Chapter 14
SAYLOR
Her eyes were bleary as she stared at her computer, finishing up the last of the tasks she needed to get done. She glanced at the time on her phone and realized it was already mid-afternoon; she had been working nonstop since morning. She saw a couple of missed messages from Jax, but she didn’t bother answering them. She had to finish, and she didn’t have time to indulge him. She didn’t even glance at the mess she’d made of the desk. Notes, a couple of pens that she found in her bag, and some highlighters she used to mark up her ideas on the notes littered the surface. She’d clean it up when she was done, she just had to keep pushing another few minutes.
When she was finally finished, she felt drained mentally. But she got herself caught up and sent updates to her clients, apologizing for the delays due to a personal emergency. Thankfully most of them had been understanding, while the final client only said they would contact her to fix any errors. She didn’t mind though. They were busy, and she had put them behind; that was stressful for any business. Still, she had been careful to include clauses for this exact kind of situation in her contracts, so her butt was covered.
She stretched her arms over her head, rotated her neck, and closed her eyes. It felt so good to be done, but now she was starving. She used the bathroom quickly before grabbing her phone and heading out the door. She’d come back up and deal with the mess after she got some food.
When she got down to the common area, there weren’t many people around, though she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. Most were probably working. There was a Prospect behind the bar cleaning up, and a woman she never saw before, but by the look of her short shorts, tube top, heavy make-up, and the icy glare she sent her way as soon as she spotted her, she figured this had to be one of the club girls. Instead of engaging, she looked at the Prospect and asked, “Which way to the kitchen?”
He nodded toward the door a little further down. “Head through there. I think Glitch is in there.” She nodded and headed that way, ignoring the club girl who was still glaring at her. When she walked into the kitchen, she felt a grin split her face when she saw Glitch mixing something, while also snapping her teeth like a wild animal at Code, who was reaching for the bowl.
“Touch this, and I’ll make you bleed, caveman” Glitch warned him dangerously.
“Kitten, we both know I love when you bite and use your claws,” Code drawled with a wicked grin.
“I’m not getting blood in the batter,” she told him with a sniff. Then her eyes moved to Saylor, and she smiled. “Speaking of caves, you’ve finally decided to leave yours? I thought I was going to have to come up and drag you out when I finished this.”
“Sorry, when I get in a groove I kind of tune everything out until I’m done,” Saylor said as she approached the large island. “What are you making?”
“A cheesecake,” Glitch said with a smile. “But this one, and anyone else that finds out what I’m making, like to taste the batter. Hence the biting.” She narrowed her eyes in a mock glare. “That goes for you too, missy. New or not, I won’t hesitate to bite you either.”
“Maybe I’m into that,” Saylor leered, but then laughed when Glitch winked at her and Code scowled. “Don’t worry, big guy, I won’t bite your lady unless she asks me to. What I really am is hungry.”
“Help yourself to whatever you can find,” Code offered. “There are probably some leftovers in the fridge.”
She headed for the fridge, ignoring the giggles and growls coming from the couple behind her. She could appreciate they were happy, but it also made her want to gag a little. Instead, she grabbed some items to make a sandwich and turned around to use the end of the island to start assembling. Only as soon as she set the items down, the door from the common room slammed open and in walked the same club girl from earlier, along with whom Saylor could only assume was a second one, based on her similar outfit and hair. Both women made a beeline for her, not even acknowledging Glitch or Code, who had gone silent.
Saylor said nothing as she continued to make her sandwich. “Who the fuck are you?” one of the women demanded.
Saylor merely replied politely, “My name is Saylor. And yours?”
“You don’t need to know my fucking name,” the woman hissed. “Who the fuck gives their kid such a stupid fucking name? Did they think you were going to be a fucking pirate?”
“Is fuck or fucking one of the only words you know?” Saylor asked curiously. “We need to get you a thesaurus or something so you can learn a few more words.”
“Fuck you,” she hissed, stepping closer. “You better tell me who you are right now or I’m going to kick your ass.”
Saylor sighed. She did not have the patience for this stupid bitch and her obvious attempt to play top skank. “You don’t need to know who I am, because as far as you’re concerned, I don’t exist. So you and your friend here can turn right the hell around and go back to doing whatever or whoever it was you were before deciding to come in here. If you think you can kick my ass, you’ve got another thing coming. And since it’s the only word you seem to understand, what I mean is, you can fuck off.”
“You think you can talk to me that way?” the woman screeched. “I’m about to be an Old Lady and once I am, the first thing I’m going to do is kick your ugly ass out.”
“And who, pray tell, is the idiot stupid enough to make you his Old Lady?” Saylor asked, curious.
“Jax,” the woman said proudly.
Saylor couldn’t help the laugh that erupted from her mouth. Seriously? The woman’s face contorted in an ugly scowl, while her sidekick’s eyes narrowed, clearly upset for her friend. “Jax is going to make you his Old Lady?” Saylor repeated after she got herself under control. “You’re sure about that?”
“I spent the night in his bed, so yeah, I’m sure,” the woman sneered. “I’m the only one he ever spends any time with. He came to me late last night after Church and told me all about how he finally asked Prez for permission.”
That could explain why Jax had taken so long to come back to the apartment, but then she recalled him mentioning doing rounds to monitor the property. There had been no signs of him doing anything with someone else. Still, though, the idea that he could have spent time with this bitch after leaving her bed had her stomach tightening and green tinting her vision, for all of a second before she reminded herself that Jax didn’t belong to her. If he wanted to shack up with this skank, that was up to him, but considering he was back in bed with her, and publicly kissed her before heading to work, she doubted any of what Bimbo Barbie said was true.
Instead of answering her, Saylor looked over at Sidekick Stacy. “What’s your story for coming in here? You her back-up?”
“Fuck you,” the other woman sneered. “I’m here to make sure you don’t get any ideas of going after my man either.”
“And your man is?”
“Ink,” she said proudly. “We’re not as solid as Jax and Loni are, but we’ll get there.”
Saylor had her doubts about that. She didn’t know Ink other than the quick glance of seeing him, but from what the other women said, the members did not want club girls as Old Ladies. She didn’t have the inclination to put up with all this bullshit. Instead, she gave the one who mentioned Jax, Loni, a smug smile and replied, “I’m afraid that your so-called budding relationship with Jax has hit a bit of a snag, since he spent the night, and yesterday evening, fucking me. And it was damn good. Not to mention, it wasn’t you he kissed goodbye this morning in front of everyone.” Loni’s face went dark red at that, while the other woman’s mouth dropped open in shock, clearly not expecting those words. “So, unless you were a ghost, or get off on being a voyeur, I’m afraid your story isn’t lining up.”
“You fucking cunt,” Loni hissed, her hand coming up to strike.
She halted though, when Code’s voice snapped out, “That’s enough.”
Loni’s eyes went wide, and she lost some of the red in her face. She turned, and Saylor watched as her entire demeanour changed in a second. In it’s place was a practiced facade, Saylor would bet money on, that she worked hard at in the mirror each morning. “Code, I didn’t know you were in here,” Loni said sweetly.
“Too much cum in your eyes?” Glitch asked with a sneer as she poured her batter into the pan in front of her. “Or would that be your ears? You really need to stop letting these guys fuck every available hole. I mean, too much cum in the brain can’t be good for you, right?”
Saylor snickered, unable to help herself. Code gave Glitch an exasperated look, before turning back to Loni and the other one. She’d have to get her name from Glitch afterward. “Both of you need to get back to work and keep your mouths shut,” Code told them calmly, but his voice was stern. “You’re here because you’re paid to clean, not to cause trouble. Especially not to be spreading lies about the brothers to get your way.”
Both women opened their mouths to argue, but Saylor decided to butt in and add helpfully, “Just in case you didn’t understand him, let me translate. He’s telling you to fuck off.”
The women whipped around to face her, ready to tear into her, but Glitch laughed and said, “Damn, who knew that was all we needed to say?” Then her expression turned cold and hard. “You heard my man, stop trying to cause trouble.” Again, both women looked like they wanted to argue, but they must have thought better of it. Instead, they shot daggers at Saylor and stormed out.
“They’re getting a lot more brazen lately,” Glitch remarked, glancing at Code who looked frustrated. “Think they’re starting to feel the crunch, now that more of you are taken?”
“They know the score. If they don’t like it, they can leave,” Code huffed.
“Yes, but you’ve all slept with them, and likely more than once, so now they think they own you, in their weird and twisted way,” Glitch pointed out mildly. Saylor finished making her sandwich, and tried not to laugh when she saw how uncomfortable Code looked as she ate it. Especially as Glitch continued, “I mean, I bet anything that when I’m not here, most of them come on to you because they see you as free game with me not around, right?”
“Kitten,” Code hedged.
“No, no, I’m not getting jealous,” Glitch continued, turning to put the cheesecake in the oven. “It’s just a fact and I’ve accepted it, same as the others have, because we trust our men. But what have any of you done to discourage their behavior? I mean, other than telling them no, or that you have an Old Lady?”
Code looked like he would rather be anywhere but here. Saylor grinned around her mouthful of food. Glitch just stared up at him, unblinking, and waited for his answer. Finally, Code muttered, “I’ll talk to Prez. I need to get back to work.” Then he leaned down to kiss her and hurried out.
Saylor gave a slow clap, making Glitch turn to grin at her. “Nicely done,” Saylor praised. “Make it all about what they aren’t doing and make him feel guilty as shit about it.”
Glitch gave a dramatic bow. “I’m turning a new leaf. I like to voice my opinions, but I come in hard and heavy sometimes, and I’ve quickly learned around here you need to have a little more finesse if you want to get anything done. I’m an Old Lady here, but with my own team, I have a voice that is always heard and an opinion that is always respected and consulted. It’s tough sometimes, balancing the two.”
“You have your own team?” Saylor asked, confused.
Glitch grinned and nodded. “They’ll be here sometime this week, I imagine, so you can meet them before you leave. My team and I are former military, and after we all got out, we created our own MC, the Predators. We just moved our club to the next town over a couple months ago, and Code and I split our time between the two. But they sometimes have runs and things that I don’t do, so when they’re gone, I’m usually here with Code. They’re just finishing one up, so I have a feeling they’ll be along once they get home and unpacked.”
Saylor’s spidey senses were telling her there was definitely more to that, but she had a feeling she would hit a wall if she started prying. Instead she said, “Huh. I would never have guessed that. How many are there in your MC? And are there any other women?”
“Technically Karissa is part of it, since she was in our team before,” Glitch replied. “But there are eight others besides her and I. The rest of them are men. We’ve been working together so long that we’re more a family than an MC or team, but the normal world likes labels, so that’s what we are.”
“Cool,” Saylor said with a smile. “I can’t wait to meet them then.”
Glitch snorted. “You say that now, but you’ll soon see why most people groan when they show up.” She glanced at the oven. “We’ve got a little over an hour before I have to come back and turn this off. I heard you like to spar, so how about some time in the gym? You can show me what you got?”
Saylor instantly perked up. It had been far too long since she had been able to have a proper work out. “Let’s go,” she said excitedly as she stood to put her plate and knife in the dishwasher. She quickly cleaned everything else up and put anything she didn’t use back into the fridge.
Glitch grinned and pulled out her phone. “I’ll message Karissa and the twins to let them know too. They like to get involved in this kind of thing.”
“The twins spar too?” Saylor asked as they headed for a door in the common room that opened onto stairs that descended toward the basement. Glitch nodded back at her. Reaching the landing, she saw there was a gym directly at the bottom of the stairs, but then a long narrow hallway that branched off in both directions. She was curious, but forced herself to ignore it and head into the gym.
The space was large, with different stations set up, and even a boxing ring. She felt almost giddy as she looked around. Oh yeah, while she was here, she was going to be spending as much time as possible down here, though she had a feeling that trying to convince one of the guys to be her sparring partner would be a tough sell. Still, at least she could work with Glitch and Karissa.
“This place is great,” she told Glitch with a grin.
Glitch nodded, grinning herself. “They didn’t spare any expense. You’ll find people in here throughout the day, but with everything going on, it’ll probably be pretty quiet while you’re here.” She moved over to the mats and said, “I usually stretch to warm up. Karissa and the twins should be along soon.” Then she dropped to the floor and started doing just that.
Saylor moved to sit near her to do the same. She wished she was wearing her actual gym clothes, but she could improvise. Her ribs protested slightly when she reached a little too far, but she ignored it. A little pain wasn’t anything that would hold her back. She and Glitch stretched silently, but they both looked up when they heard footsteps coming down into the gym, along with some excited voices. Saylor smiled when she saw Karissa come down the steps looking amused, while the twins behind her were clearly arguing with each other. As she picked up their banter, she began to chuckle.
“Of course a guy can get horny when that happens. They get horny for stupid shit. See a pretty girl? Horny. See a car they like? Horny. Put the two together and their dicks are like homing beacons. Did you really think that he wasn’t going to say something stupid like that when you told him you knew how to work on an engine?” one of the girls demanded incredulously. Saylor was pretty sure it was Win.
Wren glared at her. “I only said that I know how to work on one, not that I wanted him to get in my pants because of it. In no way was that an invitation, and that bastard knows it. He was trying to push my buttons. He’s lucky I didn’t knee his balls into his throat.”
“He’s a teenage boy, what did you expect?” Win demanded, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation. “Even I can see he likes you.”
Wren scowled. “I’m not stupid. I know he does, and that’s why I’m trying to be nice but distant. He asked about the car thing, I told him the truth, and that was it. I was done. He was the one who tried to push the conversation and then suggest we go for a drive. I tried to tell him no, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“Because all the blood went from the head on his shoulders to the head in his pants at him thinking he was going to get with you in the back of his car,” Win huffed.
“He’s dreaming if he thinks that’s ever going to happen,” Wren sniffed as she sat down on the other side of Glitch. “Boys are nothing more than a pain in the ass. We’re around them enough to know. If I’m going to spend any time with a male, I want a man, not a teenage boy that is only thinking about getting his dick wet.”
Win rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she grumbled, sitting down on the other side of her sister.
Karissa, Glitch, and Saylor all shared a knowing look. Boys were always going to be a problem, and it looked like these girls were getting their first taste of it. Saylor wondered if their overprotective biker dad knew about this boy. She had a feeling he didn’t, because otherwise a certain boy would be shitting his pants and turning the other way when the girls came around.
“So, what are we working on today?” Wren asked excitedly, all discussion of boys forgotten.
“I only have an hour before I have to deal with the cheesecake I’m making, so probably nothing too strenuous,” Glitch answered. “We’ll continue with your knife training tomorrow.”
Win snickered, making Wren glare even harder at her. “Rogue threatened to take her knives away,” Win told them with a shit-eating grin. “She was playing with one at the house and accidentally sent it flying, and it landed in the wall near his head. He was pissed.”
“It was an accident,” Wren defended. “I was trying to get my grip right like you showed me, and no one else was supposed to be home but Win and I. For being such a giant, the man moves freaking quietly.”
Glitch narrowed her eyes. “I thought we talked about you practicing at home,” she said, the disapproving tone in her voice clear.
Wren hunched her shoulders. “Win was busy playing with her computer, and I was bored. And like I said, I didn’t know he was going to be home. I apologized and promised I wouldn’t do it again. He gave it back, but only after I begged and pleaded, and reminded him why I needed it. Still, he’s pretty annoyed.”
“And rightfully so,” Karissa said firmly. “You always act like you have people around when you’re practicing. Getting lazy and complacent is how you or someone else gets seriously hurt. This time it was almost Rogue. Next time it could be Scarlett, or Win, or one of us. Or worse, as the babies get older and start walking, one of them.” Wren paled, and guilt filled her expression. “You made a mistake,” Karissa told her, a little more gently. “You learn from it and move on, right? But no more practicing outside of working with us, or in spaces that we say are safe. Got it?”
“Got it,” Wren said with a nod, despite still looking shaken.
Saylor was intrigued about why two teenage girls would need to know how to use a knife that way, but that was not a question for right now. Instead, she stood and asked, “Alright, who’s sparring with me? I’m in the mood to kick some ass.”