“Crazy night?” he asks.
“Yeah, it was…different, that’s for sure.”
“You got laid, didn’t you?”
I glance over at him, and he’s wearing a knowing grin on his face as he watches the road. “What makes you say that?”
“You’re nicer.”
“Nicer? I thought I was always nice.”
“You are. I guess what I meant is you don’t look as angry at the world or at yourself as you did yesterday. Getting off is one of the few cures for self-loathing. At least temporarily…”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“So, you did get laid?”
“I did,” I finally admit. “If a woman says just for tonight, do you think she really means it?”
Jordan snickers. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from women, from my mom, is that they don’t say shit unless they mean it. The problem is men aren’t usually listening.”
“Yeah,” I mutter. I’m more than a little disappointed. What did I expect the kid to say? That just for tonight means something different nowadays? It’s not a complicated sentence.
Still, Lyla looked like she enjoyed herself. Well, after she faked the first orgasm. I had no idea she was inexperienced. I don’t think she had ever had one before I got her off with my tongue. Fuck, I loved getting all of her firsts. I want more of them.
“What if she’s a virgin?” I ask Jordan.
“Huh?”
“If a virgin says just for tonight, do you think she means it?”
“Jesus, man! Was she at least eighteen?”
“What?” Oh, he’s asking if she was legal. “Yes, she’s twenty-one. I’m only twenty-two.”
“Oh, okay, good. I didn’t take you for the type, but you never know.”
“Right. So back to my question…”
“I don’t know, man. I guess it depends. How did you feel about the woman you lost your virginity to?”
“Let’s not go there tonight. I’m in too good of a mood to spoil it,” I tell him.
While I would have rather kept it a secret, the kid takes it upon himself to announce to the entire bar as soon as we walk in, “Guess who got lucky tonight?” while pointing at me.
“No shit?” RJ says when I sit down at the table where he’s playing cards with Remy, Colt, and Hugo.
I pick up his bottle of beer and drink the last sip. And nearly choke on it when he says, “You fucked your ex’s sister?”
“Wait. Hold on,” Remy starts as he lays his card hand on the table to glare at me. “Please tell me that you did not sleep with Isaac Perry’s youngest daughter on her sister’s wedding weekend.”
“Wedding day, actually,” RJ informs them.
“Jesus Christ,” Colt grumbles as he throws his cards down.
“So what?” I ask.
“So, Isaac Perry is going to kill you, that’s what!” Remy yells. “And then we’ll have to go to war with the Devil Hounds for vengeance.”
“He’s not going to kill me,” I assure them.
“How can you be so sure?” Colt asks.
“Because he had the chance tonight when he caught me sneaking out of their house.”
“He literally caught you red-handed?” Remy asks.
“Yep. Had his gun out, cocked and aimed at the back of my head.”
“But he didn’t shoot?” RJ asks, making me roll my eyes.
“I’m not bleeding, am I?”
“Maybe he would rather torment you slowly, painfully,” Remy remarks. “That’s what I would do.”
“His mother would be pissed if he killed me, and Lyla would never speak to him again,” I say without thought. Wouldn’t she be upset if I died for taking her virginity?
Just then, Jordan comes over and slaps me on the shoulder. “Did you tell them she was a virgin?” making me wince since that’s not a detail my brothers needed to know.
“If any of you survive this brutal war we’re about to engage in, please tell Josie that I love her,” Colt says dramatically.
Remy sits there silently fuming until he finally erupts, getting to his feet. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I didn’t know that last detail until it was too late to take it back.”
“Ease up on him,” RJ says in my defense. “He went home with her after she fell on the gravel and got fucked-up.”
“Great, so you took the virginity of his drunken daughter?” Remy asks. “Nice going there, Bear. I don’t think you could make this shit any worse if you tried.”
“She wasn’t drunk,” I assure him. “So just sit down, shut the fuck up, and deal me in.”
“On the bright side,” Greer adds in his two cents when he joins us, setting a cold bottle of beer in front of me, “at least Bear’s moving on from his ex, right?”
“Lyla does look a lot like Laurel,” RJ interjects. “Does that still count?”
When everyone scowls at me, I tell them, “It wasn’t like that!”
“So, the virgin girl wasn’t a stand-in for the woman who broke your heart?” Colt asks.
“No. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“What were you doing in their house, then?” Remy asks.
“Staying with her to make sure she was okay after her fall.”
“Whatever. You crossed a line,” Remy says. “Several.”
“I know. Maybe tomorrow, I’ll even feel bad about it.”
“But you don’t right now?” Colt asks.
“No, I don’t.” At least not after Lyla’s convincing reassurance that she won’t regret it. “We were both consenting adults. Neither of us were drunk. It was…fun.”
“It was fun,” Remy repeats. “We’ll be sure to put that on your gravestone when Isaac Perry murders your ass.”
“He’s not going to do shit,” I assure them. “And I needed tonight more than you know. It’s been years.”
“Years?” Colt echoes. “Years since you were with your ex-wife?”
“Years since I was with anyone.”
“Jesus,” Remy mutters while shaking his head. “No wonder you did something so stupid. I get that you were horny and shit, but there are plenty of other women in the world. But no, you had to go fuck your ex’s sister, the youngest daughter of a local MC president.”
“Whatever the consequences, it was worth every second,” I tell them at the exact same moment there’s some sort of commotion coming from outside the bar. It sounds like metal scraping, crunching.
“What the hell was that?” RJ asks as we all get to our feet and run toward the door.
There’s a dust cloud hanging in the dark parking lot, so all I see are some taillights of a giant monster truck as it speeds off.
“Son of a bitch!” Colt shouts at the same time Remy says a few swear words himself.
Where their Harleys were parked in a row along with Greer’s are now crushed metal.
“Damn, it’s a good thing our bikes weren’t here,” RJ says to me as our brothers and Greer go over to inspect the damage. When we follow them, I’m finally far enough away from the building that I can see the big red letters spray-painted on the side of the bricks.