and pulled out a hundred from my wristlet. Roe had bought everyone’s drinks last time. I wasn’t letting that happen again. It was my turn to pay for something.
“Reid!” Mac yelled as she waved, catching his attention at the other end of the bar.
He nodded at her. Then his eyes shifted to me and stayed there for a moment before he had to focus on finishing what he was doing.
Mac looked back at Lemon, who was pressed close, staring over our shoulders at the bar. “We’re starting with a shot. After that, do you want a beer or something sweet?”
“I’ll take something sweet,” Lemon said.
Mac next looked to Wyatt and Roe, who were standing behind the three of us. Because the music was loud, Mac made a gesture of drinking something. They must have answered, because she nodded.
“Mac, I’ll pay,” I said loudly so she would hear me.
She glanced at the money in my hand, then behind us at the guys again. She smiled and leaned close. “You can try.”
Before I could ask what she meant by that, Reid came over.
“Three shots of Fireball to start. Then can you mix us up something sweet?” Mac asked.
“I want what you made us last time,” I said.
Reid glanced at me and nodded.
“Oh, and we’ll need whatever beers your brother-husbands want,” Mac added.
He flipped her off before grabbing three shot glasses and filling them with Fireball.
Mac grabbed those and handed one each to Lemon and me.
Mac clinked Lemon’s little glass, then mine, before throwing hers back.
Lemon heavily exhaled first before downing hers.
When Reid returned with bottled beers for Roe and Wyatt, I swallowed down my shot with a grimace.
Lemon set her glass back on the bar. “I feel like my insides have been purified.”
Mac laughed and I smiled.
“I like the burn,” Mac yelled over the music.
Reid returned shortly with our mixed drinks. Mac grabbed Lemon’s and passed it back to her. As I slid mine toward me, I tried to pay Reid. He stared down at the hundred in my hand. Then he glanced over my shoulder at Roe and Wyatt before walking away without taking the money.
Mac laughed, having watched the whole interaction.
Stunned, I turned around to look at the guys. They were staring anywhere but at me as they sipped their beers.
Mac leaned close. “Just put your money away and have a good time, like they want you to.”
I stuffed my money back in my wristlet and scooped up my drink.
We walked away from the bar and managed to snag a table. There were only four chairs. Lemon and Mac each took one. Wyatt and Roe took the other two and Wyatt sat me in his lap. To get more comfortable, I laid my arm over his shoulders.
“How much of a dance partner are you going to be tonight?” Mac shouted across the table.
“I can dance a little,” I said over the music.
Mac glanced at Lemon. “You’ll dance with me, right?”
Lemon smiled. “I’d love to dance with you!
” She pointed at her drink. “But after I drink this.” She sipped away while taking everything in, from all the Haven’s Rebels to the ladies either here with the bikers or trying to get their attention.
There also seemed to be a huge party of girls with three tables pushed together celebrating something, or maybe just here for a girls’ night.
Bram and Vivian were in a corner booth with a few other bikers and their partners.
When the band had finished and a new band was setting up to play, it became a lot quieter.
We were talking about grabbing one more round of drinks as Bash and Theo each pulled up a chair to our table and joined us without asking.
Bash sat between Mac and Roe. Theo had pushed his chair between Lemon and me and Wyatt.
As they sat, they set brand new beers in front of Roe and Wyatt and another round of our cocktails in front of us girls.
Mac, who had finished her drink, smiled. “Thanks, prospects.”
Lemon looked from Theo to Bash. “Thank you.”
Theo nodded at her.
“Yeah, thank you,” I said. “Bram didn’t send you over, did he?”
Bash shook his head. “Just thought you would be better company.” He grinned at Roe and Wyatt, who were frowning. “Relax, guys. Not after your girl, I promise. We’re just here to hang out.”
Roe and Wyatt glanced at each other before reluctantly thanking them for the beers.
“Speaking of you two going after a girl, I’m surprised you didn’t hit up the party of girls a few tables over,” Mac said. “You know why they’re here.”
“Everyone in this bar knows why they’re here,” Bash said.
“I don’t know why,” I said.
“I don’t, either,” Lemon said.
“Pretty much everyone knows this bar is where the club likes to hang, apart from the clubhouse,” Roe explained.
Lemon and I exchanged confused glances.
Mac sighed. “They’re just ignorant girls who think the club is nothing but a bunch of dangerous men and they want a taste.”
“Ah,” Lemon said, understanding. “They want the bad-boy experience.”
Mac nodded. “For a night, at least.”
“A lot of them are from the north side of the bridge,” Roe said.
“South-side girls who don’t have any connection to the club come around with the same intentions, too,” Mac said. “It’s nothing new. It’s probably been happening since the club was created.”
I went still.
Wyatt moved my hair away from my neck so he could kiss me just below my ear. “What’s wrong, joint thief?”
I shook my head. “Do the members of the club indulge them?”
“You mean, do we pretend that we don’t know what they’re after and fuck them anyway?” Bash asked bluntly.
I nodded.
Bash looked around the room. He even eyed Roe and Wyatt. “I’m pretty sure every guy in this bar has.”
I schooled my face as I glanced at Roe and Wyatt for confirmation.
Wyatt sighed at the ceiling.
Roe glared at Bash. “Thanks for that.”
“When they get drunk enough, they don’t just go after the bikers.
They go after their sons, too,” Mac explained with an apologetic expression.
Then she turned her attention to the guys.
“I’m sure they bat their eyes at you boys and ask if you are going to be a Haven’s Rebel someday just like Daddy. ”
All four of them, including Theo, looked at her in disgust.
“Am I wrong?” Mac asked.
When no one said anything, Lemon snorted. She seemed to be really enjoying herself.
“I was asking because I’m pretty sure my mother was one of those girls.
A rich girl just looking for a taste of danger.
It’s kind of gross. To know I was conceived this way.
” I shot Roe and Wyatt a look. “It’s very, very gross.
” The more I thought about them sleeping with some girl in that manner, the more it pissed me off.
“Were they pretty?” My jealousy surprised me as much as them.
Bash snorted. “Don’t answer that.”
“You’re not helping,” Wyatt grumbled.
“It’s not much better when you’re conceived out of love, either, Lottie,” Lemon said. “Besides, your dad wouldn’t be a good guy if he loved a woman like your mother.”
That was true. “Why is it not better to be conceived out of love?”
“Because sometimes, when a man loves a woman so much and their child kills that woman during childbirth, he ends up hating that child and not wanting anything to do with her.”
There was a second of stunned silence around the table before the new band started playing. Mac and I exchanged a look and stood at the same time.
“Time to dance!” Mac said as she held her hand out to Lemon.
Lemon took one more big drink before getting up. They waited for me to catch up and the three of us headed to the dance floor.