Chapter 6
CHAPTER
SIX
Nova
“Okay, what did you do to Sawyer, and why has he been staring at you all night?” Manny all but bellows, making Deanna, Cash’s ol’ lady, and her best friend Summer look over toward him at the pool table.
Great, and we have a foghorn. I decide it best to play it off as a joke. “What can I say? I’m a work of art.”
The girls snicker, but Manny is like a bloodhound when it comes to matchmaking. Out of everyone in the club, he’s the most gossip worthy, but also the most trustworthy.
“Hmm. Are you sure it’s not for the age-old reason?” He quirks, wiggling his eyebrows.
I play dumb. “And what reason would that be?”
“You two hang out an awful lot,” Deanna puts in. “And yet you’ve never had sex.”
She’s not assuming anything because it’s all true. “Well, sometimes it isn’t always about that, it’s the connection.”
“I agree with you,” Summer says wistfully. “Me and Jett took years to get together and hung out as friends for a long, long, long time. Trust isn’t a simple thing when you’ve been burned badly in the past, that’s how it was for me.”
Summer’s childhood abuse is not exactly a secret, and her older brother Gunner, a member of another chapter of the Rebels in Bracken Ridge, Arizona, also suffered too.
And then there’s Jett and Rock. Both of them had horrific childhoods that I can’t even wrap my head around.
This club is filled with all walks of life, all unique personalities, yet it’s the most family orientated place I’ve ever seen.
Everyone looks after one another like a genuine family.
Sure, they bicker, fight and argue, too, the boys even throw a few punches here and there, but the simple fact is, this is a brotherhood.
A sisterhood. And everything in between.
“I think once you go there, the sex part, it’s difficult to go back to being friends,” I say. “I’m not gonna deny Sawyer isn’t attractive, but it’s different with us. We get each other, and few people have that. He’s my person.”
When I glance at Deanna and Summer, they’re looking at me almost dreamily. “Aww,” they say in unison.
Manny clicks his fingers. “Girls, snap out of it,” he says, adding an eye roll for good measure. “Should I tell her, or do you want to?”
I give him a what the fuck are you talking about look across the table.
“Manny, I know you love a bleeding heart story and a good ol’ happily ever after, but we’re fine as we are.
Nothing is going on.” Okay, maybe I’m playing that down, but I swear, if something did happen between me and Sawyer, I’d be telling nobody.
The last thing I need is the Nomad brothers breathing down my neck at every turn.
“Uh, huh, because a man looks at you like that and it means absolutely nothing.” He points two fingers toward the pool table area and sure enough, Sawyer and I lock eyes.
He gives me a chin lift.
“Holy shit,” Deanna whispers.
Then he gives me a wink and a smile, turning back to the table to resume his game.
“Okay, and I stand corrected, another man just gave me the feels,” Summer says, fanning herself.
I mean, he is a hot dude. He bends over and my eyes travel to his ass as he takes his shot. I tilt my head and I don’t know if a sigh leaves my lips, but one couldn’t really blame me if it did.
“I’m hard,” Manny declares. “And I barely even know the guy.”
“Jesus,” I say, throwing a handful of napkins at him. “Get a grip!”
“I’m kidding,” he laughs. “Kinda. Anyway, what are we all wearing for my birthday bash?”
“Ooh, when is that?” I ask, unsure if he’s already told me the dates.
“Next weekend. I wanted it at XXL, but Bandit preferred to do a private show at home.”
XXL is the strip club with male performers where Bandit sometimes works.
“Thanks for that visual.” Deanna winces.
Manny winks. “Anytime.”
“Like we really needed that last piece of information,” Summer adds, shaking her head. “Ew.”
“I think a shopping trip is in order,” I say. “I have nothing nice to wear.”
“I’m up for the challenge.” Manny claps his hands together. “I’m unstoppable when it comes to birthday outfits.”
“Jesus,” Deanna mutters. “Remember last year you made us all color co-ordinate?”
“Yeah, sorry, Manny, I love you and all, but shiny lycra is not my thing.” Summer pouts.
He pokes a tongue at both of them.“Getting back to these two secret lovebirds,” Manny sings. “I get where you’re coming from with the friends thing, really, I do, but me and Lace started off as friends with benefits, and look where we all are now.”
I give him a pointed look. “Lucky for me I’m not in a poly relationship, kudos to you guys, but seriously, I don’t know how you handle two partners when I can’t even make it work with one.”
“It takes tremendous skill, and an equal amount of patience and understanding,” he says honestly. “But we wouldn’t want it any other way. I’m not trying to push you into anything, I’m just saying, Sawyer only has eyes for you, and it’s obvious.”
I look his way again, he’s laughing with Riot and Pipes, but then something truly awful happens.
It’s as though the universe is trying to tell me something because one of the pretty sweet butts — I think her name is Tia — joins in on the laughing and runs her hands up Sawyer’s chest as he freezes.
I freeze too. His back stiffens, and he clutches the pool cue so hard, I’m afraid he might snap it.
She whispers something in his ear and he shakes his head.
He doesn’t blow her off like someone would if they don’t want another person touching them, nope, he’s too nice for that, but seriously? Who does this chick think she is?
“Umm, that looks awkward,” Summer remarks.
“He doesn’t like to be touched,” I say, shifting in my seat. Should I go and do something? “Like, by anyone.”
Nobody says anything, but it’s like watching a train wreck you can’t look away from.
“Looks like you better go rescue your man, honey,” Manny whispers.
“He’s not my man,” I correct. “But you’re right. There’s only one thing to do when these girls waltz in here and think they can do whatever they like.”
“You go tell her, tiger,” Manny agrees, and I’m already moving out of my seat heading straight towards them.
I’m sure I hear Deanna holler, “Go easy on her, she’s new. Don’t wreck any of the furniture!”
The chick is wearing tiny shorts that barely cover her ass, and her big boobs are front and center in a cropped tube. She’s gorgeous, I’ll give her that. Long legs. Sleek body. Bleached blonde hair and a big smile for Sawyer. Oh, isn’t it all for him? Puke.
Clearly, she has a thing for him, and my jealousy stirs when he doesn’t push her away. Goddamnit!
Why isn’t he pushing her off?
When I approach, they both turn to look at me. I spin a quarter in the air and she has to let go when Sawyer reaches his hand to catch it. “The next game is mine,” I say. “I haven’t kicked your ass in a while.”
Tia smiles at me and I smile back, except mine is sickeningly sweet. Hers is more like, ‘What the fuck are you doing cockblocking me?’ But I soon lose my smile.
“Hey, Ria, isn’t it?”
“Tia,” she replies, expressing the ‘T’. “Who are you?”
“Oh, absolutely nobody,” I mime, turning to Sawyer. “I think I left my clothes at yours, sweetie, do you mind if I come by later and grab them, when you’re done here?”
Oh, I just can’t help myself.
I hear Tia balk.
“I washed them for you.” He gives me a wink.
If he looks traumatized from that bitch touching him, he doesn’t show it.
I want to knock her on her ass, but it’s not exactly her fault because he didn’t tell her to fuck off.
Sawyer’s hot, and most of the single guys around here don’t mind it when one of the girls shows them attention.
“Do I get brownie points if I told you I pressed them, too?”
I lift a brow. “Such a sweetie. Your mom would be proud.”
“Wait, are you two a thing?” The way she says it sounds like: how disgusting.
I turn to look at her. “I suck his cock, if that’s what you’re asking.” I step in front of Sawyer. “So back the fuck off or I’ll rearrange that pretty face. In fact, why don’t you disappear now before I make you disappear for good?”
Her eyes widen. “Hey, I didn’t know—”
“Well now you do, so unless you want a beating, I’d make like a fucking tree if I were you.”
She glances over my shoulder at Sawyer, but he offers no words of comfort. “Sorry,” she mutters, stalking off, her ass jiggling in her wake.
I’d almost feel bad for her if she hadn’t touched him. You can’t blame a girl for trying her luck.
“Why even wear shorts at all?” I mutter.
I turn to look at him as he chuckles. “You suck my cock?”
“Nice going, sweetie. I didn’t exactly see you pushing her off.”
His eyebrows raise. “Woah, are you jealous my little pumpkin?”
“No!”
He frowns. “Kinda seems like it.”
“I was saving your ass, some thanks I get.”
He sobers quickly. “Yeah, that was, uh, a lot.”
“Why didn’t you tell her to fuck off?”
“I did, more or less.”
“More or less?” I snort. “It didn’t look like it from where I was sitting.
Maybe you like fake tits and butt implants.
” They’re definitely fake, not that I have anything against that per se, but I’m totally making it up about the butt implants.
Her derriere could be perfectly natural for all I know or care.
“She asked me if I wanted to see her tits and I said they were lovely, but no thank you, I’m spoken for.”
I snort. “What biker says, ‘No thank you?’”
He shrugs. “This one. You gotta remember, not everybody’s circumstances are what they seem, so I don’t judge. I didn’t want her to feel embarrassed.”
I guess he’s right, because he’s a nice guy, but still. Unless someone asks you to put their hands on you, they shouldn’t. It’s rude.
“Wow, so chivalrous. What did she say after that?”
“She asked if I wanted to fuck.”
My eyes widen. “That little bitch.”
“Sure you’re not jealous?”
“No. Seems like she can’t take no for an answer.”