by Drew Elyse
“Don’t let the clothes fool you,” Jack instructed. “She can take on just about anyone. She and Jager run a gym. She teaches kickboxing.”
“Wow,” I gawked. “That’s so cool.”
“Free classes whenever you want,” she offered. “Benefit of being a Disciple’s woman.”
That was nice, but… “I’m not sure I’m really the kickboxing type. I’m more the books and Netflix type. I’ve never even been to a gym that wasn’t attached to a school. Heck, I didn’t even go in the school one much. I took extra classes to get out of gym.”
Ember laughed. “Well, the offer is always on the table. We can even do one-on-one and go easy.”
“I’ll think about it.” And I would. I always liked the badass women who could kick butt, like River Tam, or Tauriel, or Gamora. There was no amount of kickboxing classes that would turn me into any of those women, but it couldn’t make me less badass since I was rocking a pretty solid zero in that department.
“Back to why you’re here,” Jack stated.
“Right. I was sent to find out if you were feeling better,” Ember said, looking at me. “If so, grill-out this afternoon.”
“Here?” Jack demanded, his tone relaying how much he was not on board with that plan.
“Here. Apparently Emmy was talking about how she wanted to run around at the ‘big house’.”
“Oh. Guess it’s time you met the club,” Jack said, changing his tune completely.
“What?” I asked.
“Club brothers, their women, the kids. Everyone’ll come over, grill some shit up, chill,” Jack explained.
“Who’s Emmy?” I asked, trying to figure out what had changed his mind so fast.
“She’s Sketch’s daughter—one of the brothers,” Ember answered. “She’s four, adorable as all hell, and the guys all dote on her.”
So, he was giving in for a cute little girl. That was so sweet—sweet enough that it might have been worth the wave of anxiety that swept over me at the thought of the club, this group he referred to as his family, descending on this house, which I’d only seen three rooms of.
Trying to ignore that, I asked, “So, you usually host?”
“The place isn’t really mine. It belongs to the club. Two of the other brothers live here, but they’re not around a lot.”
He had roommates. Another little tidbit of information about his life here. Having the guys from the club coming over meant I was likely to chip away quite a bit at that mystery. That was a good thing, so I was just going to focus on that.
“When’re they getting here?” Ace asked.
“Well, Cami and Deni are at the store stocking up now. Once I send out the go-ahead, I’d say an hour.”
An hour. Crap. I was going to meet all these people he cared about in an hour and I had slept-on sex hair. I didn’t know the dress code for biker grill-outs, but if it was anything like what Ember had on, I was beyond ill-prepared.
“I need to go get in the shower before Max gets here,” I said.
Jack looked me over, not hiding his appreciation, which felt great. “Baby, you showered last night,” he said, a glint in his eyes.
Like I could forget that.
“Yes, and then I went to bed on my wet hair. And then, there was…this morning.” I was going for cryptic, but Ember’s immediate laughter told me I’d failed.
He considered my hair, then announced, “I like it.”
Of course he did. It probably looked exactly like he’d just had his way with me. He would like that.
“Just go shower,” Ember put in while Jack smirked.
Rather than continue a pointless argument, I ran off to do just that while going over a mental checklist over the clothes I’d packed. Unless a magical style fairy had inserted a new wardrobe into my bag overnight, geeky-cute was going to have to work—bikers or not.
I made it to the top of the stairs when I remembered my best friend was somewhat directionally-challenged, so I jogged back down.
“Um, honey?” I called a few steps from the bottom. He turned my way, a grin in place. I didn’t follow why until I realized what I’d just called him. It wasn’t the first time I’d said it, but it was the first since I’d seen him again, so I smiled too.
“What, little bird?”
I lifted my phone before miming tossing it his way. “In case Max gets lost.” He stuck out his hand, so I chucked it in the air and he caught it easily.
“Go get ready, babe. Your girl gets here, I’ll send her up. Yeah?”
“Yeah, honey,” I replied, making my way back up.
As I did, I heard Ember say, “Well, you two are fucking adorable.”
Even though adorable seemed like a ridiculous word to use for him, I wasn’t sure I could say she was wrong.
I was still in the shower when I heard the door open.
“Would you hurry up?” Max demanded.
Before I could answer, the door closed, but I knew it wasn’t behind Max. She was still there—no question.
“You need to learn patience,” I responded as I rinsed my hair.
“I had patience days ago when you weren’t responding to my texts,” she snapped. I questioned the validity of that statement, but she also had a point.
“I told you I was sick.”
“Yes, and I’m glad you’re better. However, we now have zero time to discuss things before a bunch of hot bikers are going to be here and your man is going to get all possessive. We can’t talk about him right in front of him.”
“Someone being right there hasn’t stopped you before,” I pointed out after I shut off the water and reached for my towel on the curtain rod.
“This is true, but I doubt I’m going to get anything good from you in front of him, so spill,” she demanded.
I flicked the curtain back once I had dried off and wrapped the towel around me. “What do you want to know?”
Max was sitting on the counter next to the sink. She had on a flowing, deep-V, burgundy tank with a pair of light blue, frayed, jean shorts. She’d accented with gold, from her gladiators, to her long necklace, to the really cute armband she had on her left bicep. She hadn’t gone over the top, but she definitely came prepared for the possibility that she would be meeting the guys.
“I want to know everything,” she responded.
So, I told her everything. While I took care of my hair and put on a bit of makeup, I recounted the last couple days—what I was conscious for, at least.
“Wow,” was her response when I got through an abbreviated version of that morning. “Snaps to you, climbing in his lap. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“Anyway, we were talking afterward and he asked me to give him a week.”
“Give him a week for what?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Fix us.”
“And you said?”
“Yes.”
She let that hang between us for a while. So long, I went into the other room to pull on underwear, then opened the door for her. I was digging through my things for an outfit when she finally asked, “Do you want to know what I think?”
I turned to her, leaning against the closed door in the way Jack had the night before. She took my attention as the cue it was.
“I think this is a good thing. I know I’ve been encouraging you to demand he give you a divorce, but I think this is good for you. You’ve waited this long for a reason. Most women would have filed for the first time after a few weeks, and they would have tracked him down after the first time that shit magically disappeared from record. You didn’t. It took you a year to even start filing. You might have finally made this trip, but you aren’t ready. You’re still hanging on to what you guys had. Maybe there’s a reason for that, or maybe it’s time to let go. Either way, this week will help you figure that out. Getting him to sign the papers is no good if you aren’t ready for that to happen.”
She was right, about all of it. I’d been trying to convince myself it was time, but the operative wor
d was trying. I wasn’t fed up; I didn’t drive there with a fire under my butt. I came freaking out about seeing him because I knew I wasn’t over Jack. Not even a little bit.
“He said he’d sign at the end, if I wanted him to,” I informed her.
“Then, you live it up. I know how you are. You’re going to want to analyze and freak out. Just set that aside for now. This is a new start, or it’s closure—that’s all you need to know now.”
Live it up.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever done that, but maybe it was high time to give it a try.
After searching through my bag herself and despairing at the options, Max finally picked out a tank top with a blue floral pattern interspersed with Doctor Who designs. Ordinarily, I’d layer something under it since the back was two draping panels that connected at the top. Without something underneath, my mid and lower back were exposed. It wasn’t risqué, but it was more revealing than my normal tastes. With the jean shorts I had on, I felt half naked.
We’d been hearing engines while I got ready, then increasingly loud voices. This was about the time Max started getting antsy. She was ready to run down the stairs by the time I was dressed.
“This isn’t like a crazy party,” I reiterated as she tapped her foot meaningfully at the door while waiting for me to catch up. “I’m pretty sure it’s just a bunch of guys coming here so someone will feed them.”
“Are those guys big, hot bikers?”
“I have no idea if they’re big or hot,” I answered. “But, yeah, they’re bikers.”
“Good enough for me.”
I laughed as I followed her down. No one was in the living room anymore, but I heard voices and followed them. There were a couple women, Jack, Ember, and a man I hadn’t met. Ember was in the man’s lap, seated at a little table with Jack, while the rest of the women seemed to be getting food prepped. As we walked in, the little boy I’d seen Gauge holding at the garage went running—unsteadily on toddler feet—from the room. At a distance, I heard a deep voice rumble, “Levi!” followed by a little boy squeal, so I didn’t worry too much about him being unsupervised.
When we walked in, Ember called, “Time out!”
The women all turned around and smiles greeted me. Getting to his feet, Jack came right to me and wrapped an arm around my waist while giving me a kiss, taking time to run his hand up and down the exposed skin at my back.
“I like this,” he murmured, too quiet for most of the room to pick up, but loud enough for Max to hear, as was obvious a moment later.
“Told you,” she sing-songed.
I ignored her and took in the women as Jack walked me the rest of the way into the room. “Ladies, this is my wife, Quinn,” he stated.
I froze at him introducing me as his wife, but didn’t have a chance to linger on that. He went on, indicating each woman in turn as he introduced a brunette little Levi had been close to as Cami, a petite blonde as Deni, and a blonde with what looked to be the slightest baby bump forming as Ash. They were all gorgeous, which was beyond intimidating, but none of them were looking at me with anything but welcome and mild curiosity on their faces. They also had no reaction to Jack saying I was his wife, which meant word had already spread.
While I waved at them, not sure what to say, Jack finished off by adding, “And this is Quinn’s friend, Max.”
“Hi,” Max replied, never one to be tongue tied. “Wow. So, bikers get hot wives, huh?”
They laughed, and I felt a rush of warmth when Jack gave me a squeeze.
“Technically, I’m not a wife yet,” Ember put in. “And neither is Ash, though no one knows why.”
“It’s just not a priority with a four-year-old and a baby on the way,” Ash replied.
While Ash spoke, the other guy in the room got up and pulled Ember in tight to him. I wasn’t sure whether he was talking or doing something else against her neck, but it made her smile either way.
When he let up, Ember apologized. “This is my man, Jager. Don’t mind him or his lack of manners.” Jager didn’t speak, just gave Max and me a jerk of his chin from over her shoulder.
“Well, that’s one out,” Max muttered. “Tell me there are still some guys who look like these two and are not spoken for.”
“I like you,” Deni responded. “There are a couple. We’ll get you two around to meet everyone and point out who’s taken.”
“Just tell me you’re not into way older guys, because my dad’s out there and that could get weird,” Cami said.
“Mine too,” Ember added.
“I’m happy to stick to the ones in leather,” Max assured them.
“Oh, they will be,” Cami replied. “Both our dads are Disciples. Ash’s was too, before we lost him.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I offered to Ash.
She gave me a warm, if somewhat less radiant, smile. “Thank you. It’s been a long time. It’s easier now.” The way she immediately turned around to get back to forming burgers told me that might be true, but that didn’t mean it was actually easy.
Max, never one to let things get quiet, said, “I feel like someone needs to tell me a few stories here.”
Deni wiped off her hands then moved away from the counter. “Come on, I’ll give you the run-down and show you around.”
“Just warn her about Daz,” Cami put in as they headed out of the room.
“Daz isn’t that bad,” Ember argued.
“Yes, he is,” Ash answered, a hint of a laugh in her voice.
“Bad how?” I asked.
“Man-whore extraordinaire,” Cami explained as she got back to prepping food.
I turned my head in the direction Deni and Max had just walked off in. “I’m not sure that’s a deal breaker.” Everyone, except Jager, laughed.
“Come on, babe,” Jack said. “Let’s go outside so you can meet the rest of the brothers.”
“Can you send someone in to get this stuff?” Ash requested, using her elbow to point to the platter of uncooked food.
“I’ve got it.” The words had my head flying over to verify the speaker really was Jager.
“Thanks,” Ash replied like it wasn’t strange at all. Maybe my surprise was unwarranted, he just didn’t seem like the type who talked much. Though, saying three words did not quite qualify as much.
“I’ll stay here and pick up Deni’s slack,” Ember offered. I saw the mild irritation break through the stone of Jager’s expression for a moment before she smiled at him and it melted away. He even gave her a small lip quirk back. That was sweet, even if it was long gone by the time he was headed toward the hall with the platter.
Jack’s hand teased up my spine, giving me chills and drawing my attention back to him.
“Ready to meet the Disciples?”
“Sure,” I answered.
“Nervous?” he returned on a grin.
“Maybe.”
He lowered his head until his lips were so close to mine, they tickled. “Don’t be,” he said just before he kissed me, then he led me out back.
“Should I be calling you Ace?”
That was asked by a somewhat tipsy Quinn who I’d managed to corral into my lap even though we were still in the backyard with everyone. Max and Deni had conspired to start making margaritas. Deni even got Slick, her husband, to go get a big ass bottle of tequila.
Quinn hadn’t been much of a drinker back in the day, so I hadn’t known until then that my woman was kind of a lightweight. She’d started with the giggling a couple sips into her second in as many hours even though she’d eaten. Right then, she was starting in on number three, and I was guessing that would have to be it for her.
“Call me what you want,” I instructed.
“But everyone else calls you Ace.” Her lower lip slipped out into a little pout.
“You aren’t just anyone,” I explained.
“Rude,” Ember interjected.
She, Jager, Max, Deni, Slick, and Stone were sitting with us. Deni had her and Slick’s infa
nt son, Hunter, in her arms, while their daughter, Jules, was running around the yard. Why Deni had insisted on the margaritas when she wasn’t drinking, I had no fucking clue. If I had to guess, it had to do with the fact that Quinn’s girl and Ham kept checking each other out.
As far as I was concerned, as long as they didn’t hook up then make shit weird where Max didn’t want to come around, more power to them. But no way I was going to let Ham run off Max and make Quinn uncomfortable.
Shit, when the hell did I turn into the guy who’d get in the way of a brother getting laid?
I flipped Ember the bird and focused on my wife. Speaking lower to edge out the nosy fuckers, I said, “You going to let me take you drunk, little bird?”
“I’m not drunk,” she denied.
I lifted her hand wrapped around her mostly full glass. “You finish this off and you will be.” She narrowed her eyes at me.
“You two are sickening,” Max announced. “The sexual tension is going to make me gag.”
Daz chose that minute to plop down in an open chair by us. Shocking no one, he took the one closest to Max—the only single woman there. “I didn’t think married folks still had sexual tension.”
At least Quinn didn’t stiffen up that time. As soon as she’d agreed to a week, I should have put her on my bike and taken off instead of throwing her in to deal with the brothers right away. I could have had her alone in a hotel room somewhere fucking her until all she had for me was yesses.
“Fuck you,” Slick replied before me.
Daz was fixing to give us one of his bullshit rants about staying single forever when Stone came over.
“Ace, need to talk to you,” he said.
Quinn’s eyes got wide, and didn’t lessen when he smiled at her. She’d been intimidated by the club president when she’d seen him. I thought watching him chase, grab, and throw a giggling Emmy over his shoulder might have shaken that, but it seemed not. She’d get there. Stone was intimidating as fuck. He looked like he knew ten ways to kill a man and could dig the hole to hide the body all while whipping a crew of Marine cadets into shape. And that description wasn’t far off the mark of reality. Still, once Quinn got a chance to see how he was with the girls and kids, she’d loosen up.
