Chapter Five
Kinsley
Raven was right, the bar is a lot quieter than it was when I came in yesterday. Fewer men in leather cuts, but the ones who are here are not exactly subdued, they’re being quiet, watchful.
When I got here, she introduced me to the ‘girls’. Laurel and Katrina have been friends since kindergarten, who informed me they’ve been a trifecta of chaos since they were five years old.
The other woman is Dana, a new friend they met at the Battleground, an underground fighting ring where some of the club members compete. It seems everyone is aware of the obsessive crush Dana has on one of them.
She tells me he hardly ever comes into the bar, so she only gets to see him by going there to watch him fight. The longer we hang out, the more I like them. It’s rare to find a group of women so happy in each other’s company.
The conversation turns to my cousin. It’s something I’ve gotten used to over the years, but it’s different now. Colton is off-limits in a way they can never seduce him from.
“It’s such a shame,” Laurel sighs.
“There are plenty of good-looking guys to go after. He’s a priest,” Dana says, brushing her long red hair out of the way so it doesn’t go into her cocktail glass.
“It’s not just about looks,” Laurel argues. “Have you seen him with the kids?”
“Kids?” I turn my head to her.
“They hold a kids’ group at the church, I’ve seen him entertaining them,” she shrugs.
“I hope you have kids,” I say.
“Oh, God, of course. I’m not some creeper who goes to check out the priest,” she widens her eyes.
“Liar,” Raven shakes her head. “Marisol got wise to the ones who were showing up with their friends under the guise of knowing one of the kids. She chases them out.”
“She chases us all out,” Laurel laughs. “We only get to see him when we collect the kids. He is so good with them. That is why it’s a shame. He’d make a great dad.”
The front door opens, and the man from the church earlier comes in. His face is tight, and he doesn’t spare anyone a glance, heading straight for the bar.
I let out a yelp when Dana grabs my forearm, squeezing tight enough to hurt.
“What?” I wonder if she hurt herself or spilled her drink or something. But no, she is staring at the guy as he makes his way between tables to the bar.
“That’s him,” Katrina whispers. “Stryker.”
“Oh God, he is so…” Dana trails off, biting her bottom lip. Her cheeks are flushed, and not from the alcohol.
Oh no, she’s crushing on him. From what I’ve seen, there is something inside him that would damage a girl like Dana.
I like to think I’ve got a hard shell and absolutely have a hard heart. The biker I dated back in LA didn’t evoke any real romantic feelings, not by a long shot, but it still hurts finding out a guy you’re spending time with is screwing other girls. The difference with me is, I didn’t dwell on it.
Dana’s infatuation with Stryker is a problem, if the way she is staring at him is anything to go by. I don’t know her well enough to offer any advice.
And then everything goes haywire inside me, because Rebel comes in behind Stryker, looking all kinds of broody and pissed off and just, urgh, too good-looking for both our goods.
People sit up and take note when he comes in, especially another group of women near the bar. One of his men goes over, and they have a brief word before the man returns to his group.
He’s something in this MC. I’ve not asked, because that would give away something I’m not prepared to admit.
Raven sees where I’m looking, gives me a narrow-eyed stare, then gets up to serve the new arrivals.
“They’re all officers,” Katrina leans in to tell me. “Rebel, the angry-looking one, is her brother.”
“We’ve met,” I say.
“Oh, how did that go?” Laurel laughs.
“About as well as you are imagining.”
“Rebel is a handful, that’s for sure,” Katrina adds in a way that suggests she knows more about him.
Despite wanting to ask, I keep my mouth shut.
“He always looks like he smells something bad,” Dana says.
“And Stryker always looks like he is on the verge of snapping someone in half,” Katrina laughs.
“He can snap me in half any day,” she sucks her straw between her bright red lips.
Stryker isn’t paying attention to anyone but the drink he is staring into, as if the answers to his problems might be down there. He doesn’t seem the type to get shit-faced drunk. I’ve been around people like that before.
In my contemplation of Stryker and memories of the past, I don’t notice Rebel’s attention is on me. He looks pissed as hell when I catch his eye. I’m not sure if it’s what he’s got going on right now or that I was staring at the guy beside him.
And now we’re staring at each other. Who is going to flip the bird first? That seems to be our thing. Neither of us moves nor looks away.
Now it’s a plain old staring contest. It’s kind of fun, it’s got to be pissing him off I’m not withering under his gaze.
Raven snaps her fingers in front of his face, and he scowls at her. I sit back in the seat, it feels like an invisible piece of elastic snapped, releasing both of us.
Katrina and Laurel get up to use the bathroom, and Dana turns, angling herself to face me.
“What?”
“I saw how you looked at Rebel,” she says quietly. “And how he looked back.”
“It’s nothing, we had a run-in last night. Now we’re trying to see who can piss off the other more.”
“By staring at each other like you want to fuck?”
My lips part to argue, but there is no point. I mean… not that I want to do that. Not with a guy who pulled a gun on me, for Christ’s sake.
“Just so you know, Katrina slept with him last year. Raven doesn’t know, she’d lose her mind. Katrina thought there might be something between them. These guys are not looking for a relationship or a second go-around. Although my best friend got the President to fall in love with her.”
“Oh? Do tell,” I smile, hiding how that news about Katrina landed.
God, am I jealous? The twisting sensation in my stomach says I might be and I don’t like it one bit.
I sneak another look at him as Dana talks about her friend Taylor, who has fallen madly in love with Nero and how they’re so cute together, which she giggles at for referring to one of these bikers as cute.
My brain is stuck on Katrina and Rebel, and when they come back, I note how she looks at him.
Raven rejoins us, and we go back to chatting. The whole time my body is aware of Rebel, and when I glance over, he is watching me too.
What is going on? It freaks me out so much I decide to call it a night. Unfortunately, Rebel and Stryker get up at the same time. Rebel is looking at his phone, so he doesn’t see me and runs right into me. I bash my hip on the back of a chair, and the man sitting in it.
“Watch it,” the man shouts and looks around at me. “You made me spill my drink, you dumb bitch.”
“What did you call me?”
“I said you made me spill my drink, dumb bitch.” He gets to his feet, the chair knocking me back, and when I grab it to steady myself, he slaps my arm away. “You owe me-” he cuts off, his eyes going behind me.
My lips pull into a thin line when I notice Rebel looking at the man as if he is going to drag him out of here and do bad things to him. It’s kind of hot, but also I don’t need anyone to protect me. I protect myself.
“Don’t look at him,” I snap at the man, stepping sideways to block his view. Rebel has moved closer, but this isn’t his fight, even if he caused it. “Is that the way you speak to women?”
“I didn’t mean it.”
I elbow Rebel to make him back off, but he doesn’t move. The guy is scared of him, but he should be scared of me.
“Saying you didn’t mean it isn’t good enough.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“What do you think I want you to say,” I fold my arms and arch my brows like I’m waiting for the lightbulb to turn on. “Any minute now,” I almost cup my ear, but that might be pushing it too far.
The guy clearly talks to women like shit. And he didn’t hesitate to slap my hand. The only reason he isn’t giving it back now is because the big asshole is still standing behind me.
He needs to learn you don’t speak to women like this.
“Weren’t you leaving?” I glance over my shoulder at Rebel.
“I can wait.”
“Wait over there,” I point at the stool he had been occupying. Casting a quick glance at Stryker, he is as pissed. Even Raven and the girls are watching.
Rebel’s eyes move over my face as if he is reading me, and using his better judgment, he steps back.
“Now, what was it you wanted to say?” I face the other man again.
The man’s jaw is tight, but he dips his chin. “I apologize.”
“All I want is for you to acknowledge you overreacted over an accident and some spilled beer. Be genuine because you understand you were wrong, not because you’re being intimidated.”
“Mark, let’s go,” his companion says. “Do you have any fucking idea who that guy is over there?”
“Fuck,” he shakes his head, realizing what he is up against.
“That is Stryker, the MMA fighter,” the other guy hisses cutting off my thought.
I can’t help it, a laugh bubbles out of me, and I turn to look at Rebel. His eyes are still laser-focused on the asshole who called me a bitch until he looks at me and sees me laughing. It’s not Rebel this idiot fears. It’s Stryker.
Rebel rolls his eyes at me, making me laugh harder. The two men behind me get up and leave.
Raven gives me a slow clap. “She didn’t need anyone to step in.”
“It was stupid,” Rebel says to his sister without looking at her as he walks over to me.
“What?” I laugh again, but for a different reason. Who does this guy think he is?
“Now I have to walk you home.”
“I don’t understand how you jumped to that conclusion,” I tilt my head upwards. Man, he is tall.
“They could be waiting out there for you.”
“Not if they’ve got a lick of sense,” Raven says, getting up and walking over.
“I can get myself across the street perfectly fine, thank you.”
“Not up for debate.”
“Aren’t you used to hearing the word no?” I cock my head. He smirks in answer to that, and it’s my turn for an eye roll. “I’m fine.”
“Let him take you, or he’ll be insufferable.”