by Jessie Cooke
Dax looked over at them, surprised. He slid his phone out of his pocket and looked at it. “Sorry, babe. I have a text from her that she sent over an hour ago. Toolie and I have been working in here all morning with the music up; I guess I didn’t hear it.”
“And what does the text say?”
“Hi, Dax. Harley and Tammy invited me to go on a ride with them this afternoon. I’m going to meet them at the ranch, but I’ll be in and out and no problems for your…old lady.”
“They invited her on a ride? Does she know Harley? I know Tammy hasn’t been here long enough to know her.”
“Yeah, Harley was around back when Kat first started hanging around here. I guess they ran into each other at the attorneys’ office luncheon the other day. By the way, did Kyle tell you what a great job Kat did?”
“Why do you want me to not hate her so badly?”
Dax smiled. “Because you are such a warm, passionate, loving woman. I hate to see you waste any of that passion on negativity.”
Angel laughed. “Wow, you thought of that on the spot? You’re good.”
Dax stepped in closer and put his mouth next to her ear and said, “Last night you said I was great…a god, in fact.”
Angel laughed again. “Shut up. I’m going to go back up to the house before she sees me. I promised you I’d try to play nice from now on, but I shouldn’t tempt the fates.”
“Wait, what did you come out here for in the first place?”
“Oh, sorry. Kyle called. He wanted to know if we wanted to meet him and David for dinner tonight.” Angel could tell that Dax was trying hard not to make a face. He liked David and they got along really well, but Kyle, not so much. Angel kept trying but between their history and the fact that they were both such alpha males, sometimes she doubted they would ever bond. She glanced over at Katrina and suddenly realized the situations were almost exactly the same. Except that Kat wasn’t family.
“Um…” She smiled as he tried to think of a reason he couldn’t go. Finally, he said, “What about Susie Q?”
“Zoe said she’d sit with her. I guess Levi is…is Levi going on this ride with the girls?”
“Tammy asked me for a couple of enforcers but I didn’t have any available so yeah, Levi is going—and I was going to send Buzz but now that I know Kat’s going with them, I’ll have to change that.”
Angel didn’t like that Buzz was still around. Even if it was Kat that he tried to attack, Angel thought Dax might have gone a little too easy on him. “Yeah, I wouldn’t send Buzz anywhere with any of the women.”
“Well, I wouldn’t normally but I guess Levi has taken a liking to him for some reason. Levi’s a pretty sensitive kid. Maybe he sees something in him the rest of us don’t.”
“He would have to,” she said. “Okay, I’m going to get back. Susie will be home from school soon. I can tell Kyle we’ll make it?”
“Yeah, sure, babe.” She wasn’t sure, but she thought he was gritting his back teeth. At least he was trying. She kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear,
“Thank you, baby. I’ll pay you back when we get home tonight.”
Dax growled and pulled her in for a real kiss. God, she loved kissing him. Even still, he took her breath away, and to put the cherry on top of that sweet whipped cream, Kat had stood up and was looking in their direction. Angel smiled, smugly, at Kat and gave her a little wave. Kat looked like she wanted to flip her off, but surprisingly, waved back with all five of her fingers. Dax looked like he was fighting another grin. Angel supposed it was good that someone was amused.
Kat stood up from looking at Harley’s new exhaust system just in time to see Dax and his old lady in a passionate embrace. It wasn’t that she was jealous, or even that she didn’t understand what Dax saw in Angel. Even though Angel wasn’t her cup of tea, she could see what a man would see in her. She likened it to a kid that didn’t want to see their parents swap spit. It just made her a little nauseous. Then Angel gave her a smile that Kat would have sworn she’d stolen right off her brother Kyle’s smug face. She ached to flip her off, but she had to keep her promise to Dax and play nice…so, she waved back.
Harley said, “Looks like you and Angel have almost as good of a relationship as you and Kyle, huh?”
“Yeah,” Kat said. “Is that a problem for you?”
“Nope,” Harley said. “But I have to tell you that I think the two of you are a lot alike. I like and respect Angel a lot and I think the two of you could be good friends.”
“Maybe we could have been, a long time ago,” Kat said. “But there’s too much water under that bridge to cross it now.”
Harley nodded like she understood but said, “It’s too bad. Oh, here’s Tammy.”
Kat had agreed to this ride the night before and she’d fallen asleep looking forward to it. She had spent her life convincing herself that she didn’t want or need female friends. In high school when other girls were talking about buying prom dresses, Kat was busy learning how to do wheelies on her Harley, or taking the engine apart, fixing it, and putting it back together. It wasn’t that she didn’t like to look pretty, but it seemed to her that was all girls that age worried about. They thought she was a freak, but she didn’t fit in with the freak crowd either…because she scared them. She had lots of friends who were boys in school, but no boyfriends. No one asked her out or to the prom. Kat heard the talk behind her back and she knew that they were all scared of her too. She had a hard time showing her emotions, especially while she was going through puberty. She kept things inside until they boiled over and she exploded, so she didn’t really blame them. She knew she was a little crazy and although it was lonely sometimes, she wasn’t willing to change in order to get people to like her.
She had awakened the morning of the ride, thinking about canceling it. Tammy Covey was the main reason. Kat had come to know Gunner well since she came back from Hollywood, and she liked him. He did a lot of running for Dax, and a lot of the business Kat had with Dax was conducted through Gunner. That first day she met Tammy, the other woman had acted like she wanted to have a pissing contest, and that wasn’t what Kat was looking for. The truth was that she was envious of what Tammy and Gunner had. All he ever talked about was Tammy. Kat had no desire to even try to come between that.
“Hey!” Tammy said to Harley, with a smile. She looked at Kat then and Kat thought maybe the smile fell just a little. “How’s it going?”
“Good. Thanks for letting me crash your ride,” Kat said.
Tammy chuckled and said, “Welcome to the bitches that never had female friends club.”
“Appropriate,” Kat said with a smile, “Glad to be here.”
“You bitches ready to ride?” Harley asked.
“Yup,” Tammy said. “I just saw Levi and Wes outside. They’re ready to babysit us.” Harley rolled her eyes as she pulled on her helmet and said:
“We’ll let them think we need them.”
“Yup,” Tammy said again with a grin. Kat smiled. Maybe she wasn’t such a freak after all, or at least she wasn’t the only one.
18
The three ladies and their escorts rode for over an hour, up into the hills and close to the area where Kat had run into David at her cabin a few nights before. She didn’t let herself think about that, though; she was enjoying herself too much to dredge up painful memories. They didn’t stop until they were deep in the woods, when they found a nice spot to have lunch. While they were eating, the guys sat a discreet distance away so that they didn’t feel like they were being hovered over.
“You turned out to be one hell of a rider,” Harley said. “I remember watching you dump that little bike Dax was teaching you over and over and thinking that I couldn’t believe you got back up and on it every time.”
Kat smiled at the memories. There were days when she didn’t think she’d be able to get out of bed and she was sure she wouldn’t be able to get back on the bike. But, thankfully, determination was her strong suit. “I broke m
y collarbone once and never told Dax. Man, that was a bitch.”
Tammy laughed. “Yeah, my dad was pissed when I first started riding. He wanted me to be some kind of club princess and act like a lady and shit.” She laughed again and said, “I had a twin brother and I was surrounded by badass bikers and club girls most of my life. I used to tell him if I was going to go one way or the other, he should be happy I picked the Harley and not the push-up bra and bar stool.”
“Right?” Kat said. “I was raised in a bar, in a town filled with bikers. I even…” She caught herself. She was about to say something stupid, like how she’d envisioned herself as biker royalty one day when she was a kid. She was convinced Dax would want her sooner or later if she just kept trying. Her face heated once again at the memory of throwing herself at him.
“You even what?” Harley asked.
“Nothing. Are there any strawberries left?” Tammy and Harley exchanged a look, and Tammy picked up the Tupperware container with the strawberries in it and held it out toward Kat. When she tried to take one, Tammy pulled it back and said:
“You can have one when you finish your story.”
“It was nothing, really.”
The two girls had mischievous smiles on their faces. “Nothing that made Hurricane Katrina Brown blush,” Harley said. “I have to know what makes you blush.”
Kat felt her face go even hotter. “Nah, I’m already in enough deep shit with your queen.”
Tammy laughed. “I knew it had something to do with Dax. Come on, we’ve all had the thought.” She looked at Harley and said, “Right?”
“Damn straight. Jesus, you’d have to be made of stone not to.”
“It’s no big deal. I just had a really big crush on him when I was a kid.”
“Me too,” Harley said.
“No way. You and Cody were so tight. I was surprised when you told me how long it took the two of you to actually get together.”
“Cody thought I was one of the boys, and then of course there was that ten years he was in prison.”
“Oh, yeah.” Kat was still around when Cody’s brother was killed and Cody went to prison. She’d heard rumors before that about their father disappearing and Dax being responsible, but back then she hadn’t been able to imagine Dax doing anything like that…even if the piece of shit did deserve it. “Sorry, I forgot about that.”
“He turned out okay,” Harley said. Then she smiled and said, “Better than okay, but you’re changing the subject again. What was that blush about? Did you and Dax ever…?”
“No,” Kat said. “Never.” She blushed again and said, “Not because my stupid ass didn’t try.”
“Details,” Tammy said, popping a strawberry in her mouth.
“He was so nice to me, and that hardly ever happened,” Kat said. “Boys were always…weird…around me.”
“They were scared of you,” Harley said. “You used to even scare Cody a little.”
Kat laughed. “He was a skittish little thing anyways.”
“Still is when Harley gets on him,” Tammy said with a laugh.
“Oh, right, we’ve all seen how high Gunner jumps when you yell too.”
“Hell, yeah,” Tammy said with a wink. “Because he knows what kind of reward he’s going to get for it later.”
The girls laughed and Kat said, “Anyways, Dax was the only man or boy that showed any interest in me back then and I was all full of hormones and shit and I took it wrong. I propositioned him one day. I came right out and told him I wanted him to pop my cherry.”
Tammy was laughing so hard at that, she choked on her strawberry. After she spit it out she said, “You actually said that.”
Kat shrugged. “Part of my charm is my crassness.” Laughing herself she said, “Dillon never really taught me how to put things delicately, so yeah, I just straight up said, ‘I want you to be my first, Dax. I want to give you my cherry.’” Harley and Tammy were practically rolling on the ground laughing at that. When they finally caught their breath, and wiped the tears off their faces Tammy said:
“God, I would have loved to see Dax’s face when you said that. What did he say?”
“I don’t remember the exact words,” Kat lied. She remembered every word he said. He’d told her that she was beautiful and that someday, some man would be so lucky to have her. But then he’d told her she was too young, and that she wasn’t a club girl, and she didn’t want to end up with a reputation like they had and have men thinking she was only good for one thing. He’d been so sweet that she’d only wanted him more when he finished talking. “Something about him being too old for me and that someday I’d find someone, fall in love, and that should be the person I saved myself for.”
The girls giggled again. “So…were you glad he turned you down? I mean, after a while, anyways?” Harley asked.
“I was, eventually, after I got over the humiliation,” Kat said. “And now, since his old lady hates me anyways, at least he can honestly tell her she’s got nothing to worry about there.”
“What’s the deal with that?” Tammy asked. “Angel’s usually so easy to get along with. What happened between you two?”
Kat wasn’t ready to tell that story. She looked at Harley and could tell from the look on her face that Kyle must have told her most of it already. Harley saved her by saying, “Kat dated one of her brothers. Until you’ve dated within the Brady clan, you can’t understand it.”
Tammy smiled. “Did Angel hate you when you broke up with Kyle?”
“I cheated on Kyle,” Harley admitted. “I’m sure she would have tarred and feathered me, if not for Dax’s intervention. He was all team Cody, and that helped a hell of a lot.”
“Well, I hope you and Angel can work it out. You two are a lot alike.”
“That’s what I told her,” Harley said.
Kat was grateful that Tammy changed the subject after that. She started out by telling Kat she was sorry for being a bitch the first day they met. “I have this issue with jealousy. I guess it came from putting up with my ex, who used to love the shit out of watching people have sex, or women play with themselves. He acted like it was so normal and he could never understand why I’d get so pissed. He’d say something about how he was just looking and not touching…” She laughed. “And now he’s married and has a couple of kids, acting like a fucking choir boy. His old lady trusts the shit out of him. Weird.”
“I kind of think that’s when you know you’re meant to be with someone,” Harley said.
“You stop being jealous?” Tammy asked. “Because if that’s the case…”
Harley laughed. “No. I still get jealous as hell when a new club girl comes in and starts hitting on Cody. Makes me want to scratch her eyes out. I was thinking it’s when you stop doing stupid shit, like, say, watching other people have sex.” The girls laughed. Tammy shared a story about kicking a club girl’s ass over Gunner and it made Kat’s memory go to one night she was ready to kill another woman over David…well, the first time anyways.
It wasn’t long after the first time they’d had sex, maybe a month or so after. She had been upstairs and Dillon yelled at her that David was there. She yelled back down at Dillon to tell him to have a beer and she’d be down in a few. That was how she and Dillon did things…a lot of yelling. Of course, there was a lot of noise coming from the bar too; that was back when they still had rocking Saturday night crowds.
Kat vividly remembered the butterflies she had in her stomach getting ready that night, knowing she and David had plans to go to a movie and then up to the cabin. Every time they made love felt like the first time to her and she couldn’t get enough. She finished getting dressed and double-checked her make-up and hair before heading down to the bar. She was grinning, probably like an idiot, as she went down the stairs…but she stopped in her tracks when she came out of the stairwell and saw him.
There was a dartboard on the back wall of the bar, and throwing darts was one of David’s favorite things to do. She wasn’t
surprised that was where she found him. What did surprise her was the woman who had her back pressed up against him. She was a club girl. Kat didn’t know her name, but she’d seen her at the ranch on quite a few occasions, usually with more make-up on her face than clothes covering her tits and ass. Her fingers held a dart and David’s hand was on hers like he was showing her how to throw it. All Kat saw was David touching another woman and that woman’s big ass, barely covered in a leather skirt, pressed into her man. With clenched fists and heat coursing through her veins, she forgot about everyone else in the bar and yelled out, “What the fuck is this?”
The club girl gave her a look that might have cost her life if David hadn’t been there. “Kat, calm, babe,” David said, letting go of the woman and stepping away. Kat didn’t look at his face, but she was sure he only just realized how it must have looked. It was the skank she was after.
“Fuck calm,” Kat said, pointing her finger at the other woman, “Listen, bitch, you need to find someone else’s man to rub your nasty ass all over…”
“Come on, Kat. You’re making a scene,” David said. That was when she turned her wrath on him.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Am I embarrassing you? Or, were you enjoying having this fat slut…” That was all she got out before the girl grabbed a handful of her hair. Kat was limber and her hair was long, so when she flipped underneath it and punched the bitch in the face, the look of surprise she got from her was almost comical. The little skank still had a hold on her hair, though, and they both went down to the floor. They wrestled around as David and Dillon tried to stop them. Everyone else in the bar had gathered around but they were all cheering them on. Kat got in a few punches, punching David in the chest once as he tried to stop her. She was finally able to stumble up to her feet and when she did, she reached down and pulled the now crying skank up by the front of her shirt. The girl tried to resist and they both ended up toppling into a table full of drinks. By the time David got a good, firm hold on her, Kat had whiskey and beer all over her carefully picked-out outfit and she was mad at him too. As he held her up off the floor, she kicked backwards and got him in the shin.
