Chapter 14 #2
I was able to dance for two songs before I had to tap out.
Putting a hand on my side, I made my way off the dance floor.
Just as I cleared the crowd and could see the table where the guys were, I froze.
There were two girls sitting in Mac’s and Lemon’s seats at the table.
They looked to be mostly talking with Bash.
Theo was ignoring them completely. Wyatt and Roe were trying to just talk to each other.
As if sensing me watching, they both looked my way.
Before I could start heading toward our table again, a guy not wearing a Haven’s Rebel cut stepped into my line of sight. “You look lost, beautiful.” He was tall, in his early twenties, with buzz-cut dirty blond hair and arms full of tattoos. He wasn’t bad-looking.
“I’m not,” I said.
“I haven’t seen you around here before.” He glanced at the table where the party of girls were. “Are you here with your friends?”
I snorted. He thought I was here to fuck a member, or by the looks of him, a son of one.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
I didn’t get a chance to tell him. A hand came down on my head. Just from that, I knew who it was before he asked, “Are you hurting?”
I turned toward Bram. “I’m fine. Just a little sore.”
Nodding, he dropped his hand from my head and stared at the guy who’d approached me. “I see you’ve met my daughter, Nash.”
Nash’s eyes went a little wide. “Your daughter?”
“Yes,” Bram said. “Not only is she my daughter, but she’s taken. Both of her boyfriends are right behind you.”
Nash turned, spotting Roe and Wyatt standing right behind him, not really looking friendly. Nash gave Bram a confused look. “Boyfriends?”
“Just move along, Nash,” Bram said.
Still looking baffled, Nash listened and walked off.
“When will you be home tonight?” Bram asked me.
“Would you be mad if I didn’t come home until morning?” I asked.
His eyes closed as if in pain. It looked like he took a calming breath before opening them again. He leaned close. “Do we need to have a talk about sex?”
My brows rose. “It’s a little late for that.”
“I mean are you being safe and responsible about it?” he asked.
Oh. “Yes, I am.”
He nodded. “Make sure you have your phone.”
“I will.”
He kissed the top of my head before heading back to the booth he was sitting at with Vivian.
I walked over to my guys and smiled. “Were you coming to chase that guy away?”
“We saw Bram heading toward you, but wanted to come get you anyway,” Wyatt said.
“He thought I came with them,” I told them as I nodded toward the table of girls. “What’s a sweet butt? Donnie called me that last time I was here.”
Wyatt glanced at Roe.
“Uh,” Roe said. “It’s like a groupie that hangs around the club.”
“They kind of have sex with any members who are interested. They get passed around a lot,” Wyatt said.
I looked from one to the other. “Have you—?”
“No!” they said loudly, making sure I clearly heard them over the music.
I needed a drink. “I’m very happy you don’t want to join the club.”
They smiled at that and we walked back to our table.
The two girls were still there talking to Bash and Theo. Well, Bash mostly. Theo was silently staring at the dance floor.
As we sat, Roe pulled me into his lap. The girls eyed me and Roe. Both were blondes. One was more strawberry blonde while the other was more of a platinum.
“I thought you two were in a relationship?” Strawberry said to Roe and Wyatt.
“We are,” Wyatt said.
“We thought you meant you two were together,” Platinum said.
Bash snorted.
I scooped up my drink to hide my smile. It was almost empty.
“It looks like just he’s in a relationship,” Strawberry said to Wyatt while tilting her head at Roe.
Wyatt took my empty glass from my hand and kissed me on the lips. “I’ll get you another.” He leaned close to Roe. “You want another beer? I’m switching to water so I can drive.”
Roe nodded.
Platinum smiled at me. “Good for you, girl!” She leaned close to Strawberry and said something I couldn’t hear over the music before getting up and leaving.
Strawberry remained and continued to shoot her shot with Bash. “So is your dad a Haven’s Rebel, too?” she asked Bash.
I nearly laughed at her asking the daddy question that Mac had just told us about earlier.
But as the laugh started to come out, I remembered who Bash and Theo’s dad had been and what had happened to him.
To stop myself, I ended up making a choking noise and I tried to cover it up with coughing, which in turn made me wince and grab at my side.
“Are you all right?” Roe asked.
I cleared my throat and nodded.
Bash was giving me a look like he knew what I’d been trying to cover up, but didn’t look mad. “No,” he answered her simply.
“Oh.” For a moment, Strawberry appeared unsure how to proceed. “What made you want to become a Rebel?”
Bash stared down at his beer bottle as he picked at the label. He didn’t look like he wanted to answer that. “Because I love motorcycles.” His words felt like a lie.
He didn’t seem interested in Strawberry, but he clearly didn’t want to hurt her feelings, either.
“Theo, will you go keep an eye on Lemon? I’m worried she’ll get separated from Mac,” I said, butting into something I knew I shouldn’t.
Theo didn’t respond. He just got up and headed toward Mac and Lemon, almost as if he had been waiting for an excuse to go.
Brows raised, Bash watched him leave before he also stood. “Nice talking to you,” he said to Strawberry without sparing her another glance.
Her mouth was slightly ajar as she watched him walk off.
I wanted to tell her that she was better off.
Then she tossed a dirty look toward me like it was my fault.
Had I known Bash would follow Theo? I’d had a pretty good feeling he would, based on how much time we’d spent together the past week.
For the most part, where one brother went, the other followed.
I’d thought that giving them an escape would push Bash to be more direct in turning her down.
She would’ve been embarrassed later if he continued to string her along like that.
At least, I would be. I supposed walking away was as direct as one could get.
Wyatt returned. He noticed that the twins were gone and Strawberry was glaring at me. “What’d I miss?” He handed me my drink and Roe a new beer.
Strawberry finally got up and stormed off.
“That was very awkward,” Roe said before taking a drink.
“I was only trying to help. That’s what I get for meddling.
” I glanced over to the group of ladies.
I didn’t want to judge them. People should fuck whoever they wanted.
But when I saw them, I saw Mother. She looked down on everyone, especially the club, and yet she’d had no problem sleeping with my father.
“They can be persistent sometimes,” Roe said.
Wyatt nodded. “You try to turn them down politely and they still don’t give up.”
I completely understood how that felt.
A few hours went by. More drinks were drunk. Mac and Lemon would go back and forth from the dance floor and our table. Theo seemed content in following them around. Bash followed Theo, appearing baffled each time.
We reached a point where Mac, Lemon, and I were really drunk. The giggly no-filter kind.
Mac talked about Miles, who was now her ex after only a few weeks of dating. He’d been seeing other girls and the one time they’d slept together, he’d been selfish about it. Which made her earlier comments make sense.
“What a cock-flopper!” Lemon yelled, making Mac and me laugh even though it hurt for me to do so.
Meanwhile, Roe, Wyatt, and the twins quietly watched and listened to us.
I began to tell the girls about my two-minute first-time experience, but Wyatt covered my mouth. “Nope! I can’t hear about you with another dude, pathetic as he was. Please save it for a girls-only night.”
Lemon and Mac awwed at him.
I pulled his hand away and said, “Fine. I have to use the restroom anyway.”
“I’ll go with you,” Mac said as she stood.
“Me, too,” Lemon said, standing next.
As she went to step away from her chair, she tripped and stumbled toward Theo. His arms went out to catch her. He ended up grabbing her by the hip and wrist.
Lemon’s free hand went to his shoulder. “Oops. My foot hit the leg of the chair.” She straightened. “Thank you, Theo.”
As I passed Bash, I noticed him staring at Lemon and Theo. I couldn’t read his expression, but he didn’t blink until Lemon walked away.
I took the lead as we made our way around people. Just as we approached the hall that led to the bathrooms, I spotted Reid out from behind the bar. Roe had mentioned he was getting off work soon, but I had no idea how long ago that was. I stopped walking when I noticed he was talking to someone.
Not just someone. One of Strawberry’s and Platinum’s friends.
At my sudden stop, one of the girls bumped into me.
“Why’d you stop?” Mac grumbled before they both came to stand on either side of me.
The girl talking with Reid was gorgeous.
She had long blue-black hair, flawless porcelain skin, Jessica Rabbit curves.
She held a martini in one hand and reached out to grab Reid’s left one with her other.
She tried to bring his up to look at it.
As she spoke and tugged on his hand, she rubbed his ring finger as if trying to feel for something.
He pulled his hand away and folded his arms across his chest. She didn’t take the hint and ran her pretty, almond-shaped nail over one of his tattoos by his elbow.
“Mac, I’m trying to act rational, but I’ve been drinking and I’m not okay with this,” I said.
“I wouldn’t be, either,” Mac said. “And I would do something about it.”
My feet started walking before I could stop them. Reid noticed me when I was a few feet away and stoically watched me make the girl step back by slipping between them, facing her.