11. Kelsey
Kelsey
Loud and repeated rapping on Kelsey’s door, followed by the incessant ringing of her doorbell, startled her from her slumber. She jumped off the floor, disoriented at first, before she realized that not only was she naked, but she was alone. Kevlar had left her.
She preferred it that way. He’d gone above and beyond for her. She didn’t need a biker to stick around. Honestly, she’d be a hell of a lot safer to avoid them.
Grabbing the fleece blanket they’d slept with, she wrapped it around herself before stumbling toward the door. What time was it? She’d guess early because she didn’t smell her neighbor’s coffee brewing yet. Who the hell was awake at this hour? And why were they so angry?
She paused her steps. What if it was Pete?
Her heart jumped into her throat. Now that Kevlar had left, she had no protection against him. Why didn’t she have a peephole? Shouldn’t they be mandatory?
With her ribs rattling and her hand shaking, she slid the chain lock back into place. She wasn’t about to let him into her place if she could prevent it.
While that wasn’t exactly strong enough to deter him, it gave her a little peace of mind. If he didn’t want to cause a scene and kick her door in, the pathetic lock might be enough. Though guys like Pete rarely worried about causing a ruckus.
“Kelsey!” Carrie called from the other side. “Are you in there? Are you alive?”
Blowing out a breath of relief, Kelsey nodded to herself.
Hopefully, her friend was alone. Sure that she wasn’t about to flash the apartment complex, she leaned forward and peered out of the window near the door.
Outside her apartment stood her best friend with her brown hair tossed up in a sloppy ponytail. Dressed in loose sweatpants, her friend bore a concerned expression.
Quickly, Kelsey opened the door. “You’re going to wake the neighborhood,” she admonished. With wide eyes, Carrie’s gaze swept Kelsey up and down. Her mouth fell open.
Stepping aside, Kelsey waved at her friend. “Get in.”
Slowly, Carrie entered the apartment, though her gaze didn’t leave Kelsey. “Why are you wearing a blanket?”
With her friend inside, Kelsey glanced around the lot. Part of her hoped she’d see Kev on his bike, keeping watch. Completely irrational. She knew that. Why would he? She wasn’t anyone to him. There was no reason for him to stake out her apartment. He’d done more than enough.
They’d fucked. Which didn’t mean he was beholden to her. Their tryst was a onetime thing. He shouldn’t be lingering around and protecting her. She didn’t have any delusions about her pussy being magical. The guy had gotten what he came for.
With disappointment she had no business feeling, she closed her door and faced her friend.
“Kelsey?” Carrie drew her name out.
“Yeah?”
“Why are you naked?” Her friend’s eyes widened, and she peered toward the small hallway where the bedroom was. “Is Pete here?”
Kelsey recoiled and tightened the blanket around herself. “What?” That was absurd. “No.”
Carrie’s brows knitted together in confusion.
“Give me a minute,” Kelsey said as she moved toward her bedroom. “Why don’t you start the coffee.”
Her friend knew her way around Kelsey’s apartment. She might as well make herself useful while Kelsey got decent.
“I tried to call, but it went straight to voicemail,” Carrie said.
Shit. Her phone. Ugh. She’d have to get a replacement.
“Sorry.” Kelsey sighed, planning to leave for work early so she could swing by the cell store to get a new one. Hopefully, they’d have something within her budget. Maybe a refurbished one.
With the weight of her friend’s gaze on her, she snatched her clothes from the previous night off the floor on her way out of the room. This wouldn’t be weird. Carrie was well aware Kelsey wasn’t the best housekeeper.
But why did she feel judged by the assumption she’d banged a creep like Pete? Was Mike really that much better? Kelsey couldn’t say. She didn’t know him all that well. To be fair, Carrie didn’t either. They’d been essentially attached at the pelvis since Mike crossed Carrie’s path.
Why would Carrie think poorly of Kelsey if she’d done the same with Pete?
Even if she did, so what? They weren’t prudes. Sexual freedom and expression were healthy. Besides, Carrie was the reason Kelsey was in that horrible position last night anyway. Kelsey highly doubted Pete would’ve gotten so rapey if Carrie and his friend were around.
Not because he held her friend in any sort of high regard, but because Kelsey wouldn’t have been alone with him in the first place.
She wouldn’t have walked out of the bar with him.
She would’ve made Carrie go with her. Last night’s debacle would’ve been avoided if Carrie hadn’t abandoned her for biker dick.
“I don’t want to scare you,” Carrie called from the kitchen as Kelsey got dressed in the bedroom. “But Mike said shit’s going to get scary soon.”
Kelsey’s spine went rigid at the mention of Carrie’s biker fuckboy. “Why?”
Kelsey came out of her room wearing yoga pants and a bra on beneath her oversized T-shirt, ready to listen to the tea Carrie was about to spill.
The magical scent of coffee filled her apartment as the pot gurgled and brewed the sacred bean water. Entering the kitchen, she found her friend with her head in the refrigerator.
“As you are aware, Mike and Pete are new in town.”
Kelsey nodded as she opened the cupboard and collected coffee mugs.
“And you know they’re part of a riding club, right?”
“They’re bikers,” Kelsey corrected. “Like in a gang.”
Carrie stood straight, holding the milk in her hand. “Don’t call them that. They are a club. Not a gang. They hate being called that.”
Kelsey rolled her eyes. She didn’t give a flying fuck what they preferred. That wasn’t her damn business. As far as she was concerned, she planned to stay far away from those assholes.
“Anyway.” Carrie opened the milk and sniffed. Wrinkling her nose, she peered at Kelsey. “Is this still good?”
“It’s fine. I got it last week.”
Carried eyed the carton warily. “So, Mike told me their club was looking to expand into Oklahoma City.”
Kelsey pursed her lips. She had gathered that last night during the conversation between Kev and Pete.
“Apparently, they aren’t the only ones.”
Kelsey stood at the other end of the kitchen, her hips against the counter, waiting for her friend to make a point and the coffee to brew.
“You can guess what that means, right?”
Kelsey shrugged. “Not a clue.”
Her friend sighed heavily, shook her head, and dumped the milk into the sink.
“Hey!” Kelsey closed the distance between them and reached for the carton.
“It’s spoiled. If you drink that, you’re going to get sick,” Carrie protested as the last drops went down the drain.
Kelsey frowned.
“Anyway. Back to the point. Don’t you watch TV or movies or anything?” Carrie asked, clearly exasperated.
“Sure, but I’m more into sitcoms and rom-coms, so I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
Carrie ran her fingers through her hair. “There’s going to be a turf war.”
While Kelsey wasn’t particularly well read on bikers, she wasn’t exactly a stranger to them. A club was in the area not that long ago. They were a bunch of drug-addicted dirty dickheads. She avoided them at all costs.
“We need to align ourselves with the right side,” Carrie warned.
Kelsey furrowed her brow. “This has nothing to do with us.”
As far as she knew, women weren’t members of these sorts of things. So, whatever was going on with Mike, Pete, and anyone else wasn’t any of their business.
“You’re dating Pete.” Carrie thrust a hand in her direction.
“No, I am not,” Kelsey protested. A few shared beers did not a relationship make.
“Well, I’m with Mike.”
Kelsey frowned. She wasn’t surprised, but that wasn’t what she wanted to hear. “You might want to rethink that.”
Carried sighed and shifted her attention to the coffeepot. “We’re past that point.”
There wasn’t happiness in her friend’s tone. Kelsey sensed a sadness in the way she said it. That wasn’t how a woman in a new relationship should sound. Kelsey got closer to her friend.
“Are you pregnant?” she whispered, as if she didn’t say it too loudly it would somehow be less offensive.
Carrie turned toward her and gasped. “What? No!”
Relieved, Kelsey stepped back with a hand over her chest. “Thank God.”
“Why would you think that?”
Kelsey shrugged. “You two fuck like rabbits. Condoms aren’t a hundred percent.”
Carrie glared at her. “Whatever.” She waved a dismissive hand at Kelsey as she reached for a mug. “No babies for me. We’re just involved. They don’t take that shit lightly. Which means we are under their protection during this mess that’s about to happen.”
“We?” Kelsey repeated.
She wasn’t the one fucking a biker on the regular. Once didn’t count. Besides, her one-night stand was in a different group than Pete and Mike. So, no, Kelsey wasn’t under anything.
Carrie nodded and poured herself some coffee. “Yeah. Us.” She waved a finger between the two of them. “You’re with Pete, and I’m with Mike.”
“I’m not with Pete,” Kelsey reiterated in frustration. Why did she keep saying that?
Carrie frowned and brought her mug up to blow on the hot beverage. “Well, you might want to be. Because shit is about to go down, and you don’t want to get caught in the crossfire. I watched one of the other bikers leaving your lot this morning. Shit is going to get crazy.”
A flush heated Kelsey’s cheeks, and she bit her lower lip. Shit. Carrie had seen Kev this morning. Thankfully, she hadn’t put two and two together about where he’d come from.
Clearing her throat and switching places with her friend, she then took the coffeepot in her hand. “I have no intention of getting in the middle of any biker nonsense. It doesn’t involve me. As far as I’m concerned, Pete’s a pompous asshole who I will not be seeing again.”
She should tell Carrie about what happened, but Kelsey would rather put the incident behind her.
There was no need to relive it. Carrie would never be alone with him.
She’d hitched her wagon to Mike. If Kelsey never saw him again, there was no reason to share dirty details and the questions that would follow.