Chapter Fourteen #2
Emily turned to me. “Ignore her. She had a bad day.”
I glanced between the two of them. “It happens.”
Amanda leaned forward again, turning to look across the fire at where Jakob and Daniel were deep in conversation. “He couldn’t keep his hands off me when we were together. If I were still with him, he would have dragged me down onto his lap, not sent me to sit somewhere else.”
“Okay,” I said again, because what the hell else was I going to say to that? She obviously wanted to argue with someone, and another lesson I’d learned while working at Charley’s was that there was no winning arguments with drunk people.
She grinned. It wasn’t a friendly look. “He must not like you very much.”
I sighed. “Why don’t we cut through the bullshit, and you just tell me what you’re hoping to get out of this conversation?”
She reached out and shoved my shoulder.
“Oh, you want to fight?” I asked. “I’ve seen you in the bar before. I’m six inches taller than you and outweigh you by about thirty pounds of muscle. I’m also stone-cold sober, and you’re not. It won’t end well for you.”
She tried to shove me again, but Emily grabbed her. “Stop it, Amanda. You’re drunk.” She turned to me. “I’m really sorry. She’s not usually like this.”
“It’s fine,” I told her. I looked at Amanda. “Did Jakob get you off?”
She blinked. “What?”
“When you were with him, did Jakob get you off?”
She sat back. “How is that any of your business?”
I shrugged. “It’s not, but humor me.”
“Yes, he got me off.” Her smile was cutting. “Sometimes two or three times when we fucked.”
I perked up at that. “Well, that gives me something to look forward to.”
She frowned. Clearly that wasn’t the response she’d anticipated.
“Look,” I said. “How about instead of getting into an argument that leaves both of us looking petty and jealous, we congratulate ourselves for choosing to sleep with a man who knows where a clit is?”
She narrowed her eyes at me, but she didn’t look like she was glaring; she looked like she was trying to process my words.
I didn’t envy her. Thinking around a heavy buzz wasn’t easy.
I’d done some stupid shit myself and acted out of character when I was drunk, and I was willing to cut her a lot of slack because of that.
“Come on,” Emily said to her. “Krista’s never been anything but nice to you. And you don’t even like Jakob anymore.”
Amanda glanced up at her friend.
Emily rubbed her back. “It’s okay.”
Amanda looked about ready to cry. “Fuck. You’re right.” She turned back to me. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “Why did you have a bad day?”
She glanced to her left at a group of men gathered around a picnic table. “My boyfriend doesn’t know where a clit is.”
Once the tension between Amanda and me broke, I got along with the two women pretty well.
We sat and talked for a solid hour. Emily was a King, which meant she was a veteran.
She was Army, like Jakob, and as deep night set in and the party seethed around us, we sat in a little bubble by the fire and traded war stories.
Amanda switched to water after our little argument and was starting to sober up.
She told me she was born and raised in Kearny.
Her parents owned the bakery in town, went to church every Sunday, and were deeply involved with Kearny’s various boards and clubs, which meant that she had all the best gossip.
Her boyfriend did actually know where a clit was, but she’d been so upset earlier because he’d been an asshole to her lately, to the point that she was planning to break up with him.
“What about you?” I asked Emily. “You seeing anyone here?”
In answer, she held up her left hand, displaying a wedding ring. “He works on an oil rig off Corpus Christi.”
“How are his shifts?” I asked. I’d met a few rig workers since moving closer to the coast, and the hours could be brutal from what I’d heard.
“He’s gone for two weeks at a time,” she said. “When he’s out there, he works seven days a week, twelve hours a day. But then he comes home for two weeks and has that whole time off, so it’s not that bad.”
Amanda glanced from Emily to me. “Don’t let her fool you. She worries the whole time he’s gone.”
Emily shrugged. “The fact that any mistake could lead to a massive explosion and a horrific oil leak might have something to do with that.”
“Has he thought about leaving?” I asked.
She nodded. “We talk about it every time he’s home, but no one else nearby pays the same or has the benefits that they do.”
Amanda set her water cup down by her feet. “They’re building that car plant a few towns over. That’s supposed to bring something like ten thousand jobs to the area.”
Emily shook her head. “We looked into it. Entry-level pay for a machinist is only half his current salary.”
I sat back. “Damn.”
Across from us, Daniel King roared with laughter so loud that it drowned out Amanda’s next words.
She shot him an annoyed look, and I followed her gaze.
More and more bikers had congregated around him while I spoke with Amanda and Emily, and now he held court on his side of the fire.
Jakob still occupied the seat beside him.
I’d expected him to get bitched out again, but instead, Daniel, looking like a full sociopath, had been grinning every time I glanced their way.
Jakob was leaning away from Daniel now, talking to another Kings enforcer who sat on his other side.
Firelight played over the hard planes of his face, sharpening his features.
Behind him, the bacchanalia raged on, members of the club drinking, eating, fighting, and fucking as if they were trying to resurrect a long-dead god of depravity.
The other enforcer said something to Jakob, and Jakob nodded in answer and took a sip of his beer.
I’d had two beers myself while sitting here, but instead of feeling a buzz, the alcohol only served to deepen my exhaustion.
I wanted to leave. The wooden bench beneath me was unforgiving, and my leg was starting to throb.
As if he could feel my eyes on him, Jakob glanced at me across the fire. He’d done it a lot since we’d sat down, sometimes watching me for long moments as he talked, sometimes just a quick flick of his eyes, as if he were checking that I was still here.
Our gazes locked.
You ready? he mouthed.
I nodded.
He set his beer down and stood.
I turned to the women beside me. “We’re gonna head out.”
Amanda glanced over at Jakob. “Don’t settle for anything less than two orgasms.”
I grinned. “I won’t.”
She’d made me laugh a few times while we talked. She had a dry kind of wit and a healthy amount of self-deprecation that made me glad we’d avoided an altercation.
I pushed up from the bench and paused for a second, breathing around my pain. Fuck, that hurt.
Emily stood and grabbed my elbow, steadying me. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Just a bum leg. I’ll be fine in a second.”
Actually, I didn’t know if I would be. A deep, throbbing ache had settled into my hip. My knee wasn’t happy either. Between my fight in the elevator and my sprint down the nursing home hallway, I’d pushed myself too hard today. Sitting on a rock-hard bench had only made it worse.
Jakob took one look at my face and came over. “I got her,” he said to Emily.
She nodded and sat back down.
Jakob moved closer, sliding an arm around my back like he was getting ready to scoop me up.
I put my hand on his chest, stopping him. The wall of pectoral muscle beneath my palm felt intractable. “You carry me out of here right now, and I will never live it down. I can walk.”
His expression flattened out. “You fall over, and they’ll never let you live it down either.”
“I’ll say I was drunk.”
He shook his head. “You’re so fucking stubborn.”
“You’re so fucking bossy,” I snapped.
Emily made a strange noise beside us. It sounded like she was choking back a laugh.
Jakob ignored her, looming over me, mouth set in a hard line. “If you start to fall, I’m throwing you over my shoulder. I’d rather deal with you being pissy than being hurt.”
“So chivalrous,” Amanda said in a dreamy voice.
Jakob shot her an unamused look.
I snickered and started to hobble away, glad that she’d broken the tension.
Funny that I could keep a cool head when faced with a belligerent drunk, but the second Jakob started to order me around, the brakes on my temper malfunctioned.
I hadn’t been lying to Gran when I said we might end up killing each other.
Amanda winked at me as I passed.
“First round is on me next time you come in,” I told the two women.
“We’ll hold you to that,” Amanda said.
I didn’t know if it was my pain or if the party’s energy had changed, but as we left, I no longer felt the temptation to join the debauchery.
Even the sight of two people fucking against a wall, half-hidden by the shadow of the porch, didn’t turn me on.
I just wanted to get back to Jakob’s parents’ house and sleep for the next twelve hours straight.
Thank God I didn’t have to work tomorrow.