Chapter One
Tease
Seven months later
DEALING WITH SHIT at Slayer Pit is a pain in my ass.
Usually, it doesn’t bother me to head there and deal with whatever drama the dancers are throwing out there.
Today, I wanted to fire all of them instead of listening to their bullshit.
One doesn’t feel she should be the first dancer of the night because she’s better than that.
Another one wants more time in the private rooms with customers for lap dances.
Nothing else is supposed to happen in the private rooms but lap dances and we’ve installed cameras along with a bouncer watching on to ensure that’s the case.
However, I have a feeling the bathrooms of Slayer Pit are another story.
These girls will do whatever it takes to get what they want regardless of the rules we’ve put in place.
None of them are supposed to have sex with clients for any reason while they’re on the clock.
What they do after hours and away from the strip club is their business and we can’t stop them.
I refuse to allow them to do anything to put the club in jeopardy and that includes pimping themselves out.
Knuckles called me while I was in the middle of dealing with the bullshit and told me they were going to the diner in town for a late lunch and to meet them.
He’s been training for his next fight and I know part of the reason he’s not heading straight home is because I haven’t been around.
For the last seven months all I want to do is find Sheridan and have another night with her.
I always knew being with her would change my life.
What I didn’t expect was for it to absolutely consume me.
No matter what I’m doing during the day, Sheridan is always on my mind.
When I manage to close my eyes at night, I dream of her and the life we could have together.
She’s the only woman I’ve ever dreamt of building a life with since we started hanging out in high school.
Even before that if I’m being honest with myself.
Sheridan always drew everyone near her without even trying.
There’s always been a radiance of pure warmth and kindness that pulled everyone into her orbit.
Well, almost everyone. Sheridan was best friends with two girls in high school, Jess and Shelly.
Jess started to change when I came into the picture.
She bullied Sheridan and Shelly because I was paying more attention to the two of them than Jess.
Jess isn’t the type of woman who can tolerate being overshadowed by anyone for any reason.
Her jealousy caused her to lash out in the worst ways and I wasn’t always there to protect my friends from her vile attempts to humiliate and bully them.
Over the years of hanging out with Sheridan, I fell in love with her.
She was there for me when my brother died even though we’d just started hanging out.
Listened to me bitch about Prospecting for the club and the shit I had to do.
I never told her anything that would get either one of us in trouble, but she listened to me vent about being everyone’s bitch.
When I was debating if I wanted to go to college before joining the club, she supported me and gave me her honest opinion.
With every second I spent in her presence, I wanted to make Sheridan mine.
The only thing that held me back was the possibility of something happening between us that would ruin our relationship and the friendship we had spent countless time building.
I refused to do anything to push her away and not have her in my life any longer.
Now, I rarely see Sheridan. We’re both busy with our lives and I know she spends a ton of time at school pursuing her dream of becoming a veterinarian.
The only times I saw her before our night together were in passing.
She would be rushing off to school or to help her dad at his garage while I was doing something for the club or heading to work at Slayer Pit.
The night I saw her in the diner with that fucking idiot who couldn’t stop drooling over her while she sat oblivious in front of him, I knew I had to take my chance and have one night with the woman who meant more to me than she’ll ever know.
If there’s one person who knows about me besides Knuckles, it’s Sheridan.
Well, she used to know all about me. Now, we’d have to relearn about one another in our lives as we are now.
Riding to the diner, I let thoughts of my night with Sheridan consume me like always.
The sound of her moans as I drove her insane.
Feeling her wrapped around me in ways I never expected.
The softness of her skin as I slid my calloused hands over her body.
And the way she looked at me. Sheridan looked at me as if I were the main character in her favorite book and she was finally getting her chance to be with the love of her life.
The feelings she sent through me are things I’ve never experienced in my life.
Honestly, I started having sex when I was young.
Constantly being around it in the clubhouse, sex wasn’t ever really something I thought about.
I remember my first time and fumbling around in the dark with a girl from high school that I really had no feelings for.
Over the years, I wanted to be a man who could make Sheridan see stars and give her the best experience of her life.
Now, no one else can get me hard unless I’m thinking of her or imagining all the ways I want to have her.
One night was not enough and it never will be.
Pulling into the parking lot of the diner, I spot Knuckles’ bike parked next to Omen’s.
I wasn’t expecting him to be here for lunch, but I have a feeling this is going to be them getting me to open up and tell them what’s going on with me.
It’s what we do for one another. I park next to them off to the side of the parking lot where no one else can get close to our bikes before shutting the engine off and getting off my bike.
Today I chose not to wear my helmet for the short ride through town from the strip club.
It’s not something I do very often, but after dealing with the dancer’s bullshit, I needed to feel the wind whipping through me without my helmet covering my head.
Walking inside the diner, I look around for a second before heading toward the back table where the club members always sit.
My steps falter when I spot Sheridan and Shelly sitting at a table in the front of the diner.
They’re talking and locked in their own world as normal.
I watch Sheridan throw her head back in laughter.
It’s not loud and annoying like I’ve come to know over the years from women trying too hard.
Sheridan’s laughter is melodic and almost like a beacon calling everyone in closer to her orbit.
My heart starts beating faster and harder in my chest as I allow myself to look at her for far longer than necessary.
I wave when Shelly notices me and gives me a small wave.
Sheridan looks over her shoulder, her long black hair moves just enough to catch the sunlight coming in the window at her side making it look blue.
I’ve always loved her hair. I watch as Sheridan’s face goes pale and her eyes widen in shock at seeing me.
Fear fills her body as she starts trembling in her seat.
Confusion fills me as I go to make my way over to the two girls.
“Tease, get over here,” Knuckles calls out, my cousin really wants his ass beat and doesn’t realize it.
Turning my attention from the girls, I head for the booth where my cousin and Omen wait for me.
“What the fuck, Knuckles? Had someone else to go see,” I state, sitting across from my cousin and next to Omen.
“Who?” he questions, looking around the diner for the woman I’m talking about. “Wait. Is that Sheridan? The girl you talked about when I first joined the club.”
“Sheridan from school?” Omen questions us, looking around me to find the woman in question. “There she is. That’s Shelly with her, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. They’re still best friends. From what I know, Shelly doesn’t live here any longer. She must be home on break from college,” I answer, looking at the two women over my shoulder as a waitress makes her way over to take our orders.
“What’s goin’ on with you and Sheridan?” Omen asks me, a knowing smirk on his face as I look at him. “You ever get a taste of her?”
“Don’t fuckin’ talk about her like that, Omen!” I growl, anger quickly filling me as Omen holds his hands up in surrender while Knuckles laughs at my reaction as I turn to face him. “Remember that night about seven months ago when I disappeared and left my food here?”
“Yeah. The first and only time I ever saw you walk away from food,” Knuckles looks at me while trying to figure out where I’m going with this. It doesn’t take Omen or him very long to put the pieces together. “You were with Sheridan that night?”
“Yeah. Best night of my fuckin’ life. I told her that’s all it would ever be. Fucked everythin’ up with her because it felt so damn intense and I lost my mind,” I tell them, looking over my shoulder once again at the girls while I wait for Omen and my cousin to process this information.
“You’re a fuckin’ idiot, Tease. You finally got with the girl of your dreams and pushed her away before it was even over with,” Knuckles says as I turn to look back at him. “You fucked up worse than that, didn’t ya?”
“Yeah. The condom broke. I never checked on her to see if anythin’ happened because of that. Though, she told me she’s on birth control so I’m sure we’re fine,” I say, letting myself think about Sheridan and if I said anything else that night.