Chapter 4
Zombie
I sat at the bar in the clubhouse and watched the entrance, hoping Trixie would appear. Maddox assured me that she was interested in me. But I wasn’t so sure. She hardly knew me, and it was possible once she knew all my weirdness, she would move me into the friend zone.
“That’s a cool wolf mask.” Lynx sat next to me.
“I’m a lone wolf.” In my life I’d been a loner, so I thought I’d dress up as one.
“Nice. Sure you want to be covered up when your girl gets here? She won’t know it’s you.”
“Maybe I don’t want her to know it’s me.”
“Well that defeats the purpose of inviting her, doesn’t it? How will she find you?”
I considered his words. “I’m not sure about her anymore.”
“Don’t give me that. You’re sure. You’re just afraid.” He nudged my shoulder with his. “I’m confident you have nothing to worry about.”
I stared at him through the tiny eye holes. “What are you supposed to be?”
“The Man of Steel, of course.” He hopped off the bar stool and stood with his hands on his hips, chest pushed out, and he a massive grin. Clearly, he was proud of his costume.
“I don’t know who that is.” I hadn’t watched very much television growing up and watched even less as a grown man.
Most pop culture references floated right over my head.
But I could talk cars and do general maintenance on them.
I also enjoyed putting stuff together like furniture, wooden playsets, and pergolas. And riding my Harley.
“You don’t know Superman?” His mouth dramatically opened. “The best superhero on the planet?”
“Nope.” Just then, I saw Trixie enter, dressed in red. “Oh, shit. She’s here.”
“Boy, she’s a looker in that Red Riding Hood costume. Did she know you were going to be a wolf?”
“No.” I didn’t know who Red Riding Hood was either.
“Amazing. I mean, you’re not the Big Bad Wolf, but it works. It’s like y’all are on the same wavelength. A perfect match.”
I didn’t know what he meant but who cared? Not me. I was too busy watching Trixie.
She scanned the room and fidgeted with her fingers.
At first glance, I almost didn’t recognize her with the black eyeliner and skimpy dress.
I much preferred her natural state. Her brown hair was down and curled instead of up in a messy bun.
I could see her curvy legs, which I had to admit looked spectacular in black tights.
My dick rumbled to life as she moved into the room, a little wobbly on super tall high heels. But she managed just fine.
“Go greet her, buddy,” Lynx told me. “Don’t make her wait or another guy might get to her first.”
My hands rolled into fists at the thought. If any guy so much as talked to Trixie, I might lose my mind.
“Here she comes,” Lynx said.
I froze on the stool.
“What’ll you have?” Arctic asked. He was bartending tonight with a couple of Lynx’s employees from The Bullet. Arctic wasn’t a partier like the rest of the Knights. Like me, he kept to himself, but he wasn’t strange and weird.
“Something strong and sweet, please. My nerves are out of control,” Trixie replied in that sweet voice I often heard in my head.
“You got it.” Arctic made quick work of pouring her something that looked like apple juice.
“Talk to her,” Lynx whispered.
“Have you seen Brandon, I mean Zombie?” Trixie asked. “He invited me, but I’m not sure he’s here. Been looking for him since I got here.”
Arctic looked in my direction. He knew it was me behind the wolf mask. Hopefully he didn’t blow my cover.
“Sorry. Haven’t seen him.” He placed a glass in front of Trixie. “Apple pie moonshine.”
“Thank you. I’ll keep looking for him.” She sipped her drink, then left.
“Dude, why’d you just sit there?” Lynx asked.
“I don’t know.”
Arctic put his hands on the bar and leaned toward me. “What are you doing?”
“I’m having second thoughts. I’m not good with girls.”
“Plenty of Kittens would say differently. Do what you do best,” Lynx said. “Get her naked and make her scream.” And with those final words, he left.
“Listen to him. Give her your best and the rest will be easy.” Arctic winked, then went to help someone else at the bar. He was massive and the club girls called him Viking instead of Arctic.
I needed to work up the courage to reveal myself to Trixie. In the meantime, I’d follow her to make sure nobody bothered her.
An hour had passed since Trixie arrived and the party was in full swing. She’d quickly made friends with Emilee and some of the other old ladies.
I wasn’t sure if I was happy with her making herself at home so quickly. But then, Trixie was easy to talk. Friendly. And not shy at all. She was always chatting with customers when I’d go into her family’s deli.
The apple pie moonshine probably helped to loosen her up, too.
“I don’t get it,” she shouted. “Why would Zombie ghost me after inviting me to the party? I mean, he’s probably around here avoiding me. One look at me, and he was probably like, nope.”
I’d never think nope.
“Not at all. It just takes him a little bit longer to warm up,” Emilee replied. “You must be special if he personally invited you.”
“I don’t know how special I am if he’s nowhere to be found. Honestly, I shouldn’t have come. I could be watching Hocus Pocus and eating a bowl of kettle corn.”
Kettle corn was my favorite. Never heard of Hocus Pocus before.
“Don’t be silly. He’s worth the effort,” Emilee said. She was Dodge’s old lady. They were good people. Not party animals like some of the other couples in the MC.
Lynx and Jaynee came to mind, and Hero and Tara. Those four got wild and could drink most people under the table. All in good fun, y’know?
Emilee was dressed as a cheerleader and Dodge was a Minnesota Vikings football player.
“Here comes our drinks!” Emilee clapped, showing her excitement.
Admittedly, I wasn’t thrilled about Trixie drinking so much. What if she behaved in a way that wasn’t her normal? Alcohol altered people’s personalities, and I only wanted to be with the real Trixie.
Plus, if she was drunk, I couldn’t get dirty with her.
Consent was important. Not that I was sure I wanted to proceed with her.
Trixie wasn’t someone I could only fool around with.
I worried I might feel too comfortable when I was alone with her.
And if that was the case, I didn’t believe I could ever let her go.
This was turning out to be quite the predicament.
At some point. I needed to reveal myself to Trixie or leave the party and vow to never speak to her again.
“I love apple pie moonshine!” Trixie said loudly. “At least I’m having a good time, even though I came here for Brandon. Er, I mean Zombie.”
“Don’t worry, honey. I’m sure he’ll turn up soon.” Emilee looked directly at me, then pointed at Trixie. I hadn’t realized Em knew it was me lingering by their table.
But then I should have known. I’d helped her and Dodge unload dozens of cases of water from their SUV yesterday. She’d asked what I was going to dress up as, and I told her, a wolf.
I was the only wolf in the building.
Okay, enough was enough. If I wanted something to happen with Trixie, I needed to stop acting like a scared child. The chick just made me nervous as fuck.
I moved behind her, lifted my hand. It was covered in fur and had long clawed nails. I wrapped it around her neck, careful not to choke her.
“Ah!” Trixie screamed. “What are you doing?”
“Come with me Red Riding Hood,” I growled into her ear, which was a little challenging with my large snout. “The big, bad wolf wants to dance with you.” I hoped she got the reference, or I’d feel like an idiot.
“Brandon is that you?” she asked, her body tense under my hand.
“Who else would it be? Unless you’re waiting for some other guy to ask you to dance?”
“I’m only waiting for you.”
“That’s a fantastic costume, Zombie!” Emilee said. “Did you two plan this?”
Trixie slowly turned around and looked me up and down. A huge smile stretched across her beautiful face. “Oh my gosh, you look amazing!”
I lowered my hand and took hers, gently tugging her off the chair, and led her to the dance floor.
Dancing wasn’t my thing, but I could grind with the best of them.
“Where’ve you been? I got here over an hour ago,” Trixie said.
I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her against me. I towered above her. My mask was beginning to be a nuisance. I wanted to smell her and be close enough to kiss her.
“Been watching you.”
“Why?”
“To see what you did when I wasn’t around.”
“Interesting. Did you think I’d hook up with some other guy?” she asked with a tartness in her voice that made my dick super excited.
“Are you saying you’re going to hook up with me?”
“Maybe.” Her hand glided down my back and firmly gripped my ass. “I didn’t think you thought twice about me.”
“I think you about you all day and night.” I copied her and squeezed her ass in my massive paw, rubbing the bulge behind my jean against her thick thigh.
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” she asked. One thing I could count on with Trixie was a million questions.
“Because you’re too young.” I had a thing with age. Women more than three or four years younger than me didn’t usually interest me. I’d known Trixie was out of the range I preferred, but I just couldn’t forget her.
It didn’t help that I saw her every single afternoon. I’d tried not to talk with her so I wouldn’t like her, but I fell for her in spite of my efforts to ignore her.
“I’m twenty-one.”
“Yeah, too young.”
“Oh, geez. Then what am I doing here, Brandon?” She pushed me back. “Are you just screwing with me? Do you get off on torturing me?”
Damn, I loved the fire in her voice and brown eyes. Without saying a word, I swept her off her feet, caveman style, and threw her over my shoulder.
She squealed but didn’t fight back. “What are you doing?”
As if she couldn’t tell. Obviously carrying her out of the bar and taking her to my bedroom.
What happened next would be up to Trixie.