27. Melody
MELODY
“Here’s to Lightning waking up!” Sandra yells as she holds her drink up for us to clink ours against.
“He’s awake?” Rory leans in past me to yell over the noise.
“Just got a message from Natalie, who got it from Harper.” Sandra smiles broadly. “His voice is going to be rough from the breathing tube, and he’s still pretty groggy, but he’s awake enough to recognize them, and she says he flipped Thunder off. He’s going to be okay!”
We clink glasses again as we all cheer together. God, that’s a relief. Hopefully that means my situation just improved a little. Sandra made good on her decision that we needed a night out with the girls who don’t need to worry about getting home in time for bedtime, and so far it’s been a blast.
I almost spill my drink as a guy with facial piercings bounces against me, before we shove him off and let him continue on his way, giggling at how unsteady he is. Three sheets to the wind, at least. Biker bars are freaking wild. And it’s not just because I’m on my second beer.
Being with the other girls means everyone is politely ignoring that I’m not twenty-one yet, but they’re still looking out for me. Flanked by Sandra on one side and Mila and Rory on the other, I’m protected from roving bikers with roaming hands.
It’s hard to hear each other over the loud rock music, and the place is an overwhelming mixture of leather, perfumes, beer and the scent of way too many people crammed into way too small a place.
“Everything okay, ladies?” The bartender’s name is Badass, and he looks like one.
He’s built like he could block a football team all on his own, with a trim beard, short brown hair and soulful brown eyes that Natalie—Sandra’s older sister, I have to remind myself as I try to get everyone straight—has fallen completely for, along with…
um, Animal and Quickshot, I think it was, but they’re not here.
See? I’m getting it. Maybe I should look into installing a flashcard app when they give me my phone back.
“We’re good!” Sandra spins in her seat while Badass waits patiently for her to come back facing him. “No, seriously, we’re good,” she adds when he gives her a skeptical look. She might’ve had a couple more drinks than me. “Fine. Just having fun.”
“Sure. But I’m keeping an eye on you. Natalie’ll have my balls if I don’t.” He winks. I’m trying to imagine Natalie trying to do anything at all to a man that size if he doesn’t want her to and coming up empty.
Sandra turns to me instead, her expression dramatically exasperated. “No matter where I go, my sister’s got babysitters on me.”
“I can call your guys to come watch you instead,” he offers.
“God no. I’m here with the girls, and we’re having girls’ night. They can have me afterward.”
He snorts. “I bet they fucking will.” Then he finds someone else to help.
The Eagles’ Roost is owned by the Screaming Eagles, from what I’ve been informed tonight.
It’s right across the street from the compound, and they own the whole building.
They get income, fun, more apartment space and meeting rooms upstairs for people who for whatever reason can’t or won’t come inside the clubhouse.
What it works out to is the rowdiest bar-slash-strip club I’ve seen in my life.
Around the bar, there are booths packed with bikers, from the Screaming Eagles and not.
Sitting with them and sometimes on them, or wrapped around them in some way, are a lot of women from my age all the way up to those with plenty of gray in their hair.
Biker testosterone seems to be catnip for a certain type of woman.
After meeting my own guys, I might be one of them.
Beyond the main bar area, the space dips down to a stage with the obligatory stripper poles surrounded by tables and booths.
The woman gyrating on the stage is dancing her way sexily around her pole with a confidence I can only dream about.
She’s already lost her top, and I suspect her bottoms will soon follow.
Not that the stage is the only place to find naked people.
The Roost puts the rally to shame. Just glancing around, I’m pretty sure I’ve spotted at least three couples straight up fucking, and all sorts of other couplings happening in the shadowy corners, or in one case, straight out in the open.
It’s a surreal world I’ve ended up in, and if I someday have to leave it, I can’t imagine sitting at a normal bar with a glass of wine and feeling anything close to this again.
“So…” Rory begins with a grin. She’s the smartest person in the room, and from what Sandra told me on the way over, some kind of computer genius.
Her dad’s that Connor Whittaker, richer than I can ever imagine, and yet somehow she’s still ended up living with a bunch of bikers here in Southside.
I can only imagine that story. She holds up her pink cocktail.
“Now that you’ve got a little more time under your belt, do you still not think your guys are head over heels for you? ”
I laugh at the question. “It’s still only been a few days. Honestly, they’re so good to me, but it can’t last, right?”
“Why not?” Mila asks with a mischievous smile.
“Are you expecting some kind of long courtship, with lots of ‘should I, shouldn’t I’ drama and stuff like that?
Because the guys here don’t work like that.
They decide they want you, and then they fuck you stupid until you realize it’s not just lust and you might actually like them.
Pretty soon it’s a few years later, still true, and probably will continue to be that way for the rest of your life.
Those are all of our experiences, at least.”
Sandra and Rory nod in eager agreement.
“Yeah, but, there’s the house. I live over two hours away. And my job—if I even still have one—I bet the diner is sick of me not answering my phone.” I sigh, then take a pull from my beer. It wasn’t a good job, but it was steady.
Badass must’ve caught it, since he puts his arms down on the bar and leans closer to me.
“If the job is a problem, we’ve got some openings if you want.
Despite all the chaos, the boys know how to behave around the staff here.
Nobody wants to risk a ban if they don’t, and if it’s real bad, with fewer teeth than they had coming in.
We get a lot of inquiries, but I prefer people with ties to the club, either members or their old ladies. ”
“See?” Sandra gives me a nudge. “You could have everything you need right here. Isn’t the house your dad’s anyway? I know you grew up there, but everyone moves out at some point, right?”
I mean, she’s not wrong, but it feels so definite. If I worked here, I’d have to move here, and the only reason to move here would be Mad Dog, Rebel and Riptide. So accepting a job means accepting so much more than just that.
“Thank you, but I need to clear some things up first to know if I’ll be around. I really appreciate the offer, though.” I actually feel bad turning it down.
Badass just smiles and glances at my compatriots. “How’re the odds looking?”
“We’ve almost stopped betting,” Sandra says immediately.
Rory and Mila look at each other, then they both nod. “Very likely.”
He nods with them. “Alright. I’ll just hold on to the job offer for a week or two, and then you can let me know when you’re ready. No stress, honey.” And then a grizzled biker with a long white beard wants his attention.
Could I do it? Move to the city? Become someone’s old lady and make this dream that I’m in right now last forever? It can’t be that easy. I don’t even know if that’s what the guys would want. They seem like they’re having a good time right now, but does that translate into a forever time?
But…
What am I going back to at this point?
“Okay, stop that. You look thoughtful, and we’re here to have fun,” Rory says, putting a hand on my thigh and giving me a friendly squeeze.
Sandra nods. “We’re the babies here and we need to stick together. Talk to me. Or you can come back to my dog rescue and you can talk to them. They’re excellent listeners, and never judgmental.”
“You have a dog rescue?”
“I’ll tell you the story later, but it has a lot to do with how I ended up with the Eagles when I was sure I’d sworn off biker drama forever. You never know where life will take you, and that’s what we’re talking about now. You.”
“It’s all just happened so fast. I want to trust it, but I’m afraid it will all vanish in a cloud of smoke tomorrow.
I don’t know what might happen, or what I’d do if it didn’t work out the way I hope.
I don’t even know if what I’m hoping for is even realistic.
” I empty my beer, and a moment later it’s magically refilled before I’ve even decided whether I want another one.
“What are you hoping for? You’re allowed to say it,” Sandra urges.
I swallow, and lean in like I’m afraid of anyone else hearing it. Like if I put it out into the world, it’ll jinx me. “I hope Rebel, Mad Dog and Riptide don’t get sick of me and that maybe… maybe we can see where this is going?”
She laughs. “Sick of you? Have you seen the way they look at you when you’re anywhere near?”
“I—no?”
“Girls!” She waves at Rory and Mila, getting their attention. “Do you think Mad Dog and his boys are going to get sick of her?”
We don’t even get an answer, only laughter, like it’s so obvious it doesn’t need saying.
Sandra turns to me. “See?”
I roll my eyes. “You guys are silly.”
“Listen, I’m not going to pretend it will be smooth sailing.
You’re right that it’s still early days, but they have set their sights on you.
I saw how it happened to Natalie, I know how it happened to me.
And if you talk to all the other members of the brunch club, that’s the pattern.
They wouldn’t be putting this much time and attention into you if they weren’t halfway committed already.
Lock in, because once the guys make up their minds, you’re going to need a crowbar, a restraining order and possibly an anti-tank cannon to keep them away.
And even if it doesn’t work out for some reason, they’re not going to throw you out onto the street.
We’d all be here to make sure you have somewhere safe to land. We’re family, right?”
“So you’re saying I should go for it?” The idea terrifies me and excites me.
“If you don’t, aren’t you going to regret it? You’re too young to be trapped in a house in the middle of nowhere. I bet you’d be thinking ‘what if’ for the rest of your life, married to a regular guy, living a regular life. You know. Boring.” She grins, obviously trying to rile me up.
And she’s right. If I don’t try, I’ll never know.
It settles something inside me I didn’t know was so wobbly. I want to try. Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t, but I need to find out. I’ve been nervous, but now I suddenly feel eager.
Turns out I don’t need to go looking for them. The crowd parts as Rebel, Mad Dog and Riptide push their way through. I grin when I spot them, but it falls off as they get closer. They don’t look happy. Even Sandra goes dead silent when she sees them.
They stop right in front of me, and I know it’s going to be trouble when Rebel says in a dark tone, “Melody, we need to talk.”