Then she recognized four more, who also recognized her. Rev, Whip, Cage and Rook, all the mechanics at the garage in town where she took her Subaru. She had no idea they were part of the Blood Fury MC. They seemed just as shocked with her walking into their clubhouse with Shade as she was seeing them.
Before Shade could introduce her to anyone else, they heard a shriek that made everyone freeze.
“Mrs. Goodson!”
Chelle’s heart stopped. Completely arrested in her chest at what she saw. Who she saw.
What was she doing here? “Angel?” It couldn’t be.
What was Maddie’s closest childhood friend doing here?
And dressed the way she was. She wore clothes, but barely.
Her dark hair was pulled in two pigtails jutting out from the sides of her head. She wore the tiniest powder pink shirt, like one Chelle expected to fit a toddler, clearly no bra, and her flat belly was completely exposed, as was her navel, which was decorated with a dangly piercing. The turquoise shorts she wore were no bigger than the panties Chelle would wear during her time of the month. Angel had finished the outfit with turquoise and white striped knee-high socks and neon pink and white sneakers. The only thing missing were pompoms and she could be out on a football field doing a cheer.
However, if Angel did a split, Chelle was certain a couple of her female parts would be flapping in the breeze.
“Oh my God!” Angel squealed, running over and body slamming into Chelle, almost plowing her over. She was saved from toppling backward when Angel wrapped her arms around her.
And, of course, Shade grabbing her arm with a firm grip and a loud, “What the fuck?”
“I haven’t seen you in so long!” came the piercing exclamation.
Chelle winced. “Um...” Holy shit.
“What are you doing here, Mrs. Goodson?”
She was beginning to ask herself the same thing.
It didn’t help that she was having a hard time breathing with Angel trying to squeeze her insides out like a tube of toothpaste. “Please... don’t call me that... here. You can call me Chelle.”
Angel leaned back but didn’t release her completely. “I almost didn’t recognize you! With your glasses and jeans and cute ponytail and everything! And because you’re,” she swept a hand through the air, indicating The Barn, “here.” She frowned and asked again, not so enthusiastically this time, “What are you doing here?”
Her blue eyes landed on Shade for a few seconds, then sliced back to Chelle. Angel dropped her arms, stepped back and put some space between them. “You’re here with Shade?” That sounded like an accusation more than a question.
“I... uh...”
“Yeah, she’s fuckin’ here with me. Got a problem with that?”
Angel blinked. “You’re together?”
“No... We...”
“Gonna ask again, Angel, you got a problem with that?”
Shade’s growl had Chelle turning toward him and staring. But he only had eyes for Angel and his eyes were saying a lot. None of it good.
Angel’s throat undulated and she stared at Shade as a forced “no” slipped from between her tight lips.
Chelle grabbed his forearm and squeezed. “Shade was nice enough to ask if I’d like to go along today on the run. I’ve never been on a motorcycle before, so I thought I’d check that off my bucket list.”
“You’re going on the run?”
That question had a sharp edge and caused the muscles under Chelle’s fingers to turn to stone.
“Aren’t you?” Chelle asked, confused.
Oh shit.
It hit her then why Angel was at the clubhouse dressed the way she was but not included on the ride. Angel was one of those “other women.”
The other women Shade didn’t want to put a name to.
The name Chelle had read about briefly. Actually, there had been a few names she had skimmed over. None of them great. The best one being a “club girl.” The worst being...
Ooooh shit.
Did she have sex with a man who had sex with one of her daughter’s childhood friends?
Oh... shit.
Heat hit her cheeks, her mouth opened and she turned wide eyes to Shade.
As soon as he saw her reaction his face got hard and he spun on Angel. “Go find somethin’ or someone to do.”
Chelle dug her nails into his forearm. “No! No... It’s okay. It’s fine. This is just all... new to me.” She grimaced. “Seriously, it’s fine.” She turned to Angel and gave her a smile, hoping it wasn’t too lopsided. “It’s really good to see you, Angel.” Chelle just wished she hadn’t seen so much of her.
It took the girl a few seconds, but her anger at finding out Chelle was not only with Shade, but going on the club run with him, mysteriously disappeared.
After a quick frown at Shade, Angel plastered on a smile Chelle could tell was fake, bounced on her toes which made her very perky unrestrained boobs bob freely and said, “Well...” Her fake smile turned into an exaggerated pout and she pressed a hand between those very pointy boobs, making her nipples practically punch out of the thin, skin-hugging fabric. Was that all for Shade’s benefit? “Aww... I miss Maddie. I haven’t talked to her in like... forever.”
Chelle swallowed the automatic response of, “You should give her a call.” Because if Angel talked to Maddie, the cat would be out of the bag about her and Shade.
Or at least about being here today on the run.
Then she’d have to live through a double daughter inquisition on why she was on this motorcycle ride with Shade and why they hadn’t been told about it.
Then they’d pester her about... Well, about everything. Her girls were experts at digging up the truth. They both also had good imaginations. The longer Chelle held out, the wilder her daughters’ stories would get until she was forced to tell them the details.
Plus, the last thing she wanted Josie and Maddie to know was that their mother got nailed behind the shed in their backyard or on the rear seat of the Subaru, where they also sometimes sat, by a man eleven years her junior.
She grimaced.
“How she know your girl?”
She snapped out of her musings and realized Angel had wandered away. She had draped herself over the young mechanic, Whip, where he sat at the bar on a stool, while she whispered something into his ear and straddled his thigh.
Or... rode it.
Whip had his hand down the back of her shorts and was...
She spun toward Shade.
“Sorry, what?” Her face felt touched by the heat of a thousand suns.
Shade glanced over where she had, frowned and grabbed her hand, pulling her along.
“How she know your girl?”
She had no idea where Shade was taking her, but followed anyway. “Maddie and her were really close when they were younger. I figured they just drifted apart like some girls do. But Angel was also one of my students. Her and Maddie were in the same grade level all the way through graduation.”
“It bother you?”
“I wasn’t expecting to see someone my daughter’s age here.” She wasn’t expecting to see people she knew here. Now she would look at everyone in town in a whole new light. She would wonder who else had a “secret” life.
“She’s legal. All of them are.”