by Tia Lewis
I looked at my hands as they clenched the steering wheel after getting into the car. My diamond ring. It still sparkled in the sunlight, reminding me of the promise we’d made each other. That we would build a life together and support each other.
I couldn’t bring myself to take it off—it would be too final. But I was most definitely second-guessing my decision. I turned the key in the ignition, and when Drake didn’t follow me out to the parking lot, I put the car in gear and drove away.
13
Drake
I stayed in Nicole’s office for ten, maybe fifteen minutes. If anybody in the clubhouse had half a brain, they would have gotten everybody out of the lounge by that time. I didn’t want to see or hear a single word out of them. I didn’t need any knowing looks, any sympathy, any “bitches are crazy” bullshit from the guys. I wanted none of it. I hated that our personal life was splashed around in front of everybody else, but that wasn’t my fault. She could have waited until we were at home to pick a fight with me.
Thank God there wasn’t anybody in the lounge except for Tamara when I went back out there. She was a lifesaver. She didn’t look at me when I sat down, either, just poured me a drink and slid it across the polished surface of the bar. I took it gratefully, letting it calm my nerves.
“The girls are in your office, by the way. I told them to go in there,” she explained. “I couldn’t stand having them hanging around out here.”
“Why not?” I asked, signaling for another drink. She poured it for me, pretending not to notice when I signaled for more in the glass. I took what I could get.
“Because they’re skanks, Drake. Plain and simple. I don’t see why they have to be here.”
“Honestly, I don’t, either. I guess Bobby sees it as some kind of exchange program. We put up half the money for the … business,” I knew Tamara hated the word “brothel,” “and he gives us a few girls at a time to learn the ropes around here. With Darcy gone, and … other people in and out, doing whatever, I guess it makes sense.”
“Yeah, I guess it does.”
“Plus, they like it here. Don’t you think?”
“What the hell does that matter?” she laughed. “The fact is I don’t like that they’re here. Neither does Violet, or … other people.” I glanced at her and saw the smirk on her face.
“I know. But it’s not your decision, is it?”
“From the way you make it sound, it’s not your decision, either.”
I glared at her. It was rare that Tamara picked a fight with me. I couldn’t remember the last time. “I’m not in the mood, Tamara.”
“I’m just saying, you make it sound like you don’t have a say in whether or not these girls hang out in your clubhouse. Your clubhouse.” She pointed to me.
“I’m trying to keep the peace, Tamara. Let me learn the ropes, okay?” When she wouldn’t pour me a third drink, I reached over the bar to take the bottle from her. She knew when to stand down. I was the fucking president of the Blood Riders and her boss.
“Okay, okay. Then we’ll have to find them something to do. I’m trying to keep this place running smoothly for you guys while they sit there taking selfies and posting to Instagram.”
“They do not,” I snorted.
“They do. Over and over. And P.S., they tag this place while they’re at it.” She watched my mouth fall open in horror.
“No, they don’t,” I muttered. The last thing I needed was for a bunch of whores to tag themselves in my fucking clubhouse. I got down from my stool and went straight to the office. One of them, a leggy redhead with big fake tits, was sitting behind my desk, clicking away on the laptop.
“First of all, get away from my laptop,” I ordered. She had the nerve to look offended but did as I asked. I turned to the rest of them. “Are you tagging my clubhouse in your social media posts?”
“Yeah, I mean, we have location services on our phones,” one of them said, rolling her eyes. She had blonde hair, big, pouty lips and was a solid D-cup. She would have been just my type back in the day.
“Great. Well, I want you to turn that shit off while you’re here. Better yet, stay the hell off social media while you’re here. If you want something to do, Tamara can give you little jobs around here.”
“Jobs?” The four of them looked at each other.
“Isn’t that why you’re here?”
The redhead shrugged. “I thought we were here for you guys. You know what I mean.” She looked me up and down like I was dessert. I couldn’t help responding a little bit, stirring at the message she was sending me with her eyes. I needed her bullshit like I needed a hole in the head, of course.
“That’s really nice and all, but I’m engaged. You probably know that. As for the other guys, they have jobs they do during the day. They work on their bikes, they collect from our partners, that sort of thing. They don’t always have time to come back to the clubhouse for a little fun. Get what I mean?”
“So what exactly are we doing here then?” The redhead asked. I thought she might be the spokesperson for the group.
“I can’t tell you. This is a mystery to me. I’ll call your boss and get the lowdown, okay? In the meantime, … I don’t know … we’re gonna have a party tonight.”
“We are?” All four of them looked happier than I’d seen them all day.
“Yeah. A party. One of you go out there and tell the bartender—Tamara—that I said so. I want the prospect to bring up a few cases of booze, too. Can you remember that?”
The brunette I was talking to rolled her green eyes. “I think I can handle that,” she said, adjusting her red skimpy dress before walking out on a pair of black platform heels.
I turned to the rest of them. “All of you, please, out for a while. Find out if there’s anything you can do to help get ready. There are a lot of beds upstairs—they might need to be made up.” For you to fuck in them later on, I almost said, but stopped myself just short of saying it. I sat behind the desk, closing out the Facebook account the redhead had been in when I ordered her out of my chair. She seemed pretty smart. The rest of them seemed a little dim.
Yeah, a party. I hoped Nicole found out about it. I hoped she regretted walking out on me the way she had. She’d be back. Probably as soon as she found out there were whores invited.
I sat at the bar hours later, the place jam-packed with members of my club and the Vipers, too. I wanted to mix the clubs, let everybody know each other. After all, we were working together.
Bobby met me at the bar and drinks for the two of us. “To a very beneficial relationship,” he said, grinning in that way he had. He always seemed like he knew more than he was letting on, like he had a secret nobody else knew about.
I touched my glass to his, pouring the whiskey down my throat. I’d lost track of the number of drinks I had and trusted Tamara to cut me off when she thought the time was right. I wouldn’t have let anybody else in the world, not even Creed or my missing fiancée, tell me when it was time to stop drinking.
“So, what do you think?” I asked, motioning around the place.
“You know how to throw a party, that’s for sure.”
“Don’t let anybody ever tell you I’m not a good host,” I said with a laugh. “And there’s plenty of room upstairs if anybody needs to spend the night. I don’t like letting my guys ride when they’ve been drinking.”
“I feel the same way. I appreciate your generosity.” He was always all-business, even at a party. I felt like he should be wearing a suit and tie, something more formal. Did he ever loosen up? Hell, he didn’t have to. He only had to make money for me.
“So, how’s it going? Getting things rolling, I mean.”
“Oh, just fine. We should be up and operational in the next day or so.”
“That soon?” I asked, surprised.
“Sure. I already had all the pieces in place. Contractors, that sort of thing. I only needed the extra capital, so thank you very much for that.” He raised a glass to me again, ta
king another drink. I nodded.
“Yeah, sure. No problem.”
“Who knows? We might be able to open a second location when this one starts turning a profit. And it will. Believe me. I mean, you’ve seen the sort of talent I recruit.” He smirked, glancing toward the other end of the bar. A trio of girls stood there, all of them way too pretty and put-together to be involved with my club. Not that we didn’t have hot girls—I’d slept with almost all of them, so I knew for a fact—but these girls were a cut above.
“Yeah, about them. Why did you send those four over today?”
“A sign of good faith. I thought your guys might want a little ‘relaxation.’” He shrugged. “I don’t have to send them again.”
“No, no, that’s fine. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.” I clapped him on the back, getting up with a fresh drink in my hand. “Please, send them if you wanna.” That would drive Nicole even more crazy—I didn’t want her thinking I told him to keep them away because it pissed her off to have them around.
Thinking of Nicole made me think of Tamara, since that would be who told her the girls weren’t coming back anymore. I knew how close the two of them had gotten. Where was she? I hadn’t seen her behind the bar in forever. She’d poured a bunch of drinks, lined them up and disappeared.
I looked around, just when I was going to give up, I thought I saw her running upstairs. I wasn’t sure, but it looked like her. Behind her was Creed.
“What the fuck?” I said, but my voice was lost over the music that was playing at ear-piercing volume.
“You okay, honey?” The redhead. She pressed up against me, putting an arm around my neck. “I couldn’t help but notice how lonely you look tonight. Everybody else is having such a good time, too.” She pushed her tits against my chest, and I smelled her rose scented perfume. It was expensive and heady. It went all through me, making my nerves tingle a little. If that was the act she put up for her customers, I could see how our new brothel would make a lot of money.
“I’m fine, thanks. Why don’t you see if there’s anybody else you can entertain tonight?” I tried to be polite, but the girl knew I was engaged. I had already made that clear.
She pouted, stepping away. “Okay. Just wanted to keep my new boss happy.”
I had to grin. “Well, thanks. I’m fine.” I watched her walk away, looking for fresh blood. Yeah, Bobby’s girls were good. We would make a lot of money together.
I didn’t care too much about the party all of a sudden, but I had to put on a good show for Bobby and his crew. I mingled with them, joked around, played a few hands of cards in the game room. I pretended to have a lot more fun than I was having, with one eye on the front door at all times. Waiting to see if Nicole would come.
14
Nicole
“So then what happened?” I asked, curling up on the couch in my pajamas.
“I’m not really sure after that. I hit the hay pretty early,” Tamara explained over the phone.
“What? You went to bed during a party?” That wasn’t like her at all.
“I know. I wasn’t feeling real well. A bad headache—and you know how loud the music can get during a party, too.”
“Yes, I know. I’m sure it was hell on you, poor thing.”
“But I’m telling you, you have nothing to worry about.”
“You’re sure about that?”
“Definitely.”
“How sure?”
She chuckled. “I’ve been here all morning, remember. I’ve seen the dead rise from their graves all throughout the clubhouse.”
I giggled. “How’s Drake?”
“Still unconscious,” she whispered. “But I opened the door to his room—just to see what was up—and he was alone.”
“Well, that doesn’t mean much,” I reasoned. “He wouldn’t let a girl spend the night in his room.”
“No, but I heard one of those sluts from yesterday talking to her girlfriends about how she tried coming on to the Blood Riders’ president, and he turned her down.”
“Really?” I didn’t mean to squeal, but it came out that way.
“Yeah, so you’re golden. Not that you have anything to worry about, either way.”
“Right, right.” I wasn’t as sure as she was. I already regretted everything that had happened between Drake and me, but I’d be damned if I’d be the first one to apologize.
“How are you?” she asked.
“Eh, I’m okay.”
“Really? Do you need anything? Want me to come over? I’m not trying to clean this mess up today. That’s what a prospect is for.”
I laughed. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
“You’re sure about that?”
“Positive, and I would appreciate it very much if you wouldn’t sound so disbelieving.”
She laughed. “All right. I’m gonna go home and sleep all day, then. I’m worn out.”
“I can imagine you are. Get some rest—and thanks for calling me. I would have eaten my heart out all day, wondering what had happened.”
“I know, kiddo, and that’s why I called.” I was smiling when I hung up the phone. I knew how lucky I was to have a friend like her—an unlikely friend, too, since I would never have befriended her under any other circumstances. I would have judged a book by its cover, just the way people judged my relationship with Drake.
Or what used to be my relationship with Drake. I sighed, stretching out on the couch, wishing he were there. I’d been so alone all night, reading in bed, listening for the sound of him coming through the door. He hadn’t. I’d guessed he’d decided to spend the night in the clubhouse, in his old bedroom. Little had I known until that morning that there had been a party.
It wasn’t like him, going overnight and into the next morning with a fight. We had always found a way to work things out before bed. Well … except for two nights earlier, when we’d fought about having kids.
Maybe we just weren’t meant to be together.
I chewed my thumbnail, staring up at the ceiling. Could it be possible that everybody was right when they told me we wouldn’t make it together? There I was, thinking love would conquer all. I loved Drake, and I knew he loved me. But he wasn’t honest with me. He didn’t think I deserved to know anything about the business, even though I was technically part of it.
And he didn’t want children. He refused even to discuss the thought. How could I be with him for the rest of my life when it was so clear he didn’t care about what would make me happy? He’d turned into a totally different person in the blink of an eye. Or so I told myself.
It would be one thing if he were angry that I hadn’t talked about kids, but refusing to even consider the idea? He was always so easy to get along with on other things. He could be a hard ass with the club, but he was rarely a hard ass with me. We could compromise. We’d compromised on where to buy a house, and the size we wanted, and on just about every piece of furniture. It had all been a joint decision. But no way was he willing to consider kids. It seemed childish and silly.
And heartbreaking. Was I willing to give up the chance of having a family? I was only twenty-three, with my whole life ahead of me. Could I give up my chance to have a child for him?
The ringing phone made me jump—the house was that silent otherwise. My heart jumped, too, as I thought it might be Drake calling. I would forgive him. I would talk it out with him. Anything would be better than the loneliness and uncertainty I was going through.
It wasn’t him. My heart sank. “Tommy?” I was so glad Drake wasn’t around.
“Hey, kid. How are you?”
“I’m fine, thanks.” I was also very guarded. I got up from the couch, walking out to the kitchen where my cell reception was better. “What’s new with you?”
“Oh, nothing much. I wanted to call to check in on you, is all.”
“Thanks.” In two years he had called approximately three times.
“I noticed that you haven’t been at the clubhous
e—I mean, I checked in yesterday afternoon and again this morning, and I didn’t see your car.”
“Tommy, what you’re doing is called stalking.”
“No, what I’m doing is called surveillance.”
“Surveillance? On what?”
“Do you know what went on at your clubhouse last night?” I closed my eyes, wincing.
“Yes, I do know. I wasn’t there, but I’ve already heard about it.”
“And do you think it was all on the up-and-up? I mean, really. Think clearly here, Nicole.”
“I am thinking clearly, Tommy.” I wanted to throw the phone through the fucking window. I wanted to throw a temper tantrum—scream, cry, kick my feet on the linoleum floor. To think, we’d been so happy when we first moved in. Drake had proposed during our housewarming party. I’d thought that would be my “happily ever after.” Nobody had ever told me there was no such thing.
“And you refuse to believe he’s betraying you in some way?”
“I refuse to believe that, yes. Don’t forget, I have eyes there even when I’m not around.”
“And he was a good boy, even though the Viper girls were there last night?”
I closed my eyes, counting to five before answering. “You’re not surprising me, Tommy. I know they were there.” I went to the back window, staring out at the morning. It was a chilly one, promising fall, then winter. I could hardly wait to be snowed in. But only if Drake was with me. I didn’t think I could stand a blizzard all alone.
Since when was I imagining being alone?
“Hello? You still there?”
I shook off my thoughts. “Sorry, you broke up a bit.”
“Oh. I was just saying, do you think I don’t know about the new relationship your fiancé is building with the Vipers?”
“Tommy, please.” I leaned my forehead against one of the panes of glass in the window. “Please. I need you to drop this. For my sake.”
“I’m only doing this for your sake, kid.”
