“Something about pressing your tits against him…”
Her cheeks flamed with sudden chagrin and then she straightened her shoulders. “I could blame the pain meds for my behavior, and maybe they did have something to do with it. It made me bold and I did exactly as he said. But he just…he pushed me off him. Something inside of me broke when he did it, Mia. That was my last straw, you know? I thought nothing could hurt worse than seeing him with tramps climbing all over him. But it turns out, when you offer yourself, body and soul to a man, and he brushes you aside, that hurts far worse than anything else.”
I sighed. “We really should’ve gotten a bottle of booze before diving into this.”
She nodded. “No shit.”
“I’ll go downstairs and grab it,” I said. “That way there’s no chance of you seeing Zip.”
Joni looked relieved. “Thank you.”
I left her room and took the stairs quickly, worried that I’d run into Zip and have to lie to his face again. But my feelings were all for naught. The only Blue Angel in the clubhouse was Gray, and he was sitting on a couch with Darcy nestled in his arms. Rachel and Allison were standing in the kitchen, drinking out of red solo cups.
“Where is everyone?” I asked.
Darcy looked over her shoulder at me. “You didn’t hear the bikes peel out of here?”
I shook my head.
“They left,” Darcy said. “Cheese, Gray, and two prospects stayed back to stand guard. The kids are watching a movie in the theater room in the basement.”
They left? And Colt hadn’t even had the courtesy to say goodbye?
Fuck. That.
He didn’t get to shut down on me and then leave without saying a word. Not after what I’d been through.
“Where’s Joni?” Gray asked. “She feeling okay? She hasn’t come out of her room all afternoon.”
“She’s fine. I actually came down to get a bottle of liquor. We’re having a girls’ pow-wow in her room.”
“Great!” Rachel said. “Now you can teach us how to play poker.” She opened a kitchen drawer and pulled out a deck of cards.
Darcy kissed Gray’s cheek and whispered something to him. He nodded and patted her leg. She hopped up and said, “What are we drinking?”
“Tequila,” Rachel and I said at the same time.
“I need a lemonade refill,” Allison said, lifting her cup.
“I’ll cut the limes,” Darcy stated. “Rach, grab the salt.”
“On it.”
Five minutes later, we were ready to head upstairs when Cheese came inside. “Mia,” he said, “a woman is here for you. Says she was invited to the party.”
“Crap. Blonde? Tall? Won’t take no for an answer?”
He nodded, a slight smile on his face.
“That’s Shelly. I forgot to tell her the party was canceled.” I looked at the three women who were waiting by the stairs to get our girls’ night started.
“Do you guys mind one more?” I asked.
“No, bring her!” Rachel said. “We’ll meet you up there.”
“Sounds good.” The three of them disappeared and I turned back to Cheese. “Is it okay to let her in?”
“Sure thing. I’m gonna call Prez and give him the heads up about the situation.”
“You do that,” I murmured to his retreating back.
“How are you doing?” Gray asked, startling me. He was so quiet I’d forgotten he was even there.
“Okay. I guess.” I sighed. “How did you get roped in to staying back with all the women and children?”
He looked at me. “Why? You think I can’t handle shit?”
“No, I didn’t mean anything by it.” I tried to backtrack.
“Hey, I was just trying to get your goat.” He smiled. “Relax. I know how it looks.”
He was soft around the middle, like a lot of men in middle age. “One thousand yards,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“All I need is one shot, and if you’re anywhere within a thousand yards it’s bye-bye. I was a scout sniper in the Army. I can handle things here, don’t you worry.”
My eyes widened. “Darcy never mentioned…”
He shrugged.
“This is the saddest party I’ve ever seen,” Shelly said, causing me to turn.
She was dressed from head to toe in all black. Her blond hair was curled and sprayed and she looked ready for a night on the town. Cheese stood behind her, gazing at her with obvious adoration.
“There’s been a change of plans,” I said, walking to her.
Shelly embraced me in a vanilla perfumed hug and I closed my eyes. She was familiar. She was family.
“What happened?” she asked. “Where is everyone? Where’s this man of yours?”
“I’ll tell you upstairs.”
Shelly pulled back and raised her eyebrows but said nothing.
Gray introduced himself to Shelly with a quick handshake. While Gray and Shelly talked for a few minutes, I went over to Cheese who still looked awe-struck.
“She’s engaged,” I told him.
“Engagements end.”
I burst out laughing, enjoying Cheese’s arrogance. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that Mark and Shelly were the real deal, and even if they weren’t and Shelly was single, she wasn’t going to go for a biker.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket and I took it out. Colt’s name flashed across the screen. I thought about being incredibly juvenile and ignoring him, but I knew he’d only call back. Or call Cheese to check in on everything.
“Yes?” I asked, answering the phone and going into the kitchen nook for a measure of privacy.
He paused. “You’re pissed.”
“Damn right, I’m pissed. You didn’t even say goodbye to me.”
Colt let out a weathered sigh. “I’ll be back late. Don’t wait up.”
He hung up on me and I stared at the phone for a second.
Pissed had just morphed into rage.
“Uh oh,” Shelly said.
“Uh oh, what?” Cheese asked.
“Mia’s about to go O’Banion on someone’s ass.”
Cheese frowned. “I don’t know what that means.”
“It means,” Shelly explained, “that she’s half Irish and it’s about to show.”
“I can hear you,” I snarled.
“Guess I better get back out there,” Cheese said, stepping toward the exit. “Prospects don’t know their asses from their elbows.”
“You were a prospect not even six months ago,” Gray said with a laugh.
I grasped Shelly’s hand and pulled her to the stairs. We got up to the third floor and I could hear the sound of laughter and conversation coming from Joni’s room. Colt’s sister was perched on the bed, leaning against the wall, a cup in her hands. Darcy, Rachel, and Allison had taken pillows and set them on the floor and were sitting in a circle, the bottle of tequila and the bowl of lime wedges in the center.
“There you are!” Darcy said with a grin. “Hi!” She looked at Shelly. “I’m Darcy.” The other women chirped their names.