Braxton #3
“None of the girls here are like that. Hell, there have been more than a few times that the dancers have come here to party with us and things have gotten a little…raucous, shall we say. Lucy, one of my brother’s old ladies, is usually the first one to start throwing money around.
All the girls respect what you and the other dancers do. No judgment here.”
Vanessa nods a few times as she looks around the room. “Good to know. Definitely not what I was expecting.”
“I think you’ll find most of the brothers and their women aren’t what you would expect.”
Her sharp gaze lands back on me. “Do you have expectations, Braxton?”
My brows draw low above my eyes. “I thought we went over this. I don’t have any expectations for anything.”
“Just making sure.”
The corner of my lips tip up in a sad smile. “One of these days you’re going to trust me, Vanessa.”
The smile she gives me in return is just as joyless as mine. “Maybe.” She takes a deep breath and stands from the bed. “I need to take a shower and clean up. Thank you for showing me to my room. I’m pretty tired, so I’ll probably hit the hay here in a minute.”
I straighten and grab the door handle. “Okay. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Vanessa gives me a barely there smile as I shut the door behind me before walking back out to the clubhouse. Cash, Knox and their women have their jackets on and are about to leave when I grab a beer from behind the bar.
“I’ll stop by in a couple days. See if any of the other girls want to come, too,” Mia says.
“Why would they want to come? Vanessa is only going to be here for a couple weeks tops.” I take a long sip of the beer then scrub a hand through my short hair. It’s been a long-as-hell night, and I’m fucking beat.
Mia smiles and gives Cece a look I don’t love. “Cam texted me. Said Barrett told her that you two knew each other.” She doesn’t even try to hide her shit-eating grin. “Something about her thinking you were an accountant? I’m going to need the story there.”
I roll my eyes and Knox laughs, putting an arm around his woman. “Sweetheart, I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for Braxton lying to her when they met.” He tilts his head toward the ceiling and squints. “Where did Barrett say? New York?”
“You know,” Mia says. “He didn’t specify. But I’ll get the story from Vanessa.”
I shot Mia a flat look. “You guys are a bunch of busy-fucking-bodies. Don’t come here and pepper her with a bunch of questions, yeah?”
“Oh, look. He’s already so protective,” Mia replies with a sugary-sweet smile.
“Weren’t you guys on your way out?” I ask and that earns a laugh from everyone.
“Alright, alright,” Cash says. “You still coming to the shop to work on that rebuild tomorrow?”
“Yeah. The guy wants it back within the month,” I reply.
“Okay, see you tomorrow,” Cash says and leads Cece out of the clubhouse, followed by Knox and Mia.
I grab another beer from inside the fridge and take it with me to Ozzy’s office. When I knock on the door and he calls for me to enter, Ozzy’s sitting behind his large oak desk, smiling at his phone. That can only mean one thing.
“How’s Freya?” I ask.
The man always wears the same goofy-ass smile on his face when he talks to his woman. “She’s good. Just letting me know she has dinner waiting for me when I get home.”
“Kind of late for dinner.”
He tosses his phone on the desk in front of him. “Her being a lawyer and me being the president of an MC doesn’t exactly lend itself to normal business hours.”
I hand him the beer and he nods in thanks before twisting off the cap and taking a long pull from the bottle.
“So…looks like we have another girl running from a piece-of-shit ex living in the clubhouse.”
“Yeah, about Vanessa, we have…history.”
Ozzy releases a quiet chuckle. “Sylvie told me you two seemed to know each other.”
“Jesus, does everyone know?” I ask, shaking my head.
“Probably by now,” Ozzy answers, though it’s not like I necessarily needed him to confirm it. The text train between the old ladies is already running full steam, I’m sure.
“We met in New York a few years ago. Had a night together, and she left before I woke up.”
“Does she think her ex is going to come looking for her? Do we need to keep an eye out at the club?”
I shake my head. “Not sure yet. I didn’t want to get too far into it tonight. She’s scared. Doesn’t trust me yet.”
“Must not have been much of a night,” Ozzy quips.
“Fuck off. It was a great night.”
“That so?” Ozzy asks, leaning back in his chair.
I don’t say anything, the scowl I’m wearing is answer enough.
“Okay. Try to ask her about it in the next couple days. I’ll make sure to tell Sylvie to let the girls know that if anyone comes in looking for her, they need to say something.”
“Sounds good.” I sip my beer while Ozzy studies me with a small smile on his face.
“You know what this reminds me of?”
“No, and I probably don’t want to,” I reply.
“It reminds me of Charlie coming here when she was on the run. Worked out pretty well in the end for her and Linc.”
“I swear to Christ, love has made you and every brother in this clubhouse a sap. This is nothing like that situation and definitely won’t work out like that for me and Vanessa.”
Ozzy simply smiles as he takes another sip from his bottle. “Famous last words.”