Jealousy flared through my blood, as I sip my drink, but what can I say or do? I decide on a rather sisterly tactic, and make up a bunch stuff. “Is she aware how bad his feet smell?”
Bambi pulls back. “Gross.”
“And he snores.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m betting half the guys in here do that.”
“Well, do half the guys in here keep their teeth in a jar?”
She cocks a brow. “What?”
“Well, just the front four. They got knocked out when he was young.”
“Oh, I dated a hockey player that wore a dental plate like that.”
I’m running out of things to make up. What would really turn her off? “Oh, and the worst part is, he passes gas all the time.” I make a fanning motion with my hand. “It used to be so bad at home, I’d have to go out in the yard.” I give her the side-eye. That should do it.
She stares at me a long moment. “A good-looking guy like him? You’re just making that up.”
“I’m not. Cross my heart.” I actually make the sign.
She turns to study him across the room. “I’ve never noticed that.”
“Ask the guys, they’ll tell you.” Okay now I’m skating on thin ice. This could completely backfire if she actually asks someone. But I can’t help myself. “Just sayin’, I’m his sister, and he’s not the prize you think he is.”
She snorts laughter through her nose. “Oh, my God. I can’t wait to tell Asia. She’s been such a bitch to me lately. This ought to deflate her a bit.”
“So, you know a lot of these guys?”
“Some of them.”
Between conversations I occasionally feel my phone vibrate in my hand, and look down to see a text from Saint.
Saint: You okay?
Me: I’m fine.
Bear walks up and leans against a post near me, a beer in his hand and a half-buzzed smile on his face. With a raspy, whisky-graveled voice, he greets me. “Hey sweetheart.”
“Hey, Bear.”
“How’re you liking our little party?”
“I’m having fun, thanks. And if this is what you consider little,” I gesture to the crowd, “I can’t imagine a Kings’ big bash.”
He chuckles. “I’m sure we’ll have one of those sometime while you’re in town. You ladies need another drink?”
I’ve been nursing this one for a while now, but I shrug my shoulders. “Sure.”
“I’d love one, Bear, thank you, doll,” Bambi purrs.
Bear winks, and moves off, disappearing through the crowd.
I study Bambi. “You like him?”
She shrugs. “That boy is what fantasies are made of, but we haven’t hooked up.”
“You’ve been around a while, huh?”
“Yes, ever since the club got into our business.”
“What business is that?”
“Um, never mind. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
I tilt my head up. “Oh. You must work at Centerfolds.”
She looks like I just insulted her. “Hardly!”
“And Asia… how did you meet her?”
“We work together.”
“How did she meet Saint?”
“Look, I may have said too much already. The guys don’t like us to talk about their business.”
“What’s your job got to do with their business?”
“Nothing. Forget it. Okay?”
I can see I’m starting to piss her off. “Okay.”
She changes the subject. “Bear seems interested in you. I saw the way he looked you over.”
“Oh, I don’t think I need to get involved with any of these men.”
“I’m not sure getting involved is how I’d classify what that Nomad wants to do with you.” She giggles, waggling her brows.
“Oh. Just sex, you mean?”
“Just sex can be an awful lot of fun. Don’t knock it. And I’m betting Bear would make sure he left you with a dreamy smile on your face. I mean, look at the man. All that long hair and those eyes. He’s gorgeous.”
I understand her point, but when I imagine being with a man, that man has dark hair and dark eyes, and goes by the name of Saint.
***
Saint—
I see Kami across the room, and my hand tightens around my glass of whiskey. She turns, her eyes searching me out in the crowd. When she finds me, her face lights up with a smile that makes me want to give her everything. Kami is young and fresh, enthusiastic and curious, all wrapped up in an eager innocence, everything these other women are not. Her youthful beauty and dewy glowing skin are intoxicating, especially when you add in her alluring perfume. Whatever that brand is, it’s the most addicting stuff I’ve ever come across. My gaze travels over her. Pale skin like unblemished porcelain, unmarked by any tattoos. I long to see the contrast of my tanned tattooed skin pressed against her fairer flesh.
I’ve had a million fantasies about this woman in the last few months.
“Thinking about who you’re going to fuck, prospect?”
A sharp voice jolts me out of my reverie, and I blink to find Sly standing next to me, a whiskey in his hand. He arches a brow at me as he lifts his chin toward the other side of the clubhouse.
“Kami’s fucking hot,” he says. “She’s definitely caught Bear’s attention from what I heard.”
“Lots of hot girls here. Bear can find another one. He needs to leave my sister alone.”
Sly takes a sip of his drink, but that eyebrow stays arched. “Sister, riiiight.” He drags the word out, and I know I’m not fooling him one bit, but damned if I’ll admit anything.
“Great party,” I volunteer, trying to deflect attention away from me, and my overt ogling of Kami. The last thing I need is my sponsor thinking I’m lusting after a girl who’s supposed to be my sister. That would be fucked up.
“We need to talk. Come on.” He walks past me.
“Yes, sir.” I drain the last of my Jack, set the glass down on a nearby table, and follow.
As we walk down a darkened hallway, we pass one with an open door. I see a threesome going at it on one of the beds. They’re all skin and mouths…
When I first started prospecting, I would have been right there with them, but now the whole scene fails to interest me.
Now, if Kami had been in there…
I follow Sly down the hall to a small room he uses as an office. He’s the treasurer, so there’s a big safe in it that takes up a good amount of space. I’ve never seen inside it, but I know the club keeps cash on hand, though most of their money gets divided up among several bank accounts.
He sits behind his desk, and I drop into a chair on this side of it. He reaches behind him to a credenza and grabs a bottle of Jack and a couple of shot glasses. He fills them and slides one toward me.
“Got a call from the Birmingham Chapter of the Evil Dead MC about you. Seems you did them a solid and represented us well. Want to tell me what happened in your words?”
I shrug. “I was comin’ back from droppin’ Magnolia off in Heflin, just across the State Line. They said they’d come into Georgia to get lottery tickets.”