I take my phone out of my small cross body purse and tap on the address Raven sent me earlier. It’s only about twenty minutes away from my apartment so I head for the door when I hear the deadbolt turning and come face to face with Travis, who I haven’t seen much of over the last couple days. “Going out somewhere?” He cocks a brow, looking me up and down. I have no doubt he’s judging my outfit as he does.
“Yeah. I reconnected with an old friend last week. She invited me over to her place, so we’re going to catch up and hang out.”
Travis purses his lips together and gives me a stare that shows me just how much he thinks I’m bullshitting him. “Izzy, you know I love you to death but you look like you’re dressed to impress. You could just tell me the truth.”
Frustrated, I huff my response. “I am going to see a friend, Trav. She’s with a biker club now so I’m trying to look like they would, okay? I don’t want to show up looking like I’m too fancy for them or something. Fuck, I don’t know what I’m doing.”
His brows draw together for a second, “Which friend?”
“Raven,” I respond quickly, using my arm to get past him before he can stop me but I’m a little too late. Travis grabs my hand and yanks me back to look at him.
“You can’t be serious. You’re going to hang out with the woman who said those nasty things to you?” Yep, he’s really judging me now.
“We were younger, Trav. She didn’t know what she wanted. I was looking for something I could never get from her. She said some pretty fucked up shit to me, but I know her, which means I know her heart. I don’t think she meant what she said.”
Travis rolls his eyes.
I don’t know what overcomes me, but maybe I’m just tired of his crap. Any time we’ve seen one another he doesn’t speak but he’s saying a lot with his body language. “You know what, why am I even explaining this to you? All you’ve done since you saw Leonardo here is treat me like trash and you don’t even—”
“You slept with the man who hired you before the ink was even dry! You’ve turned into one of those bitches we hate!” Travis exclaims.
I rip my hand from his grasp, “You don’t know what you’re talking about Trav and when it all comes out, because I guarantee you it will, you’re going to feel like the biggest piece of crap on the planet.”
Travis cackles, “Yeah, what are you gonna tell me? That the man raped you?”
I lose my breath at what Travis said. Not at his words, but how he said them. It’s almost like even if Leonardo did rape me, Travis would be on his side. Fuck, I never thought this would happen. I thought he and I had a friendship that would stand the lengths of time.
“No, he didn’t rape me.” I spit back at him, walking away from him before he can say something else to me. I would never compare myself to a woman who’s been raped, but I will say that we share one thing in common: we’ve both been violated in some way.
I didn’t think I was ready to go see Raven at this clubhouse or her new life, but I couldn’t be more ready. If I didn’t know it earlier I sure as hell know it now. I need a damn change of scenery.
14
The best things in life make you sweaty
~Unknown
Cobra
I’m standin’ outside the clubhouse when I see a cherry red Lincoln Continental come rollin’ down the main driveway that leads up to the clubhouse. I furrow my brows, thinkin’ it can’t be anyone we know because it’s far too luxurious before I start walkin’ off toward it.
The car begins slowing down until it comes to a complete stop a mere four feet in front of me. I approach the driver’s side window and lean closer to the vehicle as the window comes inching its way down. When the tinted windows are completely gone I’m surprised with what I see.
This chick . . . she looks like a damn fairy. Honestly, she reminds me of a sexier version of Tinkerbell. Her hair is dark at the top with a light purple spanning its way down. The ponytail thing she has going on looks sick with the braids she put in and when I look at her face. Fuck. She has this innocence about her even though her lips are a shade of sinful red I’d love to see smeared around my cock.
“Are you going to say anything, or stand there quietly?” She asks, letting out a soft giggle at the end.
I place my forearms in her window and smirk, quickly recovering. “See this right here, babycakes?” I ask, pointing to my name.
She nods, “Yes, Cobra. I do.”
“That’s my name, and I have it for two reasons. ‘Cause I’m quiet as a snake.”
The woman smiles, raising her brows. “Understood. What about the other?”
“If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll find out.” I tease, glancing down at the bit of cleavage she’s showing off. It’s not much, but damn if she doesn’t have a nice pair of perky tits under that green shirt of hers. Licking my lips, I look back at her eyes. “So, you lost or somethin’?”
“No, I’m here to see Raven.” Raven? This chick is here to see Raven? They friends or somethin’?
I pout, “Oh, I’m sorry. She just left a bit ago. You’re more than welcome to hang out with me in the club until she gets back.” I lie through my teeth. Raven had mentioned how she was layin’ down for a nap a little over an hour ago. She asked me to wake her up, but hell if I’m gonna fuck this opportunity up.
“Uh . . .” The woman takes a few moments to glance around the property.
I interject before she can talk herself out of it. “Listen if you’re here it’s because you’re a friend of Raven’s, which means you’re a friend of the club. Nothin’ bad will happen to you here, babycakes.”
Damn, I really wish I was a mind reader right now. She sucks in a short breath before shrugging her shoulders. “What the hell. Fine. Where do I go from here?”
“You see that building up there? Just park your car in front of it and I’ll escort you inside and introduce you to whoever’s around.” I say.
“Okay, thanks Cobra. I’m Izzy by the way. You know, in case you forgot to ask my name.” She taunts, stepping on the gas before I can shoot back a reply. Snickering, I follow the car and dig my hands into the pockets of my jeans. This girl is gonna be a spitfire, that’s for damn certain.
Izzy steps out of her Lincoln Continental before I make it up to the clubhouse and I get an award-winning view of that pert ass of hers. She’s wearing a pair of destructive denim jean shorts and to top it all off she’s got some fuck me silly heels on, causin’ her ass to sit up a little plumper. “You known Raven for long?” I ask as I come up on her.
Izzy turns around, nodding once. “Yeah, we grew up together back in Montana.”
“Fuck, it must be one small ass world we live in.”
“Something like that. Never did I think we’d cross paths again in Las Vegas of all places.” She confesses, slinging her purse up over her shoulder.
“Yeah, things always have a funny way of working out. Come on in, I’ll introduce you to whoever’s still here.” I start off toward the door, open it and allow her inside before me. Ladies love chivalrous bastards and all that shit.
Not many are here right now considering we’d gotten a couple of tips on a couple of men on bikes in the area. Eduardo’s people are the ones who saw him, immediately calling Damon to notify him. Damon has had us on shifts like we’re in the Army to try and tail these fuckers but somehow they’re always able to lose us.
My gut is telling me there’s something tied between them and Orion being kidnapped. Ivy’s been a mess and Kade is barely holding his shit together if you ask me. Even though Ivy’s doing a damn good job at pretending to be strong I can see through the bullshit. I do want to commend her on the actions she took yesterday, though. Onyx had it comin’ for a really long time.
“My, my . . . who is this?” Dixon asks, risin’ up from his chair actin’ like he’s some flirtatious bastard. I give him one quick warnin’ look tellin’ him he’d better back up, but the bastard continues toward us.
“Hi, I’m Izzy. I
’m an old friend of Raven’s.” She tells him, extending a hand.
Dixon grabs her hand and shakes it before pulling her toward him to plant a kiss on her cheek. “Welcome to the clubhouse, Izzy! You’re a friend of Raven’s, so you’re a friend of ours. I’m Dixon,” Dixon mutters while eye fucking the shit out of her.
Izzy glances between Dixon and I before letting out a soft giggle. “Yeah, Cobra told me that.” What Izzy doesn’t know is that sayin’ is a subtle way for us brothers to tell one another to fuck off. We kinda play finders keepers with hot women.
“Oh, did he now?” Dixon chuckles, silently cursing at me with his glare. I hold back my laughter for beating him to the punch.
“From the sounds of vegetables bein’ cut up I can guarantee Sakura is in the kitchen,” I holler out a bit loudly.
“Yes, I am you smartass!” The sounds of vegetables being cut up comes to a halt and her sassy tone shoots her retort.
Izzy shifts her head over to the right to the obnoxious snoring rat in the corner. “That’s Mouser,” I tell her.
“Ah, okay. Is that everyone?”
“Everyone who’s here at the moment, yeah.” Dixon tells her.
Izzy draws her brows together, “With as many houses as you guys have there are only three of you here?”
“Ah, well there are more of us but the one other big house belongs to the clubwhores.” I say.
“Clubwhores? What are they?” Shit. This is not a question I should be answering. It’ll completely fuck up everything for me if I’m trying to get with Izzy.
“Dixon, why don’t you tell her?” I suggest, getting a smirk and shake of the head in response.
Dixon shrugs, “They’re women who are part of our club. But they’re not in a relationship with any of us. Instead, they stick around for parties we might have, desire club protection or . . . well, they’re just a whore who loves to get fucked. We have needs, so they meet those needs.”
Her mouth forms into a small ‘o’ before she shuts it. “Ah, I didn’t know . . . uh . . . you operated that way.” Obviously, she doesn’t know what the hell to say.
“Yeah, you want a drink or somethin’?” I ask, catching her immediate nod. This is new for her so I’ll be sure to ease her into the clubhouse.
“Alright. Let me whip you somethin’ up,” I tell her, leaving her alone with Dixon as I go over to the bar and look for somethin’ she might like. As I search through the liquors I’m amazed at how the woman who hurt me and the club more than anything else died yesterday. She was the woman I thought I wanted to be my ol’ lady. I saw a lot of shit with her at one time. I was sure of a future with Onyx, but betrayal wipes the slate clean.
Fuck, I didn’t think I’d want to be with someone again. I’m not sayin’ I want this girl to be my ol’ lady, but I wouldn’t mind it if she decided to keep my bed warm.
15
We all eat lies when out hearts are hungry
~Fuckology
Izzy
“You want more?” Cobra asks sitting across from me with a sinful grin dragged across his face. We’ve spent the last hour or so hanging out together with Dixon in the clubhouse, or at least I think that’s what they call it.
I redirect my eyes down at the bottle of tequila sitting on the black wooden coffee table and glance back up at him. “I don’t think getting me plastered off my ass is such a great idea.”
“If you ask me it’s a fabulous idea,” Cobra teases.
I thought I’d be annoyed with his flirtatious attitude but I’m not. Cobra seems to be the type of man who enjoys teasing and taunting, being playful and somewhat innocent. He’s a breath of fresh air to be honest. I don’t feel like I need to keep my guard up with him. Then again, I don’t know him either. I’m sure he could totally change my mind within an instant. After all, that’s what Leonardo did. He went from being a man I respected and looked up to and turned into a disgusting piece of shit.
I toss the pros and cons around inside my mind, ending up grabbing ahold of my shot glass and hold it back out to my newfound friend. “Ah, that a girl!” Cobra chuckles, unscrewing the cap of the bottle and pours me another shot. I believe we’re about four or five in at this point. Tequila has never had much of an impact on me, though. I get a slight buzz and that’s about it.
He starts to put the bottle back on the table, so I take my shot figuring he’s not joining me on this one. But he surprises me and takes a couple gulps of the liquor as I down what’s in the glass. The burning sensation slides over my tongue, down the top of my throat and settles in my stomach causing a shiver to course through me.
“Damn, you know how to handle your liquor babycakes. I bet you were quite the partier in college.” He chuckles.
“She was, or at least the one party I saw her at she was the life of the party.” A chill runs down my spine at hearing her voice. I know we’ve been messaging back and forth but that’s nothing compared to being this close to her in the flesh. When we went out to lunch I didn’t even feel this nervous. Maybe it’s simply because we’re in less of a public setting so to speak. In a way I feel like I couldn’t get everything off my chest when we were in the restaurant.
Hell, there were times I had dreams about if I ever saw Raven again what I’d say . . . but nothing ever felt right. Not with the way we left things that one Christmas. To be fair we both said some pretty nasty things to one another.
I turn to face the very real ghost of my past and take in what I didn’t when we were at lunch the other day. It’s obvious she’s changed. She too has different hair, while mine is a pastel purple hers is black with a hint of blue flowing through her midnight strands. She’s gained a few pounds too but not in a bad way. I had always told her she was too thin and blamed it on all the stress she had at home. It appears I was right. “Nice of you to come back,” I state, sounding a bit irritated. I didn’t mind spending some time with Cobra and Dixon but I came here to see her, not them.
“Okay, and that’s my cue to get out of here.” Dixon mutters, making himself scarce. Figuring Cobra will do the same I wait for him to disappear too but he doesn’t. Instead he stays seated.
Raven glares at me, “Come back? Where exactly was I?” Immediately she redirects her gaze to Cobra, “Actually, what did you tell her?”
Cobra snickers for a moment before responding, but he doesn’t respond to Raven. Instead he tells me. “I’m sorry babycakes, I lied to ya. Raven was takin’ a nap in her house. You seemed so sweet and I wanted to get to know ya a little.”
Raven scoffs, rolling her eyes. “What a waste of time that was. She doesn’t play for your team, Co.”
I don’t know why what she said strikes a chord in me, but it does. Maybe it’s because over the last few years the LGBTQ+ community has come so far and her assumption is invalid. Raven didn’t ever ask me if I was into guys. Not once. Probably because she only ever saw me with women. “I play for both teams, in case you were wondering,” I snap back at her, but shift my gaze over to Cobra. “But as of recent I’ve been leaning more towards your side.” I end my words with a wink.
“It looks like you’ve changed a bit since we last saw one another.” Raven mutters lowly.
I whip my head back in her direction, “Yeah, well maybe someone’s words made me re-evaluate my sexual orientation since I was such a disgusting pig.” Oh fuck. I didn’t want to do this in front of an audience, but years of shit between the two of us have been building up for quite a while, boiling inside both of us if I had to guess.
During our freshman year of college Raven and I had grown apart. We were both enrolled in classes thousands of miles away from one another and went months without really saying much. But, the summer before our lives changed forever we had a beautiful, incredible journey of self-discovery. I can picture every nook and crevasse on her body, even the small constellation point of freckles on her left hip. While I’d been with other women before . . . I don’t think I ever cared for them in a fraction of the way I felt for Chel
sea Raven Grey. Honestly, she’s the one that got away. No— she’s the one who ran away.
While I’m the one who left Montana, she’s the one who abandoned what we had. She’s the one who gave up on us. I’m not here to rehash the past or to make her feel badly about her choice, but I do want closure if I can get it. We both deserve it if you ask me.
I didn’t notice the way Raven went white as a sheet after my retort. It already appears like she’s done a lot of changing. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It wasn’t true, and it was cruel.” Holy shit. Am I dreaming right now? So many thoughts run rapidly through my mind. There are so many things I want to say right now, but Raven continues. “I was stupidly drunk that night. We had too much peppermint schnapps and when we got into that fight . . . it went from playful to ugly pretty quick.”
Even though we had one summer of being together, we decided to continue our short-lived relationship while we were at college. It started with a kiss when we were teenagers and ended with the most cold-blooded words that have ever been said to me. Even my own mother was nicer to me when she found out I was into chicks. Damn, and she was such a conservative woman.
Anyway, we’d barely spoken over the course of a few months even though we were still girlfriends. I’d held a lot of animosity toward her for not communicating, while she had regrets from being committed to someone who wasn’t with her in the flesh. We might not have known it back then, but it was toxic. I only wish I could’ve figured it out before we left for college. Maybe if we had broken up before we left to go start our adulthood, we might be something today. Now we’ll never know. I’m not here looking for love, though. I’m here to see if I can get my best friend back.
“You weren’t the only one who said some nasty things. I’m so sorry for what I said to you. You’d never be like your mom, ever. I’m so sorry, Raven.” I confess, living with one of the biggest regrets of my life. If I hadn’t snapped back at her with such callous words, we might’ve been able to repair what was slowly breaking.
Cobra: Reapers MC Book 8 Page 8
